#sc: town house

[ss-company]

[directactionforhope]

Late notice but

Today 10/5 is an international day of action protesting one year of the Gaza genocide!

Find a protest near you today or tomorrow 10/6! If you're in the US, look at the links below, from the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights!

October 5, 2024

Note: Tumblr has capped the number of outgoing links you can use in one post. Go to the USCPR link above and click on a protest for a flyer/organizer info for each and every one of these events.

Albany, NY | 4:30PM Dana Park

Albuquerque, NM | 2PM Robinson Park

Amherst, MA | Amherst Town Common

Anchorage, AK | 2PM Townsquare Park

Atlanta, GA | 2PM 190 Marietta SW

Austin, TX | 1PM Austin City Hall

Birmingham, AL | 2PM Victoria Square

Blacksburg, VA | 3PM Pylons

Boston, MA | 2PM Cambridge City Hall

Burlington, VT | 1PM Battery Park

Charleston, SC | 2PM Marion Square Park

Chicago, IL | 2PM Water Tower Park

Cleveland, OH | 3PM 11804 Lorain Ave

Columbus, OH | 2PM Goodale Park

Corvallis, OR | 12 NOON County Courthoue

Dallas, TX | 12PM The Grassy Knoll

Denver, CO | 12PM 400 Josephine St

Detroit, MI | 2PM 5 Woodward Ave, Detroit

Dover, DE | 12 NOON 250 Gateway S Blvd

Fort Myers, FL | 6PM Centennial Park

Gainseville, FL | 2PM City Hall

Honolulu, HI | 11AM Ala Moana & Atkinson

Houston, TX | 2PM Houston City Hall

Indianapolis, IL |  2PM Lugar Plaza

Kansas City | 1PM Mill Creek Park

Kona, HI | 12:30PM Old airport by the skating rink

Las Vegas, NV | 2PM 3449 S Sammy Davis Jr Dr

Little Rock, AK | 4PM 1200 Main St

Los Angeles, CA | 2PM Pershing Square

Louisville, KY | 3PM Water Front Park

Maui, HI | 11AM Kapuka’ulua (Baldwin Beach)

Memphis, TN | 2PM City Hall

Miami, FL | 5PM Torch of Friendship

Milwaukee, WI | 2PM Zedler Union Square Park

Missoula, MT | 7PM 200 W Broadway

Nashville, TN | 2PM Centennial Park

New York, NY | 2PM Times Square

New Haven, CT | 1PM New Haven Green

New Orleans, LA | 5PM Congo Square

Ottawa, Ontario | 2PM Parliment Hill

Orlando, FL | 4PM Orlando City Hall

Pensacola, FL | 5PM Palafox & Gregorary St.

Pittsburgh, PA | Film screening, 3PM 100 S Commons St.

Portland, ME | 5PM Monument Square

Portland, OR | 3PM Unthank Park

Providence, RI | 3PM RI State House steps & 5:30PM 1 Finance Way

Raleigh, NC | 3PM Moore Square

Rochester, NY | 1PM MLK Park

Sacramento, CA | 2PM West steps of the Capitol

Salt Lake City, UT | 2PM 125 S State St

San Antonio, TX | 1PM Travis Park

San Diego, CA | 2:00PM 1600 Pacific Highway

Seattle, WA | 2PM TBA, with car caravans from Spokane, Pasco, Ellensburg

St. Louis, MO | Liberation weekend, 9AM-8PM 475 East Lockwood Ave

Tampa, FL | 2PM Bank of America Plaza

Toronto, Ontario | 2PM Yonge Dundas Square

Urbana, IL | 2PM 101 E Main St

Ventura, CA | 2PM 501 Poli St

Washington, DC | 4PM White House

West Plains, MO | 12 NOON Downtown Square

Wichita, KS | 12:30PM Spirit Aerosystems

October 6, 2024

Amityville, NY | 1PM LIRR

Boston, MA | 1PM Boston Common

Green Bay, WI | 5:30PM Leicht Memorial Park

Los Angeles, CA | Vigil, 6:30PM Echo Park Lake

Minneapolis, MN | 1:30PM Gateway Park Fountain

Ontario, CA | 1PM Euclid & C St

Paterson, NJ | 2PM Palestine Way with Gould Avenue

Roanoke, VA | Vigil, 6PM Heights Community Church courtyard

San Diego, CA | 4PM Centro Cultural de La Raza

San Francisco, CA | 1PM 16th & Valencia

San Jose, CA | 12 NOON City Hall

St. Louis, MO | 1PM Choteau Park

[lunajay33]

Future🍂

Summary: Daryl’s the only one that’s ever made you feel loved so when you get separated during the apocalypse you feel lost without him

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x f!reader

•Masterlist•

Daryl was there for me growing up and I was there for him, when his dad acted out on him I was there to hold him through the night, when a guy would break my heart he’d do everything he could to cheer me up, we were inseparable, so we saved money and bought a little house in the woods together, it was peaceful everything was just settling for us, eventually he asked me to be his girl and it was the happiest day of my life

Then came the apocalypse, thankfully I was with him when everything happened and he took me to the quarry away from the town staying far away from big crowds, we shared a tent and I’d grip him tight at night scared that if I closed my eyes he’d be gone in the morning or something would happen and he’d turn into a walker

Eventually we made it to the farm, life seems like it can be good here, there’s water, land to grow crops, chickens and livestock, even after everything that’s happened including Daryl’s accident I’ve felt a sense of calm for once

“Hey sunshine ya doin okay?” Daryl asked as he sat next to me around the low burning fire as he handed me a plate of bacon and eggs

“Oh yeah I’m fine just thinking about how we use to live, remember all the plans I had for our home, all the recipes I wanted to make, all the trips I wanted to experience with you, a family…….” I said the last part under my breath but the man had the ears of a bat

“Ya wanted a family…..with me?” He asked a bit of shock laced in his voice

“Of course D why would I, have a little girl running around with crazy dark hair like yours, seeing you play with her, maybe getting a dog you like, I just had so much more for us, but I’m still grateful that we were able to escaped together”

“Maybe one day we can still have that, ya never know sunshine, I wish I coulda given ya more”

“You give me plenty Daryl”

Everything was happening so quickly one minute the barns on fire the next there are walkers swarming the farm, I tried to get to Daryl but I got cornered by walkers having to run into the woods, my heart was beating so fast that was all I could hear, running for what seemed like hours till the sun started to rise, eventually I couldn’t hear anymore groans and moans of walkers, I slumped against a tree exhausted when I realized I’m in the middle of nowhere with no idea how to get back or where to even start looking for Daryl

That heavy feeling gripped my heart voiding me of any emotion but despair, I walked and walked and walked down the long winding road heading South, making stops for any supplies left at random houses or stores I came by, 2 months into be on the road I became sick, not being able to keep anything down, exhausted more from the long days of walking, coming to realize I was pregnant, it gave me a little bit of hope knowing that if I truly never found Daryl again atleast I’d have a part of him still

The months dragged on until my belly was plump with a little Dixon, luckily I found a house unscathed from seekers, the food stocked high which made sure I was malnourished during this pregnancy, I loaded up a car with the groceries and drove, everything worked for a few months, I am guessing I’m about 7 months now and the food was running low and the gas was running out, slowly my car came to a halt, I got out feeling the Georgia heat when I heard running water, I ventured into the trees with my canteen finding a a small man made waterfall, I filled the canteen when I heard shots, looking forward over a hill I see a prison, people walking around, I was secure no walker inside, distracted I didn’t notice where I was stepping and stepped right onto a nail on the train tracks making my fall and bust my eyebrow open, my knees ached and my hands were bloody, I pulled my self up screaming when I ripped my foot off the nail, the scream alerted near by walkers until they swarmed around me, I was scared and weak, this couldn’t be how I go I still haven’t found Daryl and I had to protect this baby

I gathered as much strength as possible running towards the prison gates, praying they would take me in and help just for today, I made it to the gates exhausted with a trail of walkers behind me when a woman with dreads appeared at the gates

“Please let me in I need help….please I’m begging” I cried holding my belly seeing her eyes soften as she noticed my baby bump, she yanked open the gates right in time to let me in and shut it on the walkers

“Come on hun let’s get you cleaned up” she smiled leading me up to the prison, we almost made it inside when I heard the familiar grumble of the bike I use to ride on all the time, late at night when everyone in town was asleep Daryl would take me out roaming around

I turned my heart leaping every second that passed, until I knew for sure it was him, and it was I could recognize that hair anywhere, he parked the bike and looked around till his eyes landed on me, and he did something I’ve never seen him do before, he dropped to his knees crying

I wobbled over to him still in pain but I didn’t care, I dropped gently to my knees infront of him holding his face in my hands

“I can’t believe I found you Daryl, it’s really you” I weeped as took me shoulders and held me tight against his chest

“I looked for ya everywhere I swear I never gave up, that day when ya weren’t with anyone after the farm it felt like my life was over, but I knew ya were still out there, god I love ya”

“I love you too Daryl, so much”

“Sorry to interrupt this beautiful moment but your girl need some medical attention” that’s when Daryl noticed my busted eyebrow and all the blood over me

He picked me up in his arms bringing me inside to Hershel

“The hell happened to ya angel?” He asked as Hershel attended to my wounds

“I stepped on a nail and fell in just glad I didn’t land on the baby”

“Baby?” Daryl face drained of color standing there frozen

“You didn’t notice? I’m pregnant D” I said flattening down my shirt to make my belly more prominent

“I guess I was just to stunned”

“You seem a lot more healthier than the Lori, how did you manage?” Hershel asked as Daryl came to sit by me squeezing my hand, something he did when he was anxious

“I found a fully stocked house, only just ran out of food today”

“I’d say you’re pretty lucky lil lady, now I’ll give you two some space”

Daryl looked at me with such love mixed with worry

“I can’t believe yer pregnant and it’s mine?” He asked gently rubbing the bump feeling the baby kick

“Of course it’s yours D, you know I’ve only ever been with you, I’ll only ever want you”

“I’ll keep ya both safe, I’ll give ya that dream life ya wanted fer us, I promise”

“I just need you Daryl, I just want you”

[sweetheart4you]

I got an ask for Muichiro, who fought a demon and got injured. When he woke up, he was taken care of by a pretty male reader, so here's that fic! Sorry I've been so slow, I'll post another fic today! ( ´ー`)

When he got there, he was surprised to be fighting a lower moon demon. It was lower moon 7, so it wasn't too strong. Though he did get pretty injured.

Muichiro was told to fight a demon in a small town, though it was more of a village. It was out of the way at the base of a mountain, so not many demon slayers, especially hashira, went there.

Muichiro passed out from blood loss after he killed the demon. When he woke up, he saw a beautiful boy.

He had (y/hl), (y/hc) hair, and (y/ec) eyes. His skin was also a beautiful (y/sc) color. Muichiro had no idea his cheeks were flushed.

That's when he noticed he was bandaged well, and his wounds didn't hurt either. He was surprised that he was patched up.

After a minute, you noticed he was awake. You went up to him with a smile that made his heart thump loudly against his ribs.

“Are you okay? You were laying injured in the snow, I tried my best to patch you up.. You may want to get to a more civil area to get healed better..”

Safe to say, he was stunned. Your voice was beautiful. He couldn't respond. He felt frozen, and his mind was going a mile a minute.

All he could think about was you in different romantic situations, such as:

Laying his head on your lap while you sing to him as he dozes off.

You standing on a hill with a flower field, looking back at him with such a happy smile.

You playing with children in the middle of the village, encouraging him to join in.

You trying on his kimono.

And many, many more.

When he finally came back to, you were worried and panicking a bit.

“S-Sorry.. I was... Thinking.”

A couple months went past, and he refused to leave. He's practically moved in with you.

He got a job and kept slaying demons in the area. All you had to do was stay home, clean his wounds, and take care of the house.

You were basically his (house) boy-wife. The only thing missing was the actual certificate that said you two were married.

Otherwise, you were already all his, and he'd kill anyone that got in between you two.

Safe to say, you won't be escaping Muichiro. Though, he treats you really well and you eat well.

“My sweet, beautiful boy.. All mine.. Only mine..”

[boxxing-flavored]

Part 2 of oil and water

Ps The town I’m basing all this in is Summerville sc, if you wanted to know. It’s actually very pretty and the people are nice.

Sevika should have known better than to rely on this backwater town to have a decent mechanic.

The service station was barely more than a dusty garage attached to a gas station that sold more off-brand soda and cigarettes than car parts. The old man behind the counter had barely spared her a glance before muttering that it’d be at least three days before he could get the part her car needed.

Three days.

Sevika clenched her jaw, resisting the urge to put her fist through something. She had deadlines, clients waiting, a life that didn’t include rotting in the middle of nowhere while judgmental old-timers peered at her from beneath their cowboy hats.

And now she was stuck.

“You could stay with me,” you had offered casually, like it wasn’t a big deal. Sevika had almost laughed. Almost. She partial forgot you where there still. “You’re serious?” she asked, arms crossed. “You don’t even know me.” You shrugged. “Ain’t many places for you to go ‘round here. Unless you wanna waste money on the one motel in town. And trust me, you don’t.”

She did not like how much sense you were making.

Sevika exhaled sharply, glancing around. The few people lingering near the station still looking at her the way they had in town too long, too cautious. She knew that look. She’d seen it plenty of time and it generally didn’t end well for anyone. And something told her that if she spent the next few days in town, she’d be nothing but an outsider counting down the hours until she could leave. You, at least, seemed unbothered by her presence.

Sevika eyed you, trying to sense any sort of deceit… you, still perched lazily on your horse just look at her warmly. She sighed, “Fine. Lead the way, cowboy.”

Your farmhouse was a quiet, sprawling thing, nestled at the end of a dirt road surrounded by nothing but wide fields and the occasional oak tree. Cows goats and horse roamed the east field, while ducks and cat roam the entire property. It’s the kind of place that looked untouched by time, where the nights were dark and the mornings were slow. Sevika barely had time to take it all in before a dog came hurling toward her jump up with excitement. “Down, Bandit,” you said, voice firm but amused. The dog obeyed, circling Sevika instead, sniffing her out.

“You naming all your animals criminals?” she muttered. “Yeah you’ll find out when you try to sit down to eat” you shot back. Sevika scoffed, shaking her head. She was still debating whether she’d made the right choice coming here, but it was too late now.

“C’mon. You look like you could use a drink.” Sevika wasn’t going to argue with that.

Inside, the house was exactly what she expected. cozy, lived-in, all warm wooden floors and furniture that looked older than both of you. A framed picture of what she assumed was your family sat on the fireplace mantle. The air smelled faintly of something sweet, like fresh bread or whatever you had cooked earlier. It was strange, standing in a place like this, where time seemed to move slower and the world felt quieter. “You allergic to anything?” you asked, disappearing into the kitchen. Sevika arched a brow. “You asking before or after you try to kill me?” Your laughter floated from the other room. “Before, believe it or not. Can’t have my first house guest droppin’ dead on me.”

First house guest? That was interesting.

Sevika leaned against the counter, watching as you poured her a glass of whiskey without even asking if she wanted it. She took the glass anyway. “You always this hospitable?”

You smirked. “Only when she drives an expensive city car” That almost got a smile out of her. Almost.

Sevika took a sip, letting the burn settle in her throat. She still felt out of place, but at least here, with you, the stares were gone. The weight of being watched, judged, was nowhere to be found.

She exhaled slowly, rolling her shoulders. “Guess I’m stuck here for a while.” You leaned against the counter, arms crossed, amusement dancing in your eyes. “Guess you are.” Something about the way you said it made her think that, maybe, it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

[nmakii]

Omg ! I didn't think you'd actually respond !! We're gonna fly away from here is easily one of the best ones in the series!! It's so Twisted and disturbing but almost domestic... (Also tysm for including my name idea in your story, Idk where it came from, I just liked it and I appreciate you!) I digress. I've returned with a concept. Al almost always has a plan when he does something. I don't know where you want to go with the second child but this won't be too focused on that one...for now. I really liked how you interpreted Alastor being a weasel and weaseling his way back into the families life and was thinking about how many I wonder about if he has a plan right now, like not a long term one, obviously, but a very specific one for a 'short term'. Women back then, especially in the south weren't allowed to have bank accounts so finicial trapping works well in this case. Also just kinda the ability to turn their kids against her would be enough to terify me. People talk about the 1950's housewife, but oh my god, 1920's housewives were a new kind of depressed. I, personally, don't think Alastor is the type of physically abuse women. No, he's far too classy for that. Instead, like I said, I think he'd either use his status in their house to trap his wife. We were able to run away while we were pregnant and alone, but we have a child now...and would we be willing to leave our child with him? No, I don't think I would, personally. This was just me rambling. K, love u, currently hyperfixated on this au. Byeee !!!! _ Cherry Anon!

DON’T REALLY WANT NO TRUST FUND BABY

[before reading this, read the rest of the story!]

— seems as if alastor found out your little secret

— UR TOO SWEET I SC THIS ON MY IG STORY AND YAPPED TO MY BOY BSF FOR AN HOUR AB IT IM BLUSHING SO HARDDDD!! ABUSE WAS LIT MY LAST SOCIAL STUDIES LESSON FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR MY TCH YAPPED AB FINANCE SO HARD 🤭🤭

being married to alastor, the radio show host is quite the sensation in your town. but, behind the closed curtains, alastor did things that would’ve made lucifer shake in his boots.

no, he didn’t hit you. his mother would kill him if he hit his wife. but, just because alastor never hit you, didn’t mean he didn’t abuse you.

he tormented you in the worst way possible, through noah. and now, emilia.

it’s been 3 years. your little emilia lives up to her name, a cute little girl who’s eager to win. and, little noah is now a big boy, double digits and all.

and, since you’ve returned back to his house, alastor has done nothing but twist your babies’ minds. ‘once upon a time, mama wanted to run away from daddy… so, she ran away and took big brother with her. daddy was sooo worried for mama and big brother though… daddy was able to track mama down, and took her home!’ he cooed to your daughter, bouncing her in his arms— with you right beside him!

you wanted to yell; scream. of course, emilia was too young to understand what alastor was saying. but, still— the fact that he was trying to tell your children that he was some sort of white knight who saved you from yourself. you wanted nothing less, but to snap that neck of his like a twig.

you really shouldn’t act so brashly though. to outsmart alastor, you have to think like him. think of what’s smarter in long run.

alastor was ‘kind’ enough to give you an allowance. $200 every week for groceries and whatever you may need. he’s even so kind as to let you have some ‘private bonding’ with noah and emilia as they accompany you to the farmer’s market.

thankfully, you had a father who wanted to make his little girl survived even without a husband. and so, you had to hear all of his ramblings about finance. saving about 45% each week for 3 years… was about $14,000!

if you saved just a little more, you’d be semi-financially independent until you can get a proper job to take care of your children. it was run-away money, so to speak.

you hid the money in noah’s room. after all, who would expect money there? especially $14,000? and, it worked, for a while. every monday, while you tucked him into bed, you brought the money with you and hid it behind his dresser.

until, what had seemed like a normal tuesday. you came home from the tailor’s, getting back a dress that noah accidentally tore. when you came home, it was only two hours after noon. and despite that, alastor was home.

“a-alastor..! what are you doing home so early? you have a broadcast in 2 hours…” you narrowed your eyes at alastor, on the floor with your children, many new toys surrounding them. “ah, darling! i decided to pick up our children early, and we may have splurged on our little shopping spree…” he smugly grinned. “oh..? where’d you get the money?” you raised your eyebrow, closing the door and laying your bearings on the dining table.

“funniest story ever, my love! there was a random stash of money in noah’s room! seems as if the tooth fairy came early!” he laughed. random stash of money in noah’s room..? “oh. i see.” your breath stopped for a minute, thinking of what kind of consequences could come from it.

“do you have any idea how that money landed there?” he side-eyed you, expecting a lie. “perhaps it was from the old owners? you know this house, there’s so many secrets in here.” you said. “i see… i suppose you are right, darling!” he giggled.

you were back on square one. financially dependent on your husband, if you could even call him ‘husband’. as you climbed up the stairs, you heard alastor whisper to your son. “you see that? momma lied. she got less talkative when papa asked her a question.”

this is what alastor’s been teaching your son. as much as you want to protest, you did lie.

oh, how much you wished for much more simpler times. playing with your baby boy in the kitchen as you make little treats together for his snack at school. and now, the boy alastor’s turning him into— a cunning sociopath, the lord only knows what he will teach your daughter.

this is just a minor setback, it has to be.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This is unique- the building started out as a local store, but the current owner bought it and converted it into a 1bd, 1ba home in 2020. They're calling it a barn-dominium, but it looks like a shipping container to me. The town of Windsor, SC is a trail riding community and this home comes with horse stables and 1.15 acres of land for only $235K. The interior decor is most unusual.

When you walk thru the front door there are hooks to hang coats on the wall. The bedroom is on the right. You can see the bed right there out in the open.

It's nice, and I guess if there's only 1 bd, there's no need to worry about privacy.

Walk in the front door and there's also the living room.

The living room and kitchen are open concept. Note the architectural salvage columns on the right. There's architectural salvage throughout the house. I love that look and the recycling concept.

The stools are wearing jeans. That's pretty cool. According to the description: Some furnishings, art and decor are negotiable. I would have to ask about those stools.

The kitchen sink.

The kitchen is cute- the cabinets are actually tool chests. You can see the loft above with the wrought iron railing.

They make attractive red and black cabinets.

If you've ever bought a tool chest, you'll know that they're not cheap. I think that this is a clever alternative to cabinetry.

These are Craftsman and they're definitely not cheap. It looks like they put wood counters on top of them

I saw the towel bars and got confused. Is this the bath?

Then I saw the washer & dryer. But, looking at the black metal nook, I realized that's the shower. It's not very deep.

Interesting.

I hadn't noticed the sink on top of the antique mail boxes until this closer photo. That's a bit of architectural salvage- love that so much. I don't see the toilet. I hope it's not a composting situation.

Here we are up in the loft. It's filled with storage, but it's pretty roomy.

Now, we're heading to the stables. So, there's a fenced area for the horses.

It's nice and clean. Room for several horses and it looks roomy.

Looks like there's an office in there.

Large garage/barn.

This must be the hay loft.

There's a road right here alongside the property.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/683-Windsor-Rd-Windsor-SC-29856/316702349_zpid/?

[faecaribou]

Stardew Valley Tumblr Simulator

📚 solarian_bookworm

Hey guys! Any tips on how to get this little boy I'm tutoring to actually pay attention to my lessons? He's not very good at reading, but I'm even letting him pick out which books and he still can't focus! We don't have good education where I'm from (Pelican Town) so any chance he has at learning is from me. How do I help him?

🎷 zuzu-zoomer Follow

Feed him a stew that makes him go blind

🧭 stardewexplorer Follow

feed him the stew that makes you blind for one day

🎡 fuck-gotoro Follow

stew that blinds him for one day

⚅ desert-clubber Follow

Perhaps feed him a stew that makes him go blind for one day?

🪩 insomniac-boy Follow

1 day blinding stew

✨ sparkle-on Follow

wait guys isnt pelican town the place where once a year when the governor visits everyone puts an ingredient into a big pot and they make a stew and everyone eats from it??? dont give this poor girl this advice 😭😭😭😭😭

🎷 zuzu-zoomer Follow

lmao thats hilarious. do it

📚 solarian_bookworm

...I think I'll just ask his mom for advice. Thanks though...

250 notes

🧵 parrot-enthusiast

halfway through the brand new dress! embroidering it is taking forever ugh

3 notes

🗺️ superhaterlock Follow

Solarian Chronicles sucks

📔 sc-fanatic Follow

if you say one more word on this subject im going to kill you

🗺️ superhaterlock Follow

I just don't get why defending and healing gives you a better score than attacking

📔 sc-fanatic Follow

oh you mean the rpg game based on the books. continue

💿 seb-codes

:( i like the game

30 notes

🎸 pop_punkist

Come see my band perform live tonight at Zuzu City!

🚙 jojacolaaddict Follow

Hi yes I'd like to file a complaint. i went to your concert and I saw that damn eldritch monster that I swear I saw last week. What the fuck is that and what meme did I miss

🎸 pop_punkist

uh. are you talking about the farmer? they're actually the one who helped me start my bad they're sick as fuck. do you mind

🚙 jojacolaaddict Follow

what the fuck is the farmer

15 notes

💣 back-in-town Follow

AITA for yelling at my wife?

I just came home from active deployment against the Gotoro army. i lost a lot of friends in the war. I was having a bad day and my wife tried to make my popcorn to cheer it up because it used to be my favorite but it reminded me of the bombs. I yelled at her that she should know better but the local farmer was at our house and told me not to take out my pain on my wife. Am I the asshole?

🎡 fuck-gotoro Follow

NTA thank you for your service. if she did any kind of research on how to help people with PTSD from the war she would know to not be making loud banging noises like that

🏴‍☠️ piratewreck Follow

What? YTA why would his wife know. she was trying to make his favorite food. she should divorce him

28 notes

I started this tumblr stimulator post and then forgot about it and gave up 😭

[bunnysbrainrot]

Helene destroyed everything in our town and surrounding areas Entire towns have been wiped off our map. Topographical maps have to be REDRAWN. I have no words to describe the devastation and loss around this area, to our people. I am safe, but the city/WNC has no running water and there’s no idea of when it’ll come back. Power has been out in most areas for at least 4 days.

There are people on ventilators and other machinery to keep them ALIVE. Without power or a generator, there’s nothing you can do. Entire mountain sides, full of houses and pastures, are buried under hundreds of feet of mud. Thousands are missing and even more unaccounted for with the lack of cell service. It’s taken 5 days to have ANYTHING even in the heart of the city. Please pray for WNC and the surrounding areas in eastern TN, SC, and GA.

Sending you all my love. I’ll try to write soon. Maybe it’ll help me out of this exhaustion and heartbreak.

-bunny

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Molly Sprayregen at LGBTQ Nation:

In a video bursting with hypocrisy, anti-trans Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) berated “evil” Americans for calling her office to express anger over her refusal to face constituents at a town hall. Mace said her office has been returning calls from people contacting her about the town hall. She claimed that of the 300 people they have reached out to so far, only one person has had a legitimate concern. “Your BS calls are taking away from people who have real needs in our community, from housing to the VA to job issues, you name it,” she said, adding that “not one person has any issue with a federal agency that we can assist them with.” Clearly, Mace does not consider frustration over a representative’s refusal to face their constituents a legitimate grievance. Despite the fact that town halls are a cornerstone of democracy, she told those calling that what they are doing “is evil.” “It’s completely evil,” she said. “Help those in our community. Help those in need. Stop making up BS excuses that you’re trying to put people in harm’s way over. You don’t have any issues that need to be resolved. You’re just being nasty. You’re being ugly, you’re being hateful, you’re being evil. Stop it.” Mace – who has made a national name for herself by bullying trans people, including targeting private citizens, shouting anti-trans slurs during House proceedings, and hurling countless insults at trans Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) – told people to “go find a fellow neighbor and say something nice” and to “stop being violent with your words.” “Stop being ugly and hateful,” she emphasized. “You’re taking away from real people in the Lowcountry that have real needs, and you need to stop.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is such a judgy church Karen with her tantrum about constituents calling into her office to express anger over her refusal to face constituents at a town hall.

[ss-company]

413 8th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215 4 bd | 3ba | 2.500 sqft $4,550,000 Enjoy Brooklyn Brownstone living in this Park Slope gem that has been meticulously renovated and entirely rebuilt from top to bottom by architecture and design firm Frances Mildred. Exuding elegance, style, and comfort, this stunning home offers a modern take on a traditional townhouse, combining the best craftsmanship and period details with 21st century luxuries.Spread over four floors of living space plus a cellar, this is a home of highest quality where every element (surface, fixtures, hardware, fittings) has been carefully selected with a discerning eye. The house consists of four bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a large family room on the garden level, and a separate study/den with two skylights. A serene and private garden measures 40+ ft deep and provides a wonderful setting for relaxation or entertaining.Located on a quiet tree lined block, the house is near 7th Ave and all the conveniences it offers. 1 block from the Brooklyn Methodist hospital , 1 block from the independent ( F) train; 2 blocks from the BMT ( R) subway line; 1 block from PS 39 public school; 2 blocks from St. Saviors Catholic school and church; 1 block fro the Presbyterian Church; 2 blocks from Prospect Park with ample multi cultural restaurants and bars in walking distance. Excellent neighborhood with many professionals, including next door neighbors who are doctors and lawyers.

[aloneatpeace]

Cosmic Chaos

Chapter 24

Hey guys hope you all are doing well healthy and taking care of yourself, hope you like this chapter and please let me know what you think please reblog, like and interact with me it helps me to write. don't be silent reader show your support to the authors and their work it really appreciated by us and keep us motivated, have a good reading, much love 💕

Your author

SC

Series prev next

Recap

You and Stiles learn more about the Hale fire and come into realisation that it is Kate Argent who's caused the Hale fire. Things taken intresting turns as the duo interrupt Peter and Melissa’s date. Later, you find an injured Scott with Deaton, who is aware of everything that going on the town but choose to remain silent. He removes the bullet while you heal Scott with your powers. Exhausted and concerned you stay to watch over him. Peter came to visit as manipulative as ever.

BENNETT HOUSE

After showering and changing into new sets of clothes you head down to the kitchen with rushed steps your bag sling over your shoulder with your costume inside, scott had been on the edge, texting from stiles phone worrying over that he can't find his and worrying that derek being caught by Argent, though you are sure they wouldn't kill derek something about him being held captive by Kate argent rubs you the wrong way. Though the tow you only had a brief confrontation the aura around her was not good and it not the factor that she is huntress, a werewolf huntress who niece is girlfriend of your newly accidently turned werewolf friend.

The fact she saw you and derek together also not good, even when you were shaken from the vision you could feel the hatred and range pouring out of derek then, now connecting the dots and Argent's involvements, Kate Argent hands in the fire make sense but there is something else, something that you still don't know about derek and kate argent, there was a lot of resentment and pure disgust derek was feeling then, it was too much.

Though he is an asshole who really testing your patience you all need derek with you, there is only little you can help with scott's werewolf's side. Derek can tech him more than you can and dealing with peter would be easier if derek is on your side.

"Grams do you know anything about location spell?"

Gram's frown putting the book down on the table "and who did you lost?"

"A grumpy wolf." You sit down next to her

"Peter Hale is the alpha he turned scott after he killed his niece because he wasn't himself though sam and dean said he did that in order to steal alpha spark and I believe that. And then went on rampage killing everyone who caused the Hale house fire which is done by Kate Argent and some criminals and derek just got captured by the Argent scott got shot that's why I didn't come home last night, by the way did have what I asked yesterday"

Grams sighs nodding slowly, she is half minded about helping you since she knows there is no good associating with dark creatures of supernatural but there is no going back now seeing how involved you are now especially since Scott is now a werewolf "I remember the fire; it was truly tragic." You nod "you don't need my help though."

You sit up straight "What you mean? I do need your help to find him and tech my how to handle my powers."

She says your name with a soft tone taking your hands in her "Your power cannot be controlled by me or anyone its only possible by you, chaos magic very different from my power. But that doesn't mean I'll leave everything to you alone. But you need to acknowledge that your power is one of kind in every universe, while you don't use incantations while using your power the magic its incantation the chaos magic manifest from yourself. You may think there is no spell when you blasted my window but there is one."

"So that's mean while you and bonnie gets hand written manual become Sabrina but I don't." She nods you let out a sigh falling back "Thank god because there is no way I was gonna learn the Gilmore."

Grams gives you an exhausted look at your words "But learning can help you when the time needed someone can absorb your power and use it against you so you need to use your power understand and perfect it."

"Yeah, yeah. So how do I find him?"

Grams roll her eyes standing up "Use your head." she walks away you starts to follow her "what you mean use my head.?"

Following her to her room she takes out small box handing to you "here, what you asked for."

"Thanks, but can you be more specific."

"Try doing it your own and understand and feel your powers then we will see the rest."

"Good tip, how exactly I do that?."

"Use your head, that's it."

You huff mimicking her words a beep from your phone alert you making you rush out your home towards scott's home, clenching the little box tightly in your grasp.

MCCALL HOUSE

"Call it again."

"It's not here. Okay, so you lost your phone. Why don't you just get a new one?"

"I can't afford a new one, and I can't do this alone. We have to find Derek."

Stiles looks offended at his comment "Well, A) you're not alone, you have me and y/n; and B) didn't you say Derek walked into gunfire? He sounds pretty dead."

"Argent's plan was to use him to get to the Alpha. They're not gonna kill him." scott run around the room looking for his device.

"All right, so then, just let them do what they're planning, you know? They use Derek to find Peter, problem solved." Stile's shrug slowing down remembering how you said not letting derek died but recent events had changed his perspective.

Scott frustrated turn to stiles "Not if Peter's going after Allison to find Derek! I can't protect her on my own, which means we either find Derek first--Just-just help me!"

"You know, you probably lost it when you two were fighting. You remember that? When he was trying to kill you? After you interrupted him trying to kill Jackson? Are you starting to see a pattern of violent behavior, here?"

"He wasn't going to kill anyone. And I'm not letting him die. And neither does y/n. just because be he gone back being a pain in the ass, she or I don't want him to die."

Stiles narrow his eyes at scott "Are you repeating her name because you think I'm scared of her." scott turns to stiles his brow raised, his lips curled lightly.

"It works doesn't it."

Stile's huff leaning his chin on the chair "It does." He mummers "What?"

"My mom just got home from work."

[on the phone] Hi. It's me. Melissa McCall. I'm giving you a call. That always sounds really weird because of my last name... McCall... So, yeah, um, you know, I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to reschedule dinner or lunch. It doesn't have to be dinner-- lunch is good. Or maybe you would like to do coffee, or maybe you're a tea drinker? I don't know... You know, we could also just go out for drinks... Yeah, 'cause I think I need a few after this profoundly embarrassing phone call. So, if this really doesn't freak you out too much after this disastrous call, free free to, um, give me a call...

"Is she okay? What's she doing?"

"Crying." Sitting on the bed scott looks down with a tried face, stiles sit silently scott head perk up, he looks out the window.

"Scott, you can't protect everyone." Stiles says softly standing up from thee chair he walks towards scott "What?" he looks out the window as well.

"I guess I don't have to do it alone." Scott whispers your name; you stand on passenger side of melissa car before getting in.

"Hey, we are really sorry about last night. I know sorry doesn't cut it."

Mellissa sits silent for a moment before nodding you glance at her "you know he wasn't even that good looking did he bring you flowers.?"

"He didn't actually."

"See even I bring you flowers whenever I come to see you." "And I have something right here."

"Are you trying to bribe me with gifts now."

"No, I am gifting something precious to someone who is equally precious."

There is a moment of silence before you speak again "I know you were going out for first time in while and we messed up that, but don't go back to ignoring your life, you already spend sacrificing your life for everyone around you don't hold back from enjoying it again. Trust me Scott doesn't want it nor do I or stiles. You too deserve to live your life as melissa not just as Scott's mom or town's best nurse. We're truly sorry, I really sorry. "

Melissa let out a sniffle her lips curling up "when did you get all wise.?"

"I don't know, no, truly." Melissa laugh "I swear to god, the sappy thing is not my division."

"Just promise me you would wear this all time, please."

"I will since you asked nicely."

"And also, I asked workshop to fix up your car, they will come so I got that."

"You can't change my mind, I already pay for that, don't fight it." you get out the car.

She calls you but you shake your head "I can't hear you." you run towards the house stopping when you see scott and stiles head stick out the window. "What are you guys doing, we have to go now."

Stiles and scott nod before disappearing from the window.

The three you walk through the hallway to class "Anyway what did you give my mom."

"Its charm, grams made it. its connected into my magic and grams it will protect her from supernatural creature, anything that comes to harm here won't be able success. And I will be able feel if anything going to happen he. Just like I did with you."

"With me?"

Stiles excitedly turns scott towards him "oh yeah, last night when we crashed your mom's date with the psychotic murderous werewolf, she just gone blank and said your name and we both run around the woods trying to find. For moment I thought she got possessed."

Scott looks worried at stiles claims his eyes shifting between his friends in concern. "Anyway, got any way to find derek?" he glances your way.

You suck air through your teeth tilting your head sideways "well grams said something about using my head. but I don't know what that means at all."

"that's not good."

"Well maybe stiles or Danny can hack into your phone and find the location."

Scott turns to stiles "why didn't you tell me about that?"

Stiles nervously grins "well, I was inclined to the idea of not bothering about derek."

You and scott side eyes stiles making the said male huff at his friend's judgmental gaze "Hey it's not my fault that he joined his psychotic uncle's murder spree."

"Yeah, anyway you losers got any dates and your costumes' ready.?"

Scott halt on his steps "I thought we all going." Frowning even more when stiles give you the judge eyes "Aren't we not?"

"Well, someone is choosing hoes before bros."

You roll your yes "Stiles"

"Yes?"

"Shut up." You turn to scott "I might have someone but I'm not sure he would even come."

Scott push stiles away making stiles give a bitch face at his action, scott's puppy face full on act "Who?"

"Issac Lahey. But like I said I don't know if he will come otherwise, I've danny to tag along." You turn to stiles with a sweet smile making stiles suspiciously squints his eyes at you "And you know who doesn't have date. Lydia and she's in desperate need of one"

Stiles eyes lit up he push scott away making the later stumble a little he shook your shoulders "How desperate are we talking?"

"Enough that she would say yes to you."

"A little jab at my already nonexistent self-esteem, but I'll take it." Stiles said with a wide grin.

"you're welcome." Parting after giving stiles an innocent smile as the three of you goes to class.

You sigh seeing all your text that been send to Isaac is left unread, and no calls leading to straight to voicemail. The time for Halloween party is getting closer Lydia and Allison had gone for last minute shopping scott following them unknowingly in case peter decided pull any stunts again.

You let out few sneezes that echoes at loud library the scolding of librarian never come leaning your head on your head look around, it is perfect time to do at least try whatever grams said. Shaking your head you sit straight and close your eyes focusing on the sounds around you, the sound of the wind rushing through the windows becoming clear and slowly but surely the you see people and their thoughts swimming around you.

The voice gets loud as it is and pace of thoughts gets rapid and you search for Derek's but it doesn't get easier as the voice and thoughts and face increase your head feel likes its gonna explode. You call out his name just as it gets too much you shudder taking opening your eyes your chest heaving wildly.

On the other side of the town derek jolts awake as he hears your fading voice in his head, he's sudden awake make Kate argent look at him. derek says your name in haze but gets no response.

(I'm thinking this as your Halloween outfit no crown but you're welcome to imagine other outfit as well. )

The costume fits you like a glove, Lydia in her own costume which is Morticia Addams stiles is the one taking her to the party, Allison ironically dressed up as huntress. Something in you doesn't sit right with you, its feel like somethinig big and importantly something bad is going to happen today,  tonight. You couldn't figure out where derek is, now you're waiting for Danny or stiles to come early so one of them can hack into scott phone and find the location.

You groan slumping further in the seat while the two girls get ready, you drown out their conversation not hearing Lydia asking about your date.

Lydia huff before marching towards you she tugs on your hands making you stand up just then you see a vision of her lying unconscious and bloody at the field with peter looming over her with his fangs out and red eyes glowing you stumble at the sudden vision Allison also rush towards you at Lydia yelp when your legs give out though the visions doesn't stop as Allison crouch down next to and you see the image of derek tied to chain's Kate Argents and her and them walking out the Hale's house.

"You okey?"

"Are you drunk?"

You frown at Lydia "no?" they help you stand up your head is splitting "I'm fine, I'm fine...but leg fell asleep, that's it."

Allison looks unsure while Lydia roll her eyes at you "I'm gonna get some water." You drag your feet towards the door hesitantly looking back at them you close the door behind. You hurriedly take your phone out calling stiles but the honk and familiar sound of his jeep on making you look up from the phone you.

You rush to the door opening and close it behind you, stiles step out the jeep his eyes widening at your figure standing speechless. You drag him by his tie moving away from entering the house.

"Woah, slow down."

You impatiently sigh "you need to keep Lydia safe, I saw peter hurting her and I think Allison knows about werewolf she and kite is keeping derek chained in the hale house."

"Woah......woah! wait. What?"

You nod "yeah, I'm going to get derek, you need to keep Lydia safe don't let her go anywhere. And tell scott to be safe." you take out your phone texting and apologizing to Danny that you won't make it to the party.

"Wait...Wait." Stiles take hold of your arm before you can walk away. "Stay with us."

"No stiles, we need derek you need to accept that. You will be okey. just stay with crowed." Stiles tug you again. Stiles goes to the driver seat, and comes back with taser gun.

"Use this if derek tries anything, for the peace of my mind." Stiles exhale before pulling you into a hug "Please come back in one piece."

You sigh into the embrace "you too." Stiles goes inside Lydia house with bouquet of red rose you take out your phone scrolling down until the unknown number that send you mysterious text claiming 'come save your friends' you assume this peter's phone or someone's phone that he uses and send the text.

Series prev next

[celestialmazer]

Making Nosferatu Sounds Even More Cursed Than Watching It : i-D.co

DOUGLAS GREENWOOD - DECEMBER 27, 2024

Mild spoilers for Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu below

Robert Eggers’ psychosexual horror movie was made by a team of exacting and brilliant artists. Here, they tell us how 2000 rats, Sky Ferreira and Pinterest played a part in it.

In Nosferatu, the legendary silent vampire movie, the insidious Count Orlok harbours an obsession for someone so intense that it conjures insanity in those he touches. For director Robert Eggers, who this week released his long-gestating take on the tale, that obsession – less evil, equally as effective – is directed towards detail, the minute elements of a movie most people don’t pay attention to. In every frame of it, you’ll find locket necklaces that transcend era, sagging town streets, and corpsified costumes – all designed to be accurate to the period and the character.

A chilly and elegantly made psycho-romance, the material is ripe for such treatment. Set in Wisborg, a fictional German port town in the 1830s, Eggers’ take on the film focuses on Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) a young woman whose mind seems disturbed by the encroaching presence of an unknown evil force. Her financially struggling real estate agent husband Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is sent on an assignment to meet Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), a mysterious isolated man interested in local property. While a haunted Ellen holes up with their friends the Hutters (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin) in the meantime, little does Hutter know that he’s luring the evil force closer to his most desired object: his wife.

Eggers faithfully recreated the look and feel of a German town in the 19th century plagued by the arrival of a demonic vampire by doing “a whole lot of damage on Pinterest,” Egger says, during a conversation in London’s gothic St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel. An obsessive researcher (hence the palpable earthiness of his debut The Witch, and the salty taste of his strange period comedy The Lighthouse) here working with his biggest budget yet, Eggers had the time and team to go down the rabbit hole. Pinterest led him to books in the library, which led him to their bibliographies, which opened whole new worlds. To make sure everything was accurate, he brought in consultants on everything from Transylvania to the occult. The result is his most astonishing, all-consuming film yet.

This kind of accuracy is “just what I enjoy for my movies,” Eggers says, “but it also is nice because all of my collaborators know what the goal is.” Here, Eggers and a handful of the film’s hundreds-strong creative team – cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, costume designer Linda Muir, production designer Craig Lathrop, composer Robin Carolan and researcher/advisor Florin Lazarescu – delve into the details of how Nosferatu was formed, in all of its wretched glory.

It always starts with the mood boards

Robert Eggers (Writer and Director): I did digital portraits of all of the characters, putting actors’ faces into paintings, and for every location and major set piece in the movie.

Jarin Blasckhe (Cinematographer): Rob’s gonna bring a lot of references to the table. [As cinematographer,] I see it as my job to sort of synthesise them and turn them into my own expression.

Linda Muir (Costume Designer): I put together my own little book of images and swatches of fabrics appropriate to the period of the film. I pull from my costume books, close ups of paintings, fashion plates, and photographs of authentic garments housed in museums or online auction houses. An amazing resource book is Textile Designs: Two Hundred Years of European and American Patterns Organized by Motif, Style Colour, Layout, and Period by Susan Meller; Joost Elfers.

CREDIT: AIDAN MONAGHAN/FOCUS FEATURES LLC

The location scouting was vast, but fruitless

Eggers: We scouted [cities like] Lubeck and Wismar and Gdansk (which was in Germany in that period). They had the architecture, but none of them had a massive amount of streets left intact because of World War Two. Even if we wanted to, there wasn’t a city that would have served our purpose.

And so they built the film at Prague’s Barrandov Studios

Eggers: Bernie [Bellow], our line producer, and his team were able to facilitate building all of these things, because I get the architectural specificity that I’m looking for.

Craig Lathrop (Production Designer): [Eggers’] beautiful and horrifying script was full of design opportunities, and all of the roughly 60 sets seemed to have something that was oddly tricky and specific. The streets of Wisborg were by far the largest sets we built. I wanted each building to have its own personality. None of the sets are perfectly square or plumb, and on Wisborg’s Old Town Street, the medieval houses have a certain amount of sag. We graded all the streets so the characters would move up or down the streets with the exception of the exterior of the Harding’s house (it is on a canal, so that street is flat). By controlling the palate and the dressing, we tried to ensure that when you see the streets in the early scenes, it’s a bustling port town. Once the plague arrives, those same streets would feel ominous and frightening.

Eggers: Sometimes the sets were literally coming apart on hinges midway through a take and coming back together again.

Lathrop: [Like in] the opening shot. Ellen is sitting up in her bed, calling to an unknown spirit. When she gets out of bed and moves toward the window, the wall with the bed alcove split open and swung out of the way with all of the set dressing attached, in a choreographed dance with the camera so that we could end the shot looking 180 degrees in the opposite direction, with a head-to-toe profile of Ellen and Orlok’s shadow.

Though it did venture into the outside world sometimes

Eggers: I think Bram Stoker might have seen an engraving of Hunedoara Castle when it was in disrepair, and that it [might have been] his template for Castle Dracula, so we shot that castle for [Count Orlok’s castle’s] exterior. In the cemetery scenes, we had to find a part of the cemetery that was large enough to accommodate building a large mausoleum. There also weren’t a lot of headstones around. We had to bring in 30 headstones to populate it.

Eggers designed a new kind of Orlok…

Eggers: I knew he would be a folk vampire, instead of a monster like the Murnau film, or an Anglo-literary vampire like every other Dracula.

… that dressed like a Transylvanian nobleman

Eggers: There’s never been a version of Dracula or Nosferatu dressed like a Transylvanian nobleman with authentic Hungarian attire from the 16th century.

Muir: Textiles for Orlok had to evoke a past some 250-300 years before the period in which we find all of the other characters, so I looked at paintings, illustrations, garments housed in museum collections, and books illustrating the Transylvanian military from around 1560 to the mid-1600s. I tried to find as many examples as possible of what a dolman (tunic) or mente (overcoat) or kolpak (hat) or footwear could look like within this period, along with sash, buttons, and embellishments suitable to the clothing of a nobleman of great wealth and privilege. Once completed, Orlok’s costuming had to then be distressed (corpsified) inside and out, [because his] centuries of rotting flesh affect the inferior layers and the environment affects the exterior.

Bill Skarsgård found a nightmare-inducing voice

Eggers: Bill worked with an opera coach to lower his voice an octave. We didn’t do a lot of ADR [automated dialogue replacement] for him. Sometimes we pushed his voice into the subs to give it even more body, but it’s not EQ manipulated to make it deeper or crazier than it was. That was him.

Eggers wanted to “embrace the romanticism” of the story

Robin Carolan (Composer): It’s almost like a love triangle to some degree. So I think when it came to the score, I wanted to write it as if it was this sort of fucked up marriage.

Blaschke: I was just trying to make [the cinematography] as shapely and lush as possible, and to embrace that. The current [movie] trend is kind of grungy and handheld, [shot] with available light. I wanted to buck against that and rebel with craft. When [Eggers] says he wants it to look romantic and lush, then that just lets me fall into that instinct.

Blaschke shot on film

Blaschke: I just prefer the palette of it to digital. That has nothing to do with trying to show off… the palette is lovely and befits this film. Digitally the colours would be very clean; [on film,] they’re just much more complex.

Eggers only wanted to shoot in gloomy weather…

Eggers: [It was] one of the only things that really frustrated the studio. They understood, but time is money, and when you’re waiting around for cloud coverage, when you have 200 extras, it becomes quite scary.

… but he wasn’t the only stickler for lighting.

Eggers: The most time consuming lighting setups were moonlit interiors, because Jarin only wanted the light source to be coming from the windows. He also wanted the light source to feel very far away for the most amount of naturalism.

Blaschke: [Typically,] in moonlit interiors in real life, you don’t see jack squat. Sometimes, when shooting those scenes, I had a light for moonlight 70 meters away, shooting over the entire soundstage into a mirror that then sends it back into the set. We had a lot of uncontrolled light everywhere, so we had to close it off. It gets very time consuming.

The Nosferatu typefaces were discussed and debated

Eggers: The Nosferatu title treatment is a kind of strange looking Gothic typeface that I worked very closely on with Teddy Blanks, the title designer. He did many iterations of it, down to changing the serifs ever so slightly to really get what we were after. [And] even though it’s a German speaking movie, we went with a typeface for the subtitles that would have been in an English speaking book from 1838. I think we used whatever type was used for Oliver Twist.

The film had an occult consultant

Eggers: I had an occultist come in and check out all of the books and the paperwork. The only thing that we fucked up – and we fixed it – was the heptagram that Knock sits in [at the beginning of the film].

And a guy who knew everything about Romanian folklore

Eggers: Florin Lazarescu is most famous in western cinema for writing the screenplay for Aferim!, but he’s a novelist and a poet, and also an expert on Romanian folklore.

Florin Lazarescu (Consultant and Researcher): I acted as a consultant and researcher on anything related to 19th-century Transylvania. I also contributed some Romanian and Romani dialogue and worked on creating the ancient Dacian language that Count Orlok speaks. Sometimes I found myself in unique situations, such as giving the final approval on wooden crosses or ecclesiastical garments inscribed with texts I proposed.

The sound design was cranked up to a million

Eggers: People like to say that even though I’m making movies that take place in the past, the filmmaking is very modern. But I think the filmmaking is not very modern at all – it’s the sound that makes it more modern and visceral. Even if there are scenes with a lot of silence, the wind tones and the creaky doors are very like dialled in.

While the score was loosely inspired by Sky Ferreira

Carolan: Rob and I will kind of have our own references, and some of them can be quite odd. There’s a Sky Ferreira song called “Downhill Lullaby”. I was listening to that kind of obsessively for certain scenes for Ellen’s character. It just put me in a certain mood.

The costumes are hyper-specific

Eggers: [For Ellen] I found a locket from the period that had that heart shape, like something you’d get at a store for a teenage girl.

Muir: A small section of the centre back of Hutter’s waistcoat collar is made of the same fabric as the waistcoat back. It would not be seen as the frock coat always remained on (walking around in shirtsleeves was not really done during the film’s period – unless you are running around a terrifying castle attempting escape). It’s a wee detail that speaks to Hutter’s lack of funds.

Deep thought went into its possessions and exorcisms too

Eggers: [French neurologist Jean-Martin] Charcot made etchings of every hysterical pose that his patients did. Those were a bit of a menu for us to go through. When you read the script, [Lily’ character Ellen is] doing this thing. Now she’s doing this thing. Now it’s really crazy. Now it’s really, really crazy! [Movement director Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, Depp and I had to ask ourselves:] how do we actually do that? When is it sinister? When is it sensual? When is it childlike? When is it demonic? The more The Exorcist-like stuff is not, for me, the most powerful. I think that the [demonic sex] scene with her and Nick, even though it’s in some ways less flashy, is more unique and disturbing.

Lazarescu: My favourite detail in the film involved an abbess from Bukovina performing an exorcism in Church Slavonic. Initially, it was more of a cinematic cliché, with no real connection to the Orthodox Christian tradition. I researched books, consulted specialists, and convinced Robert that a cliché exorcism would come across as cringeworthy. We replaced the ritual entirely with something plausible: a priest reciting from The Prayers of Saint Basil the Great in Romanian at the bedside of the ‘possessed’.

Oh, and the rats.

Eggers: [For the chapel scene in the film’s climax], we made Vacuform rat mats; these squares of plastic rats that were covered with fake fur that we tiled the floors with. [Then we added] a layer of CG rats on top of that. But there were 2000 real rats. I said 5000 by mistake in another interview. Now it’s gone viral.

[yakotalks]

APUSH - Period 2

Colonial America: English colonization, regional differences, transatlantic trade, slavery, and Native relations. (1607-1754)

English Colonization

Types of colonies

Royal Colony - Directly in control of the King/Queen (NH, MA, NY, NJ, VA, NC, SC, GA)

Proprietary Colony - Granted to certain individuals or groups by the King/Queen (PA, DE, MD)

Charter Colony - A charter granted to joint-stock companies (CT, RI)

Jamestown, Virginia (1607) - First permanent English settlement (Roanoke failed). At first had many issues -- famine and conflicts with the natives -- but soon discovered these amazing things known as cash crops like Tobacco

Regional Colonial Differences

New England Colonies

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire

Mainly focused on fishing, shipbuilding, and trade. A couple small farms. Also mainly settled by families.

Mostly Puritans, very religious with little tolerance

Governed with Town Meetings (Democratic)

Extra Notes:

Plymouth -> Settled by the pilgrims who were fleeing religious persecution in New England. Had the Mayflower Compact which was an early form of self government and democracy.

Massachusetts Bay -> Settled by Puritans who wanted to reform or "purify" the Anglican Church of New England. Wanted to create a "City on a Hill"

Rhode Island -> Founded by Anne Hutchinson who was kicked out of Massachusetts for her beliefs. Rhode Island was a lot more religiously tolerant. Bought the land from the Natives

Middle Colonies

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware

Mainly focused on agriculture with wheat (known as the Breadbasket Colonies) and trade. Also mainly settled by families

Very diverse, ethnically and religiously

Extra Notes:

New York and New Jersey -> New Jersey split off from New York b/c it was too big. New York used to be part of the Dutch.

Pennsylvania -> Founded by William Penn (Fun fact: the name literally means Penn's Woods). This was a refuge for Quakers and was religiously tolerant of all religions (even Catholics!). Quakers were pacifists.

Southern Colonies (Including Chesapeake)

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

Mainly focused on large scale agriculture with cash crops, did this with plantations

Indentured Servitude -> Slavery

Indentured Servitude - Farmers would sponsor people financially to help them migrate to the Americas and in return they would get labor from that person for a certain number of years. After that the person would be free to do whatever. Promoted by the Headright System.

Headright System - Anyone who sponsored someone to come to the Americans would receive 50 acres of land

Extra Notes:

Virginia - Named after Queen Elizabeth I, was the first permanent settlement. Ruled using the House of Burgesses (Democratic).

Slavery

First slaves arrived in 1619

Growth in Slavery due to the problems that came with relying on just indentured servants

Bacon's Rebellion (1676) - Led by Nathaniel Bacon, a rebellion against the Governor William Berkely of the Virginia Colony. Berkley's administration wasn't helping enough with the threat of Native American attacks on the frontier settlements. Also caused by anger from economic and social tensions between wealthy landowners and the poor farmers. Burned Jamestown. Led to the realization of the instability of indentured servitude and switched to slavery.

Cash crops were also incredibly labor intensive and many indentured servants were unwilling to do that.

Triangular Trade - Colonies would trade raw good to Europe. There those raw good would be turned into manufactured goods. Those manufactured goods would be traded to Africa. Then Africa would send slaves over the the Americas and the cycle would continue

The Middle passage - The passage on the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas which ships would take when transporting slaves. Brutal, dirty, and cramped and many wouldn't even make it to the Americas.

Relations with Native Americans

Initially mixed, the northern colonies had less of an issue compared to the southern ones. However, the relationships worsened and became more hostile as the colonies expanded.

Conflicts

Powhatan Wars (1610-1646) - Against the Virginia Colony, Jamestown. They used to be chill but tensions increased due to land disputes and the English's demands for food and supplies. 1st war -> peace treaty, 2nd war -> bad for both sides, 3rd war -> Powhatan land lost, English won

Pequot War (1636-1638) - Against New England @ modern day Connecticut. The English wanted to expand onto Pequot land and the Pequot resisted. Tensions grew over control of the fur trade and English settler's demands for more territory. The English massacred many Pequots. The tribe stopped existing after that.

King Philip's War (1675-1678) - Against New England @ Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The English settlers kept using Native hunting grounds and had their laws imposed on Natives. English Settlers won, King Phillip (Metacom) was killed.

[amydiddle-fanfiction]

10 Years More (Stanley’s Tale)

Stanley Pines is hitting his late 30s. He has lived a hard life on the road and only when he was in his darkest moment in '82 did he finally turn to family to help. Now, after a few years of living with his older brother, he is mostly on his feet. There are still days where he sleeps in his car but he at least knows he can make an honest living and turn to some people when in a terrible bind.

Still the world does change in terrible ways and now Stan finds himself packing up once again to drive towards a person he is sure never wants to see him again just because his mother asked him to. The last time anyone even heard from him was that same year Stan dialed up Sherman's number, who said that the man just decided to fully cut himself off from family forever?

What kind of town was Gravity Falls anyways? Whose to say Stanford even needed help?

Ao3 (THE FIC THAT MAY NEVER BE COMPLETED IS BEING WRITTEN)

Chapter 3

Gravity Falls was a small town nestled in a strangely shaped valley and, from Ford’s notes, was a place that was full of weirdness that the citizen apparently ignored. From gnomes to weird doorways that should not be opened, they would happily keep their eyes shut. What they did not ignore was the new red car that was currently driving down the main road.

All eyes seem to be glued to the stranger as he made his way up Main Street.

Stan shrunk down in the driver’s seat as he pulled into the first food place he saw. It was a weird building, shaped like a log with a big sign that read ‘Greasy’s Diner’ up on top. Hopefully the place was not too expensive.

He tried to ignore the stares that were being not so subtly thrown his way as he opened the door.  

“Yeah, I know I’m good lookin’. Stop yer staring!” He shouted at a couple that had stopped mid-walk by to parking lot.

He watched the couple jump and scurry away, finally taking their eyes off him.

He knew he was a mess. Between driving up all night and cleaning up the office space in the house, he probably needed a good night’s rest. At least more then the few hours he got when he accidently drifted off in Ford’s room.

Stanley slammed the can door shut and locked it, shoving his hands in his pockets to subtly count what loose change he had saved from his last odd job. Hopefully it would be enough to last him however long he would be staying in this town.

He kept his head down as he moved up the stairs and into the Greasy’s proper. He could already feel the stares as he made his way over to the nearest booth and sat down.

“Well, I’ll be! If it isn’t the fancy scientist man up in the woods,” a voice said next to him.

Stan jumped and looked up. The waitress standing in front of him, Susan by her nametag, smiled down at him.

“We all thought you had split town with your buddy years ago,” she set a mug down and started to pour a cup of coffee without him even ordering one, “What brings you back to town, stranger?”

“Oh, I’m not-,” Stan tried to correct her but she just kept talking.

“You still doing your mysterious experiments up there in that house of yours?” She laughed, “I’d pay to see what crazy experiments you got cooking.”

“But the thing is...” he blinked, “Did you say pay?”

The woman smiled down at him, taking a notepad out of her apron, “Well sure. I ain’t going to just roam into your home without proper compensation. I’m just everyone would pay good money to check out what you had cooking up there all these years, especially after that disappearing act you did.”

Stan’s hand went back to the bills in his pocket. It was enough for a few days of diner food but would it keep him running as long as he needed to rebuild that portal? Then there was the issue of getting water, heat, and electricity turned back on. Plus, he would need to repair the house some if he was going to stay here for more then a few days.

“What about ten-no, fifteen bucks for a tour?”

“Really!” The woman’s eyes seemed to sparkle, “You would really give me a tour of your fancy science house?”

“Yeah,” Stan stood up, “In fact, I’ll give everyone a tour! Fifteen per head, no refunds!”

Everyone in the diner that had been watching the exchange seemed to turn away at that moment. The chatter in the diner growing to one of excitement as Stanley sat down and picked up a menu.

“Course I am gonna need to eat something first,” Stan said, “But then we an all head down to the…the Murder Hut and check out all the science doo-dads.”

“Well in that case, the meals on the house,” Susan cheered, “What name can I put down for the order?”

“Stan…ford. Stanford Pines.”

Susan wrote the name down and looked at him expectantly.

“And what can I get you, Stan?”

Stan glanced down at the menu. His mind churning with indecision. He was not sure why he had claimed his brother’s name, but everyone here seemed to believe he was some big science man with a spooky cabin. Maybe they would like it better if he WAS his brother.

“Just get me the Chef’s special, toots.”

He handed the menu back after his order was written down and tried to calm his racing heart. The chatter around the diner had not died and he saw a few people rush out with excitement. Maybe they would tell their friends about the newly opened Murder Hut and get him even more money.

He tapped his fingers a nervous beat on the table as guilt began to gnaw at him.

Maybe taking all these people would be a bad idea. He hadn’t done a con in years, what if they saw right through him and just chased him out of town. What was he even going to show them, he didn’t know any science.

He was broken from his nervous thoughts by a plate being set down in front of him.

“Thanks, Susan. You’re a really doll.”

The waitress giggled, “Have a good lunch, man of mystery.”

Stan cut into his pancakes and hummed in thought. He would just have to wing it, he guessed. Not that he was not used to that. If he wanted to survive out here in Gravity Falls, this might be the only way how.

It took no time at all to finish up his meal. Even without needing to pay, he still slapped a few bills down for a tip. Susan would be giving it back anyway, plus if she didn’t like the tour he could still claim he did give her money for the food.

“Everything to your liking, I see,” Susan said as she picked up the plates.

“Everything was great. Compliments to the chef and the lovely waitress that served me.”

Susan laughed and waved a hand at him, “Oh stop it you. But actually, keep going.”

Stan laughed awkwardly as he slipped from the booth and slipping his hands into his jacket pockets.

“I should have everything ready for a tour in an hour. So don’t be late,” he winked.

Susan gave another one of her laughs, “I can’t wait. I’m sure am excited to see what you have been doing up there these past ten years.”

“Yeah,” Stan scratched at the back of his neck, “I am too. I mean, excited to show everyone. It’s gonna be great.”

“Well, see you soon Mr. Mystery.”

She winked, saying the word wink as she did, before moving on to help the next customer. He took that as his chance to escape. He had to make it back to the cabin to make is presentable for people as quick as possible.

The car ride back to Gopher Road was one that seemed to take longer than he was expecting. Not that there was traffic but that his head was running through all the possible things he was going to tell these people that would make fifteen dollars a head worth it.

He did not know half the stuff locked away in his brother’s house, let alone enough to explain it.

As he pulled in next to the broken-down truck, he looked at the cabin in a light of an outsider. When he first arrived here, he had thought this place was a creepy abandoned shit hole. It still looked like that even in the light of day.

“How am I supposed to sell this place to them?”

He felt his palms sweat as he slammed the car door and rushed inside. Looking around at the dirt covered floor and grimy walls. As he moved through the house, he nearly tripped over his feet when he passed by the room that held the basement door.

Stan backed up and looked into the darkened room. Shelves on shelves of knick-knacks and doohickies were there. Those roobs had to find some of this stuff interesting.

“Alright, let’s get to cleaning.”

It took nearly the whole hour, but Stan thought he got the large room looking at least a little presentable. He was even careful enough to push a shelf in front of the basement door so nosy townsfolks would not ask to see the portal. He was not sure why, but he had a feeling that there were some things in this house he needed to hide even from them.

Wiping his hands on his jeans, he stepped out into the fading light. His fingers fumbled with the cigarette box he kept in his jacket pockets.

He felt nervous. Nervous that they would all demand their money back like every other scheme he conjured. Nervous he would be chased out of town. Nervous he would be found out pretending to be his much smarter twin brother.

As he took a drag from the cigarette, he felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. The relief did not last long. As he stomped on the smoldering ember a car pulled into the empty lot. Then another. And another. A few people coming on foot walking up with Susan at the front.

He felt the judging stares at the state of the house. He was pretty sure he needed to get someone to look at the roof, it probably would leak next rain storm.

Stanley rolled back his shoulders and gave the biggest grin he could as he stepped off the porch.

“Welcome to the Murder Hut…name still in progress.”

The crowd gathered around him as he stood on the top step.

“Everyone here? Everyone got cash? Good. Good.”

He took the offered bills without complaint, his smile becoming a little more genuine as he counted the amount of bills that had piled up in his hand.

“Alright. Step right up, folks, uh, to a world of... enchantment, or whatever.”

Stanley opened the back door cautiously, his palms sweating as he heard all the muttering behind him. Leading into the weird storage room close to the basement was the only plan he had. The rest of the house was trashed, after all, and this was the room with the most scientific junk. Plus, it was a large enough space that he could grow the business.

“Um, step this way. Feast your eyes on scientific wonders that the world has never seen.”

He weaved the crowd through the shelves, looking around for something that would entertain these patrons. He snatched a box off the shelf with two antennas protruding from the top. He spun around and messed with the dial as the tour group gathered around.

“Behold the, uh, nerdy science box.”

The box suddenly gave a spark. Unfortunately, it gave off such a large spark that it hit Susan in the eye.

“Ah! My eye!”

Stan felt his palms sweat more as he scrambled to set the box back on the shelf, “I can assure you that is no way permanent.”

He had no idea if it was, but a medical emergency was not a good idea for the start of his business. If this could become a business.

“I paid fifteen dollars for this!” Susan exclaimed. She had a hand over the eye that was just zapped but Stan could already tell it was puffing up.

The rest of the tour group began to mutter in discontent. The world seemed to be tunneling in on Stanley. If he could not get a steady income plus had the stain of hurting a towns person, he would have to leave town. If he left town, he would never find that second journal. Then Ford would never return.

“Um…uh…” Stan looked around the room with what he hoped was not a too panicked expression. He grabs a skeleton model he had dressed up out of boredom during the cleaning process. It looked like a tourist.

“you're lucky you weren't part of the last tour group,” He spun the skeleton around to reveal it to the group in its gaudy get up, “they never made it out aliiiivve. Heheh. Right?”

The crowd stared at him. He felt his soul be crushed as he tried to think of the quickest route back to Sherman’s place in California. Then Susan laughed.

Her laughter seemed to prompt the rest of the group and Stanely could not help but to join in.

“That’s funny,” Susan said, “Alright, show us what else you got Mystery man.”

“Right this way.”

Maybe he could make this work. He had to. For Ford.

[lucretiasthings]

Hansry WW2 AU - First meeting.

(Short snippet from the first chapter of the WW2 Hansry fic I'm working on, where Henry and Hans first meet in the square of Rataje. Will revise later. The progress is slow lmaoo)

The first light of spring pried through the cracks of Henry’s loft, dust motes swirling like spent embers. Below, the clang of steel echoed—Martin was already at the forge. Henry dressed swiftly, his hands trailing over the cool iron latch of the window. Outside, the village of Silver Skalitz yawned awake: smoke curled from cottage chimneys, and the distant lowing of cattle carried on the breeze. The town was a patchwork of timber-framed houses with steep thatched roofs, their gardens bristling with early sprouts of carrots and onions.

The smithy stood fifty paces from the cottage, its stone walls blackened by decades of fire. 

Henry paused in the yard, dew soaking his boots, and watched his father through the open doorway. 

Martin’s silhouette loomed against the forge’s inferno, hammer rising and falling in a rhythm older than the Habsburgs. 

Sparrows darted under the eaves, their nests cobbled from horsehair and straw.

“Late,” Martin grunted, not turning.

Henry entered, the heat pressing against his skin. “The Adler order’s done.” 

He gestured to the crate of repaired plowshares, their edges sharpened to a lethal gleam.

Martin quenched a horseshoe, steam hissing. 

“Take them to Rataje. The farrier’s expecting them.” 

He tossed Henry a cloth-wrapped loaf—rye, still warm—and nodded to the bicycle leaning against the anvil. 

“And don’t dally.”

…

The farrier counted coins into Henry’s palm, the silver cool against his skin.

 “Tell Martin the new coulter blades are needed by Friday,” he said, his voice raspy from years of shouting over clanging steel.

Henry lingered, absorbing the market’s pulse.

 Farmers haggled over seed sacks and piglets, their boots caked with rich, dark soil. 

A coppersmith displayed pots polished to a burnished glow, while a wool merchant piled dyed skeins in rainbow mounds. 

Near the fountain, a fiddler played a mournful skočná, his tune weaving through the clatter of cart wheels and the bleating of goats.

A commotion erupted near the inn. 

A burly boy in a bloodied apron—the butcher’s son, by the reek of offal—cornered a taller figure in a linen shirt too pristine for the market. 

Henry edged closer with his bicycle, curiosity pricking.

“—think a few smiles mean she’d ever lower herself?” 

the butcher’s son sneered, jerking his chin toward a flaxen-haired girl hanging linens.

The linen-clad boy tilted his head, sunlight gilding his hair. 

“Lower herself? Perhaps she’s tired of suitors who smell of the abattoir.”

Henry turned to leave, but his bicycle wheel grazed the boy’s boot. 

The crate lurched, tools clattering.

“Kurva!” The boy stumbled into a flour sack, powder snowing around him. 

“Watch where you’re dragging that relic!”

Henry steadied the bicycle. “Apologies.”

The butcher’s son guffawed. “Apologies? To this preening pheasant?”

The boy brushed flour from his sleeves, fabric whispering of money.

 “You’re apologizing to my boot. This leather cost more than your hovel.”

Henry’s jaw tightened.

“Move. Or I’ll apologize to your face.”

The boy stepped closer, bergamot and arrogance clinging to him. “Try it, peasant.”

A shove.

 A crack of knuckles on bone. 

The bicycle clattered, tools scattering as Henry tackled him into the chicken crates. 

Wood splintered, feathers exploding. 

The crowd roared.

…

The manor’s oak doors groaned as Marek, the groundskeeper, shouldered them open. 

Henry blinked against the sudden warmth of the hallway, his boots sinking into a carpet the color of dried blood. Spring rain dripped from his shirt, pooling on marble veined like a butcher’s slab.

 Ahead, the linen-clad boy stalked past oil portraits of dead nobles, their faces pale and disapproving beneath layers of varnish.

“Wait here,” Marek muttered, leaving them in a vaulted corridor. 

Beeswax candles flickered in sconces, their smoke blurring the edges of a tapestry where falcons tore into stags. 

Henry stared at his reflection in a suit of armor’s breastplate, distorted and rust-pitted. 

The boy leaned against a windowsill, plucking petals from a narcissus bloom.

��Outside, the Pirkstein gardens sprawled: cherry trees shook pink snow onto boxwood hedges, and a gardener in patched overalls stooped to plant tulip bulbs, his knees sinking into mud.

A maid scurried past, her wooden clogs clacking. She glanced at the boy, blanched, and curtsied. 

“My lord.”

Lord. Henry’s throat tightened.

The study doors opened. 

Marek jerked his chin. 

“In.”

The room smelled of damp wool and narcissus, the air thick with the hum of a grandfather clock. 

Lord Hanush stood at a leaded window, his back to them, fingertips resting on the sill. 

Rain blurred the world beyond: the skeletal outline of Viktor’s bridge, the Sázava’s swollen currents, and the distant spire of Rataje’s church.

“Sit,” Hanush said without turning. His voice was gravel under a bootheel.

Henry remained standing.

The linen-clad boy slouched into a brocade armchair, its embroidery fraying at the falcons’ wings.

Hanush limped to his desk, ash cane thudding dully. His beard was silver-streaked, but his shoulders were broad beneath a wool waistcoat, the fabric strained at the seams.

 A faded photograph sat framed beside him: a younger Hanush, shirtsleeves rolled, laughing alongside laborers in a quarry.

“Do you know,” he began, lifting a brass astrolabe crusted with verdigris, “why Viktor designed the bridge with iron braces?”

 He rotated the instrument, its gears frozen. 

“Not for beauty. Because iron endures.”

The boy flicked a narcissus petal onto the rug. 

“A riveting history lesson, Uncle. Shall we tour the archives next?”

Hanush’s knuckles whitened on the cane. 

“The deputy minister arrives in six weeks. If he deems the bridge unsafe, Prague will seize our timber rights under the Forestry Act. The schools, the clinic—gone. Your mother’s pianos will gather dust in Munich pawn shops.”

Henry shifted. 

The Admiral’s face flashed in his mind—a steely gaze, a nod of approval as Martin presented a flawless plowshare. “Honest work,” he’d said, clasping Martin’s shoulder. 

“This town thrives because of hands like yours.”

Hanush turned to Henry.

 “The Admiral’s factories rely on my timber. He’s a fair man—he’d never fault Martin for age or a tremor. But if that bridge collapses…”

 He paused, his tone softening. 

“Even fairness has limits. Kladno’s foundries are eager to undercut Silver Skalitz.”

The boy snorted.

“So, we’re to play stonemasons? How quaint.”

“You’ll learn what your title cannot buy,” Hanush snapped. 

He tossed a rusted key onto the desk, its bow shaped like a falcon mid-stoop. 

"Viktor’s tools are in the gatehouse. The braces need reforging. The mortar’s crumbled.”

Henry stepped forward. “Why us?”

Hanush’s gaze cut to him. “Because the deputy minister must see Pirksteins tending the land. Not hired hands.”

“And if I refuse?”

The boy’s voice dripped venom.

Hanush limped closer, his shadow swallowing him. 

“Your allowance comes from the Hanušov sawmill. Should Prague seize it, you’ll beg to shovel mortar.”

The boy’s smirk faltered.

Henry picked up the key. It was cold, heavier than it looked.

“How long?”

“Until it’s done.” Hanush gripped the photograph frame. 

“Your father would have dragged me out there himself, Hans.”

Hans. Henry glanced at the boy—lordling, nuisance, Hans—who stared at his hands, jaw taut.

In the hall, Marek handed them oilskin cloaks.

Hans shoved past, muttering curses. 

Henry lingered, watching the gardener kneel in the mud, tulip bulbs cradled like bird’s eggs.

“Dawn tomorrow,” Marek said.

“And watch the river—she’s hungry this spring.”