#natalie both wanting to die thinking she willed it to be picked but wanting to live in spite of everything too

[strangenessandcharrn]

Dealer, Stevie Nicks / Yellowjackets

[saltnsugarbear]

it was a graveyard smash

summary: it's your and Richies year to take Eva trick or treating!!

title from: "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett

word count: 0.7k

content warnings: none!

divider by @strangergraphics

Eva is bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly as you both wait for Richie. All of her movement jostles the witch hat on top of her head, the skirt of her dress flowing around her knees.

Eva had insisted on dressing as Dani from Hocus Pocus, showing you picture upon picture to try and convince you. It's not that you needed much convincing. It was more of a matter of finding the right pieces of clothing to make the costume work.

Richie made more money these days, so he insisted you could buy everything out right that there was no need to go thrifting or find the items secondhand. Despite your anxiety over spending too much, you found all the items Eva would need. The total wasn't something you wanted to think about too hard, deleting emails and throwing away receipts when you could.

With her being Dani, Eva insisted you in some way emulated Allison. To make the trio complete, you had both brought clothes for Richie to change into that made him look like Max. The only unfortunate part of these costumes was that it didn't really look like you or Richie were in costume.

So there you and Eva stood, her in a witch hat, sweater covered in suns and a black dress with periodic stripes and you, dressed in a white shirt, cream cardigan and jeans. It was the most comfortable costume you had ever been in, without a doubt, but it wasn't obvious unless someone was a die-hard fan the way Eva had become.

Both of you stood outside of the Bear on the sidewalk, waiting for Richie to hand the show over to Nat so you could take Eva out. Natalie didn't mind doing this, considering her own daughter was still too young to take out trick or treating, which left Pete at home with her for the night. You spent the week giving Sugar your thanks, reminding her of your gratitude that she was willing to miss the night with her own daughter.

"Do you think he's gonna like it?" Eva asks you, watching the restaurant door for her dad.

"Think he's gonna love it," you tell her with a grin, sticking your hand out for her to take. Eva grabs your hand and starts swinging them back and forth, unable to stay still while you waited.

The way her face lights up when she sees her father walk out the restaurant door, you would have thought it was Christmas instead.

"Hey, kiddo!" Richie calls, opening his arms wide for her. Eva let's go of your hand, running towards her dad and wrapping her arms around his waist. Richie is quick to scoop her up, stifling his groans as he holds her close.

"Look at you, got my own little witch," Richie picks at the witches hat on Eva's head, tilting it over her eyes and making her giggle.

You close the distance between you and the duo, coming up to give Richie a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.

"And look at you, don't they look pretty, Eva?" Richie says, tucking his hand in your back pocket. Eva nods quickly, adjusting the brim of her hat. Richie sets her down softly, letting her take the lead on the way back to your car.

"Where's my costume?" Richie asks you softly, watching Eva skip down the sidewalk.

"In the bag," you jostle the bag in your hand, the sound of the plastic bag slightly muffled behind you.

Richie sighs softly as you both watch Eva, twirling and humming as she gets closer to the car.

"Thinking about her growing up?" You prod gently, glancing up at him.

"Yep..." Richie huffs, bumping his shoulder into yours.

"It's okay, you got a few years." You tell him, patting his chest gently before grabbing your keys to unlock the door. "Now go get changed. We have treats to get and tricks to do."

Richie huffs a little but places a kiss to your temple as Eva giggles, opening the door to the backseat for her father.

"And no funny business! We're on a strict deadline!" You yell at him through the door once he's climbed in with the bag of clothes. Eva giggles from where she stands, grabbing your hand as you both wait.

"People these days..." You tell her softly, shaking your head and making her laugh even more. "People these days..."

[boneempress]

yellowjackets s2 finale spoilers~

I get that a lot of people are upset at the finale for various reasons, one of which is that Misty is the person who did...you know. Putting aside the implications for Natalie's role in the story, I want to talk about Misty because I think it was a crucial turning point for her and I think she had to be the one to do it for her story to progress.

Halfway through season 2, teen Misty learns Crystal is really Kristen and trades this for a secret that she wildly misjudges as being of equal import. Realizing her mistake, she threatens Kristen, who steps back and falls off a cliff. This death both is and isn't her fault; she didn't really mean to kill her, and she didn't actually touch her. It was an accident. She has an out. And, crucially, she gets away with it: no one else is witness to it, Kristen's body has yet to be found.

Fast forward to the hunt, Misty was the one who pulled Natalie back from trying to save Javi. I suspect she probably realized that saving the group's best hunter was the, objectively, most "rational" thing to do for the group, all else aside. (This is the first of multiple times we see Misty steal Natalie away from death before the wilderness finally comes to collect.)

So when Lottie picks Natalie as her successor, and the girls all give their own versions of fealty, Misty's is this incredibly dramatic bow that Nat laughs at. But Misty is dead serious, because I think she is taking this deadly seriously. The wilderness gave her a purpose she never had before so she trapped them all there within it, and Nat is its favorite. Whatever her reasons, I think this is the moment Misty dedicates herself and her life to Nat. It's why she looks so fucking pleased when Natalie shows up in her living room pointing a rifle at her, 25 years later.

Fast forward to Jessica Roberts. Misty tells us that fentanyl is her weapon of choice because it is legal and it looks like an overdose. Moreover, she doesn't just inject Jessica with fentanyl and fake the death afterwards; she injects the cigarettes, and she lets Jessica choose them. Because, after all, those cigarettes would've killed her anyway, a lot slower. So she does what she needs to do, but she still maintains a distance. And she gets away with it.

In season 2, several people have implied to adult Misty that she has serial killer vibes, and it seems to confound her in spite of the multiple deaths she's responsible for (that we've seen.) She goes into a sensory deprivation tank and concludes that she's a "closer" who cleans up messes for her friends - so that she can be useful to them again like she was in the woods - and she will do anything that that entails. She doesn't questions her methods or motives or do even the slightest bit of self-reflection. As horrible as the Crystal incident was for her, a part of her (like Shauna) has always been drawn to violence until it gets too close and personal to her. She was excited when she cut Ben's leg off and when she watched Shauna beat the shit out of Lottie.

So when it comes time for the hunt again, Misty has loaded up a needle with some drug, either phenobarbital or her favorite fentanyl. She will kill if she has to, for the good of the group. When Lisa threatens Nat with a gun she doesn't hesitate and goes in for the kill.

Only, purely by the good will of Natalie for Lisa, Misty misses her target, and she kills her best friend (again) instead, accidentally frames clean and sober Nat for a relapsed drug overdose, the person she pledged fealty to, the person she was willing to die for, the one person in the entire world whose death could possibly make her stop and question herself, wonder if maybe using violence to solve all her problems is a bad thing, if maybe bringing "it" back with her so gleefully was NOT a good thing. Maybe, just maybe, she will start thinking about the dark and terrible secret she hides - the black box she destroyed and doomed all of her friends with. Part of the reason adult Misty is so fun to watch is because of the delusional levels of self-confidence she possesses, and this is the one and only thing that I think could really shake her to her core. Crystal's death got pretty close when she was 17 and had a lot less armor, but Natalie is someone she has been trauma bonded to for 25 years. She gets away with it in the eyes of the law, yet again, but she knows what she did, and that she can never take it back. She has to live with it. She has to live with the worst possible consequence that playing with other people's lives could have for her.

And that's why it had to be Misty.

[rhianwells]

For each of the following items, indicate whether you think it's morally okay or not.

An army lieutenant neglects to file a report on a civilian killing done by his troops because he knows it was an accident. not okay

Tina promises her dying mother that she'll visit her grave once a month. After the mother has passed away, Tina finds it hard to squeeze in the time, and her visits drop to about once a year. okay (as long as she finds another way to remember her)

A man orders a custom-built sex doll designed to look just like his neighbor. not okay

Sarah's dog has four puppies. She can only find a home for two of them, so she kills the other two with a stone to the head. not okay

A doctor has been preforming consensual yet illegal procedures one someone in hopes of finding a cure for his ill sister. not okay

A neglectful husband pushes his wife to an affair. When the affair ends, the wife's partner nearly kills her and her unborn daughter. The husband kills the affair partner. not okay

September has run out of food and is facing death by starvation. She begins to cannibalize her family's loyal staff. They do not fight back. not okay

A mother gives birth to identical twins. One follows their ambitions and the other becomes a shut in. The family make it clear which child they prefer. not okay

Natalie is so focused on survival she fires a shot without thinking. She did not intend to kill her elderly neighbor, but she hides the body regardless. She denies knowing what happened to the now missing resident. not okay

A woman is facing a lifetime of medical issues. She continues to put her family and those around her in emotional and medical debt. She lives a hollow life and continues leaching off of those who support her. not okay

Please provide a response to each of the following prompts. Leaving a prompt blank will also be considered a response, and you will be assessed for refusal to answer.

In the event of a life or death situation, would you put yourself or others first?

I want to live but I don't want others to die because of me, or anything like that, so... others, I guess?

How far would you be willing to go to ensure your own survival throughout this ordeal?

I don't know my limits yet, but I'm sure I'd surprise myself. We all will or would. I'm pretty determined.

Is there anyone in the building you have developed strong attachments to?

Yes! Birdie, Court... My husband! Such tragic events make us feel more connected.

Do you think it is possible to survive infection through alternative means such as removing the infected limb? Would you be willing to undergo this procedure to ensure your own survival?

I've no idea, I want to survive but I want to have a normal life after this... And I definitely don't want to be a guinea pig! I'd have to be sure it'd work to say yes to such a procedure.

Will following the general consensus lead to improved odds of survival, or would you have a better chance following an assigned leader?

I'll follow anyone who knows what they're doing, if they're determined and responsible, and if they care for others... they seem a good leader, but we all have different needs, so we can't rely on one person only, no matter how smart they seem.

What is the appropriate response to the following situation?

Your daughter falls ill and needs a specific, uncommon kind of antibiotic that will be hard to find; without the full course, the pathogen will survive, regroup, and kill her anyway.You are scavenging a pharmacy, where you find another group, and manage to not shoot each other. You ask them about the antibiotic, and they have it, but they also need the antibiotic, for the wife of someone in their group.You cannot share the antibiotic because it would just kill both people, and they have the antibiotic in their pack. This is likely the only complete dose set you will find, as the other stores have been picked totally clean and there are no friendly groups in the area.

I'm sorry, but I'd do anything to keep my daughter alive. I know she's just a person like many others for the rest of the world, but I'm supposed to be her hero, and that's what I'd do, no matter what. I'd sacrifice myself for my child.

[purple-dahlias]

day six- hidden injury

wc: 1804 requested: no warnings: self harm, injury

Sarah hadn’t meant it to go this far, not in the least. At least, that was what she told herself. And really, she had managed so long without it, years in fact. Only for things to start crumbling now. And no, she’ll never let anyone know. Doesn’t want to bother anyone. It’s not that big of a deal, anyway, she’ll tell herself. Nothing she can’t handle herself. Nothing she hasn’t had to handle herself before. And all her problems, well, they just feel so pedestrian. That was what she had told Dr Richardson. Plenty of people felt that way, right. Lots of people did that. It wasn’t exactly uncommon. Maybe not talked of so much, but not something rare. In any case, she had got herself out of it before, and she would do it again, right?

At some point, she would, she told herself.

She tries to be careful. Wears long sleeves. Remembers to keep her white coat on at all times. Tries to avoid situations where she might have to scrub in. Which, luckily for her, since becoming a psychiatry resident, don’t occur very often anymore. And she’s meticulous with cleaning. Making sure everything is sterile. No chance of infection. Her bathroom cabinet well stocked with bandages and plasters and antiseptic wipes. Even a suture pack she had managed to lift from the ED one day. Just in case. She hadn’t needed it so far, though. And she wasn’t planning on it. That was what she told herself.

And oh, how wrong she was.

It’s a Tuesday morning and Sarah is late.

She’s supposed to be at Med by now, Dr Charles will be expecting her to round on their patients and instead, she’s sat on the bathroom floor, leaning against the bath panel, the cursed suture kit on the floor beside her, face contorted in pain.

Maybe things had gone too far.

Perhaps she should have thought to try and bring back some lidocaine as well.

But no. You did this to yourself, Sarah Reese.

And it’s ironic. Because she had inflicted that pain on herself. And now she couldn’t do it again to fix it. Typical.

—

“Hey, have any of you seen Sarah?” Dr Charles asks, approaching the nurses’ station in the ED, where Natalie, and Noah are stood.

Natalie shakes her head, just as Maggie calls out for her, sending her off to treatment three.

“I didn’t see her car parked outside,” Noah responds.

“Yeah, me either.”

“She hasn’t called in sick, has she?”

“No,” confirms Dr Charles, brow furrowed. The Sarah Reese he knew was always so responsible, a stickler for rules, so it was unlike her not to notify someone of her absence.  

“Yeah, I didn’t think so, we’d arranged to have lunch together today, so…”

“And Sarah’s not really one to break her plans,” the head of psychiatry muses.

“I can try and call her,” Noah offers helpfully.

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Dr Charles nods as Noah fishes his phone out of his pocket, only to find the dial tone to ring out with no answer.

“You sure she’s not upstairs?”

“No, I’m sure she’s not. I did page her, but no luck.”

“Well, um, if you like I can go round to hers… check on her?” Noah offers, picking up on the worry in the normally level, calm voice of the psychiatrist.

“That’s good of you,” Dr Charles smiles, clapping Noah on the back

“No problem,” Noah returns, with a promise to update him when he found Sarah, watching as Dr Charles turns, making his way to the elevators and away from the emergency department.

One thing was for sure, Dr Charles was grateful Sarah had Noah for a friend. Even if Sarah wasn’t the most vocal person, he knew she’d been dealing with a lot lately, that much was clear. And he knew how important it was to have people around you who cared.

It’s not long after that conversation that Noah finds himself faced with the front door of Sarah’s apartment, having knocked, awaiting an answer.

When there’s no answer, he knocks louder. “Sarah,” he calls out. “It’s Noah. Dr Charles wanted me to come and check up on you because you didn’t show up for rounds.”

Still nothing.

Knowing she kept a spare key under the mat, Noah fishes it out, turning it in the lock.

“Sarah, I’m coming in, alright,” he warns, entering the apartment.

The curtains are still drawn across the windows, Sarah’s bag is in its place by the door, her coat hangs on a peg in the hall. Sure signs she is still here. He calls out to her, moving through the few rooms until he comes to the bathroom, the door half open, a head of brown curls just about visible.  

“Sarah what—"

The words die on his lips as he takes in the scene: Sarah hunched up against the side of the bath, knees pulled up to her chest. He sees the suture kit, the gash on Sarah’s arm, how pale she is. And, most of all, how frightened she looks at seeing him there, how she just about refuses to meet his eyes.

“Sarah,” Noah begins again, trying to compose himself.

“Noah what are you doing here?” It’s said so forcefully through gritted teeth that if it was any other time, any other situation, any other person, Noah would have taken it as his cue to leave. But he couldn’t leave her. Not like this. Not after what he’s seen.

“Dr Charles sent me to check on you,” he tries.

“Well I’m fine,” she grits out, firmly, covering her arm as best she could.

“No, you’re not.”

“Please, Noah, just go. You’re supposed to be working,” her tone is different now, she’s almost begging him to go. He’s not going to, though.

“So are you,” he counters, inching closer. “Sarah what happened?” Noah tries, tone softening.

“It’s nothing, really.”

“That doesn’t look like nothing,” Noah reaches for Sarah’s arm, and Sarah snatches it away, fighting through the pain.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she huffs. She wishes he would just go back to the hospital and leave her be.

“Fine. But Sarah, I have to ask. Did you do this yourself?”

Yes she thinks. Yes I did.

“I think you already know the answer to that one,” is what she says instead. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have to ask.” It comes out harshly. But really, the anger isn’t directed at him. It’s all directed inward. At herself, for allowing this to happen, at herself for getting caught.

“But Sarah— why.”

And it all comes out. She finds she just can’t keep it hidden any longer.

“I— I don’t know. I just. I can’t anymore. And I haven’t done this since I was fourteen, and now… Noah I don’t know what to do!” Sarah is sobbing freely now, her shoulders shaking as Noah sits down beside her on the cold tile of the bathroom floor, holding her close, careful of her arm. He notices the scars and the cuts littering her arms, in various stages of healing. It pains him to see this, to know this. That Sarah had been struggling for so long without anyone noticing.

“Oh Sarah—” Noah begins, smoothing her hair with one hand, the other rubbing circles into the small of her back.

“Stop. Stop feeling sorry for me.” Sarah scrubs at her eyes, willing the tears away.

“I’m not. I just. I hate that I’m here seeing you hurt, and you know I— I can’t take that away from you.”

“Then go. You won’t have to see then.”

“I’m not leaving you like this Sarah. Do you mind if I take a look?” He asks her. Carefully, levelly, eyes trained on her all the while.

“Fine.” Sarah agrees finally, and Noah has to fight back a gasp as he sees the full extent of the injury. Luckily, as far has he can tell, the wounds aren’t deep enough to have caused any significant damage, but really, as an assessment, he knows the damage is already done. Not physically, but it is there.

“Okay Sarah, we need to clean this up and get it stitched, alright.” Noah keeps his tone calm, knowing that showing any sign of panic would do neither of them any good.

Sarah merely nods.

“This is going to sting, okay,” he warns, taking an antiseptic wipe out of the first aid kit beside them.

“Unfortunately you’re going to feel every step of this because I don’t have anything to numb you with. Think you can be brave for me?”

Another nod, but it’s all Noah needs before he gets to work.

Sarah doesn’t watch as he begins. She keeps her eyes down, trained on the floor, counting the tiles, teeth gritted as she tries to fill her head with something. Anything. Any thoughts that aren’t about what is happening right now.

When he’s finally done, the two sit in silence, both leaning against the bath, side by side. And it’s then that Sarah finally looks. Noah had bandaged up her arm, the stitches hidden beneath the dressings. The memory of what she had done there. But hidden. Out of sight, but not out of mind.

“So, uh,” Noah’s voice tears into her thoughts. “You wanna maybe sit somewhere a little more comfortable and less cold?”

And it’s just so Noah of him to say, his tone making it sound like he’s asking her to move and sit at one of the tables inside the hospital cafeteria instead of outside, rather than what he’s actually doing, which is asking her to get up off the bathroom floor after he’d stitched up the cuts she had made.  

So Sarah makes the choice. She allows herself to be helped up, she allows herself to be led from the bathroom. She lets Noah guide her to the couch, wrap a blanket round her shoulders and disappear off into the kitchen, only to watch him come back a few minutes later, a steaming mug of tea in hand that he sets down beside her.

Still wordlessly, Noah takes a seat next to Sarah, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close to him. He had sent a message to Dr Charles while he had been in the kitchen, letting him know what had happened. He knew that Sarah would need to address what had happened, that there would be a long road ahead of her. That him finding her that morning wasn’t the end of it, didn’t mean that Sarah was out of the woods. But Noah would be there. He would be there with Sarah, for her. He would be there until she was ready, and long afterward. And this was the start. Sarah herself knows that, too.

[unholyplumpprincess]

Tame The Beast

A commission for @broheda who wanted Wraith and a trans male reader with reader acting as a huuuuge brat in the ring just to make Wraith fuck them up later. Definitely check the warnings on this one, everyone, and tysvm for the commission! I had such a blast being able to write her!!!

Summary:  In which reader decides they want their girlfriend to be a bit rougher to them. Deciding the best way to go about it is to be a brat in the ring. Patience is always Wraith's strong suit, but it quickly crumbles. Quicker than you expect when you wind up in a locker room with her kunai to your throat and pretty words promising punishment in your ear. Oops!

Reblogs > Likes. Please Reblog if you hit Like! :D

!!!Minors and ageless blogs dni or you will be blocked on sight!!!

Fandom: Apex Legends

Relationship: Wraith/Reader

Warnings: NSFT/R18+, Reader is a trans dude who has top surgery (Scars mentioned) but no bottom, however parts are referred to as cock/dick/hole, Wraith has various body mods which are mentioned, knife play, cutting off clothes, big insertions, Wraith’s infamous werewolf dildo makes a return, breeding kink mentioned, pet names such as ‘little boy, baby boy, pup, etc’ are used as well, mild derogatory language of ‘pathetic’,

Words: 6.1k

___________________

Coming into a relationship with one of the most mysterious legends hadn’t been easy.  

Wraith had this way about her of avoiding things and people. There had only been three people you’d seen her interact with once you were recruited to be in the games; Natalie, who always had a way of bringing a smile to her face and laughter from her lips, something that had struck you first about Wraith when seeing her in person. Elliott, who seemed to bring out a more playful side of her, one that involved playful growling and shoving each other. And Pathfinder, who brought out something soft from her, something more open to be herself.  

You’d watched, feeling a little creepy for it, as you tried to figure out the best approach.  

~Rest under the cut~

You wanted to try and be friendly with your teammates all alike, though it seemed some were more willing to be friendly and some would rather hide. Elliott was friendly enough to you, a little competitive, but more on the playful side. Natalie had welcomed you in with open arms, especially when you’d snorted at one of her puns and she’d lit right up and immediately started to try to get you to laugh again.  

Whilst legends like Alexander and Crypto had taken more to themselves than trying to mingle.  

What you hadn’t known, in the beginning, is that you were the one being watched right back. By a pair of hauntingly white eyes in the doorway as you chatted amongst Wraith’s friends and slowly befriended them. Working your way up in her mind as someone trustworthy.  

Once you’d finally been able to be in the same room with Wraith alone, you’d smiled brightly and offered your hand to introduce yourself. When she’d narrowed her eyes and told you she already knew who you were, you laughed, “Yeah, but we haven’t officially met! So, what’s your name?” All smiles and brightness around you that melted her resolve just a bit. Just a small amount enough for one corner of her lips to flicker into a smirk and for her hand to outstretch and grab yours.  

“Wraith.”  

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Wraith!”  

It seemed she was drawn to people like you. She surrounded herself with bubbly people, people who she considered her family. You proved yourself in the arena as a worthy legend as well, without ever sacrificing your smile for it. Wraith had told herself that it was just that you were kind and friendly that she got these feelings in her chest. But it was hard to deny it when three different visions flashed behind her eyes of various different lives.  

Where you were there, pressing kisses to her face, or holding her hand, or tucked against her in some fashion.  

In various lives, you were her romantic path. In some, you were just a close friend, in most you were the one she ended up falling in love with. Whatever path this life was on, she wasn’t sure at first, but she did know that regardless you were to end up apart of her life in some way. And...in a way, that was a comfort for the emotions she was feeling. To know that at some point, they  would  have finality.  

It takes a few months, but before you know it, you’re managing to get out the words of asking Wraith out on a date. When she agrees, you think you might die from joy and shock from how quick she’d been to take you up on it. Your first date consists of you two sitting in your apartment in the compound and having take-out and watching movies together. Ending with her head on your shoulder, fingers laced with yours, and your head on top of hers whilst you fell asleep with her sitting up surrounded by snacks.  

You wouldn’t have asked for it any other way.  

Nowadays you two were known as a couple amongst the legends, but not to the public eye. Wraith preferred things quiet, and that hadn’t been an issue for you. Though, it did lead to funny headlines on news websites if you two were on opposite teams. Wraith had a habit of wanting to track you down, and you always put up a good fight. It resulted in a more...personal kill than just a well-aimed sniper shot.  

The paparazzi chalked it up to underlying sexual tension.  

And really could you blame them when most of the time, those moments meant you were on your back squirming. Your girlfriend straddling your hips and pinning your hands to the ground with her knees so you couldn’t even get leverage. Her kunai, glowing and dangerous in her grasp as she leaned in close to murmur to you so comms couldn’t pick it up, “I’m starting to think you like being humiliated, baby boy.” In that playful, haunting three toned voice of hers before you felt the sharp pain in your neck and you’d wake up in the medical bay with pleasant shivers down your spine and in desperate need of a cold shower.  

Yeah maybe you got off to her being a bit cruel.  

It wasn’t news to you that Wraith had a small mean streak. Though, normally, she was more interested in tucking herself onto your lap or rolling her eyes at you when you said jokes. She was a much softer lover than one would expect, preferring the small dates, sleeping together, and sharing laughter with you.  

You liked it, truly you did. Even in the bedroom she preferred it softer.   

Wraith had explained to you before, with her fingers laced with yours and trying to open up more, that you made her feel safe. Safe enough to be able to sleep because there was no danger to worry about. Safe enough to open up and laugh, to make jokes with you.   

She often spent more time at your own room at the compound. You didn’t mind in the slightest, going so far as to gather more pillows and blankets for your bed to build her a nest like she liked. Trying to make your home as homey to her as you could.  

You liked to take care of her, in a way. You liked that she felt safe to be with you, to let you take care of her like this. It took forever for her to even allow you to cook something for her without her feeling guilt.  

Soft and domestic is how you both liked it.  

Though, sometimes...  

Sometimes she got this air about her. You blame yourself for it, really. Sometimes you felt the desire to be bratty. And in turn, Wraith found that to be a challenge of some sort and she’d become less soft and more threatening to tie you down. It was, in its own right, extraordinarily hot.  

It was a huge turn on to watch her threaten you where she’d yank your shirt so you’d be at her level and snarl in your face. Or if she’d pull your hair and tell you to behave. Or even the quieter ways where she’d gesture for you to get on your knees so you could beg for forgiveness.  

So, what was her partner to do?  

Why, tease and taunt that little side of her until she’d give in to those feelings and ‘unleash the beast’ on you, of course!  

It was good for her stress relief too; She’d told you one time in an admission that made her cheeks pink. She liked being able to control you, to take the reins so to speak, because sometimes she didn’t want to think about what was too much or too harsh.   

Wraith liked that you’d take whatever she offered with a cry of ‘yes please’ and ‘thank you’s and sometimes that’s something she needed. Not having to worry about if she was being too rough, or having to ask if it’s something you wanted. There were those special little words and hand motions if it was something you weren’t into. But you so rarely had to use them.  

Even when she would cut your clothing off and threaten you beautifully, a blade freshly sharpened pressed to your soft spots and yet never cutting.  

The memories bubble away as you come back to the present where you are on the dropship as you zone in on watching Wraith play with her kunai. Tossing it up into her hand a few times and catching it with terrific precision. Then, moving to inspecting it up close, sliding her finger across a flat edge with her glove where there must have been a speck of dust across its clean surface.  

She’s your duo partner today. One on one, together. You try not to let the idea excite you, trying to focus more on the idea of being champion, of earning that title, the glory, and the little extra pay that came with it. You try to focus on anything else, but your eyes are locked onto her from across the dropship. Wraith must feel you too, because she’s shifting and adjusting herself ever so slightly. Looking up at you with a slight cock to her head as she twirls the blade between her grasp with ease and sheathes it at her thigh.  

Your breath hitches.  

You know Wraith can see the way you swallow from the way her lips quirk into that certain crooked smirk. Her eyes slide to the opening hatch door instead of you; Her quiet way of telling you she knew what she was doing but wouldn’t do anything about it. You lick your dry lips, huffing to yourself and irritated that such a minor thing could already have you squirming in your seat.   

Come on, you have to focus. You had a match to win.  

But...then again, you think to yourself as Wraith leads the drop...  

She did start it.  

You tell yourself it’s only a taunt, that she’s baiting you into something. However, you can’t help the feeling twisting in your stomach that has the need to try to make her mean something. To make Wraith hold that pretty blade to your throat even if you two are on the same side this time. To put her money where her mouth is.  

The round is in King’s Canyon. The sun always beats down blazingly hot, especially on the black clothing you wear into the ring.  

You make sure to whine about it especially loud when Wraith tells you to be quiet in a hushed voice. It sends her looking your way with a daring gleam in her eyes, but she doesn’t comment on your whining. Not yet.  

Patience has always been her strong suit. Always patient with you.  

But, your goal for today was to break it.  

As the round continues on, you start misbehaving in small ways. If Wraith pings one location, you ping another- even if it is close by. If she says she’s looting one area and wants you to follow for backup, you offer that you’ll be close by. Then when you scoop up a hop up you know she needs right in front of her eyes; She looks at you with a furrow to her brow and a huff of irritation.  

“Give it to me.”  

“Make me.” You tease right back, a smile hitting your face when you see the flash in her eyes.  

Wraith knew better than to get involved- especially in front of the cameras. But you can see the gears working as she processes how she’s going to get it from you. Though, in the end, you hand it over to her after teasingly holding it high above her head. You’re pretty sure she’s going to jab you in the rib cage, so you hand it over quickly as to save yourself from a pre-battle bruise.  

However, the seeds were sown. Wraith knew what you were trying to do, and it was slowly working.  

When you two run into another team, you wind up knocked while she wipes the duo. You get the pleasure of watching her aim down her flatline at Octane, plowing bullets into him despite his quick feet. You also get the added pleasure of watching her turn back towards you- you fully take that moment to admire her ass in her tight gear- as she huffs , ”Squad  wiped.” With that little cocky, yet annoyed tone she gets whenever you got knocked on your ass.  

The syringe is shoved in gently, despite knowing Wraith could have just jammed it into you. She cradles your head in one hand, the other pumping you full before throwing it to the side and yanking you to your feet. There’s a brief moment you wonder if her resolve is even shaken from earlier. But when you feel her hand drop to your nape and squeeze dangerously, you realize that this nice face she’s got going on is for the cameras.  

“You’re not out of the fight yet.” Is what comes out of her mouth. Solid and encouraging, a fan favorite for the cameras.  

Wraith’s eyes say an entirely different story. A flash warning, quiet, unnoticed by cameras but noticed by you. You, who is in tune with her body language and her habits. Noting just how slightly her eyes narrow, the slightest movement a threat for you to stop doing what you’re doing. Just listen to her.  

Your eyes narrow ever so slightly back, working on healing yourself up and letting her loot.  

You know, that she knows, that you’re quietly telling her:  

You started it.  

It’s enough quiet back talk to solidify what you wanted. Especially when she’s telling you to pick up your feet in a colder sounding tone. You know you’ve broken past Wraith’s patience for your antics.  

You don’t know whether to be excited or scared.  

--  

You two end up being champion. Wraith with eight kills under her belt, kill leader through and through. You with four and a heavy amount of damage under your own. Honestly, you think you would have preferred to place second or third. Because after riling her up and the high that came with the title champion, you can’t help but feel the tension growing even stronger.  

The dropship is near silent on your way back. You feel your breath quickening whenever your eyes lift from your boots, glancing up to see her watching you intently out of the corner of her eye. You don’t have to ask, you don’t have to speak, you know you’re in for it.  

The interviewers are always hungry for something, and Wraith is always adamant about avoiding them. When the dropship touches ground, there’s excuses from you saying that you two are tired, that they can get in touch with your guys’ higher ups for interviews. Waving your hands about to try and shoo them away as you feel Wraith’s cold fingers hitch under your shirt and tug you away with her away from the flashing cameras and persistent questions.  

When you two make it to the locker rooms to start changing gear, you’re thrust against the wall by her. Despite Wraith’s small frame, she’s always been strong. Proven when you go ’oomph!’ when you hit the wall. Her body is quick to press against yours, the feeling of her kunai against your throat making you freeze.  

You swallow thickly.  

Wraith’s eyes are bright white, her mouth set into a line and her brow furrowed. You whimper in turn, hating that you’re already soaking into your fucking pants. Your breath hitches when the blade is pressed closer to your flesh, “W-Wraith-” You whimper quietly as you squirm against the wall.  

“I don’t know what you thought you were doing back there, pup.” Her voice is ice cold, chilling in its own right. The nickname only serves to make you flush all over, toes curling in your boots and your voice unable to be found. She must notice, because she’s pushing herself between your legs, her petite frame keeping you firm against the wall. Asserting dominance without needing to tell you who’s in charge.  

“Is this what you wanted? I should have made an example of you in the arena. It’s probably what you really wanted. To be watched by everyone- to let everyone know who you belong to.” Her voice is a low snarl at the idea, whispered and hushed. If she were taller, maybe she’d be growling in your ear, but instead she’s pointed more towards your chin.  

The thought of her height would normally make you smile, but all you can do is whine for her instead when you feel her blade pull from your throat as she steps back.  

“We’re going to your room.” Wraith practically growls out, leaving no room for argument.  

“Y-yes, ma’am.”  

--  

You do manage to change into civilian clothing before you two make it back to your room. All the while you do so, you feel like you’re being watched, despite being alone in the locker room. When you emerge, Wraith’s pace is brisk, leading the way all the way to your room. Each step of hers sounding louder than ever in the hall, despite you knowing it’s only your adrenaline and the anticipation causing that.  

You hardly make it through the door before Wraith’s on you. You’re slammed into the door, the vague sound of the lock clicking behind you making your ears perk. You’re quickly more interested in Wraith when you hear the unsheathing of a blade and the kunai at your throat again.  

“You’re going to do exactly as I say and I don’t want to hear any back talk unless you want to bleed. Am I understood?” Wraith’s voice is icy, her eyes milky white and glancing over your face; Waiting for a sign that you didn’t want this. Instead, you swallow thickly, nodding as best as you could with a blade to your throat. Only to end up squeaking when she presses harder. “Use your words, pup. I’m not playing your games tonight.”  

“Yes! Y-yes, I understand, ma’am!” You manage to choke out, feeling the smallest of cuts left on your neck when she pulls back. You know it’s not an accident, she never lets anything hurt you without it serving a purpose.  

Your shirt is yanked, dragging you to the bed and shoving you down. You hardly have enough time to kick off your shoes before she’s back on you. Your legs are shoved apart, making room for her. You feel a tug at the bottom of your shirt and a clean ripping sound when you realize right after that your shirt has been sliced open from the bottom of your belly all the way to the collar.  

There’s only a moment where you see her pause, her hand resting on your chest briefly. She must have thought she nicked you, her thumb caressing one of your scars under your chest. You reach up gently to rest your hand on her wrist, just the quietest way of telling her you weren’t hurt. It was just a moment, just a split second, all the quiet way of saying ‘I’m okay’ to relax her.  

No one would be able to see Wraith’s eyes flick up to yours in just that moment, searching briefly for any possible lie. It was so quick, quiet.  

Just as she was.  

“Don’t touch without permission.” She huffs, falling right back into play. Your hand falls next to you, left with your shirt torn open and split down the center to reveal your body. The fabric rests on either side of you, acting more like a left open jacket now. You feel the coldness of the air brush over your body, making your hair stand on end and nipples tighten with it.  

You open your mouth to sass, but immediately shut when the point of her blade presses to your belly. Stroking downwards in one slow, clean line that makes you tremble in anticipation for a cut that never comes. “Don’t move.” She reminds you in a low voice, only serving to make you whimper when you feel the blade tuck into your sweatpants.  

The first tug is sharp, cutting the threads with ease, splitting from the top of your waistband to the junction of your thigh.   

Wraith’s blade is set to the side, both her hands grabbing each split open end of your pants and yanking roughly. It causes the split open seam to rip all the way down your leg, following the motion of her arms to be yanked off your body. Leaving you in your gray briefs, that unfortunately, show how soaked you are in the front with the wet spot spreading. You can feel yourself too. Slick, your cock hard and engorged underneath- it had been  killer  in the ring with it grinding along the seam of your pants and now you just looked downright needy.  

“Aw, look at how pathetic you look.” The word is strained to make sure you hear it, burning your ears and making you whine in response. Wraith’s testing your limitations, watching for your reaction, but all you do is lift your hips up to display just how needy you are for her.   

“Please-” You try to get out as her cold fingers trace up your briefs, pressing the fabric down with her thumb where your lower lips were. Her thumb nudges underneath your cock, feeling the swell of it and how you twitch at the slightest of touches. Your flutter your eyes shut at her smug expression, tossing your head to the side and crying out when her hand goes flat against you, rubbing with firm pressure.  

You’re sensitive, a moan blossoming from your throat as your hips shamelessly hump up into her palm. You don’t have to see her to know she’s still got that smug expression on her face, but you can definitely hear it in her voice. “Poor little thing. Such a brat in the ring just for me to touch you? You like being treated like my toy, don’t you?”  

You try to nod, but your eyes snap open when her hand moves away from you. You whine at first, only to quickly shut up when you see her blade again. It’s twirled expertly between her fingers, her head cocked and letting a few loose strands from her bun curl around her face. She looked beautifully deadly.  

“Don’t move.” She reminds you, tugging your briefs just enough to give enough room for the tip of her blade to pierce the fabric deathly near your crotch. Tears fill your eyes as your body trembles, trying so hard not to move when she pulls up and in one clean slice and loud tear, your briefs are split from the bottom of your crotch, up to the waistband. Easily discarded with a tug of her blade.  

You’re exposed. Clearly hard, your little cock peeking from your lower lips and glistening from slick. One pull of your mound with the palm of Wraith’s hand exposes your cock to its full potential. Flushed red, glistening and twitching. You can see her debate what she wants to do, licking her lips with a hum. You pray she’ll suck you off, desperately rolling your hips to look more appealing as her prey.  

Instead, she climbs atop you. She’s still fully clothed, dressed in a tight tanktop that’s pulled up now to show her abdomen and the piercing in her navel. Tight black leggings to match and a loose unzipped purple hoodie drooping off her shoulders. One tug of her hand and she’s pulling her hair out of its confinements, shaking it free as a sigh leaves her lips.  

You ache to touch her, and she allows you to, but not in the way you desperately want to. She takes your hands and guides them to her hips as she settles her weight in your lap. Your cock presses up against the swell of her ass against the fabric and you sob out her name pathetically in reply again. “Wraith, please! M-ma'am, please-”  

“Well? Be a good little pup then and hump me.” Wraith speaks coolly, resting one hand on your chest to keep her balance. You sob out again, tightening your fingers on her hips as a blush spreads across your face in embarrassment. “What? Don’t you want to cum?” It’s said almost like a growl, only sending chills through your body pleasantly. Even more so when her blade comes right up to your throat again and demands your attention.  

You flutter your eyes open again, breath quickening and meeting her eyes. There’s a dangerous look to them as she presses again, her voice lower. “Or would you prefer I punish you properly? Toss you out in the hall just like this and let anyone have you?” It’s a trick question. Despite your nails digging into her at the idea of just being used, watched by her, you know the answer she’s looking for.  

“N-no!  No  I belong to you, ma’am- just you-- thank you. Thank you for le-letting me cum-” You plead out, immediately taking her up on her offer as you part your legs a bit, planting your feet on the bed to get better leverage and tugging her hips.  

You start humping, at first a little shyly as you learn the motion of your hips. But when the pleasure starts to settle in, you abandon any notion that this is embarrassing. The blade is pulled from your throat at some point, you can feel sweat stinging where there must have been a small cut, but it hardly deters you.  

You’re sure you’re bruising her hips at this rate, humping frantically up against her ass as your cock grinds against the swell of her flesh and the slick fabric.  

Both Wraith’s hands rest on your chest, her thumbs taking the time to work your nipples over, or gently tugging and plucking one. When you cry out and clutch her hips tighter, holding her still to fuck up against her desperately, she takes that time to be cruel. Her thumb and forefinger pinching each nipple hard, pulling lightly and making a wavering sob escape your lips.  

Her cruelty ends up making you cum. You’re desperate, clawing at her hips as your own hump up against her like a dog in heat, grinding your cock harder against her as you feel contractions and waves take over your body.   

You’re a moaning, quivering mess. Something that must be too loud for her because two fingers are pressed into your parted lips. You waste no time in sucking, whimpering as she presses down on your tongue and presses her fingers in deeper to the knuckle.  

Your eyes slide open half lidded to look at her, your eyes glassy and full of tears. Wraith’s grinding her hips down against you, subtly in slow circles, her head tilted to the side and her hair following the motion beautifully. Her fingers slide across your tongue, finger fucking your mouth casually as she murmurs, “Do you want to be a good boy now?”  

It’s an opportunity. Do you want her to stay cruel and hurt you, or do you want to be obedient and get her softness?   

You nod, making a soft moan of a ‘mhmm’ that makes her shoulders relax. “Good.” She speaks quietly, sliding her fingers out of your mouth and shifting off your body. Fitting between your legs, gently pushing your thighs apart to sink her fingers into you.  

She pulls three more orgasms from you like that alone. Taking her time stretching you out all the way to four fingers. Your last orgasm is with four fingers spread inside of you, her rosy flushed lips wrapped around your cock with your fingers in her hair and your oversensitive body trembling harshly. She’s so cruel yet so kind to you, her pierced tongue sliding up along your cock with each gentle suckle, dipping down to lick up your mess when you’re cumming.  

Her pleased moans at your taste only make you fall deeper into an obedient state of mind.  

You’re so out of it, only briefly whining when Wraith moves off the bed. You only come back to the present when you hear the telltale shifting across the room and the buckles of a strap on.  

 You turn your head to the side to watch her, noting she’s pulled off near all of her clothing finally. Left in her black sports bra, but now you can see all her body mods. To the tattoos going up each thigh in beautiful, shadow-y forms with flowers etched into the black ink. The piercings littering her body, over her ears, her bridge piercing, her nose. The dermals in her collarbones and her navel piercing.   

You sigh at the sight of her, only to let out a high-pitched noise when you see the dildo she’s picking out for tonight. “B-babe is that really necessary-”  

“You were a brat earlier. Did you expect just being a dog was enough?” She cuts you off, icy eyes flickering up to you with a quirked brow as if to remind you that that was your decision to make.  

You feel the words ‘You started it’ blossom in your chest, but quickly bite your tongue.  

You swallow thickly, watching as she sets everything into place. Filling yourself further with anticipation as you look at it.  

The dildo she’s using is bright red and werewolf themed. The knot is as thick as your fist, so that explains why she used four fingers and plenty of lubricant. It’s long, long enough for you to always feel overfilled blissfully so. And attached to her hip, tucked into the harness, is a syringe that connects a thin tube down to the base so she can pump thick white lubricant acting as cum into you.  

Wraith glances over at you once everything is in place. She looks absolutely gorgeous, you think. The curtains are opened, allowing the starry sky to frame her in the background. The soft glow of a lamp making her pale skin have a healthy glow to it, outlining the body hair on her legs and underarms and the small trail she had going from her navel to between her legs. She’s tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear to keep her hair out of her face, her rosy lips parted softly before turning into a small smile when she catches your look.  

“You need to keep looking scared for me to keep up this act, baby boy.” She playfully says, tightening a final strap on her thigh as she turns towards you.  

You can’t help the smile that narrows your eyes as it reaches your cheeks. “Maybe if you weren’t so cute, I’d be scared.”  

The playful narrow of Wraith’s eyes is a warning. You know at the drop of a dime she could switch to the same knife wielding, snarling face she had before. But instead, you flutter your lashes back at her playfully, shifting to lie back down as she approaches the bed once more.  

Wraith straddles your shoulders first, and at  first  you’re gleefully ready to avoid the strap on to get at her cunt underneath. But, she’s quick, threading fingers into your hair and forcing your head back to stay still. You huff, only able to inhale her scent and having only gotten a flicker of how wet she was underneath. “No. If you’re still awake by the end of this, then maybe you can have a treat.” She promises, her voice smooth as her other hand guides the tapered tip of the dildo to your lips.  

You obediently open up, despite your complaint about having to wait to taste her trying to bubble from your chest. The hold in your hair keeps you still as she feeds an inch at a time past your lips. There’s a gentle hold on your hair as her other hand joins in, holding you and gently fucking your face with the first few inches. You go to reach for her hips, but your hands are snatched, fingers laced with your own and held up above your head instead.  

You focus on breathing through your nose when Wraith tests your limits, pressing a little deeper until the tip brushes your throat. Your body reacts at first with a small gag, your fingers tightening in her grasp, but she presses forward again and stays until you finally stop your gagging.  

When she pulls her cock out, it’s plenty wet with your saliva. You know that there’s no need for it, not with her copious amounts she’d used on you earlier with both her mouth and the bottle of lubricant. But, you also know, it wasn’t just for that reason.  

“Brat.” You manage to choke out playfully up at her when she moves back between your legs. Wraith’s eyes narrow at you in warning, guiding the tip to your soaked hole and pressing the first few inches in with ease.  

“And you call me a brat? After the stunt you pulled in the arena?” Her voice is a threat, low and warning. Her hips keep pressing into you, adjusting to position herself lower on her knees and hands grabbing your hips to adjust you how she needed.  

“You started it—AH!”  

Well, you can’t say you didn’t try to stand your ground.  

Wraith slams her hips home instantly, making you cry out mid accusation. The knot presses at your hole, only threatening and not entering. Her nails press into your hips, dragging down to the meat of your thighs to grip you firmer. “Oh?” Is all the thing she gives you to argue with. You know she’s waiting for you to say more, just so she has an excuse.  

When you give up and shake your head, crying about how you’ll be good, she begins to fuck you properly. Grabbing one of your legs and adjusting you so you roll over onto your side, you hug onto a pillow comfortably so you can muffle your whines into it. The new angle has your leg hiked over her shoulder, her cock able to fuck into you with ease and hitting a really good angle that keeps making you sing out.  

All the while she keeps murmuring out various things.  ”Such  a good boy.” “Funny how you don’t have any back talk now.” “What a cute little thing you are.” Praising you as one of her hands fall down to your cock, jerking you off with her thumb, index, and middle finger.  

You’re so close, but it isn’t until she growls out, “Keep screaming, little boy. I’m going to breed you full of my pups so everyone knows you’re mine.” Is when you finally hit your limit. Your entire body trembles as you cum, spasming and screaming into your pillow to muffle your cries and moans of ‘thank you’ and ‘yes yes yes’.  

You’re vaguely aware of her filling you full of the cum lubricant. More aware of how she’s adjusting you to lie on your back. You whine with the motion, vaguely aware of her dethatching the dildo to keep you plugged up from the thick knot.   

It’s isn’t until you’re gently being guided to look up as she climbs above you do you understand. Eagerly, you reach for her thighs, letting her rest one on either side of your head as you thank her tiredly before letting your mouth be put to better use.  

--  

By the time the night is up, you find yourself cleaned off and exhausted. With a very tired girlfriend in your arms, spooned by your body as you kiss the back of her neck and thank her.  

In response you get a soft, delighted noise in turn, and the pleasure of her rolling over in your arms to wind her arms around your waist, her face tucked into your chest. Protected and safe in your arms.  

You may have taken a more submissive role in the bedroom, but when it came to the romantic aspect, you were more than happy to play this role for her. Loving, protecting, doting.   

After all, Wraith had enough to deal with in her day to day life. Here? Here she was yours. Yours and safe.   

“I love you, baby.” You murmur quietly in the dark room. Hearing the telltale soft reply of ‘mmnhhh’ against your chest and the gentle squeeze of her arms around you to let you know she felt the same way.  

Beast tamed.  

For now.  

[lovelyirony]

okay but hear me out hear me out hear me OUT: hunger by ross copperman for rhodeytony

Everyone knows that Tony would die for Rhodey. It’s as easy to see as green grass or a blue sky. He would burn everything down for Rhodey. 

Something that others don’t catch onto is how willing Rhodey is to do the exact same. Rhodey doesn’t often tell people his side of the story of how the two met. 

As it turns out, Rhodey wasn’t supposed to be in room 63-J, he was supposed to be in 65-J. Due to mix-ups in housing and a particularly horrible employee, Rhodey was moved into what was supposed to be a private room. 

“I’m, um, sorry,” Rhodey says. “I can move to a different room, I just have to email the people--” 

“Uh-uh, don’t worry about it,” Tony says, eyes shining. “There’s more than enough space in here, and I’d really prefer to have a roommate. I’ve never really shared anything before!” 

Tony is a small seventeen year old. Rhodey is eighteen, takes one look at this kid who could honestly pass for fifteen, and realizes that he knows nothing about the real world. Absolutely nothing. His head is empty, and he has no idea about that either. 

So Rhodey stays. He teaches Tony how to do things, although Tony isn’t completely helpless. He loves doing laundry and he knows how to cook some serious gourmet shit. 

This is how Rhodey learns how to make his own pasta, and Tony smiles as he smears flour against his cheek. 

Rhodey teaches Tony what coffee to drink, which restaurants are the best. (This does not stop Tony from eating at Burger King near-religiously.) Tony learns how to dress how he wants, and to stop showing up to classes in what is essentially a full suit. 

Tony falls in love with old jeans, worn band tees that he finds after combing through racks of all the thrift stores. 

He laughs as he makes Rhodey get a neon orange fanny pack. 

“Since you claim you always lose your shit at parties,” Tony teases, grinning. 

Tony’s a kid. 

And yet...not a kid. 

He knows immediately who to trust, who to avoid. The way he phrases things has Rhodey’s head going in circles. He’s brilliant with people, to a point where he can drive anyone away. 

Except for Rhodey. 

He made a promise over Thanksgiving break, when Tony realized that his mother penned a note explaining that “darling, your father and I are still in the Maldives, so you have free reign of the house for Thanksgiving...” 

It meant that he would be Completely Alone. 

Well, Rhodey wasn’t having that. 

“If I have to clean the carpet, I’m forcing you with me,” Rhodey says. “And I promised that I would bring a dessert, and I know that you make killer tiramisu.” 

“If I only have to prove that I’m clearly the better roommate, then so be it,” Tony says dramatically. “Take me away, Jim-dear.” 

(He cannot stop calling him that after they stole the VCR of Lady and the Tramp from the English department’s catalog. Not like they’re gonna miss it. 

Rhodey cannot stop thinking about how much he really, actually loves it, that nickname.) 

Tony is shy when he gets to the house, although Dad immediately pulls Tony into the family. 

“Rhodey promised us a dessert but I know that he didn’t inherit my cooking skills, so I’m assuming he’s just promised you,” he says. 

“Yes he has, Mr. Rhodes,” Tony says, grinning. “How do you feel about tiramisu?” 

Tony later on impresses Mrs. Rhodes--from that night on, referred to lovingly as “Mama”--with his piano playing skills. Tony’s perfect memory reads notes as if he’s always known them, and plays piano with a skilled sort of ease. He even adds his own little stylings, making it even better as Rhodey watches his parents dance. 

They haven’t done that in years, not since Rhodey was little and they still had the old record player with Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington records stacked to the side among others. 

Tony laughs along with the music, grinning as his little sister tells him every single embarrassing story about Rhodey. 

“He thought watermelons grew on trees,” Jeannette says, cackling. “Can you believe that?!” 

“I can,” Tony says, putting a finger to his chin. “And I think that if no one had told you, you still would.” 

“Of course if no one had told me I still would! That’s how belief works!” Rhodey calls out. 

“Shush,” Mama says, smoothing a hand over Rhodey’s hair. “Some people are dumb, baby, it’s okay.” 

Rhodey makes an offended squawk, and Tony laughs. 

They go to sleep in Rhodey’s bed. It’s a queen, not like they both can’t fit onto it. 

And if Rhodey wakes with Tony curled into his arms, soft breathing? If Rhodey realizes that life could be like this all the time if they really wanted it to? 

Well. It’s not the worst thought in the world to have. Not by a long shot. 

- 

This feeling continues on long after they graduate, when they start spending every holiday they can together. They always make a dessert together and Rhodey always gets something Super Shit from the thrift store. 

Last year, it was a mug proclaiming “Best Regional Staff Manager of 1978.” He has just discovered that he could custom-order a burnt orange shag carpet, and Tony will put it into his bedroom. 

And then Afghanistan. 

Rhodey grieves like nothing else. He is almost always dehydrated from crying, he can barely eat, and Pepper has to check in on him. 

“You smell bad,” she tells him one night. 

“I know.” 

“Go shower.” 

“Later.” 

“No, now. I swear to god if Tony knew you smelled this disgusting, he’d douse you in Chanel no. 5, and I know how you feel about that.” 

Rhodey manages to get out a small smile. 

He showers. He feels a bit better. 

And he starts looking. 

Everyone in his squad and in the military itself thinks he’s crazy for still looking. The chances of Tony being alive are less than fifty percent. He is most likely dead, but Rhodey can’t stop looking. He just can’t. 

He gets Tony in his arms months later, skinny and frail and yet still so alive. Rhodey tells him he’ll never let go. 

“Not even to let me take a wizz?” Tony asks, smile weak. Rhodey laughs and lets a little bit of tears slip out. 

He does something that was not supposed to happen. 

He leaves the military. 

Realizes that that isn’t what he wants, night after night, to count down days until he’s back in Tony’s arms. He wants to work alongside his someone, to smile at him, and cook breakfast. 

It’s at this time when Tony keeps coming into his room. 

“Like old times?” he asks. Begs, almost. Rhodey nods. 

“Always, Tones. You know that.” 

Tony introduces him to Iron Man, and Rhodey oohs and ah’s, questioning what works and why it had to be that garish, bold red. 

“Aw sweetheart, who else would pick such a color scheme?” 

Rhodey grins and asks when he’s getting his own suit. 

“I do not believe in a god, but I think I might start praying,” Jarvis says dryly, and they both snicker. 

It is Rhodey who helps keep Tony from working himself to the bone, forcing him to come with him. 

“Come on, it’s pizza night and you have to help me make breadsticks otherwise I’m not putting on enough garlic butter.” 

“Rhodey I know that you love garlic butter so this is essentially an empty threat but I will and can kill you.” 

Rhodey snorts as Tony chases him around the kitchen. 

Then the Avengers. 

Natalie Rushman comes into Tony’s life, and Rhodey just knows she isn’t who she says she is. 

Doesn’t help that Tony’s reckless and trying to hide a pretty impressive crossword along his chest. 

What’s an eleven-letter-word meaning “a destroying agency?” 

(Destruction.) 

He doesn’t let her even near Tony. 

“I’m supposed to be here,” Natalie says plainly. She has a coy smile on her face. 

She does not know that for a wild variety of reasons, this will not work on Rhodey. 

“So am I,” Rhodey says evenly. “So I guess we’ve come to a stalemate. I’ll give him the paperwork. You can ask Pepper about the gala’s appetizers and security measures, as I’m sure you have questions.” 

He knows she doesn’t. He also knows that Tony won’t look into her because he’s--

He’s busy. 

Just that. 

(Not dying, his brain whispers insidiously. Not planning a trip six feet or below.) 

Rhodey does not blow off Tony when they have a fight in the house, when Tony wants everyone to leave and get out and tries to get Rhodey to leave by saying he’s a sidekick. 

“You idiot,” Rhodey scowls. “If I’m a sidekick, what does that make you? The very minor character?” 

“What? No, I’m Iron Man--” 

“Yeah, but still. I think Pepper or someone else would be the main character. Quit being an idiot and help me clean up the glass you shot at, idiot.” 

Tony doesn’t like knowing that Rhodey knows. He also doesn’t like Pepper screams about an omelet and how “It wasn’t even that good Tony! How did you mess up eggs! You didn’t even get any seasoning!” 

Rhodey laughs. Helps Tony discover that a.) SHIELD is a bunch of assholes collectively getting a salary, and b.) Howard still had tricks up his sleeve. 

But tricks are tricks. 

You get a solution? Well, that’s even better. 

Tony smells like metal and coconuts, and Rhodey whoops with joy. 

Tony kisses him on the lips, and it’s amazing and he definitely wants more of that, and-- 

“Okay we gotta go take down an evil genius,” Tony says, grinning. “Come on sugar-plum.” 

War Machine and Iron Man work like a dream together, and they’re panting and tired but smiling at the end of all of this. 

“Sour patch, we need a vacation,” Tony says. “We need to just. Lay somewhere.” 

“Agreed, honey.” 

So after all of these years, they become an item. A couple. People who love each other and don’t get too mad when someone else eats all of the butternut squash soup (Rhodey). 

And Tony will tell anyone who listens how in love he fell, so hard, and Rhodey will smile and agree. 

But he’s pretty sure that he’s the one who fell first.��

[immcrtalsx]

Is that NATHANIEL BUZOLIC? No, that’s just ERIK BLACKTHORNE. They were born on 12/12/754 and are a ORIGINAL VAMPIRE living in Northknot Town. They work at the AIDA BLACKTHORNE MEMORIAL LIBRARY. Some say they’re CLEVER and DEDICATED, but I’ve heard others say they’re UNSTABLE and ARROGANT. When you think of HIM, don’t you think of BLOODY SHIRTS, A LONG LOST LOVE & BOURBON?

trigger warning ; abuse, death & murder

& BIOGRAPHY

Erik was the youngest son, and third youngest child, of Ivar and Helga, a viking warrior and his wife. It wasn't always the happiest of childhoods but they were doted on by their mother. She tried her best to protect them from her father's temper, which was usually targeted at the older children. It didn't always prevent the blows that sometimes came Erik's way nor did it stop him from seeing his siblings get it worse. Sometimes the sounds of their cries haunted his nightmares, even centuries later. But despite all that, Erik still lived a good childhood. He was a curious and adventurous young boy who never grew out of that as a teenager.

One day his curiosity got the better of him. Rumours of some of the men from a village over turning into beasts during the full moon was something he had to see. He and his younger sister, Aida, decided to go and see if it was true. It was a night that would haunt Erik for the rest of his days. It's a bit of a blur now but he gets flashes of the beast and of the pain he felt from the wound inflicted on him. He remembers the screams of anguish for his dead sister. Then he remembers being barely conscious while someone fed him a foul tasting solution. He would later discover that this was the immortality potion that both saved his life and ruined it.

It did not take long for the Blackthorne siblings to turn against their father. He did not always act like he loved them but he had been so desperate to save his other children from Aida's fate that he hadn't thought about the consequences of the immortality spell. The bloodlust was the worst of all. Erik struggled with it especially when his father's temper started coming out in him. The death of Aida didn't help either, he never fully got over it. For nearly a century, Erik traveled with at least one of his siblings and then he was alone for a while.

At this point, Erik was resigned to the fact that he would live his life alone. He didn't know that he could turn people and his family had supposedly destroyed all the sessile oak so he could not die. An eternity of feeding and killing and loneliness. Then he met Frida and she changed everything. She was picking flowers in a field near her village and he was immediately drawn to her. They mostly spent time together outside of her village, away from other people and he quickly fell in love with her. He told her what he was before things went too far and she was more accepting than he thought she'd be. He was happy to be with her as she aged, even though he wouldn't but her people soon suspected him of killing members of the community. He had tried to stop the killing for her but it was from when he first arrived and they wanted him out.

There was a mob and Frida tried to protect him. She fell and hit her head with a rock. He sped away with her, trying to heal her with his blood but it was no use. She died in his arms. Parts of the mob found him and he killed them before fleeing, never to return. Had he known that he had just turned his first vampire, he would have come back for her. He could have had an entire life with Frida but instead he left, devastated by the loss. It became so much that after only a month he turned his emotions off. He pillaged and slaughtered his way through Europe before eventually going to America. It was Nova who got him to turn his emotions back on after tracking him down a few decades later.

Erik traveled with her for a while and then on his own, finding solace in being around witches. Though they didn't easily trust him, he was willing to learn the magic he had only just started to practice before he was turned into a vampire. Still some witches and also humans attempted to persecute him and his siblings, especially when they started to turn other people. That was when the Blackthornes founded Northknot. He didn't stay for long but he always found himself coming back every few decades. He would always work in the library, which he had founded in honour of Aida.

& HEADCANONS

001. Erik has always felt closer to his sisters than his brothers. Perhaps he feels more connected to Aida through them or maybe it was because as the youngest son, he always felt compared to his brothers but whatever the reason, he is more likely to keep in touch with Nova and Miriam and even their sires over Athelstan, Lucianus and Olve.

002. Erik was most in tune with his wizard nature compared to his other siblings. He showed signs of magic from a very young age and showed a lot of promise to be powerful if he hadn’t been turned into a vampire. Since then he has spent any time when his emotions were on, and even when they were off, in the company of witches. He would gain their trust and learn their ways and that way he felt connected to his late mother and the life he could have had.

003. Due to his connection with witches, Erik often one who acts as his partner in crime. Someone he could get to perform magic for him but also help him learn. Typically, he finds someone who is struggling in a coven or one that has been shunned quite young for whatever reason and he helps them blossom and earns their trust as well as them earning his. They would travel with him until their deaths, rarely asking to be turned to avoid death with a few exceptions. His current witch is Lucrecia Nair Rosales.

004. When his emotions were on and he actually cared about things, Erik educated himself on the ever-changing world. He knows 21 languages, can play most instruments and has read the most literature from the last 1100 years as well as met the people that wrote them. He’s also fairly gifted in most sports and any other task he set his mind too.

005. On top of learning all these skills, Erik actually has 17 university degrees including a medical one from the 1700s, three master’s degrees and four PhDs.

& PERSONALITY

Erik was always an incredibly bright child and grew into an incredibly bright young man. He was a talented wizard, taking after his mother and showing exceptional skill and promise until that was taken away from him. He lost his way after becoming a vampire, only finding himself when he found Frida before losing his way again. He has been incredibly unstable throughout the centuries with his emotions going on and off depending on what happened. He’s got a lot of blood on his hands because of it. 

When Erik is most himself, he is a very charming to the point where people think he’s flirting but he rarely has any form of lover or sometimes even friends beyond his family and his sires. He just likes getting what he wants and the charm can turn manipulative in a heartbeat. He’s so sure of himself that he’s even been described as arrogant but only by people who aren’t afraid of him.

& CURRENT CONNECTIONS

» Athelstan, Lucianus, Olve, Miriam, Nova & Aida Blackthorne - siblings - Erik and his siblings have varying relationships. Some of them are tense and rocky, some of them are much closer and loving and some of them are even non-existent but at the end of the day, they’re still family.  

» Frida Eydis - first love / ex-girlfriend - Frida was the first person that Erik let in after he was turned. She was easy to fall in love with and even after he told her what he was, she still loved him too. Then her villagers turned on him and she was supposedly killed in the process. He spent many centuries mourning her and did so to this day until he found her alive and a vampire in Northknot. Now it was a different kind of mourning: losing someone who was still alive.

» Natalie Dawson - adopted family - Though sired by his older sister Miriam, Erik views Natalie like a sister or perhaps a niece would be a more accurate description. Either way, she is treated as family and he would do anything for her.

» Vanya Blackthorne - adopted family - The sire of his other sister, Nova, Erik is also quite close to Vanya. Whenever he’s in town, he goes to see her at the same time he’s looking for his siblings.

» Lucrecia Nair Rosales - witch / best friend - For the last 20 odd years, Lu has been Erik’s witch. He found her and helped her to learn and now she’s one of his most trusted friends.

& WANTED CONNECTIONS

» First Vampire He Intentionally Turned - This is the first person that Erik turned into a vampire intentionally. Frida was technically his first sire but he thought she had died. This time he saved someone on time. When he turned his emotions off after Frida, he did a lot of killing and pillaging and when they turned back on, he felt he had a lot of making up to do. He didn’t turn many people but one time he found this person bleeding out with no hope of survival except turning them. It like happened in the 1100s or later and the pair are still close to this day. [any gender]

» Other Vampires He Have Turned - Erik has only turned some dozen people in his entire lifetime. After what had happened with Frida and his own disdain for the species, he didn’t want anyone to live with that curse. He only ever turned people who were dying and he believed they wanted to live. Some of them are grateful for it and some of them are not, some of them may harbour feelings for him or feel the sire bond more strongly, it’s completely up for discussion. [any gender]

» Rival / Enemies - Having an on and off relationship with his emotions, it’s not surprising that Erik has made many enemies over the years. Either because he killed a loved one, turned someone’s loved one, turned the person, or just generally did something that pissed them off, he is never short of enemies. [any gender]

[blue-mint-winter]

BSG 4x09 The Hub rewatch

In which there’s a lot of Roslin analysis because she’s so complicated and I love her :)

Continuing from 4x07, we get the other side of the story - what happened on the baseship while everyone in the Fleet was panicking and looking for them.

Just like previous episode was Adama-focused, this one is fittingly about Roslin. In their unexpected separation they were both forced to finally recognize their feelings for each other. For Adama it was more straight forward, because his main struggle was duty vs love. For Roslin it’s a lot more subtle journey of self-reflection that’s not solely focused on one person. For her, love is a subject deeply tangled with all her other issues - her leadership, her cancer, her trauma, the fate of humanity itself, even her grudge against Baltar.

It’s interesting how Roslin has visions of Elosha whenever the baseship jumps. It might suggest that in that time of transit, disappearing from one point in space and appearing in another, the ship is nowhere - outside of the material universe. Which allows Elosha’s spirit to guide Roslin on her journey of self-reflection.

Picking Elosha for this role is brilliant. Not only she was a priest, she was also Roslin’s friend and confidante. She never betrayed that trust and Roslin never betrayed her too. Elosha knew her in those better times, before Pegasus, before New Caprica. Before Roslin started making those horrible decisions like kidnapping Hera or ordering to use bioweapon to commit Cylon genocide. Elosha herself reminds us how Roslin was back then, more open to people, more hopeful, compared to how she became now - hard, distrustful, angry and vengeful. Her words help Roslin realize those things about herself - that she doesn’t allow herself to love people anymore. Her issues, her trauma and her power made her so lonely, pushing others away, unwilling to trust anyone. It’s no accident that in those visions of Roslin on her deathbed, she sees Adama, Lee and Kara (!) at her side - they’re her family. Those are the people who love her, who care about her, and she’s keeping them away, not trusting them. She’s so afraid of these emotions, this vulnerability.

She sees Adama reading to her, saying goodbye when she dies, crying... putting his wedding ring on her hand. Beautiful scene, but also means that Roslin has to be smacked in the face with this to allow herself to realize the depth of love between them.

What I really like is that this episode gives Roslin a reality check that she needed. Somewhere along the way, she stopped loving people, trusting them, giving them second chances. And not only those closest to her, as this applies to her new Cylon allies. She decided to go behind their backs and get D’Anna all to herself. I love how it really doesn’t work out because D’Anna’s just not cooperating. Roslin’s duplicity and her lack of trust was completely unnecessary and will only serve to make the Cylons less willing to trust her. I just love how her scheming (against allies!) didn’t pay off. There’s a lesson in that.

Another part of Roslin’s self-reflection is Gaius Baltar. He’s injured by shrapnel during the battle, so Roslin has to tend to him. She has his life in her hands and, doped on painkiller, Baltar finally gives her what she always wanted from him - the admission of guilt. She was right, he gave the access codes to Cylons. But his confession isn’t how she would have liked it because Gaius now is a changed man, a man of faith and he let go of that guilt. He sees himself as a flood that wiped out most of humanity so they can be reborn. His actions were part of God’s plan, God made him that way. Roslin is mad because this is not what she wants to hear from him. To her these are just religious excuses. She’s mad he doesn’t feel guilty anymore for his crime so she decides to let him bleed to death.

Ok, so this is a first time Roslin’s killing someone by herself but even now she’s shying away from doing the deed properly. I’d say watching the man you hate bleed to death and doing nothing is quite cowardly.

I like that Roslin changing her mind and saving Baltar’s life isn’t really about her feelings for him. Letting him die was motivated purely by her emotions and judging his worthiness for life. Saving him is a selfless act, because just as he let go of his guilt, she needs to let go of her grudge. She saves him despite what he’s done or who he is - she saves him because of the simple fact that he’s a human being. It’s not her place to judge if he deserves life because she’s just another human, just as fallible. And that’s beautiful. Elosha’s spirit indicated Roslin as the leader is responsible for morality of her people and I think to a degree it’s the truth. She’s at the forefront, the decisionmaker, the example.

Roslin saving Baltar to prove humanity’s worthiness to survive and find Earth to some higher entity (very irrational of her :) is reminiscent of Natalie backing out of her plans to double-cross humans because she thinks the Final Five would judge if the Cylons deserve their help.

Now, of the other people in this episode worth speaking of:

Gaius - well, he’s mostly there for Roslin’s character development. His own characterization is still brilliant, from him trying to be some kind of Hybrid authority, but everyone ignoring him, to his admission of guilt and his faith in God’s plan. His talk with the Centurion about God was funny, but I think he was not really trying to start some Centurion revolution, rather Centurion was the only one on this ship who would actually listen to him. Gaius just really needs an audience, lol.

Helo, as always the moral paragon, but a good soldier that follows orders, even if he doesn’t agree with them.

So, Eight accessed Athena’s memories and she now knows how to give backrubs to Helo. I think she got those memories only after meeting Athena and getting that angry lecture from her. Eight must have wanted to understand Athena better... still the memories aren’t really her own.

D’Anna’s return was pretty good. Cavil wanted to use her to stop the Cylon rebellion, but she smashed his head in. Revenge! XD I like how she’s back to her cool, calculated self. She has the top info everyone wants, she won’t lose that advantage until she’s really safe.

[doomdays-a]

common  misconceptions  about  tracy.

these  are  just  a  few  thinks  that  have  irked  me  when  digging  in  the  deep,    dark  depths  of  tracy’s  tag  and  sometimes  in  some  threads  with  people  over  the  last  year   (  +  )   that  i’ve  been  writing  tracy,         and  i  understand  how  easy  it  is  to misread  a  character if  you’re  not  studying  them  personally   /    don’t  care  as  much  about  them  as  the  ones  who  are  writing  them,       so  i  don’t  blame  anyone  for  it    —–     but  this  is  a  character  who  gets  a  lot  of mindless  hate,      a  lot  of  it  stemming  from   the  fact  that  people  just  didn’t  care  to  try  to  understand  her when  she  was  on  the  show.        i  respect  that  our  opinions  may  not  align,       but  i  needed  to  write  all  of  this  out  for  people  to  understand  where  i  stand  on  all  of  it.      i’ll  also  link  all  metas  relating  to  these  misconceptions.

tracy  was  a  lovesick  girl  obsessed  with  theo  and  making  him  her  boyfriend.        

yes,    tracy  loved  theo,      but  in  ways  that  needed  no romantic  connotations.       she  was  loyal  because  she  had  NOTHING  before  theo.       he  offered  her  guidance  that  she  had  been  searching  for all  her  life.       without  a  mother  for  most  of  her  life    +     a  father  who  only  gave  her  attention  when  he  had  to,        she  needed  someone  to help  mentor  her,      and  she  latched  onto  theo  quickly.       but  what  people  often  forget  is  that  tracy’s  prominent  genetics  are  the  KANIMA.       kanimas  seek  masters,      someone  to guide  them,     someone  to  use  as  their  weapon  of  vengeance,         someone  to   give  them  orders.     it’s  why  theo  and  tracy  work  so  well  together     —–       theo  needs  people  who  are  willing  to  act  as  his  tool  to  get  what  he  wants.      tracy  is  willing  to  be  that  for  him  because  her  genetics pull  her  to  him,       making  everything  he  needs  a  priority.        tracy  NEVER  cared  about  having  a  boyfriend,       nor  did  she  care  about  being romantically  involved  with  theo.     that  was never  a  priority,      just  a  BONUS  between  them.      it  was  something  that  heightened  their  bond,       though  not  at  all  necessary  to  the  relationship.         it’s  important  to  remember  that  she  wasn’t  constantly  by  his  side  because  she  was too  obsessed  and  sickly  in  love  with  him,       but  because  she  RESPECTED  him  as  an  alpha,     a  master,    a  genuine  friend  and  the  FIRST  real  friend  she  has  ever  had,        and  as  a  LEADER.       her  idea  of   the  perfect  alpha  was  skewed;       she  believed  the  way  theo  behaved  was  the  way  alphas  were supposed  to  behave,      and  that  as  his  beta,      it  was her  responsibility  to  always  protect  him  and  put  him  before  herself,      in  every  situation.     being  LOYAL  doesn’t  mean  she  was simply  obsessed.  

❲   READ  MORE:   ✖︎  ✖︎  ✖︎  ✖︎    ❳

tracy  and  the  rest  of  the  pack  were  close.    

this  definitely  isn’t  true  on so  many  levels,      but  i’m  going  to  start  with  the  fact  that  it  was  IMPORTANT  to  this  entire  arc  that  this  pack  was  not  close.        to  insist   that  they  were  close  and  all  got  along  as  a  happy  family  as  scott’s  pack  did  is  to  totally  invalidate   what  really  happened  between  them  all.       theo  was  NOT  a  good  alpha   in  terms  of  how  he  treated  his  betas       (  despite  tracy’s  own  skewed  thoughts on  the  matter.   )     this  doesn’t  mean  they  didn’t  have  their  own  friendships      ——     josh  obviously  looked  out  for  corey,      hayden  and  corey  were  close,       hayden  cared  for  tracy  as  seen  once  she  found  her  dead  body  even  though  that  definitely wasn’t  reciprocated.       hayden  was  trying  to  be  part  of  the  pack  because  she  thought  that  was   what  she  had  to  do,      eventually  straying  and  joining  the  other  pack.       corey  was back  and  forth giving  insider   information  to  both  packs  and  tracy  could  see  that,      also  having  reason  not  to  trust  him  given  his  connection  to  mason.       tracy  didn’t  like  hayden  or  corey because  of  their  constant  back-and-forth  and  their  hesitance  to  trust  theo  immediately  as  she  did.       she  saw  them  as  weak    (    often,    unrightfully  so.    )

but   more  specifically,      i  want  to  talk  about  josh  as  i’ve  seen  so  many  edits,     imagines,    thoughts,    etc.    that  allude  to  the  fact  that  these  two  were  CLOSE.      while  they  were  seen  together  most,       that  doesn’t  mean  she  liked  him.      she  tolerated  him  because  he  was  the  only  one  of  the  pack  besides  her  who  seemed  to  be sticking  around,      but  more  often  than  not,      she  was  ANNOYED  with  him.         he second  guessed  theo,      he talked  back  to  him,      he  acted  ungrateful  for  what  he  had,      and  that  wasn’t  something  tracy  could  never  get  behind.      she  never  had  any  sort  of  respect  for  josh.      she  liked  him  BETTER  than  the  other  two in  the  pack,      but  that  didn’t  mean  she  enjoyed  his  presence.      this  is   especially  true  when  they  have  the  mask.       she  knows  josh  is  the  only  one  capable of  putting  it  on without  dying    ——    he  has  POWER  that  the  rest  don’t,     and  this  is  an  advantage  for  him.      it frustrates  her  that  he’s  not  taking  advantage  of  it,     especially  since  she’s  quick  to  use  her  own  newfound  powers  whenever  she  sees  the  opportunity.        this  is  a  real  opportunity  for  josh  to  help  the  pack  be  one  step  closer  to   their  overall  goal    (    an  in  general,     get  answers  that  they  can’t  find  elsewhere    )     and  he  refuses  to  help.      to  tracy,     this  makes  him  seem  disloyal  and  worthless  to  the  pack.    

i  don’t  know  what  it  is  that  makes  everyone  convinced  that  she  cared  about  josh  at  all,     but   i  think  the  scene  after  he  dies  is  one  of  her  most  misread  scenes  there  is.     i’ve  seen  a   lot  of  posts  about  how  she  was    ‘   obviously  so  broken  up  about  watching  him  die  ‘   but  i  will  continue  to  refute  this.      tracy  blindly  supports  theo  in  everything  he  does.       if  he  wants  one  of  their  pack  members  dead,     then  to  her,     that’s  something  that’s  necessary  and  beneficial  to  them.      she  TRUSTS  his  decisions;    he’s  her alpha,     she’s  made  to  believe  that  he  knows  what’s  best  for  all  of  them.      josh  had  just  literally  proved  himself  USELESS  to  the  pack  because  he  refused  to  do  the  one  thing  that  only  he  could  do  and  that  the  pack  desperately  needed.      what  does  theo  do  when  something  is  worthless  to  him?      he  gets  rid  of  it   ——-     that’s  something  tracy  has  picked  up  on  and  uses  herself.      her  reaction  to  josh’s  death  was  of  SURPRISE,     not  remorse.      she  was  surprised  it  happened  so  suddenly,     but  she didn’t  blame  theo for  doing  it.      they  needed  josh’s  power  and  if  josh  wasn’t  going  to  use  it  himself,      they  had  to  take  matters  into  their  own  hands,     which  is  exactly  what  theo  did.     “   he  was  small  and  inexperienced, ‘“   ——-    it  was  a  reminder  to  her  that  she  couldn’t  be  that.      it’s  a  WARNING  from  theo.      if  you’re  not  willing  to  oblige  by  theo’s  rules,     you  have  no  purpose in  this  pack    ——    and  the  last  thing  she  wanted  to  be  was  something  worthless  to  theo.     she  didn’t  respect  josh,      she  had  no  remorse  for  his  death,      and  she  thought  their  pack  was  better  off without  someone  who  was  so  willing  to  disobey  his  alpha.  

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tracy  and  her  dad  were  close   /   she  respected  her  father.

she  kills  him  that  night,       presumably  because  she  was  trying  to get  rid  of  everyone  who  was  trying  to  help  her     ———      but  there’s  more  to  look  at.       tracy  kills  her  father,   her  psychiatrist,      and  attempts  to  kill  her  guidance  counselor,     natalie  martin.       while  we  haven’t  seen  her  relationship    with  her  psychiatrist,       we  have  seen  the  very  POOR  attempts  that  natalie  and  her  father  had  given  to  try  to  help  her.        they  reduced  her  problems,      made  them  seem  as  if  they  were  nothing  to  worry  about  and  made  her  feel  as  if  she  were  simply  CRAZY  for  envisioning  and  feeling  the  things  she  felt  because  of  them.     natalie  reduced  it  to    ‘ common  anxiety  about  senior   year .  ‘        her  father  treated  it  as  if  it  was   ‘ just  a  dream ‘   and  that  it  was  ridiculous  that  she  needed  real  comfort  and  protection  at  night.      these  people  hadn’t  HELPED  HER,      they  only  made  her  feel  worse  about  herself  because  they  refused  to  accept  she  was  truly  struggling.       of  course,     the  dread  doctors  didn’t  want  anything  in  her  way  of becoming  the  monster  she  was  meant  to  be.      besides  her  father,      she  had  no  one  else.,   no  tie to  anyone  here.       by  controlling  her  and  manipulating  her  into  killing  him,    they  rid  her  of  any  ties  she  had  to  a NORMAL,    HUMAN  life,      so  they  could  take  over  and  be  her  master       (     and  after  she  fails,      it’s  theo  who  gets  to  take  over  that  title.   )    

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tracy  wanted  to  be  saved.

this  is  a  big  one    —–     one  that  i’ve  run  into  many  issues  with  when  it  comes  to  writing  with   others  who  want  to  save  tracy.       it’s  great  if  your  character wants  to  try,     it’s  very in  character for  many  of  the  canon  characters  on  this  show    ——      but  you  have  to  remember  that  tracy’s  mindset does  not  align with  theirs.         she  is  convinced  that  theo  was  the  one  doing  the  saving.       the  dread  doctors  don’t  give  much  room  for  chimeras  to be  saved,       they’re  doomed  FAILURES  and  that’s  all  there  is  to  it.      her  first  death  was  inevitable.      it’s  what  happens  after  she  comes  back  that  makes  this  important  to  note.     she  is  content  with  being  with  the  villain.     she  has  confidence,     she  has  power,      and  she’s  with  the  alpha  who  knows  MORE  about  what  they’re  up  against  than  scott  does.      not  to  mention,     she  knows  scott  and  his  pack  wanted  to  save  her  from  becoming  the  creature  she  is  now    ——-    which  would  only  take  away  everything  she  has  been  so  thankful  for,      so  she  believes  scott  would  have  RUINED  HER if  he  had  been  able  to   ‘   save  her.    ‘         while  other  members  in  the  pack  second  guess  theo  and  start  to  wonder  if  they’re  better  off  elsewhere,       everything  that  should  look  alarming  to  tracy  DOESN’T.        her  ideas  were  skewed;      she  believed  that  he  was  supposed  to  treat  his  pack  the  way  he  did  and  that  it  was  just  an  honor  to  be  able  to  work  alongside  him.        

this  often  leads  me  to  a  standstill  in  any  plot  where  your  character  wants  to  save  tracy  from  theo.      IT’S  IMPOSSIBLE.       you  can’t  convince  her  to  ever  turn  her  back  on  someone  who  she  is  genetically  connected  to  because  of  her  kanima  genes  +    someone  who  was giving  her  guidance  that  she  had  been  longing  for  all  her  life.      he  was  her  first  real  friend,      that  wasn’t  something  she  could  give  up.       while  i   never  mind  writing  this  out  because  it  IS  interesting  for  tracy  to  continue  that  fight,       you  have  to  understand  this  if  this  is  the  direction  your  character  intends  to  go   ——    they  can  try  to  save  tracy  if  it’s  in  their  nature  to  do  so,      but  she  won’t  oblige.      there  is  NO  WAY  to  change  her  mind,     unfortunately.  

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tracy  suddenly  becoming  cold  was  out  of  character   /    didn’t  make  sense.

i  can  understand  why  this  may  be  confusing  from  the  outside  while  not  looking  into  it,     but  we  have  to  remember  a  few  very  important  things.      1)    tracy  was  dead  for  a   month.       this  has  been  a  running  fact  throughout  this  show    —–      death  changes  you.      there’s  a  darkness  that  surrounds  you  that  will  always  be  with  you  once  you’ve  died.       tracy  wasn’t  dead  for  a few  minutes,     for    a  day,      she  was  dead  for  an  entire  month.         it  wasn’t  necessarily  that  she  just  embraced  darkness,       but  that  she  literally  was  brought  back  from  the  darkness.       before,      she  never  had  guidance  from  anyone     (   no  mother,     a  nearly  absentee  father.   )       she  had  no  friends,     no  one  she  was  close  to.      even  the  school’s  guidance  counselor  told  her  that  her  serious  problems   were  just   ‘   common  anxiety   ‘     and  that  she  had  nothing  to  worry  about.       she  was  never  treated  fairly  by  anyone,     so  she  never  felt  like  she  belonged  anywhere.      

theo  noted  himself  as  her  alpha  and  instantly  said    ���   you  belong  to  me.   ‘        this  instantly  clicked  for  tracy.        it  gave  her  a place  to  belong.      it  gave  her  someone  to  follow,     which  was  something  she  always  desired.      it  was  because  she  had  no  tie  to  anyone  in  her  previous  life  that  i’m  sure  theo  found  it  easy  to  prey  on  her.      while  another  chimera  with  ties  to  their  life  before  death  could  gravitate   to  them,     tracy  had  no  one  to  do  that  with   —–    she  only  had  theo,      making  it  so  that  her  focus  was  entirely  on  him.        for  a  girl  who  had  just  been  dead  for  a  month  to  come  back  and  know  NO  ONE  and  have  no  family  with  a  house  that  is  a  crime  scene,      where  was  she  going  to  go  and who  would  she  turn  to?     ——       the  person  who brought  her  here.        in  her  mind,       theo  didn’t save  her  life,      he  CREATED  it.      the  life  she  has  now  is  a  complete  180  from  who  she  was  before,     and  that’s  important  for  her  to  take  advantage  of.

deucalion  says  it  best    —–     “   just  how  powerless  were  you  before  all  of  this  happened?     in  my  experience,     it’s  the truly  powerless  who  are  all too  eager to  demonstrate  their  newfound  strength.     “       he’s  right  about  tracy.      she  was  completely  powerless  before  theo,      but  now  he  offered  her  a  place  to  have  power   —    instantly  making  her  feel  confident  on  a  level  she  felt  nearly  invincible.      it  was  liberating  to  tracy  because  she  finally  felt  like  she  had  a  PURPOSE,     because  that  was  what  theo  did  for  her.        all  she  had  left  was  this  power.    the  only  person  she  had  was  theo.       it  would  have  been  difficult  for   her  to  avoid  darkness  at  all.

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tracy  felt  betrayed  by  theo  when  he  killed  her.

tracy’s  main  goal was  to  be  everything  that  theo  needed  her  to  be.       she  was  literally  his  PERFECT  WEAPON in  this  sense.      what  he  needed,     she  did.      she  was  always  more  concerned  about  his  safety  than  her  own     (     that  was  why  she  often  attacked  people  without  thinking  of her  own  safety   because  she  knew  she  could create  a  wall  between  theo  and  the  victim.    )        if  he  thought  that  the  only  way  he  could  defeat  the  beast  and  take  its  power  was  to  have tracy’s  powers,      she  would  give  them  to  him.      in  her  mind,     he  deserved  them,     and  she  was  here  to  do  whatever  she  could  to  make  sure  he  got  them.       he  had  to  have  known  this  anyway,      not  that  he  ever  needed  her  permission    —–    but  it  was  obvious  that  she  was  willing  to  do  anything  for  him.

if  she  knew  that  was  the  best  option  for  him  and  knew  it  was  really  what  he  wanted,        she  would  have  no  problem  giving  up  herself  and  her  power for  him  as  long  as  it  helped  him  survive.           theo  killing  tracy  was  not  an   act  of  betrayal  to  her,       and  it  wouldn’t  be  had  she  survived  the  attack.         she  would  simply  be  GRATEFUL  that  she  could  offer  him  something.        this  is  the  main  reason  i  do  not  interact  in  a  canon  timeline  past  season  five     —–     what  happened  here  was  very  much   in  character  for  both  characters  and  showed  a  lot  about  who  they  were,       especially  to  each  other        (    theo  willing  to  sacrifice  even  his  best  beta  just  for  his  selfish needs,        tracy  so  heavily  manipulated  by  him  that  she  would  be  willing  to  give  herself  up  for  him.    )      

tracy’s  beliefs:       she  died  in  the  arms  of  the man  she  loved.      she  died  in  turn  for  theo  to  be  more  powerful,     which  was  always  her  main  goal.       she  would never  regret helping  theo,      even  if  having  her  powers  didn’t  last  long  for  him.

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if  tracy  survived  theo’s  attack,      she  would  go  to  scott’s  pack.

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tracy  wasn’t  important  to  theo.

i  know  i’m  overstepping  on  this  one  as  this  is  more  of  a  meta  for  theo,      but  her  character  is  often  invalidated  because  people  forget  the  connection  these  two  had,      and  this  post  would  be  irrelevant  if  i  didn’t  touch  on  the  BIGGEST  misconception  of  all.      let  me  preface  this  by  saying  this  is  something  i’ve  discussed  with  @nctafailure  over  and  over  again,      getting  a  real  look  into  theo’s  perception  in  all  of  this.        what  people  seem  to  forget  is  that  killing  tracy  was  never  part  of  theo’s  overall  plan      (   neither  was  josh,     for  that  matter.    )      the  murder  of  both  of  his  beta’s  death  were  an  act  of  IMPULSE.     he  needed  their  power  right  then  and  there,     so  he took  it.      

tracy  was  his  BEST  BETA.     she  was  someone  who  was blindly  loyal  to  him,    and  he  knew  she  wouldn’t  disobey  him.      theo  is  a  guy  who  uses  people  as  tools.      he  wants  things  to  work  in  his  favor.      he  wants  HIS  WAY.      why  would  he  disregard  someone  who  has  literally  made  it  in  NUMBER  ONE  GOAL  in  her  life  to  please,    protect,    and  obey  him?      he  has  the  most  useful  tool of  all,      his  own  kanima  that  he  has  mastered.      while  no,     he  didn’t  care  for  her  on  a  personal  level     (    i  haven’t  forgotten  WHO  we’re  talking  about   )       she  was  still  a  good  resource for  him.       she  looked  out  for  him,      she  protected  him,      she  was  violent  to  those  he  needed  out  of  his  way.       in  the  end,     theo  cares  about  what’s  useful  to  him,      and  tracy  was.      

he  valued  her  opinion   (   she  was  always  there  to  back  him  up  with  anything.    )        even  if  he  worried  he  made  a  bad  decision,      she  would  assure  him  he  didn’t.        he  asked  her  for  validation.         though  we  only  saw  this  once  in  canon,     it’s  pretty  obvious  that  it’s  not  the  only  time  he’s  needed  it.      after  he  kills  josh  and  deucalion  reminds  him  he’s  only  making  his  pack  smaller,      theo  is  quick  to  look  over  to  tracy  and  ask  her,    ‘   what  do  you  think?   ‘     he  knows  she’s  going  to  remind  him  that  he  made  the  BEST  decision  that  would  end  up  helping  them.    

he  trusted  her  with  an  important  task.      they  had  created  an  alliance  with  the  desert  wolf.      he  got  the  talons  that  would  take  the  beast’s  power,     and  she  got  her  daughter  to  kill.       for  theo  to  hold  up  his  end  of  the  bargain,      he  sent  tracy  to  open  the  mountain  ash  to  let  the  desert  wolf  in  to  kill  malia.      this  was  something  he  wanted  to  ensure  happened,     and  he  trusted  tracy  with  the  mission  rather  than  the  rest  of  the  pack,      probably  because  he  knew  they  wouldn’t  have  accomplished  it.    

yes,    he  killed  her.     but  he  killed  her  for  his  own  selfish  needs,   not  because  he wanted  her  dead.   this  wasn’t  a  malicious  effort  to  get  rid  of  her;      it  was  an  act  of  SURVIVAL.       i’m  not  saying  it  was  okay  for  him  to  kill  whoever  he  needed  to  get  his  way,      but  to  insist  that  he  had  always  planned to  kill  her  or  that  he  had  killed  her  because  he  didn’t  want  her  is  bogus.       it’s  also  very  clear  that  he  didn’t  even  have  that  idea  until  AFTER  the  kiss    ( i see  all  the  time  that  he  only  kissed  her  to  kill  her,     but  he  literally did  not  have  to  kiss  her  for  that  to  work.    at  all.   )         he  needed  to  HEAL,     tracy   didn’t  have  the  ability  to  take  his  pain.    she  put  the  idea  in  his  head  that  they  needed  to  rest  and  take  a  step  back,     and  he  needed  to  move  forward.     he  needed  to  take  the  beast’s  power  and  time  was  running  out.      if  he  took  her  power,     he  could  use  that  and  be  STRONGER.     right  now,     his  only  goal  was  getting  the  beast’s  power,     with  or  without  a  pack  by  his  side.     killing  her  was  impulsive,      not  planned  as  the  deaths  he  wanted  from  the  mccall  pack  were.

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[venomclaws]

COMMON  MISCONCEPTIONS  ABOUT  TRACY. 

these  are  just  a  few  thinks  that  have  irked  me  when  digging  in  the  deep,    dark  depths  of  tracy’s  tag  and  sometimes  in  some  threads  with  people  over  the  last  year   (  +  )   that  i’ve  been  writing  tracy,         and  i  understand  how  easy  it  is  to  misread  a  character  if  you’re  not  studying  them  personally   /    don’t  care  as  much  about  them  as  the  ones  who  are  writing  them,       so  i  don’t  blame  anyone  for  it    -----     but  this  is  a  character  who  gets  a  lot  of  mindless  hate,      a  lot  of  it  stemming  from   the  fact  that  people  just  didn’t  care  to  try  to  understand  her  when  she  was  on  the  show.        i  respect  that  our  opinions  may  not  align,       but  i  needed  to  write  all  of  this  out  for  people  to  understand  where  i  stand  on  all  of  it.      i’ll  also  link  all  metas  relating  to  these  misconceptions. 

 tracy  was  a  lovesick  girl  obsessed  with  theo  and  making  him  her  boyfriend.        

yes,    tracy  loved  theo,      but  in  ways  that  needed  no  romantic  connotations.        she  was  loyal  because  she  had  NOTHING  before  theo.       he  offered  her  guidance  that  she  had  been  searching  for  all  her  life.       without  a  mother  for  most  of  her  life    +     a  father  who  only  gave  her  attention  when  he  had  to,        she  needed  someone  to  help  mentor  her,       and  she  latched  onto  theo  quickly.       but  what  people  often  forget  is  that  tracy’s  prominent  genetics  are  the  KANIMA.        kanimas  seek  masters,       someone  to  guide  them,      someone  to  use  as  their  weapon  of  vengeance,         someone  to   give  them  orders.      it’s  why  theo  and  tracy  work  so  well  together     -----       theo  needs  people  who  are  willing  to  act  as  his  tool  to  get  what  he  wants.      tracy  is  willing  to  be  that  for  him  because  her  genetics  pull  her  to  him,        making  everything  he  needs  a  priority.        tracy  NEVER  cared  about  having  a  boyfriend,       nor  did  she  care  about  being  romantically  involved  with  theo.     that  was  never  a  priority,      just  a  BONUS  between  them.      it  was  something  that  heightened  their  bond,       though  not  at  all  necessary  to  the  relationship.         it’s  important  to  remember  that  she  wasn’t  constantly  by  his  side  because  she  was  too  obsessed  and  sickly  in  love  with  him,       but  because  she  RESPECTED  him  as  an  alpha,     a  master,     a  genuine  friend  and  the  FIRST  real  friend  she  has  ever  had,        and  as  a  LEADER.       her  idea  of   the  perfect  alpha  was  skewed;       she  believed  the  way  theo  behaved  was  the  way  alphas  were  supposed  to  behave,      and  that  as  his  beta,      it  was  her  responsibility  to  always  protect  him  and  put  him  before  herself,      in  every  situation.     being  LOYAL  doesn’t  mean  she  was  simply  obsessed.   

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tracy  and  the  rest  of  the  pack  were  close.     

this  definitely  isn’t  true  on so  many  levels,      but  i’m  going  to  start  with  the  fact  that  it  was  IMPORTANT  to  this  entire  arc  that  this  pack  was  not  close.        to  insist   that  they  were  close  and  all  got  along  as  a  happy  family  as  scott’s  pack  did  is  to  totally  invalidate   what  really  happened  between  them  all.       theo  was  NOT  a  good  alpha   in  terms  of  how  he  treated  his  betas       (   despite  tracy’s  own  skewed  thoughts on  the  matter.    )      this  doesn’t  mean  they  didn’t  have  their  own  friendships      ——     josh  obviously  looked  out  for  corey,      hayden  and  corey  were  close,       hayden  cared  for  tracy  as  seen  once  she  found  her  dead  body  even  though  that  definitely wasn’t  reciprocated.       hayden  was  trying  to  be  part  of  the  pack  because  she  thought  that  was   what  she  had  to  do,      eventually  straying  and  joining  the  other  pack.       corey  was back  and  forth giving  insider   information  to  both  packs  and  tracy  could  see  that,      also  having  reason  not  to  trust  him  given  his  connection  to  mason.       tracy  didn’t  like  hayden  or  corey because  of  their  constant  back-and-forth  and  their  hesitance  to  trust  theo  immediately  as  she  did.       she  saw  them  as  weak    (    often,    unrightfully  so.    )

but   more  specifically,      i  want  to  talk  about  josh  as  i’ve  seen  so  many  edits,     imagines,    thoughts,    etc.    that  allude  to  the  fact  that  these  two  were  CLOSE.      while  they  were  seen  together  most,       that  doesn’t  mean  she  liked  him.      she  tolerated  him  because  he  was  the  only  one  of  the  pack  besides  her  who  seemed  to  be sticking  around,       but  more  often  than  not,      she  was  ANNOYED  with  him.         he second  guessed  theo,      he talked  back  to  him,      he  acted  ungrateful  for  what  he  had,      and  that  wasn’t  something  tracy  could  never  get  behind.      she  never  had  any  sort  of  respect  for  josh.      she  liked  him  BETTER  than  the  other  two in  the  pack,      but  that  didn’t  mean  she  enjoyed  his  presence.      this  is   especially  true  when  they  have  the  mask.       she  knows  josh  is  the  only  one  capable of  putting  it  on without  dying    ——    he  has  POWER  that  the  rest  don’t,     and  this  is  an  advantage  for  him.      it frustrates  her  that  he’s  not  taking  advantage  of  it,     especially  since  she’s  quick  to  use  her  own  newfound  powers  whenever  she  sees  the  opportunity.        this  is  a  real  opportunity  for  josh  to  help  the  pack  be  one  step  closer  to   their  overall  goal     (    an  in  general,     get  answers  that  they  can’t  find  elsewhere    )      and  he  refuses  to  help.      to  tracy,     this  makes  him  seem  disloyal  and  worthless  to  the  pack.    

i  don’t  know  what  it  is  that  makes  everyone  convinced  that  she  cared  about  josh  at  all,     but   i  think  the  scene  after  he  dies  is  one  of  her  most  misread  scenes  there  is.     i’ve  seen  a   lot  of  posts  about  how  she  was    ‘   obviously  so  broken  up  about  watching  him  die  ‘   but  i  will  continue  to  refute  this.      tracy  blindly  supports  theo  in  everything  he  does.       if  he  wants  one  of  their  pack  members  dead,     then  to  her,     that’s  something  that’s  necessary  and  beneficial  to  them.      she  TRUSTS  his  decisions;     he’s  her alpha,     she’s  made  to  believe  that  he  knows  what’s  best  for  all  of  them.      josh  had  just  literally  proved  himself  USELESS  to  the  pack  because  he  refused  to  do  the  one  thing  that  only  he  could  do  and  that  the  pack  desperately  needed.      what  does  theo  do  when  something  is  worthless  to  him?      he  gets  rid  of  it   ——-     that’s  something  tracy  has  picked  up  on  and  uses  herself.      her  reaction  to  josh’s  death  was  of  SURPRISE,     not  remorse.      she  was  surprised  it  happened  so  suddenly,     but  she didn’t  blame  theo for  doing  it.      they  needed  josh’s  power  and  if  josh  wasn’t  going  to  use  it  himself,      they  had  to  take  matters  into  their  own  hands,     which  is  exactly  what  theo  did.     “   he  was  small  and  inexperienced,  ‘“   ——-    it  was  a  reminder  to  her  that  she  couldn’t  be  that.      it’s  a  WARNING  from  theo.      if  you’re  not  willing  to  oblige  by  theo’s  rules,     you  have  no  purpose in  this  pack    ——    and  the  last  thing  she  wanted  to  be  was  something  worthless  to  theo.     she  didn’t  respect  josh,      she  had  no  remorse  for  his  death,      and  she  thought  their  pack  was  better  off without  someone  who  was  so  willing  to  disobey  his  alpha.  

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tracy  and  her  dad  were  close   /   she  respected  her  father.

this  is  a  tough  one,      because  the  few  interactions  they  had  on  screen,      if  you’re  not  looking  closely,      her  father  seems  like  a  supportive  dad who  only  wants  to  be  there  for  his  daughter.       however   —–    if  you  DO  look  closer,      this  isn’t  true  at  all.       he  was  good  at faking  it      (     he’s  a  lawyer  for  criminals.     he’s  used  to  sticking  up  for  the bad  guy  and  making  things  look  much  better  than  they  are.      )        this  wasn’t  always  the  case    ——-     their  family  had  been  tight-knit  before  tracy’s  mother  passed  away  in  a  car  crash     ——     one  that  she  was  in  and  the  reasoning   for  her  own  skin  graft  that  made  her  eligible  to  be  a  chimera     (     of  course  this  is  my  own  written  back  story  for  her  and  everything  relating  to  HOW  her  mother  died  is  all  my  own  interpretation,       but  the  way  her  father  pulled  away  is  still  relevant  in  the  show’s  canon.     )        her  father  pulled  away  from  tracy  after  her  mom  died;         he  no  longer  knew  how  to  act with  her,        especially   1)     given  how  similar  she  was  to  her  mother  and    2)    part  of  him  blamed  her for  the  crash  because  she  was  there  and  she  survived,       while  her  mother  didn’t.       he  put  his  career  before  his  family.       late  night  meetings,      never  home  when  tracy  was  going  to  sleep,      and  this  is  a  girl  who  has  suffered  from  nightmares  and  night  terrors  for  years       (    presumably  since  losing  her  mother.    )       after  tracy’s  night  terrors  become  more  apparent  and  she  opens  up  about  them,       she  needs  someone  to  take  care  of  her  more  than  ever.        being  alone  makes  it  so  much  worse,        she’s  scared  that  one  she  closes  her  eyes,       she’s  going  to  be  HURT.        her  father  knows  this.      she  makes  this  clear  to  him.      still,     he  offers  her  nothing.      he  doesn’t  intend  on  staying  home to  make  sure  he  doesn’t hurt  herself or  to  make  sure  she’s  safe;       he  still  leaves,      choosing  his  client  over  her  once  again.       it’s  clear  by  the  disappointed  look  on  her  face  that  this  was  her  last  time  trying  so  desperately  to  reach  out  to  him,       only  to  be  rejected  and  left  alone  yet  again.         this  scene  is  the  last  scene  we  truly  see  her  with  humanity  and  showing  real  emotion,       before  her  chimera  side  truly  took  over.       

 she  kills  him  that  night,       presumably  because  she  was  trying  to get  rid  of  everyone  who  was  trying  to  help  her     ———      but  there’s  more  to  look  at.       tracy  kills  her  father,    her  psychiatrist,      and  attempts  to  kill  her  guidance  counselor,     natalie  martin.       while  we  haven’t  seen  her  relationship    with  her  psychiatrist,       we  have  seen  the  very  POOR  attempts  that  natalie  and  her  father  had  given  to  try  to  help  her.        they  reduced  her  problems,      made  them  seem  as  if  they  were  nothing  to  worry  about  and  made  her  feel  as  if  she  were  simply  CRAZY  for  envisioning  and  feeling  the  things  she  felt  because  of  them.     natalie  reduced  it  to    ‘  common  anxiety  about  senior   year .  ‘        her  father  treated  it  as  if  it  was   ‘  just  a  dream ‘   and  that  it  was  ridiculous  that  she  needed  real  comfort  and  protection  at  night.      these  people  hadn’t  HELPED  HER,      they  only  made  her  feel  worse  about  herself  because  they  refused  to  accept  she  was  truly  struggling.       of  course,     the  dread  doctors  didn’t  want  anything  in  her  way  of becoming  the  monster  she  was  meant  to  be.      besides  her  father,      she  had  no  one  else.,   no  tie to  anyone  here.       by  controlling  her  and  manipulating  her  into  killing  him,     they  rid  her  of  any  ties  she  had  to  a NORMAL,    HUMAN  life,      so  they  could  take  over  and  be  her  master       (     and  after  she  fails,      it’s  theo  who  gets  to  take  over  that  title.    )      

tracy’s  father  had  to  die for  her  to  become  the  monster  she  was  destined  to  be.      she  doesn’t  regret  that.        i’ve  had  a  lot  of  things thrown  my  way  about  how  tracy  is  probably  hurting  and  probably  so  remorseful  for  what  had  happened  to  her  that  night    ——-    but  she’s  NOT.      she  doesn’t  care.      tracy’s   WANTS  to  be  a  monster  because  it  gives  her  power  and  finally  gives her  a  real  purpose.     her  father  held  her  back  from  that.    he  made  her  feel  WEAK,     and  weak  isn’t  something  she  was  allowed  to  feel  anymore.      it  doesn’t  matter  to  her  that  she  was  unconscious  when  killing  him  or  that  the  dread  doctors  had  control  over  her,     she  STILL  wanted  him  dead     (     the  version  of  her  before  becoming  a  monster  would  have  never  gone  there,      but  her  mindset  is  entirely  different  now.     )        also,      there  have  been  a  lot  of  instances  where  people  have  insisted  that  theo  forced  her  to  kill  her  father.     no.     theo  wasn’t  involved  with  her  YET.      the  way  i  see  it,     he  saw  just  how  brutal  she  was  with  her  father  and  that’s  why  he  kept  an  eye  on  her  when  it  came  to  deciding  who  to  bring  back  to  life  for  his  own  pack.      that  was  the  first  time  she  was  really  able  to prove  herself to  her  future  alpha  and  caught  his  eye.

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tracy  wanted  to  be  saved.

this  is  a  big  one    —–     one  that  i’ve  run  into  many  issues  with  when  it  comes  to  writing  with   others  who  want  to  save  tracy.       it’s  great  if  your  character wants  to  try,     it’s  very in  character for  many  of  the  canon  characters  on  this  show    ——      but  you  have  to  remember  that  tracy’s  mindset does  not  align with ��theirs.         she  is  convinced  that  theo  was  the  one  doing  the  saving.       the  dread  doctors  don’t  give  much  room  for  chimeras  to be  saved,       they’re  doomed  FAILURES  and  that’s  all  there  is  to  it.      her  first  death  was  inevitable.      it’s  what  happens  after  she  comes  back  that  makes  this  important  to  note.      she  is  content  with  being  with  the  villain.     she  has  confidence,     she  has  power,      and  she’s  with  the  alpha  who  knows  MORE  about  what  they’re  up  against  than  scott  does.      not  to  mention,     she  knows  scott  and  his  pack  wanted  to  save  her  from  becoming  the  creature  she  is  now    ——-    which  would  only  take  away  everything  she  has  been  so  thankful  for,      so  she  believes  scott  would  have  RUINED  HER if  he  had  been  able  to   ‘   save  her.    ‘         while  other  members  in  the  pack  second  guess  theo  and  start  to  wonder  if  they’re  better  off  elsewhere,       everything  that  should  look  alarming  to  tracy  DOESN’T.        her  ideas  were  skewed;      she  believed  that  he  was  supposed  to  treat  his  pack  the  way  he  did  and  that  it  was  just  an  honor  to  be  able  to  work  alongside  him.        

this  often  leads  me  to  a  standstill  in  any  plot  where  your  character  wants  to  save  tracy  from  theo.      IT’S  IMPOSSIBLE.       you  can’t  convince  her  to  ever  turn  her  back  on  someone  who  she  is  genetically  connected  to  because  of  her  kanima  genes   +    someone  who  was giving  her  guidance  that  she  had  been  longing  for  all  her  life.      he  was  her  first  real  friend,      that  wasn’t  something  she  could  give  up.       while  i   never  mind  writing  this  out  because  it  IS  interesting  for  tracy  to  continue  that  fight,       you  have  to  understand  this  if  this  is  the  direction  your  character  intends  to  go   ——    they  can  try  to  save  tracy  if  it’s  in  their  nature  to  do  so,      but  she  won’t  oblige.      there  is  NO  WAY  to  change  her  mind,     unfortunately.  

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tracy  suddenly  becoming  cold  was  out  of  character   /    didn’t  make  sense.

i  can  understand  why  this  may  be  confusing  from  the  outside  while  not  looking  into  it,      but  we  have  to  remember  a  few  very  important  things.      1)     tracy  was  dead  for  a   month.       this  has  been  a  running  fact  throughout  this  show    -----      death  changes  you.       there’s  a  darkness  that  surrounds  you  that  will  always  be  with  you  once  you’ve  died.       tracy  wasn’t  dead  for  a  few  minutes,      for    a  day,      she  was  dead  for  an  entire  month.         it  wasn’t  necessarily  that  she  just  embraced  darkness,       but  that  she  literally  was  brought  back  from  the  darkness.       before,      she  never  had  guidance  from  anyone     (    no  mother,     a  nearly  absentee  father.    )        she  had  no  friends,     no  one  she  was  close  to.      even  the  school’s  guidance  counselor  told  her  that  her  serious  problems   were  just   ‘   common  anxiety   ‘     and  that  she  had  nothing  to  worry  about.       she  was  never  treated  fairly  by  anyone,     so  she  never  felt  like  she  belonged  anywhere.      

 theo  noted  himself  as  her  alpha  and  instantly  said    ‘   you  belong  to  me.   ‘        this  instantly  clicked  for  tracy.        it  gave  her  a  place  to  belong.       it  gave  her  someone  to  follow,     which  was  something  she  always  desired.      it  was  because  she  had  no  tie  to  anyone  in  her  previous  life  that  i’m  sure  theo  found  it  easy  to  prey  on  her.      while  another  chimera  with  ties  to  their  life  before  death  could  gravitate   to  them,      tracy  had  no  one  to  do  that  with   -----    she  only  had  theo,      making  it  so  that  her  focus  was  entirely  on  him.        for  a  girl  who  had  just  been  dead  for  a  month  to  come  back  and  know  NO  ONE  and  have  no  family  with  a  house  that  is  a  crime  scene,      where  was  she  going  to  go  and  who  would  she  turn  to?     ------       the  person  who  brought  her  here.        in  her  mind,       theo  didn’t  save  her  life,      he  CREATED  it.      the  life  she  has  now  is  a  complete  180  from  who  she  was  before,     and  that’s  important  for  her  to  take  advantage  of. 

deucalion  says  it  best    -----     “   just  how  powerless  were  you  before  all  of  this  happened?     in  my  experience,     it’s  the  truly  powerless  who  are  all  too  eager  to  demonstrate  their  newfound  strength.     “       he’s  right  about  tracy.      she  was  completely  powerless  before  theo,      but  now  he  offered  her  a  place  to  have  power    ---    instantly  making  her  feel  confident  on  a  level  she  felt  nearly  invincible.      it  was  liberating  to  tracy  because  she  finally  felt  like  she  had  a  PURPOSE,     because  that  was  what  theo  did  for  her.        all  she  had  left  was  this  power.     the  only  person  she  had  was  theo.       it  would  have  been  difficult  for   her  to  avoid  darkness  at  all.

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tracy  felt  betrayed  by  theo  when  he  killed  her.

tracy’s  main  goal  was  to  be  everything  that  theo  needed  her  to  be.       she  was  literally  his  PERFECT  WEAPON  in  this  sense.      what  he  needed,     she  did.      she  was  always  more  concerned  about  his  safety  than  her  own     (     that  was  why  she  often  attacked  people  without  thinking  of  her  own  safety   because  she  knew  she  could  create  a  wall  between  theo  and  the  victim.    )        if  he  thought  that  the  only  way  he  could  defeat  the  beast  and  take  its  power  was  to  have  tracy’s  powers,      she  would  give  them  to  him.      in  her  mind,      he  deserved  them,     and  she  was  here  to  do  whatever  she  could  to  make  sure  he  got  them.       he  had  to  have  known  this  anyway,      not  that  he  ever  needed  her  permission     -----    but  it  was  obvious  that  she  was  willing  to  do  anything  for  him.

 if  she  knew  that  was  the  best  option  for  him  and  knew  it  was  really  what  he  wanted,        she  would  have  no  problem  giving  up  herself  and  her  power for  him  as  long  as  it  helped  him  survive.           theo  killing  tracy  was  not  an   act  of  betrayal  to  her,       and  it  wouldn’t  be  had  she  survived  the  attack.         she  would  simply  be  GRATEFUL  that  she  could  offer  him  something.        this  is  the  main  reason  i  do  not  interact  in  a  canon  timeline  past  season  five     —–     what  happened  here  was  very  much   in  character  for  both  characters  and  showed  a  lot  about  who  they  were,       especially  to  each  other        (     theo  willing  to  sacrifice  even  his  best  beta  just  for  his  selfish needs,        tracy  so  heavily  manipulated  by  him  that  she  would  be  willing  to  give  herself  up  for  him.     )        

tracy’s  beliefs:       she  died  in  the  arms  of  the  man  she  loved.       she  died  in  turn  for  theo  to  be  more  powerful,      which  was  always  her  main  goal.       she  would  never  regret  helping  theo,      even  if  having  her  powers  didn’t  last  long  for  him.

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if  tracy  survived  theo’s  attack,      she  would  go  to  scott’s  pack. 

quite  the  opposite.      her  loyalty  would  not  have  ended  there.       when  she  found  out  what  scott’s  pack  has  done  to  theo,      it  would  have  set  off  even  MORE  rage  in  her,      and  her  hatred  towards  this  pack  would  be  so  much  more  explosive.       they’ve  stolen  her  alpha  from  her;       this  girl  is  so  far  gone  from  theo’s  manipulation  and  from  the  kanima  /  master  bond  they  share  that  she  can  never  get  back  on  track  and  realize  that  theo  was  a  bad  guy  because  she  was  linked  to  him  in  a  way  that  NONE  of  these  people  can  understand.      this  is  why  i  don’t  believe  tracy  had  any  part  in  season  6  and  refuse  to  go  divergent    —–      had  she  not  died,      she  wouldn’t  be  with  scott’s  pack.      she  would  be  FIGHTING  them  to  get  him  back,      and  it  would  be  disconnected  from  the  current  storyline.     ��i  also,     100%,     don’t  believe  she  would  have  survived  without  theo.       her  whole  life  now  depended  on  having  him  and  the  purpose  that  he  offered  her.       without  him,     she  was  NOTHING  again  and  she  refused  to  be  that.     she  would  be  more  reckless  and  get  herself  into  more  trouble   and  ultimately  find  a  way  to  DIE  so  she  wouldn’t  have  to  be  without  him.      the  only  way  she  would  keep  fighting  is  if  she  genuinely  believed  there  was  a  chance  to  get  him  back.        she  would  never  have  any  reason  to  trust  scott’s  pack  after  they  sent  him  to  hell.          they  wouldn’t  have  the  chance  to  even  convince  her  to  trust  them  because  she  wouldn’t  want  to  hear  it.       

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tracy  wasn’t  important  to  theo.

i  know  i’m  overstepping  on  this  one  as  this  is  more  of  a  meta  for  theo,      but  her  character  is  often  invalidated  because  people  forget  the  connection  these  two  had,      and  this  post  would  be  irrelevant  if  i  didn’t  touch  on  the  BIGGEST  misconception  of  all.      let  me  preface  this  by  saying  this  is  something  i’ve  discussed  with  @nctafailure  over  and  over  again,      getting  a  real  look  into  theo’s  perception  in  all  of  this.        what  people  seem  to  forget  is  that  killing  tracy  was  never  part  of  theo’s  overall  plan      (    neither  was  josh,     for  that  matter.    )      the  murder  of  both  of  his  beta’s  death  were  an  act  of  IMPULSE.     he  needed  their  power  right  then  and  there,     so  he took  it.        

tracy  was  his  BEST  BETA.     she  was  someone  who  was blindly  loyal  to  him,    and  he  knew  she  wouldn’t  disobey  him.      theo  is  a  guy  who  uses  people  as  tools.      he  wants  things  to  work  in  his  favor.      he  wants  HIS  WAY.      why  would  he  disregard  someone  who  has  literally  made  it  in  NUMBER  ONE  GOAL  in  her  life  to  please,    protect,    and  obey  him?      he  has  the  most  useful  tool of  all,      his  own  kanima  that  he  has  mastered.      while  no,     he  didn’t  care  for  her  on  a  personal  level     (    i  haven’t  forgotten  WHO  we’re  talking  about    )       she  was  still  a  good  resource for  him.       she  looked  out  for  him,      she  protected  him,      she  was  violent  to  those  he  needed  out  of  his  way.       in  the  end,     theo  cares  about  what’s  useful  to  him,      and  tracy  was.      

he  valued  her  opinion    (    she  was  always  there  to  back  him  up  with  anything.    )        even  if  he  worried  he  made  a  bad  decision,      she  would  assure  him  he  didn’t.        he  asked  her  for  validation.         though  we  only  saw  this  once  in  canon,     it’s  pretty  obvious  that  it’s  not  the  only  time  he’s  needed  it.      after  he  kills  josh  and  deucalion  reminds  him  he’s  only  making  his  pack  smaller,      theo  is  quick  to  look  over  to  tracy  and  ask  her,    ‘   what  do  you  think?   ‘      he  knows  she’s  going  to  remind  him  that  he  made  the  BEST  decision  that  would  end  up  helping  them.    

he  trusted  her  with  an  important  task.      they  had  created  an  alliance  with  the  desert  wolf.      he  got  the  talons  that  would  take  the  beast’s  power,     and  she  got  her  daughter  to  kill.       for  theo  to  hold  up  his  end  of  the  bargain,      he  sent  tracy  to  open  the  mountain  ash  to  let  the  desert  wolf  in  to  kill  malia.      this  was  something  he  wanted  to  ensure  happened,     and  he  trusted  tracy  with  the  mission  rather  than  the  rest  of  the  pack,      probably  because  he  knew  they  wouldn’t  have  accomplished  it.    

yes,    he  killed  her.     but  he  killed  her  for  his  own  selfish  needs,    not  because  he wanted  her  dead.    this  wasn’t  a  malicious  effort  to  get  rid  of  her;      it  was  an  act  of  SURVIVAL.       i’m  not  saying  it  was  okay  for  him  to  kill  whoever  he  needed  to  get  his  way,      but  to  insist  that  he  had  always  planned to  kill  her  or  that  he  had  killed  her  because  he  didn’t  want  her  is  bogus.       it’s  also  very  clear  that  he  didn’t  even  have  that  idea  until  AFTER  the  kiss    (  i see  all  the  time  that  he  only  kissed  her  to  kill  her,     but  he  literally did  not  have  to  kiss  her  for  that  to  work.    at  all.   )         he  needed  to  HEAL,     tracy   didn’t  have  the  ability  to  take  his  pain.     she  put  the  idea  in  his  head  that  they  needed  to  rest  and  take  a  step  back,     and  he  needed  to  move  forward.     he  needed  to  take  the  beast’s  power  and  time  was  running  out.      if  he  took  her  power,     he  could  use  that  and  be  STRONGER.     right  now,     his  only  goal  was  getting  the  beast’s  power,     with  or  without  a  pack  by  his  side.      killing  her  was  impulsive,      not  planned  as  the  deaths  he  wanted  from  the  mccall  pack  were.

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[purple-dahlias]

Birthdays

🎈 six

She remembers that one, clearly, even now. The last one her father was there for.

At six Sarah is considerably a lot more perceptive than other children her age. She notices her mother’s pinched expression, the fraught looks that pass between her parents. The way her father walks about in a silent rage and her mother purses her lips, as though trying to stop herself from saying something.

That’s how she ends up sitting quietly, trying her best to pretend she isn’t there, a new copy of The Secret Garden open in her lap, legs carefully crossed at the ankles. She’s trying to lose herself in the words. She imagines herself taken away to somewhere strange, somewhere new, just like Mary was.

It seems to be working for her, that is, until she hears Aunt Louise from across the room.

“Poor soul,” she remarks lowly, but loud enough that Sarah hears, and knows she means her. Looking up, curls half obscuring her face, Sarah is just in time to see Aunt Louise lean across and whisper something to Uncle Henry. Something that she knows is about her parents, who, she is sure are both somewhere at opposite ends of the house being mad at each other. That was always the way now.

And then It’s a few weeks later and suddenly, well, not so, if you thought about it like Sarah did, her father is gone. Not coming back, according to her mother. And maybe, Sarah thinks, maybe if she had been better, he would have stayed and things could have changed. 

🎈 thirteen

A birthday’s not about things. It’s not about presents or decorations or balloons. At least, that’s supposed to be the sentiment. But for Sarah’s mother, it’s a different story. 

Sarah comes home to banners and giant helium balloons, a huge expense, but empty. She knows her mother had no personal hand in the matter. It had just been a call to her assistant and an exchange of money. Empty Gestures, like it always was with her mother. 

A store bought cake, perfectly piped with lettering ‘happy thirteenth Sarah’. It is anything but. Maybe it’s selfish but she wishes for a homemade cake, one like she’d heard her classmates talk about. Complain about, even. What she would give for something like that, something that’s not just empty. That would take time and effort and care. Not just a phone call. Because these are all just things. Not the stuff that makes treasured memories. 

There aren’t even people to share it all with. That would require friends. And middle school was lonely. 

So it’s just Sarah, alone at home, her mother didn’t even have it in her to take the time off work for her only daughter. Instead she sits there, at the table in the spotless kitchen, reading and rereading the typed card left for her, hoping somewhere to discern something more from it. Some hidden feelings in the black and white. But there aren’t. 

Maybe one day, she thinks, though it’s probably wishful thinking. She’s not six anymore, holding onto hope for change.

🎈 fifteen

High school is a little different, a little brighter. She’s changed schools, there are girls who it seems actually like her. Ones she can count as friends. And that’s how she finds herself in the cinema with Harriett and Grace and Marya the evening of her fifteenth birthday. 

She’s sat on the end of the row, beside Grace, sharing her popcorn with her and a fizzy drink that’s just a little too sweet for her liking. But Sarah doesn’t care because Grace holds her hand practically throughout the whole of the film. Sarah doesn’t really think the film is that scary but she’s willing to pretend as Grace holds her hand tightly, leaning close to her in her seat so that Sarah can smell the floral scent of the perfume she’s started wearing, the one that smells of jasmine and bergamot, coincidently two of Sarah’s favourite scents, though she can’t quite remember if she ever told Grace that. 

Grace laughs quietly at something on screen beside her, and Sarah thinks it’s a wonderful sound, like music. She loves knowing when she makes her laugh like that. Wouldn’t mind being able to do that more often. 

But it’s all a little bittersweet, because Grace will be gone by September, by the time the new school term starts. She’s moving with her family to Seattle, so if something ever could have come of them, neither will ever know. 

🎈 nineteen

Sarah feels freer now. She’s in college, out in the world, never mind that her world mainly consists of campus, her dorm, the little cafe down on Elm and the library. 

People are still hard, and her circle of people is ridiculously small, but not for lack of trying. There isn’t much time for friends, anyhow she tells herself. Her goal here is to do well. She has to do well. She is, and that’s her consolation. 

But it’s her birthday and she’s tired and her heart is heavy and she just wants to not feel so alone. So it’s probably a poor decision but it’s summer and she’s alone in her dorm, most other people having left for the holidays; she just can’t stomach going back, and in any case doesn’t think her mum would even miss her presence. There are no calls or messages from the few friends she’d had in high school. Nothing. Which hurts, because she always remembers their birthdays. But maybe they didn’t feel the same way. They’d moved on, probably; she should too. 

It’s just her in her dorm, alone that Monday night.

It’s impulsive, and she’ll regret it later, she knows, but the bottle is right there in her cupboard and even if it’s for a little bit, she just wants to forget, to not think, to lose focus. Even if it’s only temporary. 

The one and only time she allows herself to do this, truly let go of herself like this. And it’s not one of those wild stories to be told later and made light of, it’s not a party or surrounded by friends. It’s just her, alone with the bottle, trying to rid herself of her thoughts. 

🎈 twenty-six 

Sarah is exhausted. Her rotation in the ED is taking its toll on her. The shifts, the long days and nights. But this is everything she had been working towards. What practically everything she had done since she was sixteen had been for. 

So that evening, all she wants to do is to go home, order some takeout from the ramen place she likes and maybe watch a movie. Just something quiet with herself. 

She’s just home and showered, hair still damp and hanging loose when her phone rings. Unusual. Hardly anyone ever called her. What’s even more unusual is that it’s Natalie from Med calling her, and Sarah wonders what on earth she could want at this time of the evening, especially when neither of them have a night shift that day. 

She picks up, to hear Natalie asking if she could come round and watch Owen because she needed to run out to the grocery store and there was no one else to. 

Sarah sighs inwardly. So much for her quiet night. But she goes. It’s not like she had any real plans tonight. If anything, watching Owen might be a help. She knows sitting in front of the TV, especially tonight, would lead her mind to wander. To places and thoughts she didn’t want it to go. It was probably for the best. So she pulls on jeans and a sweater and goes. 

Natalie answers the door, pulling Sarah inside. “Thank you so much for coming, honestly I don’t know what else I would have done,” she gushes.

“Don’t mention it—“ Sarah begins, but the words die on her lips as Natalie leads her into the kitchen. 

April is there, holding Owen, and Maggie is beside her with Noah and Ethan and Connor and Will and a few of the others. 

“Happy Birthday!” They all call out in unison, smiles on their faces and Owen waving his small fists, not quite understanding, but knowing something good is happening.  

Sarah is completely taken aback. She hadn’t been expecting anything, let alone this. She didn’t even think they all knew when her birthday was. 

“You didn’t think we were gonna leave you all on your one, did you?” Maggie asks, pulling her into a tight embrace. 

This, Sarah thinks, is what a family must feel like. 

🎈 twenty-seven

So much has changed. For one thing, Sarah’s a psych resident now. Something she never thought she would be, but she’s enjoying it. For another, and this is the biggest one, there’s Ava. And that is amazing and terrifying in equal parts all at the same time. 

Ava wouldn’t  tell her where they were going. Only that it required Sarah to dress up. It turned out to be a fancy Italian restaurant, one that apparently Ava had had her eyes on for months for this very occasion. Sarah had never really been one for grand gestures, considering her mother’s track record with them; they’d always felt empty. But with Ava, it is completely, entirely different. The way Ava is excited about it probably more than Sarah, because she loves surprising her, seeing her happy. And that, for Sarah, makes the day. Because it is so genuine and heartfelt. 

Sarah can’t think of a time where she’s felt lighter than she does now. 

But that’s not even everything. They get home, and Ava leads Sarah to the couch, telling her to sit, and disappears off into the kitchen. She’s only gone for a short time, and when she returns, she’s bearing a decadent chocolate cake on a platter, iced with ‘happy birthday Sarah,’ in Ava’s familiar, looping script, candles flickering in the dim light. Ava made this. For her. 

It’s perfect, and she tells her so as Ava sets the platter down on the coffee table in front of her. 

“Blow out the candles,” Ava says softly, and Sarah does, as her girlfriend snaps a photo of her, smiles etched on both their faces. 

“Thank you,” Sarah tells her quietly as Ava comes to sit beside her, placing a kiss to her lips.  

“Happy birthday, my love,” whispers Ava when they break apart. And it is. Completely. 

[networkingdefinition]

Hawaii Quotes

Official Website: Hawaii Quotes

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• A dreaming vortex is a place where it’s easy to change. You come to a dreaming vortex like Hawaii to step from one dream into another, from one world into another, to change, in other words. – Frederick Lenz • A travel agent told I could spend 7 nights in HAWAII no days just nights. – Rodney Dangerfield • According to a new study, Hawaii is the happiest place in America to live. And I thought it was just a great place to pretend you were born in. – Craig Ferguson • America has always been the richest and most secure, and sometimes the most dangerous country in the world. In the early years, the danger was to everybody near us, slaves, Native Americans, Mexicans. It finally expanded in 1898 to the Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. – Noam Chomsky • Apparently President Obama’s favorite cocktail is a martini. When asked how he likes it, he said, ‘On the beach, in Hawaii, in 2017.’ – Jimmy Fallon • Are we as willing to go into debt for the work of God as we are for a vacation to Hawaii? – Erwin W. Lutzer • Are we going to New Orleans?” “No”, she said, backing out of the spot. “We’re going to West Virginia.” “I assume by ‘West Virginia,’ you actually mean ‘Hawaii,'” I said. “Or some place equally exciting. – Richelle Mead • As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii. – Tim McCarver • As a territory, American Samoa has no representation in the U.S. Senate, and we Samoans lost a respected and powerful ally with the passing of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye. – Troy Polamalu • Barack H. Obama is a landmark presidential figure as the first black, multiracial, multicultural president from Hawaii and the Pacific. – Dinesh Sharma

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Hawaii', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Barack Obama isn’t pointing to anyone, and certainly doesn’t like it when others note (correctly) that his influences were the likes of Saul Alinsky, the Chicagoan and modern founder of community organizing, or Frank Marshall Davis, the communist journalist and agitator from Chicago who mentored Obama in Hawaii in the latter 1970s, and who Obama warmly acknowledges in his memoirs. – Paul Kengor • Beating the drums for Hawaii is not hard to do… the place just grows on you. – James MacArthur • Before I became a fighter pilot, everyone said that women didn’t have the physical strength. Well, I had just completed the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. – Martha McSally • Being in Hawaii, it’s almost impossible not to be fit, I think. – Henry Ian Cusick • Come with me while the moon is on the sea The night is young and so are we Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii And mine could all come true This magic night of nights with you – Leo Robin • Donald Trump has made it clear that certainly over the last few years that President [Barack] Obama was born in Hawaii. – John Lewis • Ever since I was young I understood the whole meaning of life isn’t how much money you accumulate, how much fame you experience, it’s how many lives you touch, how many faces you bring smiles to. I see myself back in Hawaii doing something in the community to improve the lives of young children. Everything I’ve done is to prepare myself to give back. – Manti Te’o • Every city I go to is an opportunity to paint, whether it’s Omaha or Hawaii. – Tony Bennett • Every time I flicked channels, there I was, talking. I was talking too much and writing too little. So Naomi and I went to Hawaii. The phone was cut off and we lost touch. This gave me the chance to have a good think about my life. – Joe Eszterhas • For a while I got into the South Pacific theater of World War II. I read “American Caesar” by William Manchester, the biography of General MacArthur. Because of that I ended up reading “Tales of the South Pacific” by James Michener and then because of that reading his “Hawaii.” That is what happens. – Dave Barry • For many years I had allowed my second husband to take credit for my paintings. But one day, unable to continue the deception any longer, I left him and my home in California and moved to Hawaii. – Margaret Keane • For me, the magic of Hawaii comes from the stillness, the sea, the stars. – Joanne Harris • For some reason my father saw no problem with us pplaying “barbie and ken go to hawaii to save their marriage by picking up another couple for sexy good times,” but if barbie and ken had gone to hawaii to “rescue another couple from a crazed kidnapper,” that would have been wrong. – Michele Jaffe • Good schools, good jobs, good government. These are not unreasonable demands. But sadly, some of our people have already lost heart and have left Hawaii to look for these things elsewhere. – Linda Lingle • Grew up in Hawaii that gave [Barack Obama] a kind of optimism, an ability to see things, you know, and frankly, an ability to trust, you know, in his fellow, you know, white countrymen in a way that I, for instance, you know, and the vast majority of black people I know never really could. – Ta-Nehisi Coates • Growing up, the ukulele was always a respected instrument. It’s a big part of our culture. It wasn’t until I started traveling outside of Hawaii that I realized people didn’t really consider the ukulele to be a real instrument. – Jake Shimabukuro • Have you guys ever ghost hunted in Hawaii? No? Well, I have this fat friend… I shouldn’t say fat, that might offend him, but he’s Samoan and claims to have seen ghosts. – CM Punk • Hawaii ain’t a bad place to work. – T.I. • Hawaii can be heaven and it can be hell. – Jeff Goldblum • Hawaii doesn’t win many games in the United States. – Lee Corso • Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is a beautiful place to bring up a family. – Henry Ian Cusick • Hawaii is a small, close community. – Jake Shimabukuro • Hawaii is a special place because we have a very diverse population there, who are very respectful and tolerant of those who have differing opinions and different views. – Tulsi Gabbard • Hawaii is a unique state. It is a small state. It is a state that is by itself. It is a-it is different than the other 49 states. Well, all states are different, but it’s got a particularly unique situation. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is absolutely beautiful. – Rachelle Lefevre • Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace. – Paul Theroux • Hawaii is paradise. It sounds cheesy to say it, but there’s music in the air there. – Bruno Mars • Hawaii is the best form of comfort for me. When I die, I want to be cremated, and I want half my ashes spread in the Pacific around the island, the rest on the property. – Richard Pryor • Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, and many Hawaiians or part-Hawaiians surf, but in the rest of the United States it’s a pretty white sport. – William Finnegan • Hawaii made the mouth of her soul water. – Tom Robbins • Hawaii was beautiful of course, we played at Turtle Bay an amazing resort right on the ocean. – Natalie Gulbis • Hawaiis own Patsy Mink served as the first congresswoman of color and first Asian American woman in the House; she later sought the Democratic Party presidential nomination. – Colleen Hanabusa • Hawaii’s the 50th state? I thought it was a suburb of Guam. – Bobby Heenan • Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not. – Wayne Allyn Root • Hula is the art of Hawaiian dance, which expresses all we see, smell, taste, touch, feel, and experience. It is joy, sorrow, courage, and fear. – Robert Cazimero • I am privileged to be able to work for the people of Hawaii in whatever capacity. – Tulsi Gabbard • I bought almost every single thing that I furnished my house with at the Salvation Army in Hawaii. All second hand. Some of them are kind of retro, and some of them you’d never know. – Evangeline Lilly • I can’t even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it’s so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It’s very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven’t been to paradise if you haven’t been to Hawaii. – Bruno Mars • I decided that we’d have to take our chances with the law and get the hell out of Baltimore. I thought of seeking asylum in Canada or Australia or England, but I didn’t want to leave the United States, because for better or worse I’m an American, and this is my land; so I decided to fight it out on home ground, and finally we hit upon Hawaii, because of the liberal atmosphere created by its racial admixture, and because of its relatively large population of Buddhists, who are largely nontheistic. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • I dive all over the world: Fiji, Australia, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and many other places. – Frederick Lenz • I don’t care about the money. I’m just interested in the perks. I’ll do a series if I am picked up by a limo, work only until 4, and the show is shot in Hawaii. – Harry Morgan • I don’t care where [Ted] Cruz comes from. I don’t care where the President comes from. Day one, I opened an investigation on a fraudulent government Hawaii document, period, on a birth certificate, so if you can say Cruz has fake documents, okay. – Joe Arpaio • I don’t have any simple things. I only have things like a gold-studded leather jacket. Then I’m going to Hawaii and I’m asking myself “Do I pack it? It could be cold.” I’m inventing scenarios where I could wear it. – Shaun White • I don’t like to spend money when I’m traveling. I like to go places like Hawaii and not spend money. I splurge on time. – Jonny Weston • I don’t look down on tourism. I live in Hawaii where we have 7 million visitors a year. If they weren’t there, there would be no economy. So I understand why a tourist economy is necessary. – Paul Theroux • I ended up in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, operating out of Ayuka field in Hawaii. – Louis Zamperini • I got into this little habit of architecture and building. I designed a house in Colorado and one in Hawaii. The idea is supposed to be build and sell – but then I can never bring myself to sell them. – Trey Parker • I grew up in a musical family; the majority of my growing up was done in Hawaii. It’s what we do. You sing, you dance, you play ukulele and you drink. – Dwayne Johnson • I grew up in Hawaii and I think those islands are some of the most amazing places on the planet. – Mateus Ward • I grew up in Hawaii so I was outside a lot playing in the water. – Kelly Preston • I had actually been going to Hawaii for quite a while before I ever picked up the uke. I think with anything new you’re going to get more enjoyment out of it if it comes to you quickly, and the uke facilitates that. – Eddie Vedder • I had done ‘Die Hard’ and it was somebody’s franchise. I actually just got done with the ‘Hawaii Five-O’ pilot and I was developing some things of my own. So ‘Total Recall’ one of those projects that I read wanting more not to like it. – Len Wiseman • I had never been to Hawaii, and now I say that my body is from L.A. but my heart is from Hawaii, because I’m in love with it and it’s home on every level, from a spiritual, soulful place. – Shailene Woodley • I hate painting with a broad brush, but I think the birther thing, at its root, is racist. The guy was born in Hawaii. A black guy is president. It’s cool. Get over it. Just deal with it. There’s nothing you could show these birther people that would shut them up. – Henry Rollins • I have never been afraid to tackle tough or controversial issues, but I have always done it with the intent to do what I was elected to do, and that is represent the interests of my constituents, the working people of Hawaii. I feel that we are facing some of the most difficult issues in recent history with regard to food security, a widening income gap, and the rapidly increasing rise of the cost of living in our State. I know that the office of Lieutenant Governor can do more to address these issues. – Clayton Hee • I have to say, though, that somebody pointed out to me on YouTube that Conan O’Brien was being interviewed, and he was talking about how, oddly enough, he went to see that movie [South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut ] in Hawaii with his girlfriend or wife or whoever, and he didn’t even realize his character was in it. But there he was, and he said, “This voice comes out of me, and I’m thinking, ‘That’s not me! Who is that? That doesn’t even sound like me!’ – Brent Spiner • I just got back from Hawaii on Saturday, and it’s so depressing how quickly all the stresses and the stressful energy of L.A. comes bombarding back. Everyone’s in a rush, you’re annoying everyone, get out of their way, everyone’s most important than you are, has got somewhere more important to be – very draining town. But I still love it in many ways. I wouldn’t leave California. I think it’s a fantastic state, if you can’t be in Hawaii all the time. – Natalie Maines • I know I can serve Hawaii and our country well in the U.S. Senate, know we can mount a solid statewide campaign, know we have a good chance of prevailing. – Ed Case • I know that some of those plans [of the North Korea] could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. – Hillary Clinton • I love Hawaii. I really enjoy surfing in Oahu, and Waianae is such a great area. And Maui – I like Maui a lot, too. – Troy Polamalu • I mean, Hawaii is beautiful, but the world is full of beautiful places. – Robert Kiyosaki • I remember watching Swan Lake and everybody looking exactly the same, but being able to relate because they were the only company I had ever seen even on video that had Asian dancers. The Asian community in Hawaii is actually almost as dominant as the Caucasian community. I thought “I can relate to that company because they look like people that I see every day.” They weren’t all little stick-thin Russian ballerinas. – Joan Chen • I see life everywhere I look. I get the energy off the water. Hawaii really, when I am there, it feels like how we are supposed to live and how it’s supposed to be: slower, just appreciating our surroundings. I love the people there and the aloha, the history. They’re really rooted in something. – Natalie Maines • I shined off high school band, marching, jazz studies. At the time I was too cool for school, I had this professional gig and I was going home taking a shower and heading to downtown Hawaii, Waikiki. – Eric Hernandez • I still consider myself a little, fat kid from Hawaii. – Robert Kiyosaki • I take golf trips with my brother or with friends. We usually go to Pebble or Bandon Dunes. One year we went to Hawaii. – Greg Maddux • I think I learned years ago when I went to Hawaii that you don’t bring puka shells back. You’ve got to be careful of your vacation purchases. – Joshua Homme • I think I was a mermaid and I used to swim the shores or Hawaii and used to pop up and see coconuts and pineapples everywhere. – Ella Henderson • I think somebody like Wes [Anderson] has a very good sense of style and is original. I think my sense of style got a little bit better after I was exposed to you guys at Valentino. Because I’m just in Hawaii and Malibu; it’s just kind of T-shirts and surfing-type stuff. – Owen Wilson • I think that being isolated from the Hollywood world of premieres and red carpet events was probably good for me because I could ease into those at will and by my own choice. But in other aspects, when it comes to fanfare, Hawaii is nuts and in L.A. they’re all so jaded. They don’t care. – Evangeline Lilly • I think there’s a really great amount of potential for Hawaii to become an example of what’s possible with renewable energy because there are so many renewable resources here: energy, solar energy, and wind energy. There’s so much potential here. – Jack Johnson • I thought my book was done, then we went to Hawaii and the whole last chapter happened. – Mariel Hemingway • I truly believe the brightest days lie ahead for the Great State of Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster – close to 3,000 Hawaii soldiers were. – Tulsi Gabbard • I want people to think of Hawaii and think of palm trees and magical islands and Bruno Mars. – Bruno Mars • I want to stay in Hawaii a little while. I’m kind of liking it over there. – Josh Holloway • I wanted to go back on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I did it. One of my favorite shows is ‘Hawaii Five-0.’ I went on, guest starred. I wanted to be in a film, did ‘Tasmanian Devils’ in Vancouver. Wanted to host a show, boom, did it. – Apolo Ohno • I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii – Steve Case • I was born in Hawaii, but I was raised in Iowa. – Jason Momoa • I was in Jersey when the whole World Trade Center thing happened and I felt powerless. So, I went to Hawaii and did a surf movie. It’s kind of fluffy. – Michelle Rodriguez • I was introduced to skateboarding through my father. He was a surfer back in the 50’s & 60’s in Hawaii, where my parents grew up. They later moved to California and I was born. Skateboarding was the thing for surfers here in California in the 60’s and my Dad immediately made me a homemade board. – Christian Hosoi • I was just asking Chad [Myers], how can you get a volcano in Iceland? Isn’t it too- when you think of a volcano, you think of Hawaii and long words like that. You don’t think of Iceland.You think it’s too cold to have a volcano there. – Rick Sanchez • I was over there in Hawaii. I was there on the big island. The ‘Big Island’ – that name cracks me up. First of all, it’s not that big, so I’m pretty sure a guy came up with that name. – Carol Leifer • I was raised all over. Kansas, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, by the time I was 11. – Jeri Ryan • I would love to rent a little cottage or cabin in Colorado and learn to ski or snowboard. And on the warmer side, I also want to rent a house in Hawaii and learn to surf! – Karlie Kloss • I wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song. – Joni Mitchell • I`ve always thought of him [Barack Obama] and from conversations know him to be a guy who takes the long view, who doesn`t get too high, doesn`t get too low and seizes the opportunities when they`re there and knows how to ride the wave. I ascribe that to Hawaii. He`s a body surfer, so he knows how to get on the wave. He knows just the right time. – Howard Fineman • I’d left Hawaii twice in my life, so I’d been on an island my whole life. I had no clue. I didn’t know how to live in a city. – Maggie Q • I’d love to be [one of MacGyver’s buddies]. I’d watch that one and just think, wow, what a life. Living in Hawaii, driving around in someone’s Ferrari, and solving mysteries. – Rhys Darby • I’d love to go somewhere warm, somewhere near the beach and somewhere with a cool culture. It could be Hawaii, Cuba, South America – anywhere that has a cool culture and a beautiful climate. – Steve Nash • If a nation’s security is only as strong as its weakest link, then America may be in serious trouble. Hawaii may be our weakest link and could have a serious impact on our nation’s immigration policy. – Joe Arpaio • If there’s a Disney animated feature based in Hawaii, I knew I had to be part of it. I’m very proud to be from Hawaii. There was no question the role was mine. – Tia Carrere • If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week we’ll have to fight in San Francisco. – Lyndon B. Johnson • If you don’t have at least a working knowledge of the Hawaiian language… you can’t chant well. You cannot… receive the images of poetry paints for you. It’s like having peas and no pod. – Keali’i Reichel • If you want to surf, move to Hawaii. If you like to shop, move to New York. If you like acting and Hollywood, move to California. But if you like college football, move to Texas. – Ricky Williams • I’m a surfer at heart. Both my parents moved to Hawaii in the 1970s, where they met and became Christians. Then they taught me and my two brothers how to love the Lord – and how to surf! – Bethany Hamilton • I’m not sure it’s possible to stay in Hawaii. It’s kind of impractical. – Terry O’Quinn • I’m of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese descent, and was raised on Hawaii. – Tia Carrere • I’m quadracontinental. I’ve got a life in London, New York, L.A. and Hawaii. – Rebecca Mader • I’m still a little girl in Hawaii, I have the same friends I had when I was a kid who love me for who I am – not what I do. I never got caught up in the club scene or took wrong roads. – Kiana Tom • Imagine, if you will, you’re sitting at my desk in Hawaii. You have access to the entire world, as far as you can see it. Last several days, content of internet communications. Every email that’s sent. Every website that’s visited by every individual. Every text message that somebody sends on their phone. Every phone call they make. – Edward Snowden • In Hawaii they say, “aloha.” That’s a nice one, It means both “hello” and “good-bye” Which just goes to show, if you spend enough time in the sun you don’t know whether you’re coming or going. – George Carlin • In Hawaii, if you’re invited to dinner, it’s assumed that the children are invited as well. On the islands, no one treats children like they’re not part of the conversation. People talk to children as people and include them in adventures and conversations. – Gabrielle Reece • In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley. – Bruno Mars • In Hawaii, the environment is fabulous. In Malibu, the people are fabulous. Our family unity is tight, and we have the Pacific Ocean outside our door in both places, so there is consistency. – Laird Hamilton • In Hawaii, there are 50-year-old grandfathers, because they got married so early. – Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa • In Hawaii, they’re happy to hear that you’re filming a show. They love it that people actually come and make use of their beautiful landscapes. – Rachelle Lefevre • In Hawaii, we go to this wonderful place, all families. My wife and I go directly from breakfast to a beach chair where we read all day. My daughter goes from water to pool to running around with friends she meets, some of whom are regulars there. – Stephen Collins • In Hawaii, we greet friends, loved ones or strangers with Aloha, which means love. Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit of real hospitality, which makes Hawaii renowned as the world’s center of understanding and fellowship. Try meeting or leaving people with Aloha. You’ll be surprised by their reaction. I believe it and it is my creed. Aloha to you. – Duke Kahanamoku • In Hawaii, we have something called Ho’oponopono, where people come together to resolve crises and restore peace and balance. – Duane Chapman • In my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago. – Mark Twain • In the case of Five-O, I believe it was a combination of many ingredients – timing, chemistry, Hawaii. – James MacArthur • Indian-styled garments are very popular in the U.S., especially in areas near the beach, like Hawaii and Los Angeles. – Maggie Grace • Insiders say Obama’s pretty comfortable around actors. He should be. He has been ‘acting’ like he was born in Hawaii for a long time. – Craig Ferguson • It doesn’t matter if the Republican or the Democratic candidate wins the governorship [of Hawaii]. Either one is already in the kingdom. – Ed Silvoso • It doesn’t matter to me where Barack Obama goes. If he wants to go to Hawaii because it’s his home state, fine! Hunky-dory. Plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller dittos. – Rush Limbaugh • It is really so nice here-country-busy-busy with so many different kinds of things-… I must say I feel far away in another world here-… always we go to a new place…the people have a kind of gentleness that isn’t usual on the mainland. – Georgia O’Keeffe • It’s easier to be healthy in Hawaii than it is, almost anywhere else I’ve lived. You spend a lot of time outside, in the ocean and on the beach. – Terry O’Quinn • It’s good to visit Hawaii if you’re seeking power. You don’t really need to live here. Just to come over for a week is enough. Switzerland is another spot like this. It’s very similar. These are the two clearest spots, Switzerland and Hawaii. – Frederick Lenz • I’ve always been under the impression that it would be such a bummer to be in a peaceful place like Hawaii or the tropics and be stressed about catching waves. – Shaun White • I’ve been surfing for a couple years, in the offseason in California and in Hawaii. I’m not very good, but it’s just something that to be out there in the water, no cell phone, no music… very few sports are as pure as that. – Troy Polamalu • I’ve enjoyed the accommodations offered by police departments from Florida to Hawaii. Any time I saw a badge, something in me would snap. – Grace Slick • Jason Lee is the most famous actor from Hawaii I can think of. – Tia Carrere • Life is very nice in Hawaii. I rent a place that has its own cottage so when my friends and family come to visit, they have somewhere nice to stay. – Jorge Garcia • Make good the good in you…and you will slowly steal into the Hawaiian heart, which is all of softness, and gentleness, and sweetness. – Jack London • Many believe that Hillary Clinton was channeling President Obama during her recent speech in New York City. She focused on equality, justice, and how hard it was for her growing up as a young black man in Hawaii. – Jimmy Fallon • Many exhibits from this aquarium use Hawaii’s abundant natural daylight. This allows Waikiki to display only live coral, which creates beautiful exhibits. It’s also a world leader in the propagation of live coral. The aquarium features some unusual and rarely seen species, including the chambered nautilus and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. – John Grant • Most of my ukulele heroes were traditional players from Hawaii, like Eddie Kamae and Ohta-san. There may not be uke stars in popular culture, but there are certainly pop stars that play uke – George Harrison, Eddie Vedder, Taylor Swift, Train, and Paul McCartney. – Jake Shimabukuro • Most of the time, I’m working in places I’m not familiar with. Sometimes it’s Slovakia, and sometimes it’s Hawaii. Not to bash on Slovakia, but I really did enjoy Hawaii. – George Clooney • Most people are walking around the city like corpses; they aren’t alive enough to notice the trash. They come from other places and they see it as a big garbage dump. Do you want to live and work in a garbage dump? I don’t. That’s partly because I grew up in the most pristine environment possible – Hawaii, where it is sacrilege to leave your garbage on the ground. – Bette Midler • My boyfriend, who I love to death – he’s only 17 so he’s the youngest guy I’ve ever dated – he just moved here from Hawaii to be with me and I met him when I was 10. Anyway, in Hawaii they have such a different mentality and different priorities. – Nikki Reed • My father is Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino; my mother is half-Irish and half-Japanese; Greek last name; born in Hawaii, raised in Germany. – Mark Dacascos • My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer. – Bruno Mars • My husband is from Hawaii and his father who was also born in Hawaii was a teenager when Pearl Harbor happened, right before church and he ran up and got on the roof of his grandfather’s house and watched the planes go over. – Sigourney Weaver • My kids have never known me not working on The Bachelor. But they’ve lived in Paris and Italy and been to Hawaii and Bora-Bora with me, and it’s incredible to me that they’ve had these experiences. – Chris Harrison • Not very many companies go through Hawaii on their way to anywhere. San Francisco Ballet was the only company I remember, and Bolshoi, coming through Hawaii when I was younger. – Joan Chen • Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us. – Randy Alcorn • One volcano in Hawaii, one volcano in Indonesia, produces enough gases in the atmosphere, which include those natural elements that are in the Earth’s crust, that, uh, kind of make all the, you know, the science that we have about what we produce, moot. – Jim Gibbons • Over the years, I’ve traveled to many places for inspiration and research, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, California, and Hawaii. – Jennifer Chiaverini • President Obama and his family are spending the holidays in Hawaii, and while they’re gone, they got a fence jumper to house sit. Tomorrow, he will be in Hawaii playing golf with Raul Castro and the Pope. – David Letterman • President Obama has decided that he wants his presidential library to be in Chicago, not Hawaii. Today Hawaii’s governor said, ‘Great, who’s going to want to come to Hawaii now?’ – Conan O’Brien • Running gives me a clearer perspective on the world, and it makes me feel special. I’ve never been a traditional tourist. I’ve always seen the world by running, and that has allowed me to view things in a different way. Places look different in the early-morning hours, when the streets are deserted. – Grete Waitz • Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. – Isoroku Yamamoto • Since my mom is the President of Ballet Hawaii, I’m always in touch with stuff going on. – Joan Chen • Six years ago, I completed the premier episode of Hawaii Five-O, and Jack Lord and I immediately realized that we had a good series, that this was a success such as we’d never hoped for! – James MacArthur • So it was a really pleasant surprise when [Independence Day] turned out to be a successful film. I don’t know if you’ve heard that they’re going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I’ve actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch. – Brent Spiner • Some people say Hawaii is spoiled, but I don’t think so. It’s modern. It’s a part of today’s world. – James MacArthur • Somehow, the love of the islands, like the love of a woman, just happens. One cannot determine in advance to love a particular woman, nor can one so determine to love Hawaii. – Jack London • That isn’t to say that Hawaii’s better. On the mainland, everyone seems to be trying to get somewhere. Kids are taught to shoot for the moon, to believe in their ability to do anything, to follow their passions. In Hawaii, you’re stuck in the middle of the Pacific, and it can be difficult to see how you’re going to follow your passion from there. – Gabrielle Reece • That’s a traditional Samoan dance. I was lucky that I was able to fly my cousins, who are professional dancers, up from Hawaii and they were able to be in the movie with me. We had a great time. – Dwayne Johnson • The Aloha spirit is something that is very special and very meaningful to us and our Polynesian culture. Those of you who have had the opportunity to visit Hawaii, or any of the Polynesian islands, know that it’s a very special thing. It’s an intangible, and when you get off the plane and have your feet on the ground there, it energetically takes you to a different place. – Dwayne Johnson • The band would play on the night off for the local hotel bands and we’d back all the different acts. So I’d been advised by good friends of mine to come back to Hawaii. Oh, I loved Honolulu, playing at a place right on the beach at Waikiki! – Martin Denny • The beauty of Hawaii probably surpasses other places. I like the Big Island and the two mountains, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, where you can look out at the stars. – Buzz Aldrin • The best thing about wearing black is that you can hide pretty easily, unless you’re in like Hawaii, then you can’t hide. – Gerard Way • The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it. Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station. – Liliʻuokalani • The day before I left to fly in New York, I went in the ocean and was just lying on my black looking up at the sky, which was that Hawaii blue. Just that moment was worth the entire thing. The ocean is everything. It can heal you. – Gavin Rossdale • The five principles of aloha, when practiced together, awaken our awareness of our human potential and the sacredness of our life. – Paul Pearsall • The mindless rejoicing at home is really appalling; it makes me fear that the first blow against Tokyo will make them wilt at once…I only wish that [the Americans] had also had, say, three carriers at Hawaii. – Isoroku Yamamoto • The number one issue that Ocean Mysteries has opened my eyes to is, no matter where you are, whether you’re on a beach in Hawaii, you’re diving in the Pacific, you’re in a remote archipelago, or you’re in the middle of nowhere – I am blown away and sobered and crushed, emotionally crushed, by the amount of marine debris, of garbage, that is now in our ocean. – Jeff Corwin • The one we keep pitching and there are no takers is The Fabulous Baker Boys Go to Hawaii. There don’t seem to be any takers on that one! – Beau Bridges • The paintings are transferred from my computer to a disk, and I can hand it to the printer this way; or I can modem the painting to the printer over the phone lines from my house in Hawaii. – Buffy Sainte-Marie • The person who betrayed you is sunning themselves on a beach in Hawaii and you’re knotted up in hatred. Who is suffering? – Jack Kornfield • The sentiments in Hawaii about Washington’s failure of leadership are no different than the rest of the country. – Ed Case • The smell of the sea, of kelp and fish and bitter moving water, rose stronger in my nostrils. It flooded my consciousness like an ancestral memory. The swells rose sluggishly and fell away, casting up dismal gleams between the boards of the pier. And the whole pier rose and fell in stiff and creaking mimicry, dancing its long slow dance of dissolution. I reached the end and saw no one, heard nothing but my footsteps and the creak of the beams, the slap of waves on the pilings. It was a fifteen-foot drop to the dim water. The nearest land ahead of me was Hawaii.- Ross Macdonald • The spiritual destiny of Hawaii has been shaped by a Calvinist theory of paternalism enacted by the descendants of the missionaries who had carried it there: a will to do good for unfortunates regardless of what the unfortunates thought about it. – Francine du Plessix Gray • The U.S. started with no stars. In fact, it started with a completely different flag. The last two were added in 1959, Hawaii and Alaska. – Juan Enriquez • There are many things I’m looking forward to in 2013, both personally and professionally. Plans for new restaurants in the U.S., including Eataly Chicago, are underway, and I’m gearing up for the 2013 Ironman world championships in Hawaii – if I’m lucky enough to get a spot! – Joe Bastianich • There are several states where you can get married. But I think I can say without fear of contradiction, ‘Paradise awaits.’ We’ll be happy to welcome you. And if you do get married in another state, think about honeymooning in Hawaii. – Neil Abercrombie • There are spirits in Hawaii. They’re very protective and very good and they watch over these islands. I must confess, they’re not entirely happy with what they see, with the way the civilization is moving. But they’re patient. They’ve been here for a long time, and they’ll be here long after the human beings have ceased to inhabit the islands. – Frederick Lenz • There is one bright side to this, said Fang. “Yeah? What’s that?” The new and improved Erasers would mutilate us before they killed us? He grinned at me so unexpectedly I gorgot to flap for a second and dropped several feet. “You looove me,” he crooned smugly. Holding his arms out wide, he added, “You love me this much.” My shriek of appalled rage could probably be heard in California, or maybe Hawaii. – James Patterson • There’s nothing – there’s nothing – as action-packed as ‘Hawaii Five-O.’ – Michelle Borth • This sounds cheesy but when I would get in discussions with people about religion or spirituality, a lot of people would say, “I believe God is nature, there’s God in that tree” – and I would think, What the hell are they on about? But it was about four or five years ago in Hawaii where that all made sense to me and I got it all, and I felt God was in the trees and in the grass and the flowers, and I completely understood. – Natalie Maines • Though there is something cruel about being in Hawaii and you have a computer in front of you the whole time. – Justin Theroux • To be honest I don’t watch the show, I don’t watch any TV, so I have no idea what the show is about. I go to Hawaii, shot my scenes and script and ‘Ciao.’ I’m not a ‘Lost’ fanatic and it’s a disappointment for thousands people and friends that are dying to know what will happen. They know more than me. – Sonya Walger • Waterworld was the best time of my life. It was physically demanding, but it was fun. I mean, you’re in Hawaii for nine months shooting on the water every day. – David R. Ellis • We are truly the land of the great. From the rock shores of… Hawaii… to the beautiful sandy beaches of… Hawaii… America is our home. – Sarah Palin • We have great cities to visit: New York and Washington, Paris and London; and further east, and older than any of these, the legendary city of Samarkand, whose crumbling palaces and mosques still welcome travelers on the Silk road. Weary of cities? Then we’ll take to the wilds. To the islands of Hawaii and the mountains of Japan, to forests where Civil War dead still lie, and stretches of sea no mariner ever crossed. They all have their poetry: the glittering cities and the ruined, the watery wastes and the dusty; I want to show you them all. I want to show you everything. – Clive Barker • We have North Shore, Hawaii and Lost all there, so they have softball tournaments between the casts. It’s hilarious. – Josh Holloway • We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny. – William McKinley • We packed up all the worldly possessions we could carry with us and took the next flight to Hawaii from Washington. It took just about every cent my family had to our name just to pay the plane fare. When we arrived, we had about $15 left among us. We were really in pitiful shape. But we were together, and we were alive, and this was all that mattered. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We shot on location in our very first weeks, in our very first shows. I would like to go on location again, Hawaii would be good!! But normally, we tape five days a week in the studio starting at about 8:00 a.m. and continuing until about 8:00 p.m. – Juliet Mills • We were just floored by the kindness of the people here. The minister of the Unitarian Church in Honolulu invited my family over to his office the day we arrived and told us to make it our headquarters while we looked for a permanent residence. When we couldn’t find a place for about a week, he let us live in the church; that’s ironic, isn’t it? But it points up the vastly different intellectual atmosphere that prevails here in Hawaii. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We were on the island of Hawaii. I think I was there three months. It was fantastic. It is not much different than films. It depends on the television show but much of television today is as good or better than most films. – Bo Derek • Well, filming in Hawaii, you know, is a blessing. It’s one of the most beautiful places on this planet. It has a very mystic energy which informs you as an actor. – Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje • Well, President-elect Barack Obama and his family are gonna spend the holidays in his home state of Hawaii. And you know who couldn’t be more thrilled with this? The press, the reporters who follow the president. Well, think about it. After eight years of spending every holiday cutting brush in Crawford, Texas, they get to go to Hawaii! – Jay Leno • We’ve had every official in Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that has investigated this, confirm that, yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii, Aug. 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital. – Barack Obama • When I get in the sun I get very tanned. You can’t tell me from the native fishermen in Hawaii or Mexico. – Desi Arnaz • When I’m in New York, I bike everywhere. I have a couple of bikes stored over at Ed Norton’s. It’s the only way to go. But in Hawaii, I drive. I have a little Volkswagen Bug, from the ‘Drive it? Hug it?’ phase. I run it on biodiesel. – Woody Harrelson • When Japanese went to Hawaii they would go straight and buy the same thing that they would buy in Japan. They just got it cheaper, which they liked. And so they would still eat the red bean ice cream or the green tea ice cream, but they didn’t really take advantage of the variety and it wasn’t clear that they cared. – Sheena Iyengar • When people are worried about the future, they don’t take trips to Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • When you go to Hawaii, it’s all about “Aloha.” It means hello, goodbye and I love you. – Gabriel Iglesias • Whenever I finish a book, I go off and have some kind of adventure. Having had an adventure in my writing chair or on my writing sofa, an internal adventure, then I need to balance that off with an external adventure, so I’ll go tramping through Africa or whitewater rafting or float to Hawaii in a martini shaker or something. – Tom Robbins • Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? – Steven Wright • With my being from Hawaii and being very family oriented I don’t really have a fear of a tragic ending. I dont see any tragic ending for me. – Bruno Mars • With the departure of Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D), who is running for the governorship of Hawaii, and with the tragic and very sad passing of my personal friend Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they’ve gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots. – Eric Massa • You are the lei I entwine with the beauty of your smile. – Robert Cazimero • You know, I think there was a point in time when people didn’t really understand how birth certificates were kept in the state of Hawaii, and now, I think that it’s been pretty much disclosed that they used to have a long form and now they don’t have a long form. Arizona used to have a long form, we now have a short form. – Jan Brewer • You know, or three kinds of ice cream bars and you’d see this and like this… okay they could clearly benefit from some more choices and I remember having these discussions with the Japanese because they you know they often like to go to Hawaii for vacation because it was definitely much cheaper for them and I would ask them, “So when you go to Hawaii, you know do eat all these other things?” – Sheena Iyengar • You think that you can hide; you think you can lay low? I’ll roll up on your ass like Hawaii 5-0! – Busta Rhymes [clickbank-storefront-bestselling]

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[equitiesstocks]

Hawaii Quotes

Official Website: Hawaii Quotes

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• A dreaming vortex is a place where it’s easy to change. You come to a dreaming vortex like Hawaii to step from one dream into another, from one world into another, to change, in other words. – Frederick Lenz • A travel agent told I could spend 7 nights in HAWAII no days just nights. – Rodney Dangerfield • According to a new study, Hawaii is the happiest place in America to live. And I thought it was just a great place to pretend you were born in. – Craig Ferguson • America has always been the richest and most secure, and sometimes the most dangerous country in the world. In the early years, the danger was to everybody near us, slaves, Native Americans, Mexicans. It finally expanded in 1898 to the Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. – Noam Chomsky • Apparently President Obama’s favorite cocktail is a martini. When asked how he likes it, he said, ‘On the beach, in Hawaii, in 2017.’ – Jimmy Fallon • Are we as willing to go into debt for the work of God as we are for a vacation to Hawaii? – Erwin W. Lutzer • Are we going to New Orleans?” “No”, she said, backing out of the spot. “We’re going to West Virginia.” “I assume by ‘West Virginia,’ you actually mean ‘Hawaii,'” I said. “Or some place equally exciting. – Richelle Mead • As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii. – Tim McCarver • As a territory, American Samoa has no representation in the U.S. Senate, and we Samoans lost a respected and powerful ally with the passing of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye. – Troy Polamalu • Barack H. Obama is a landmark presidential figure as the first black, multiracial, multicultural president from Hawaii and the Pacific. – Dinesh Sharma

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Hawaii', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Barack Obama isn’t pointing to anyone, and certainly doesn’t like it when others note (correctly) that his influences were the likes of Saul Alinsky, the Chicagoan and modern founder of community organizing, or Frank Marshall Davis, the communist journalist and agitator from Chicago who mentored Obama in Hawaii in the latter 1970s, and who Obama warmly acknowledges in his memoirs. – Paul Kengor • Beating the drums for Hawaii is not hard to do… the place just grows on you. – James MacArthur • Before I became a fighter pilot, everyone said that women didn’t have the physical strength. Well, I had just completed the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. – Martha McSally • Being in Hawaii, it’s almost impossible not to be fit, I think. – Henry Ian Cusick • Come with me while the moon is on the sea The night is young and so are we Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii And mine could all come true This magic night of nights with you – Leo Robin • Donald Trump has made it clear that certainly over the last few years that President [Barack] Obama was born in Hawaii. – John Lewis • Ever since I was young I understood the whole meaning of life isn’t how much money you accumulate, how much fame you experience, it’s how many lives you touch, how many faces you bring smiles to. I see myself back in Hawaii doing something in the community to improve the lives of young children. Everything I’ve done is to prepare myself to give back. – Manti Te’o • Every city I go to is an opportunity to paint, whether it’s Omaha or Hawaii. – Tony Bennett • Every time I flicked channels, there I was, talking. I was talking too much and writing too little. So Naomi and I went to Hawaii. The phone was cut off and we lost touch. This gave me the chance to have a good think about my life. – Joe Eszterhas • For a while I got into the South Pacific theater of World War II. I read “American Caesar” by William Manchester, the biography of General MacArthur. Because of that I ended up reading “Tales of the South Pacific” by James Michener and then because of that reading his “Hawaii.” That is what happens. – Dave Barry • For many years I had allowed my second husband to take credit for my paintings. But one day, unable to continue the deception any longer, I left him and my home in California and moved to Hawaii. – Margaret Keane • For me, the magic of Hawaii comes from the stillness, the sea, the stars. – Joanne Harris • For some reason my father saw no problem with us pplaying “barbie and ken go to hawaii to save their marriage by picking up another couple for sexy good times,” but if barbie and ken had gone to hawaii to “rescue another couple from a crazed kidnapper,” that would have been wrong. – Michele Jaffe • Good schools, good jobs, good government. These are not unreasonable demands. But sadly, some of our people have already lost heart and have left Hawaii to look for these things elsewhere. – Linda Lingle • Grew up in Hawaii that gave [Barack Obama] a kind of optimism, an ability to see things, you know, and frankly, an ability to trust, you know, in his fellow, you know, white countrymen in a way that I, for instance, you know, and the vast majority of black people I know never really could. – Ta-Nehisi Coates • Growing up, the ukulele was always a respected instrument. It’s a big part of our culture. It wasn’t until I started traveling outside of Hawaii that I realized people didn’t really consider the ukulele to be a real instrument. – Jake Shimabukuro • Have you guys ever ghost hunted in Hawaii? No? Well, I have this fat friend… I shouldn’t say fat, that might offend him, but he’s Samoan and claims to have seen ghosts. – CM Punk • Hawaii ain’t a bad place to work. – T.I. • Hawaii can be heaven and it can be hell. – Jeff Goldblum • Hawaii doesn’t win many games in the United States. – Lee Corso • Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is a beautiful place to bring up a family. – Henry Ian Cusick • Hawaii is a small, close community. – Jake Shimabukuro • Hawaii is a special place because we have a very diverse population there, who are very respectful and tolerant of those who have differing opinions and different views. – Tulsi Gabbard • Hawaii is a unique state. It is a small state. It is a state that is by itself. It is a-it is different than the other 49 states. Well, all states are different, but it’s got a particularly unique situation. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is absolutely beautiful. – Rachelle Lefevre • Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace. – Paul Theroux • Hawaii is paradise. It sounds cheesy to say it, but there’s music in the air there. – Bruno Mars • Hawaii is the best form of comfort for me. When I die, I want to be cremated, and I want half my ashes spread in the Pacific around the island, the rest on the property. – Richard Pryor • Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, and many Hawaiians or part-Hawaiians surf, but in the rest of the United States it’s a pretty white sport. – William Finnegan • Hawaii made the mouth of her soul water. – Tom Robbins • Hawaii was beautiful of course, we played at Turtle Bay an amazing resort right on the ocean. – Natalie Gulbis • Hawaiis own Patsy Mink served as the first congresswoman of color and first Asian American woman in the House; she later sought the Democratic Party presidential nomination. – Colleen Hanabusa • Hawaii’s the 50th state? I thought it was a suburb of Guam. – Bobby Heenan • Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not. – Wayne Allyn Root • Hula is the art of Hawaiian dance, which expresses all we see, smell, taste, touch, feel, and experience. It is joy, sorrow, courage, and fear. – Robert Cazimero • I am privileged to be able to work for the people of Hawaii in whatever capacity. – Tulsi Gabbard • I bought almost every single thing that I furnished my house with at the Salvation Army in Hawaii. All second hand. Some of them are kind of retro, and some of them you’d never know. – Evangeline Lilly • I can’t even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it’s so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It’s very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven’t been to paradise if you haven’t been to Hawaii. – Bruno Mars • I decided that we’d have to take our chances with the law and get the hell out of Baltimore. I thought of seeking asylum in Canada or Australia or England, but I didn’t want to leave the United States, because for better or worse I’m an American, and this is my land; so I decided to fight it out on home ground, and finally we hit upon Hawaii, because of the liberal atmosphere created by its racial admixture, and because of its relatively large population of Buddhists, who are largely nontheistic. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • I dive all over the world: Fiji, Australia, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and many other places. – Frederick Lenz • I don’t care about the money. I’m just interested in the perks. I’ll do a series if I am picked up by a limo, work only until 4, and the show is shot in Hawaii. – Harry Morgan • I don’t care where [Ted] Cruz comes from. I don’t care where the President comes from. Day one, I opened an investigation on a fraudulent government Hawaii document, period, on a birth certificate, so if you can say Cruz has fake documents, okay. – Joe Arpaio • I don’t have any simple things. I only have things like a gold-studded leather jacket. Then I’m going to Hawaii and I’m asking myself “Do I pack it? It could be cold.” I’m inventing scenarios where I could wear it. – Shaun White • I don’t like to spend money when I’m traveling. I like to go places like Hawaii and not spend money. I splurge on time. – Jonny Weston • I don’t look down on tourism. I live in Hawaii where we have 7 million visitors a year. If they weren’t there, there would be no economy. So I understand why a tourist economy is necessary. – Paul Theroux • I ended up in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, operating out of Ayuka field in Hawaii. – Louis Zamperini • I got into this little habit of architecture and building. I designed a house in Colorado and one in Hawaii. The idea is supposed to be build and sell – but then I can never bring myself to sell them. – Trey Parker • I grew up in a musical family; the majority of my growing up was done in Hawaii. It’s what we do. You sing, you dance, you play ukulele and you drink. – Dwayne Johnson • I grew up in Hawaii and I think those islands are some of the most amazing places on the planet. – Mateus Ward • I grew up in Hawaii so I was outside a lot playing in the water. – Kelly Preston • I had actually been going to Hawaii for quite a while before I ever picked up the uke. I think with anything new you’re going to get more enjoyment out of it if it comes to you quickly, and the uke facilitates that. – Eddie Vedder • I had done ‘Die Hard’ and it was somebody’s franchise. I actually just got done with the ‘Hawaii Five-O’ pilot and I was developing some things of my own. So ‘Total Recall’ one of those projects that I read wanting more not to like it. – Len Wiseman • I had never been to Hawaii, and now I say that my body is from L.A. but my heart is from Hawaii, because I’m in love with it and it’s home on every level, from a spiritual, soulful place. – Shailene Woodley • I hate painting with a broad brush, but I think the birther thing, at its root, is racist. The guy was born in Hawaii. A black guy is president. It’s cool. Get over it. Just deal with it. There’s nothing you could show these birther people that would shut them up. – Henry Rollins • I have never been afraid to tackle tough or controversial issues, but I have always done it with the intent to do what I was elected to do, and that is represent the interests of my constituents, the working people of Hawaii. I feel that we are facing some of the most difficult issues in recent history with regard to food security, a widening income gap, and the rapidly increasing rise of the cost of living in our State. I know that the office of Lieutenant Governor can do more to address these issues. – Clayton Hee • I have to say, though, that somebody pointed out to me on YouTube that Conan O’Brien was being interviewed, and he was talking about how, oddly enough, he went to see that movie [South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut ] in Hawaii with his girlfriend or wife or whoever, and he didn’t even realize his character was in it. But there he was, and he said, “This voice comes out of me, and I’m thinking, ‘That’s not me! Who is that? That doesn’t even sound like me!’ – Brent Spiner • I just got back from Hawaii on Saturday, and it’s so depressing how quickly all the stresses and the stressful energy of L.A. comes bombarding back. Everyone’s in a rush, you’re annoying everyone, get out of their way, everyone’s most important than you are, has got somewhere more important to be – very draining town. But I still love it in many ways. I wouldn’t leave California. I think it’s a fantastic state, if you can’t be in Hawaii all the time. – Natalie Maines • I know I can serve Hawaii and our country well in the U.S. Senate, know we can mount a solid statewide campaign, know we have a good chance of prevailing. – Ed Case • I know that some of those plans [of the North Korea] could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. – Hillary Clinton • I love Hawaii. I really enjoy surfing in Oahu, and Waianae is such a great area. And Maui – I like Maui a lot, too. – Troy Polamalu • I mean, Hawaii is beautiful, but the world is full of beautiful places. – Robert Kiyosaki • I remember watching Swan Lake and everybody looking exactly the same, but being able to relate because they were the only company I had ever seen even on video that had Asian dancers. The Asian community in Hawaii is actually almost as dominant as the Caucasian community. I thought “I can relate to that company because they look like people that I see every day.” They weren’t all little stick-thin Russian ballerinas. – Joan Chen • I see life everywhere I look. I get the energy off the water. Hawaii really, when I am there, it feels like how we are supposed to live and how it’s supposed to be: slower, just appreciating our surroundings. I love the people there and the aloha, the history. They’re really rooted in something. – Natalie Maines • I shined off high school band, marching, jazz studies. At the time I was too cool for school, I had this professional gig and I was going home taking a shower and heading to downtown Hawaii, Waikiki. – Eric Hernandez • I still consider myself a little, fat kid from Hawaii. – Robert Kiyosaki • I take golf trips with my brother or with friends. We usually go to Pebble or Bandon Dunes. One year we went to Hawaii. – Greg Maddux • I think I learned years ago when I went to Hawaii that you don’t bring puka shells back. You’ve got to be careful of your vacation purchases. – Joshua Homme • I think I was a mermaid and I used to swim the shores or Hawaii and used to pop up and see coconuts and pineapples everywhere. – Ella Henderson • I think somebody like Wes [Anderson] has a very good sense of style and is original. I think my sense of style got a little bit better after I was exposed to you guys at Valentino. Because I’m just in Hawaii and Malibu; it’s just kind of T-shirts and surfing-type stuff. – Owen Wilson • I think that being isolated from the Hollywood world of premieres and red carpet events was probably good for me because I could ease into those at will and by my own choice. But in other aspects, when it comes to fanfare, Hawaii is nuts and in L.A. they’re all so jaded. They don’t care. – Evangeline Lilly • I think there’s a really great amount of potential for Hawaii to become an example of what’s possible with renewable energy because there are so many renewable resources here: energy, solar energy, and wind energy. There’s so much potential here. – Jack Johnson • I thought my book was done, then we went to Hawaii and the whole last chapter happened. – Mariel Hemingway • I truly believe the brightest days lie ahead for the Great State of Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster – close to 3,000 Hawaii soldiers were. – Tulsi Gabbard • I want people to think of Hawaii and think of palm trees and magical islands and Bruno Mars. – Bruno Mars • I want to stay in Hawaii a little while. I’m kind of liking it over there. – Josh Holloway • I wanted to go back on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I did it. One of my favorite shows is ‘Hawaii Five-0.’ I went on, guest starred. I wanted to be in a film, did ‘Tasmanian Devils’ in Vancouver. Wanted to host a show, boom, did it. – Apolo Ohno • I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii – Steve Case • I was born in Hawaii, but I was raised in Iowa. – Jason Momoa • I was in Jersey when the whole World Trade Center thing happened and I felt powerless. So, I went to Hawaii and did a surf movie. It’s kind of fluffy. – Michelle Rodriguez • I was introduced to skateboarding through my father. He was a surfer back in the 50’s & 60’s in Hawaii, where my parents grew up. They later moved to California and I was born. Skateboarding was the thing for surfers here in California in the 60’s and my Dad immediately made me a homemade board. – Christian Hosoi • I was just asking Chad [Myers], how can you get a volcano in Iceland? Isn’t it too- when you think of a volcano, you think of Hawaii and long words like that. You don’t think of Iceland.You think it’s too cold to have a volcano there. – Rick Sanchez • I was over there in Hawaii. I was there on the big island. The ‘Big Island’ – that name cracks me up. First of all, it’s not that big, so I’m pretty sure a guy came up with that name. – Carol Leifer • I was raised all over. Kansas, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, by the time I was 11. – Jeri Ryan • I would love to rent a little cottage or cabin in Colorado and learn to ski or snowboard. And on the warmer side, I also want to rent a house in Hawaii and learn to surf! – Karlie Kloss • I wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song. – Joni Mitchell • I`ve always thought of him [Barack Obama] and from conversations know him to be a guy who takes the long view, who doesn`t get too high, doesn`t get too low and seizes the opportunities when they`re there and knows how to ride the wave. I ascribe that to Hawaii. He`s a body surfer, so he knows how to get on the wave. He knows just the right time. – Howard Fineman • I’d left Hawaii twice in my life, so I’d been on an island my whole life. I had no clue. I didn’t know how to live in a city. – Maggie Q • I’d love to be [one of MacGyver’s buddies]. I’d watch that one and just think, wow, what a life. Living in Hawaii, driving around in someone’s Ferrari, and solving mysteries. – Rhys Darby • I’d love to go somewhere warm, somewhere near the beach and somewhere with a cool culture. It could be Hawaii, Cuba, South America – anywhere that has a cool culture and a beautiful climate. – Steve Nash • If a nation’s security is only as strong as its weakest link, then America may be in serious trouble. Hawaii may be our weakest link and could have a serious impact on our nation’s immigration policy. – Joe Arpaio • If there’s a Disney animated feature based in Hawaii, I knew I had to be part of it. I’m very proud to be from Hawaii. There was no question the role was mine. – Tia Carrere • If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week we’ll have to fight in San Francisco. – Lyndon B. Johnson • If you don’t have at least a working knowledge of the Hawaiian language… you can’t chant well. You cannot… receive the images of poetry paints for you. It’s like having peas and no pod. – Keali’i Reichel • If you want to surf, move to Hawaii. If you like to shop, move to New York. If you like acting and Hollywood, move to California. But if you like college football, move to Texas. – Ricky Williams • I’m a surfer at heart. Both my parents moved to Hawaii in the 1970s, where they met and became Christians. Then they taught me and my two brothers how to love the Lord – and how to surf! – Bethany Hamilton • I’m not sure it’s possible to stay in Hawaii. It’s kind of impractical. – Terry O’Quinn • I’m of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese descent, and was raised on Hawaii. – Tia Carrere • I’m quadracontinental. I’ve got a life in London, New York, L.A. and Hawaii. – Rebecca Mader • I’m still a little girl in Hawaii, I have the same friends I had when I was a kid who love me for who I am – not what I do. I never got caught up in the club scene or took wrong roads. – Kiana Tom • Imagine, if you will, you’re sitting at my desk in Hawaii. You have access to the entire world, as far as you can see it. Last several days, content of internet communications. Every email that’s sent. Every website that’s visited by every individual. Every text message that somebody sends on their phone. Every phone call they make. – Edward Snowden • In Hawaii they say, “aloha.” That’s a nice one, It means both “hello” and “good-bye” Which just goes to show, if you spend enough time in the sun you don’t know whether you’re coming or going. – George Carlin • In Hawaii, if you’re invited to dinner, it’s assumed that the children are invited as well. On the islands, no one treats children like they’re not part of the conversation. People talk to children as people and include them in adventures and conversations. – Gabrielle Reece • In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley. – Bruno Mars • In Hawaii, the environment is fabulous. In Malibu, the people are fabulous. Our family unity is tight, and we have the Pacific Ocean outside our door in both places, so there is consistency. – Laird Hamilton • In Hawaii, there are 50-year-old grandfathers, because they got married so early. – Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa • In Hawaii, they’re happy to hear that you’re filming a show. They love it that people actually come and make use of their beautiful landscapes. – Rachelle Lefevre • In Hawaii, we go to this wonderful place, all families. My wife and I go directly from breakfast to a beach chair where we read all day. My daughter goes from water to pool to running around with friends she meets, some of whom are regulars there. – Stephen Collins • In Hawaii, we greet friends, loved ones or strangers with Aloha, which means love. Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit of real hospitality, which makes Hawaii renowned as the world’s center of understanding and fellowship. Try meeting or leaving people with Aloha. You’ll be surprised by their reaction. I believe it and it is my creed. Aloha to you. – Duke Kahanamoku • In Hawaii, we have something called Ho’oponopono, where people come together to resolve crises and restore peace and balance. – Duane Chapman • In my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago. – Mark Twain • In the case of Five-O, I believe it was a combination of many ingredients – timing, chemistry, Hawaii. – James MacArthur • Indian-styled garments are very popular in the U.S., especially in areas near the beach, like Hawaii and Los Angeles. – Maggie Grace • Insiders say Obama’s pretty comfortable around actors. He should be. He has been ‘acting’ like he was born in Hawaii for a long time. – Craig Ferguson • It doesn’t matter if the Republican or the Democratic candidate wins the governorship [of Hawaii]. Either one is already in the kingdom. – Ed Silvoso • It doesn’t matter to me where Barack Obama goes. If he wants to go to Hawaii because it’s his home state, fine! Hunky-dory. Plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller dittos. – Rush Limbaugh • It is really so nice here-country-busy-busy with so many different kinds of things-… I must say I feel far away in another world here-… always we go to a new place…the people have a kind of gentleness that isn’t usual on the mainland. – Georgia O’Keeffe • It’s easier to be healthy in Hawaii than it is, almost anywhere else I’ve lived. You spend a lot of time outside, in the ocean and on the beach. – Terry O’Quinn • It’s good to visit Hawaii if you’re seeking power. You don’t really need to live here. Just to come over for a week is enough. Switzerland is another spot like this. It’s very similar. These are the two clearest spots, Switzerland and Hawaii. – Frederick Lenz • I’ve always been under the impression that it would be such a bummer to be in a peaceful place like Hawaii or the tropics and be stressed about catching waves. – Shaun White • I’ve been surfing for a couple years, in the offseason in California and in Hawaii. I’m not very good, but it’s just something that to be out there in the water, no cell phone, no music… very few sports are as pure as that. – Troy Polamalu • I’ve enjoyed the accommodations offered by police departments from Florida to Hawaii. Any time I saw a badge, something in me would snap. – Grace Slick • Jason Lee is the most famous actor from Hawaii I can think of. – Tia Carrere • Life is very nice in Hawaii. I rent a place that has its own cottage so when my friends and family come to visit, they have somewhere nice to stay. – Jorge Garcia • Make good the good in you…and you will slowly steal into the Hawaiian heart, which is all of softness, and gentleness, and sweetness. – Jack London • Many believe that Hillary Clinton was channeling President Obama during her recent speech in New York City. She focused on equality, justice, and how hard it was for her growing up as a young black man in Hawaii. – Jimmy Fallon • Many exhibits from this aquarium use Hawaii’s abundant natural daylight. This allows Waikiki to display only live coral, which creates beautiful exhibits. It’s also a world leader in the propagation of live coral. The aquarium features some unusual and rarely seen species, including the chambered nautilus and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. – John Grant • Most of my ukulele heroes were traditional players from Hawaii, like Eddie Kamae and Ohta-san. There may not be uke stars in popular culture, but there are certainly pop stars that play uke – George Harrison, Eddie Vedder, Taylor Swift, Train, and Paul McCartney. – Jake Shimabukuro • Most of the time, I’m working in places I’m not familiar with. Sometimes it’s Slovakia, and sometimes it’s Hawaii. Not to bash on Slovakia, but I really did enjoy Hawaii. – George Clooney • Most people are walking around the city like corpses; they aren’t alive enough to notice the trash. They come from other places and they see it as a big garbage dump. Do you want to live and work in a garbage dump? I don’t. That’s partly because I grew up in the most pristine environment possible – Hawaii, where it is sacrilege to leave your garbage on the ground. – Bette Midler • My boyfriend, who I love to death – he’s only 17 so he’s the youngest guy I’ve ever dated – he just moved here from Hawaii to be with me and I met him when I was 10. Anyway, in Hawaii they have such a different mentality and different priorities. – Nikki Reed • My father is Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino; my mother is half-Irish and half-Japanese; Greek last name; born in Hawaii, raised in Germany. – Mark Dacascos • My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer. – Bruno Mars • My husband is from Hawaii and his father who was also born in Hawaii was a teenager when Pearl Harbor happened, right before church and he ran up and got on the roof of his grandfather’s house and watched the planes go over. – Sigourney Weaver • My kids have never known me not working on The Bachelor. But they’ve lived in Paris and Italy and been to Hawaii and Bora-Bora with me, and it’s incredible to me that they’ve had these experiences. – Chris Harrison • Not very many companies go through Hawaii on their way to anywhere. San Francisco Ballet was the only company I remember, and Bolshoi, coming through Hawaii when I was younger. – Joan Chen • Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us. – Randy Alcorn • One volcano in Hawaii, one volcano in Indonesia, produces enough gases in the atmosphere, which include those natural elements that are in the Earth’s crust, that, uh, kind of make all the, you know, the science that we have about what we produce, moot. – Jim Gibbons • Over the years, I’ve traveled to many places for inspiration and research, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, California, and Hawaii. – Jennifer Chiaverini • President Obama and his family are spending the holidays in Hawaii, and while they’re gone, they got a fence jumper to house sit. Tomorrow, he will be in Hawaii playing golf with Raul Castro and the Pope. – David Letterman • President Obama has decided that he wants his presidential library to be in Chicago, not Hawaii. Today Hawaii’s governor said, ‘Great, who’s going to want to come to Hawaii now?’ – Conan O’Brien • Running gives me a clearer perspective on the world, and it makes me feel special. I’ve never been a traditional tourist. I’ve always seen the world by running, and that has allowed me to view things in a different way. Places look different in the early-morning hours, when the streets are deserted. – Grete Waitz • Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. – Isoroku Yamamoto • Since my mom is the President of Ballet Hawaii, I’m always in touch with stuff going on. – Joan Chen • Six years ago, I completed the premier episode of Hawaii Five-O, and Jack Lord and I immediately realized that we had a good series, that this was a success such as we’d never hoped for! – James MacArthur • So it was a really pleasant surprise when [Independence Day] turned out to be a successful film. I don’t know if you’ve heard that they’re going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I’ve actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch. – Brent Spiner • Some people say Hawaii is spoiled, but I don’t think so. It’s modern. It’s a part of today’s world. – James MacArthur • Somehow, the love of the islands, like the love of a woman, just happens. One cannot determine in advance to love a particular woman, nor can one so determine to love Hawaii. – Jack London • That isn’t to say that Hawaii’s better. On the mainland, everyone seems to be trying to get somewhere. Kids are taught to shoot for the moon, to believe in their ability to do anything, to follow their passions. In Hawaii, you’re stuck in the middle of the Pacific, and it can be difficult to see how you’re going to follow your passion from there. – Gabrielle Reece • That’s a traditional Samoan dance. I was lucky that I was able to fly my cousins, who are professional dancers, up from Hawaii and they were able to be in the movie with me. We had a great time. – Dwayne Johnson • The Aloha spirit is something that is very special and very meaningful to us and our Polynesian culture. Those of you who have had the opportunity to visit Hawaii, or any of the Polynesian islands, know that it’s a very special thing. It’s an intangible, and when you get off the plane and have your feet on the ground there, it energetically takes you to a different place. – Dwayne Johnson • The band would play on the night off for the local hotel bands and we’d back all the different acts. So I’d been advised by good friends of mine to come back to Hawaii. Oh, I loved Honolulu, playing at a place right on the beach at Waikiki! – Martin Denny • The beauty of Hawaii probably surpasses other places. I like the Big Island and the two mountains, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, where you can look out at the stars. – Buzz Aldrin • The best thing about wearing black is that you can hide pretty easily, unless you’re in like Hawaii, then you can’t hide. – Gerard Way • The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it. Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station. – Liliʻuokalani • The day before I left to fly in New York, I went in the ocean and was just lying on my black looking up at the sky, which was that Hawaii blue. Just that moment was worth the entire thing. The ocean is everything. It can heal you. – Gavin Rossdale • The five principles of aloha, when practiced together, awaken our awareness of our human potential and the sacredness of our life. – Paul Pearsall • The mindless rejoicing at home is really appalling; it makes me fear that the first blow against Tokyo will make them wilt at once…I only wish that [the Americans] had also had, say, three carriers at Hawaii. – Isoroku Yamamoto • The number one issue that Ocean Mysteries has opened my eyes to is, no matter where you are, whether you’re on a beach in Hawaii, you’re diving in the Pacific, you’re in a remote archipelago, or you’re in the middle of nowhere – I am blown away and sobered and crushed, emotionally crushed, by the amount of marine debris, of garbage, that is now in our ocean. – Jeff Corwin • The one we keep pitching and there are no takers is The Fabulous Baker Boys Go to Hawaii. There don’t seem to be any takers on that one! – Beau Bridges • The paintings are transferred from my computer to a disk, and I can hand it to the printer this way; or I can modem the painting to the printer over the phone lines from my house in Hawaii. – Buffy Sainte-Marie • The person who betrayed you is sunning themselves on a beach in Hawaii and you’re knotted up in hatred. Who is suffering? – Jack Kornfield • The sentiments in Hawaii about Washington’s failure of leadership are no different than the rest of the country. – Ed Case • The smell of the sea, of kelp and fish and bitter moving water, rose stronger in my nostrils. It flooded my consciousness like an ancestral memory. The swells rose sluggishly and fell away, casting up dismal gleams between the boards of the pier. And the whole pier rose and fell in stiff and creaking mimicry, dancing its long slow dance of dissolution. I reached the end and saw no one, heard nothing but my footsteps and the creak of the beams, the slap of waves on the pilings. It was a fifteen-foot drop to the dim water. The nearest land ahead of me was Hawaii.- Ross Macdonald • The spiritual destiny of Hawaii has been shaped by a Calvinist theory of paternalism enacted by the descendants of the missionaries who had carried it there: a will to do good for unfortunates regardless of what the unfortunates thought about it. – Francine du Plessix Gray • The U.S. started with no stars. In fact, it started with a completely different flag. The last two were added in 1959, Hawaii and Alaska. – Juan Enriquez • There are many things I’m looking forward to in 2013, both personally and professionally. Plans for new restaurants in the U.S., including Eataly Chicago, are underway, and I’m gearing up for the 2013 Ironman world championships in Hawaii – if I’m lucky enough to get a spot! – Joe Bastianich • There are several states where you can get married. But I think I can say without fear of contradiction, ‘Paradise awaits.’ We’ll be happy to welcome you. And if you do get married in another state, think about honeymooning in Hawaii. – Neil Abercrombie • There are spirits in Hawaii. They’re very protective and very good and they watch over these islands. I must confess, they’re not entirely happy with what they see, with the way the civilization is moving. But they’re patient. They’ve been here for a long time, and they’ll be here long after the human beings have ceased to inhabit the islands. – Frederick Lenz • There is one bright side to this, said Fang. “Yeah? What’s that?” The new and improved Erasers would mutilate us before they killed us? He grinned at me so unexpectedly I gorgot to flap for a second and dropped several feet. “You looove me,” he crooned smugly. Holding his arms out wide, he added, “You love me this much.” My shriek of appalled rage could probably be heard in California, or maybe Hawaii. – James Patterson • There’s nothing – there’s nothing – as action-packed as ‘Hawaii Five-O.’ – Michelle Borth • This sounds cheesy but when I would get in discussions with people about religion or spirituality, a lot of people would say, “I believe God is nature, there’s God in that tree” – and I would think, What the hell are they on about? But it was about four or five years ago in Hawaii where that all made sense to me and I got it all, and I felt God was in the trees and in the grass and the flowers, and I completely understood. – Natalie Maines • Though there is something cruel about being in Hawaii and you have a computer in front of you the whole time. – Justin Theroux • To be honest I don’t watch the show, I don’t watch any TV, so I have no idea what the show is about. I go to Hawaii, shot my scenes and script and ‘Ciao.’ I’m not a ‘Lost’ fanatic and it’s a disappointment for thousands people and friends that are dying to know what will happen. They know more than me. – Sonya Walger • Waterworld was the best time of my life. It was physically demanding, but it was fun. I mean, you’re in Hawaii for nine months shooting on the water every day. – David R. Ellis • We are truly the land of the great. From the rock shores of… Hawaii… to the beautiful sandy beaches of… Hawaii… America is our home. – Sarah Palin • We have great cities to visit: New York and Washington, Paris and London; and further east, and older than any of these, the legendary city of Samarkand, whose crumbling palaces and mosques still welcome travelers on the Silk road. Weary of cities? Then we’ll take to the wilds. To the islands of Hawaii and the mountains of Japan, to forests where Civil War dead still lie, and stretches of sea no mariner ever crossed. They all have their poetry: the glittering cities and the ruined, the watery wastes and the dusty; I want to show you them all. I want to show you everything. – Clive Barker • We have North Shore, Hawaii and Lost all there, so they have softball tournaments between the casts. It’s hilarious. – Josh Holloway • We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny. – William McKinley • We packed up all the worldly possessions we could carry with us and took the next flight to Hawaii from Washington. It took just about every cent my family had to our name just to pay the plane fare. When we arrived, we had about $15 left among us. We were really in pitiful shape. But we were together, and we were alive, and this was all that mattered. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We shot on location in our very first weeks, in our very first shows. I would like to go on location again, Hawaii would be good!! But normally, we tape five days a week in the studio starting at about 8:00 a.m. and continuing until about 8:00 p.m. – Juliet Mills • We were just floored by the kindness of the people here. The minister of the Unitarian Church in Honolulu invited my family over to his office the day we arrived and told us to make it our headquarters while we looked for a permanent residence. When we couldn’t find a place for about a week, he let us live in the church; that’s ironic, isn’t it? But it points up the vastly different intellectual atmosphere that prevails here in Hawaii. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We were on the island of Hawaii. I think I was there three months. It was fantastic. It is not much different than films. It depends on the television show but much of television today is as good or better than most films. – Bo Derek • Well, filming in Hawaii, you know, is a blessing. It’s one of the most beautiful places on this planet. It has a very mystic energy which informs you as an actor. – Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje • Well, President-elect Barack Obama and his family are gonna spend the holidays in his home state of Hawaii. And you know who couldn’t be more thrilled with this? The press, the reporters who follow the president. Well, think about it. After eight years of spending every holiday cutting brush in Crawford, Texas, they get to go to Hawaii! – Jay Leno • We’ve had every official in Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that has investigated this, confirm that, yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii, Aug. 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital. – Barack Obama • When I get in the sun I get very tanned. You can’t tell me from the native fishermen in Hawaii or Mexico. – Desi Arnaz • When I’m in New York, I bike everywhere. I have a couple of bikes stored over at Ed Norton’s. It’s the only way to go. But in Hawaii, I drive. I have a little Volkswagen Bug, from the ‘Drive it? Hug it?’ phase. I run it on biodiesel. – Woody Harrelson • When Japanese went to Hawaii they would go straight and buy the same thing that they would buy in Japan. They just got it cheaper, which they liked. And so they would still eat the red bean ice cream or the green tea ice cream, but they didn’t really take advantage of the variety and it wasn’t clear that they cared. – Sheena Iyengar • When people are worried about the future, they don’t take trips to Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • When you go to Hawaii, it’s all about “Aloha.” It means hello, goodbye and I love you. – Gabriel Iglesias • Whenever I finish a book, I go off and have some kind of adventure. Having had an adventure in my writing chair or on my writing sofa, an internal adventure, then I need to balance that off with an external adventure, so I’ll go tramping through Africa or whitewater rafting or float to Hawaii in a martini shaker or something. – Tom Robbins • Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? – Steven Wright • With my being from Hawaii and being very family oriented I don’t really have a fear of a tragic ending. I dont see any tragic ending for me. – Bruno Mars • With the departure of Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D), who is running for the governorship of Hawaii, and with the tragic and very sad passing of my personal friend Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they’ve gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots. – Eric Massa • You are the lei I entwine with the beauty of your smile. – Robert Cazimero • You know, I think there was a point in time when people didn’t really understand how birth certificates were kept in the state of Hawaii, and now, I think that it’s been pretty much disclosed that they used to have a long form and now they don’t have a long form. Arizona used to have a long form, we now have a short form. – Jan Brewer • You know, or three kinds of ice cream bars and you’d see this and like this… okay they could clearly benefit from some more choices and I remember having these discussions with the Japanese because they you know they often like to go to Hawaii for vacation because it was definitely much cheaper for them and I would ask them, “So when you go to Hawaii, you know do eat all these other things?” – Sheena Iyengar • You think that you can hide; you think you can lay low? I’ll roll up on your ass like Hawaii 5-0! – Busta Rhymes [clickbank-storefront-bestselling]

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[venofire-moved]

🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊

Rori Faith

   Baby! The most kindhearted young woman you’d ever meet! Even despite all the shit she’s been through, and all the meanness she’s witnessed first hand, Rori remains to be the kindest lady ever. Dressed in Saburan attire, with the symbols of the hostile desert tribe patterning her clothing, she was immediately looked down on in the world outside the desert just as much as she had been in the desert. She never belonged anywhere, because to the Saburans, she was an outsider, being born in their prison cells of an impure woman, but since she was born on holy ground, they couldn’t get rid of her. 

   The Saburan’s hostility to outsiders was known so well throughout all of Emtiris that the moment she was banished, she wasn’t welcome there either, and instead of becoming jaded, Rori tried to help and show that she meant them no harm! 

   She’s the sweetest lady honestly- she loves cooking, will spend all of her time doing it if she could, and it definitely shows. Gordon Ramsay would adore her. She gives her food to the homeless and in need, and honestly, she gets taken advantage of quite a bit because of her kindness. Some times she knows, some times she doesn’t realize, but she doesn’t really mind either way- it’s not going to change it. She is selflessly sweet to the point she would sacrifice herself for just about anyone, and has dedicated her own life to the preservation of the world and it’s inhabitants, both in morality and literally, as she took a vow to the Aranthian Goddess of Life to do so. As if she didn’t already have a green thumb, everything she grows is absolutely delicious or incredibly beautiful. Life itself clearly appreciates all the genuine hard work Rori is willing to do at all times. 

Keiji Yura 

   An adorable baker and red squirrel hybrid. I don’t know how she doesn’t get all sorts of fluff in the things she bakes with a tail like that, but whatever she’s doing, she’s doing it right, because she runs one of the best bakeries in southern Sorestras. On top of that, she’s a full-time thief under Elliot, and her shop, with all of it’s hidden little nooks and crannies, serves as a safe place and hiding spot for any thief that may have fallen into a trap and been spotted by the guards. 

   She’s a very energetic little thing, but don’t be fooled by that- she’s got both a vile temper and a terrible mouth. You may not notice it at first in her excited delivery but just about everything she says is some sort of backhanded compliment, or downright rude. She’s ungodly sarcastic, and if you call her short, she snubs you. You no longer exist to her and her pastel pink platform heels that she’s constantly in. 

Ariselli Ves-Loudain

    Quiet and serious, with a resting bitch face that doesn’t match her helpful behavior. Ariselli has nearly unending patience, but she doesn’t look like she does- one glance at her and you’d assume that she’s about to stab you- which you might be right, but only because she’s a medical professional and you need a shot. She’s a conservative little thing with a clinic in a small town in Sorestras, but when her clinic closes for the day, she doubles as a thief under Elliot, in his crew of robinhoods. With poverty rampant in some parts of Sorestras, she often focuses on stealing food and dimes from the rich to give back to the poor, and also tends to help the sick free of charge.

 Veselin Vetarra

    Another that’s quiet and serious, at least in appearance. One look at him and you’d guess he’s some sort of brute! And really, with his hot temper, he probably should be. He’s a muscular Amaloran half-elf that wields a unique trap-weapon, but isn’t what he seems. His shyness stems from selective mutism, and the moment you talk to him, he melts into a look of confusion and nervousness, stuttering out short responses just to get the conversation over with. And despite his muscle and his nerve-driven temper, Veselin practices in healing based magic, which he lends fully to the underground organization run by Anhalia Saitoman, known as Evoltsiya.

    Though he wanted to stay and help in the revolution brewing in Amalar, Anhalia elected to keep his sister, Eva Vetarra back, and send him to aid Evoles, to form an alliance with the soon-to-be High Queen, Lillia Caibre. 

Aspen Varro

    Monotone witch that loves purple and taking the gods for granted. A bully herself, but the moment you say something rude, she’ll piss you off endlessly with her near inability to get angry and the fact that she will literally say ‘ew’ until you storm off (Looking at Kralie). Memes, conspiracies, black cats, and magic, she somehow finds herself working with Ezriel and Gwen to stop the possible end of humanity and I assure you, she is not the kind of hero anyone wants. 

Nataly Veltra

   The young Queen of Emtiris. The older sister of two heirs to the throne, and after her mother passed, she took on the position herself at only 19. She’d been ruling for only two years when disaster struck the western half of her country- a circle of dormant volcanoes that hadn’t ever had an eruption in recorded history suddenly released all of their building fury, taking down a massive part of Emtiris as well as affecting the waters off that coast to a point that trades had to be cut off from all countries on that side. This left Nataly hurriedly trying to get help from the east- Amalar and Evoles came to her aid, but it managed to put her country in debt to both… 

    She’s a quick thinking young woman with a lot on her shoulders, though the stress never really shows through. Instead, she puts on a polite, happy demeanor, with clear grace and regality in every step. She tends to take things at face value, unfortunately, and occasionally gets a little messed up by it. She’s the  kind of person that googles something, reads the first line of the wiki, and thinks she knows the whole thing. 

Kaori [–]

   Necromancer and Sekan. Vaisa’s raiser, and a woman that’s very sick of oppression. One of the chosen Queen’s of Valya Caibre, and likely would have been the next to take the throne if Lillia hadn’t forged the papers, because Kaori is cruel, cold, and ready to slaughter any human that gets in her way of a good meal. Having suffered through near starvation for decades, she’s done putting herself below others to avoid feeling like a monster, and her armies of powerful magic enhanced undead will help her get her way. 

    Y’know, originally, she had a husband named Kamina, but the more I write her, the gayer she feels. Kamina was always a toy she raised and used for her own entertainment anyway.

 Gwendalyn Caira 

   I honestly don’t know a whole lot about Gwen and Ezriel. I’m excited to get to know them both more as I start on Aspen and Dire’s story, because I feel like to be grouped up with Aspen, they’ll have to be entertaining people. When I think about Gwen, she seems like the motherly type. To me, she seems like she’ll treat Aspen and Ezriel the way Buddy does Baby in the beginning of Baby Driver, particularly when they discuss his killer track the first time, then listen to it together.

Tya Maraise

   Should I really start on this because I will ramble for days on how much I love Tya. Like I treat her like shit, and I insult her allllll the time, because god damn does she suck, and she FRUSTRATES ME TO NO END with the way she manages to ALWAYS fuck a story up when I’m in the middle of writing it, but god, she’s my favorite character. 

     She’s seriously so fucking stubborn that I’ve had to revamp her story four times because every time I’d settle on a catalyst for her to actually cooperate with the story, and as I was writing it, I’d write through her thought process and she’d come to the conclusion that she either didn’t care that much about what I set for her, or that something else would effect it, like she didn’t care about the possibility of her dad being targeted by Valya’s crew because she knew her mother would rip apart any asshole that came at him, and she knew that it didn’t matter if she helped Lillia, or told Lillia off as I wanted her to, because if she stayed back and refused to help, Lillia was going to die anyway. Right now I’m still working on a path for her, but she screwed that up too by acting like Kralie does when Toby’s mentioned, meaning OVERREACTING WAY TOO GOD DAMN MUCH when Vaisa requested a presence with Lillia. Now she’s justbeing a depressed baby in a prison cell. 

  But I digress Tya is a stubborn asshole, and as bad as I feel picking favorites among my characters, she is my favorite- her and Lucien. So here are some secrets about her that I adore but she’ll never ever tell other people: She loves jumping on the bed. It’s the first thing she did when she moved into the castle in Evoles, and if anyone ever caught her doing it, she’d probably hire a hitman. 

   She daydreams about adventures she could possibly go on, but more often than not she spends allllll of her time dreaming about possible answers to the world’s mysteries, and that’s thanks to Vaisa because the first night she talked with him on a friendly basis, they spent hours coming up with ludicrous answers, and she absolutely loves it. 

    The reason she loves people that are the exact opposite of her, meaning highly active idiots with a great sense of humor, is because she really wants to be like that but doesn’t really know how. A lot of the time as it is, she says that conversation is an annoyance to her, and that’s because it’s really really foreign and thinking over what to say, and how to say it and whether or not she’s going to offend someone and run them off and something like that is a huuuugeee nuisance that just stresses her out, so she elects to not talk to people so she doesn’t have to deal with it. 

    She doesn’t actually like being alone all the time- that’s why one of the most intimate things you can do for her is sit with her, and that sound stupid, but to her it’s an understanding that despite the fact that she says she hates being around people, you know that she doesn’t, so long as she knows she’s not going to run you off easily. So if you sit and you don’t force her to endure the stress of a conversation, but let her enjoy your presence, then she absolutely adores it. Alternatively, if you do like @infeliicis’s Zelda did, and you break into her space and start telling her about things she’s interested in, she will immediately adore you because! Please tell her stories!! 

   Though she looooveess history and loves seeing and finding historical things, she’s just as good with reading it most of the time. Her actual dream is to own a bakery! She doesn’t like telling people this, especially ones that know her, because she has no sense of smell and a severely dulled sense of taste, and she always feels like people are going to be rude about the fact that she won’t know if what she’s cooking is good, because she can’t taste it. But she knows recipes really well, even if she prefers wayyyyyy too much goddamn cinnamon in everything she eats, she knows the amount she should put in something for others, and she also knows that they can’t handle the amount of spice she can, though she may have found that one out by destroying her poor father’s sense of taste. 

   Okay this got long so if you want me to ramble more about Tya, send another one for her and I’ll dedicate it specifically to my girl. 

Desil Ves-Anev

   Desil is a Soresean blacksmith (and part time thief with Elliot) that loves learning about historical weaponry. He’s always super up for an adventure or a hike, and his adventurousness is a big part of his charm as well as his gorgeous complexion. Ladies in his town absolutely love him because he’s got a naive air about him, and is kinda of dense but is undeniably, accidentally suave. Some times, women just love looking at a sweaty muscular man with his shirt open to cool off as he works hot metal into a nice blade. Who doesn’t, tbh. 

   Anyway, he’s super into historic weaponry, and honestly wants to make something so renowned that it’ll be written in books for ages, but he hasn’t really gotten to that point yet. Instead, he’s aiming to collect a bunch of stuff and open a museum where people can come admire those and even get their own copies made by him, possibly without the enchantments since, despite being elven, he has no idea how to work magic. 

Dire

   Big ol’ wolf boy Dire was once the Wind Ancient. Another energetic soul, incredibly naive and loveable, the epitome of innocence and childlike curiosity and wonder, and that still pretty much sums up his personality, even though he doesn’t remember that life at all. Centuries after the fall of the Ancients, Wind’s soul was plucked from the skies by Life, and she stuffed it into the fresh corpse of the last remaining Dire Wolf in Arantis, after watching it be hunted for its thick, warm coat. She revived and healed the wolf, and transferred to it a portion of her magic, thus allowing it to take the form of both a Dire Wolf and a human so it could be sent off on a mission for her.

    Despite his previous appearance as wind being monochrome white and gray, he’s taken on the body of a pole shaped, tan skinned, freckly boy with wide eyes and a haircut that’s only a step above a bowl cut. Since he was quite literally born yesterday, and also has the personality of a dog, you can bet your ass he’s going to be excited about literally every single thing you put in front of him, and honestly, it’s adorable. 

Cedric Rega

   Cedric is an adventurer through and through. He can’t ever stay in place for too long without getting restless, because there’s soooo much to see! He’s one of those people that’s always got a million stories to tell, isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, and god damn is he good with animals- particularly horses. He’s quick to step in to any situation where anything is getting harassed, and doesn’t really seem to understand that some times the circle of life just has to go through- animals hunt, but if he has any say in it, nothing is gonna die on his watch, it’ll at least have to wait until he’s no longer in view. 

   He’s quick to take action on things that he sees are bad, and would be a great sell-sword in Skyrim. 

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/can-nra-keep-country-music-stars-muzzled-las-vegas-shooting/

Can NRA keep country music stars muzzled after Las Vegas shooting?

The country music industry and the National Rifle Association (NRA) has had a very close interconnected relationship for the past decade with stars such as Blake Shelton, Lee Brice, and Florida Georgia Line. The NRA Country director stated in 2015 that it's no surprise about the connection as "most of their members love country music." When singer Meghan Linsey first started her country duo Steel Magnolia, a partnership with the National Rifle Association was suggested as a way to grow their audience. The proposal, which she refused, was a commonplace example of how intertwined gun ownership is with country music. The mass shooting on the final day of Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas has emboldened some country musicians to call for gun control, even as many others declined to weigh in. Plenty of artists avoid the issue because there’s a real risk of backlash as gun lobbyists have bolstered a connection between the patriotic themes found in country music to gun ownership in recent years. “I just feel like you’re so censored as a country artist,” said Linsey, an independent musician who took a knee after singing the national anthem at an NFL football game. “I feel like the labels like to keep you that way. They don’t want you to speak out. They don’t want you to say things that would upset country music listeners.” She added: “People worry about being Dixie Chick-ed.” The Dixie Chicks still loom large as a lesson in country music politics. The hugely popular group was boycotted after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized then-President George W. Bush on the eve of the Iraq War in 2003. The National Rifle Association has further strengthened the relationship between guns and country music with its lifestyle and music brand called NRA Country. NRA Country has sought to tie the music to gun-linked activities like hunting or outdoor sports, but without mention of political issues. Since about 2010, the NRA Country brand has been placed on country music tours and concerts, merchandise, an album called “This Is NRA Country,” a music video and more. It features performers such as Hank Williams Jr. and Trace Adkins. It’s unclear how much the NRA has spent on the brand, and representatives of the group did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press. Country duo Big & Rich, who have performed at NRA-sponsored events, were at the festival just hours before Stephen Paddock began firing from his room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. They said it wasn’t the weapons that were the problem, but the man using them. “I think if a man has ill will in his heart, then there’s weapons everywhere,” Big Kenny said. “I mean he can pick up a -- anything -- make a bomb, put it in his shoe. We have somebody trying to blow up stuff on trains constantly.” The shooting changed the mind of Caleb Keeter, a guitarist for the Josh Abbott Band, who was among those at the festival during the attack. He wrote in a widely shared tweet that he had been a lifelong Second Amendment supporter: “I cannot express how wrong I was.” Keeter said that a single man laid waste to a city because of “access to an insane amount of firepower.” Paddock had 23 guns in his room, some of which had attachments that allow a semi-automatic rifle to mimic a fully automatic weapon. Others, including Jennifer Nettles of the band Sugarland and Sheryl Crow, have joined the call for gun control. But there are risks. When country artists have in the past tried to wade into gun politics, it can turn into a no-win situation. Tim McGraw had to defend his participation in a benefit concert for victims of a mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut after criticism from gun rights advocates. His opening act, Billy Currington, pulled out of the performance over the controversy. “As a gun owner, I support gun ownership; I also believe that with gun ownership comes the responsibility of education and safety — most certainly when it relates to what we value most, our children,” McGraw said in a statement in 2015. “I can’t imagine anyone who disagrees with that.” Many artists expressed grief over the Las Vegas killings without wading into politics. Alongside her husband Vince Gill, Amy Grant led a prayer at a vigil in Nashville on Monday, a day after the shooting, while Maren Morris released a song called “Dear Hate,” in which she but declares “love conquers all.” Eric Church angrily said “no amount of bullets” was going to take away his memories of those fans killed, before debuting a song written in memory of the victims called “Why Not Me.” John Osborne of the duo Brothers Osborne was in tears on national radio talking about the deaths of fans who they considered family. Keith Urban struggled to talk about the shooting to his 9-year-old daughter. Jason Aldean, who was on stage at the festival when the shooter opened fire, said, “This world is becoming the kind of place I am afraid to raise my children in.” Many others have donated to funds set up to help the victims and countless other selfless acts have brought the community even closer to support one another. Singer Rosanne Cash, a longtime gun control advocate, called on the country music community to do more in an op-ed in the New York Times. “It is no longer enough to separate yourself quietly,” Cash wrote. “The laws the N.R.A. would pass are a threat to you, your fans, and to the concerts and festivals we enjoy.” Now, less than a week after the deadliest shooting in modern American history took place at a country music festival – 58 people were killed and more than 500 were wounded at Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest fest by an attacker firing from 32 floors above – country artists seem, at least for the moment, less willing to openly embrace the NRA. Media outlets attempted to contact 37 of the artists featured on the web site of NRA Country, the organization's music-affiliated offshoot. Three of those acts – Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, and Luke Combs – clarified that they have no ongoing partnership with the organization. Representatives for several artists, such as Blackberry Smoke and Sunny Sweeney, declined to comment; reps for more than two-dozen artists – including Justin Moore, Hank Williams Jr., and Jon Pardi – did not respond. After more than 24 hours, only one group, the Nashville duo Love & Theft, would confirm they remain partnered with the organization. "What you're seeing with the country music community right now is that everybody is just laying low," says Don Cusic, professor of music industry history at Belmont University in Nashville. "They are stalling for time." Over the past week, several of the organization's most successful artists have decided to clarify that they are not presently affiliated with NRA Country, including Florida Georgia Line, the platinum-selling bro-country duo behind hits like "Cruise," and Thomas Rhett, the fast-rising country superstar whose song "Die a Happy Man" was one of the single biggest hit country songs of 2016. Both artists partnered with NRA Country in 2013 as the organization's featured Artist of the Month, participating in a variety of promotional campaigns, including ticket giveaways, videos, and lyric contests. As one of the genre's most prominent stars, Blake Shelton has long been one of NRA Country's flagship artists, hosting shooting events in 2011 and 2012. "This is about a right that I want to support and that I believe in," he said of a skeet shoot event in 2012, "and if I can have fun while doing that, that's even better." NRA Country has continued to promote their partnership with Shelton in recent years, even though last year Shelton's representative declined to clarify his relationship to the organization (He was removed from NRA Country's website not long after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting). But this week, the representative finally did clarify: "Blake does not have a partnership with the NRA." The NRA and NRA Country did not respond to a request for comment. NRA Country has fostered close commercial ties with many of country music's biggest stars in recent years and has been seen as a valuable platform for up-and-coming country acts. Its biggest promotional tool is the organization's Featured Artist of the Month campaign; the sponsorship encourages country artists to have their name associated with the NRA in exchange for the advertising of an artist's new album amongst the promotional channels of the NRA, which boasts millions of dues-paying members. Its platforms include NRATV, the organization's digital television network, and American Rifleman, the NRA's flagship publication. The Featured Artist Campaign has brought about successful partnerships in recent years with up-and-coming artists like Chase Rice and Lee Brice. Those artists were among those who did not respond when asked if they are still involved with the NRA. The apparent hesitance comes after Rosanne Cash urged artists to disavow the organization in a New York Times op-ed Tuesday morning. "I encourage more artists in country and American roots music to end your silence," she said. "The laws the N.R.A. would pass are a threat to you, your fans, and to the concerts and festivals we enjoy." Caleb Keeter, guitarist for the Josh Abbott band, a group who performed in Las Vegas this past weekend, spoke out the day after the shooting on Twitter. "Until the events of last night, I cannot express how wrong I was," said Keeter, a self-described second-amendment supporter. Most haven't gone that far, instead offering ambiguous expressions of frustration with the status quo of gun violence. "It is beyond time for our country, and the world, to unite and do whatever we can to stop all this madness," Kid Rock tweeted on Monday. The last time NRA Country faced any degree of scrutiny came after 2012's Sandy Hook elementary-school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Within several months of Newtown, the names of the organization's two most popular partnered artists – Luke Bryan and Shelton – were removed from NRA Country's website. In recent years, however, NRA Country has experienced some degree of success at making continual inroads with the mainstream country music industry. NRA Country has found new ways to access some of country's biggest names via indirect channels like its recent online TV show, "On Location." The show, hosted by an NRA-supported up-and-coming country singer named Morgan Mills, has succeeded in expanding the NRA's visibility and exaggerating NRA Country's mainstream viability in Nashville by scoring red-carpet interviews and face-time with artists – including Tanya Tucker, Lauren Alaina, and Cole Swindell – who are otherwise not associated with the organization. Although many of NRA Country's artists remain unproven niche genre artists with little national visibility, over the last two years the organization has fostered early promotional partnerships with upstarts Jon Pardi and Luke Combs, partnerships that have paid off for the organization as the singers have become two of the industry's biggest breakout stars. When young artists like Pardi and Combs go on to become major names in country music long after partnering with NRA Country, the organization enjoys the credibility-boosting stamp of approval that comes with listing those artist’s names as "Featured Artists" on its website. This week a representative for Combs confirmed that the singer is "not an officially partnered artist with NRA Country." Rather, his affiliation with the group, like the other featured artists, is only for a set period of time. In Combs' case, it was November 2015. In the coming months, Cusic speculates that the decision to partner with NRA Country for new artists may become that much more difficult. "I don't think anybody is going to be making that decision in the short term," he says. "In the beginning stages of a career, it's an advantage to have an organization like the NRA behind you. The problem is, when something this controversial comes along, then it flips." On Monday morning, NRA Country's website listed 39 artists who have partnered with the organization over the years. As of press time, the number of NRA Country partnered artists on the site had shrunk to 37. The names of Thomas Rhett and Florida Georgia Line were nowhere to be found.

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