#story; august 2010 meeting

[zahri-melitor]

Ric Grayson, or Tim 'Nightwing' Drake: a story of how Tom King's Nightwing pitch would have functioned.

You can often see the remains of discarded or overruled pitches in comics, if you look at structural decisions and compare them to pitches that you know were made.

One obvious one people might be familiar with is that Helena Bertinelli, back in 2003, was being set up to be removed from the Bat books and transferred over to what eventually became Greg Rucka's Checkmate 2006. There's a whole establishing storyline done in Gotham Knights by Scott Beatty. However, Gail Simone's pitch for Birds of Prey, which was published a mere two months after the Beatty story wrapped up, took Helena and used her to expand the Birds of Prey roster. It's a move that likely redirected Helena's character arc permanently (though the ghosts can still be seen in the choice to use Helena B as Matron in Grayson).

Equally: I hypothesise the reason we got Ric Grayson is because we got Young Justice 2019.

If you look at the storytelling, in terms of cover dates:

Dick was shot in Batman #55, in November 2018

Tynion's 'Tec run finished July 2018

Young Justice 2019 started March 2019

City of Bane started September 2019

King's pitch for Tim to take over the Nightwing mantle would probably have been a 12 issue run, to my eye; with the schedule that Nightwing had at the time, it would have been 6 issues (twice monthly) and then 6 issues (once monthly), ending the run and placing Dick back as a restored Nightwing...in issue #61, August 2019.

City of Bane kicked off the next month, being King's big 'all family-in' storytelling climax arc. It would have been the perfect place to put Nightwing, once again himself, reuniting with people. (I cannot tell how this placement would have gone should King have got his full 100 issue run; but I don't think City of Bane was significantly shifted forwards?)

Now I can't tell if the twice monthly issues dropped to monthly because Ric Grayson went down like a lead balloon with the fandom, but that would have been a very fast turn around in solicits for DC to withdraw support on a new direction (about a month). If it was expected to remain twice monthly, then I still think it would have been a 12 issue story, but might have stretched to 18 to meet plot needs over in Batman (King doesn't seem to have an issue about padding stories to get timing to line up in ways he wants them to)

King's pitch was also made at the time when Tim was still Red Robin, but clearly there was internal interest in transitioning him away from the name and into some other identity as part of the shift away from n52. Putting Tim into the Nightwing suit for 6 months to a year would have been a nice intervening step to use as the prompt to give Tim a new identity.

It's a pitch from King that just...fits in really really well. I can see how he'd have had it interact with things. Especially as King really hadn't had an opportunity to use Tim in his run yet due to the Mr Oz storyline, and he'd been pulling so many other faces through his story.

(I will also note that the 'Drake' identity and costume for Tim appears in January 2010 in Young Justice; Bendis' initial concept was clearly taking Tim back to Robin before he also tried a 'new costume' growth arc).

But instead Bendis wanted to use Young Justice to anchor the whole Wonder Comics initiative, and he wanted Tim as Robin for it because the concept was to pull in all the nostalgia for everyone for Young Justice 1998, thus having everyone in their original identities. And that whole decision probably had more lead time than your average comic, so it took priority over suggestions of moving Tim to Nightwing (because they already had plans brewing).

(And then Young Justice got fucked over with SO MUCH editorial meddling, to the point that I cannot wait until enough people have left DC that we actually get stories about exactly how bad it was, rather than just inferring it from what can be seen in the text itself)

Come back next time for when I instead explain what I think happened with the accepted pitch for Ric Grayson (and how I cannot BELIEVE this was actually an accepted pitch, given the way it was treated as a hot potato; it feels more like an editorial dictate of a concept that was passed off until Dan Jurgens came up with an idea of how to make it into an actual plot)

[erinwantstowrite]

i feel like if you released a 24 hour + video of you talking about your plans for your original book i would sit and watch all of that with no breaks. so: would you be willing to share at least the bare bones of the plot you have now? or even some tropes that would be in it? or maybe random questions like how many main characters? how many povs? if it's sci-fi or fantasy? just stuff like that!

ahhhh!! i'd love to talk about them because they're constantly rotating in my brain!! i hope this doesn't get too long but we all know me, i can never stop yapping 😭

(okay this is present erin editing before posting and yeah this got long guess who called it. anyways there's art and stuff under the cut as well)

(Marked this as mature with violence only because there is an image below where I drew injuries/cuts on a character)

This book has been a thousand different books in all kinds of settings, plots, lessons, etc, and that's because I've had these characters since I was in middle school. At first I was so obsessed with them that I'd write and draw them all the time, to the point that my teachers were concerned I wasn't paying attention. I was seriously into magic and fantasy at the time because Harry Potter books were still the epitome of writing to my middle school brain. Ruby was a wizard with a bird theme that lived in the countryside and one day found out that her town was "alive" in a sense... But after I lost that sketchbook with all of the details (devastated to this day), and started venturing into other books series and shows, etc, I sort of forgot about the og story or what it was like. What remained was a love for the characters I had made over anything else about them, so I'd end up writing stories with a different theme each time, but the ocs being the same, just with their backgrounds shifted. (Around the time I was obsessed with VLD, Ruby was in a sci-fi plot set on a planet in another solar system.)

One of the most recent iterations was Ruby and the other characters essentially struggling to understand death, life, and everything in between. The story is called "Behind the Blue Glass" and I still really like that title lol. All of them had died on the same day, at the same time, just in various different ways, and then all of them came back to life in the same manner. They all developed different powers from the experience: Liam could float/manipulate gravity), August's body was essentially a phantom that could go through objects and disappear, Vin could possess people, Jean had an empathy link with the dead and could talk to and see them clearly, and Maya could figure out someone's cause of death/also tell when people were about to die. As for Ruby, she's the only one who can move freely between the land of the living and the land of the dead. It's different from Jean seeing the dead, as she's still in the land of the living.

The plot of that story was Ruby having dreams/visions of these other people she had never met before and knowing she needed to find them and set "something" right, but she didn't know what. She sets out to find them anyways, and they each join her on her quest to find everyone simply because they never got an answer to how they came back from the dead and find it weird that they all died on the same day and time. They solve deaths of ghosts they come across, meet people who are still grieving lost ones, have to lay some of the ghosts down to rest- all while figuring out why these shady people have started following them and trying to stop them from figuring out what happened to them. I even made some first draft titles (definitely, 10000% inspired by PJO because I was reading it at the time):

to top it all off, it's set in the 2010's I believe? Around that time. Just because I think more books should write about the time era

I have some (recentish) art of the characters:

first image: (Liam on the right, August on the left)

this is what Ruby looked like when I was first designing them for the story:

They're meant to look dead-ish but this art was SO long ago when I wasn't confident in my art so Ruby just looks like a wet rat or smth idk what is going on here

And here's Vin!! I don't hate this drawing of him that much, surprisingly, but this was also drawn a while ago

and this was some art i was planning at the time:

i think that's all of the art that i have for this story (at least on this computer. My old laptop might have more but it's been laid to rest)

to be honest, i'm still thinking about writing this story, but Ruby's name would be changed because at this point, this iteration of her character is VERY different from present day. She's two different characters at this point 💀 that's how you know I've had her for SO long because she looks so different from her original drawings.

The latest version of Ruby ended up in a story with completely different characters in the cast and a completely different setting (even if some of the characters were inspired by their og versions). It's called "The Clocktower's Chime"

It's very much inspired by those reincarnation manhwas. I like those stories but they all have the same plot over and over, and while I was more interested in the versions where the character is sent back in time to live their life again but with all the knowledge they had in the future, I always struggled with the aspect that the characters' mental age is far older than they are. It makes the dynamics a little weird, but they can be excused unless it's a romantic dynamic, I would think? I dunno, it was hard to get into the plots mostly because of that.

So I used Ruby as a placeholder OC and came up with a story where upon their death in the future, someone casts a spell or a god sends them back, and instead of having a mental older age, they get a journal with all of the details of their future. Ruby woke up one day and found a journal written by herself that detailed everything about her future up to the point of her death. It was more like a book, however, rather than a journal. It just looked like a journal because it was in her handwriting.

So Ruby gets this book, doesn't believe it at all, until she notices that there are way too many "coincidences" lining up with the events of the book. She starts believing it could be true, and then decides it must be when she finds out that a prominent family in the country she lives in is going to visit her hometown. In the book, they were there because they learned that Ruby was their daughter that had been kidnapped as a baby and believed dead. However, in the book, Ruby had spent her entire life living as a weapon instead of a daughter, and she died by their hands when she refused to kill a woman that is prophesized to end a war that would devastate both countries.

Ruby is, like, 12 at that point. So her kid brain is like "obviously I run away and go to school in a different country and tell everyone I have a different name and there's no way this could go wrong." Except before she can even do that, she runs into Julias Parlia, a Duke's son from the country that is supposed to be her enemy in the future. Ruby is like "shit this is THE worst adult to run into and I haven't even gotten to the running away part of my plan" and Julias ends up being the reason she doesn't even get to the train station. He's fucking hilarious by the way. He's got a well adjusted family with two loving parents and a bunch of little siblings and he basically picks Ruby up by the scruff of her neck and is like "I want this one she's insane."

This is Julias (kneeling on the ground to talk to Ruby) and Emelie (Julias' knight and childhood friend, she's so silly)

and this is the part where I share art from many months ago... when I posted my most recent art and said Ruby keeps getting buffer every time I draw her, I meant it 💀

Ruby and her love interest, Cecelia

This is Vekenti, a character that was also supposed to be a "villain" in the original timeline. Ruby goes looking for him to prevent his death as well, and Julias obviously is like "Omg another weird kid, how delightful!" Everyone thinks Vikenti and Ruby are related, but they are not. They're just raised as siblings in both timelines and have a lot of the same mannerisms

Julias' love interest (unnamed? I can't find her name anywhere) and him

REALLLY old drawings of what they looked like in the OG timeline (I desperately need to redesign these because I could do better now)

Julias and Ruby again

and that's all the art I have for this one (besides the other post of Ruby I posted today, this is the story that that version of Ruby belongs in. She's looks very different now!).

All of this has been in the back of my mind for a while, and I've been trying to figure out which story I would want to write first. Middle school Erin would love for me to finally write Behind the Blue Glass, but sometimes I find myself wanting to write a fantasy story like Clocktower's Chime a lot more

[springtimesdaughter]

Nico Di Angelo's and consequently Hazel Levesque's Age

It's more complicated than you think.

I'm using the 'actual' timeline for the sake or using the years to track age better. Rick has said his birthday is either January 28th or May 16th. The one that makes the most sense is January for this tineline and the more fandom popular, so it is the one I will stick to.

We also have to address the fact that Nico spent time in the Lotus Casino and that there is no guarantee that he and Bianca left at the same time of the year they went in which means that theoretically his birthday would not be acurate. But let's assume that he did for this story.

Now let's address his age.

Grover says that Bianca and Nico are 12 and 10, and this is accepted as canon information. Let's assume this is correct and not a best guess.

That would mean

Titan's Curse is December of 2007, so Nico would be 10 until a month after this book finishes.

Battle of the Labyrinth takes place in the summer of 2008, which makes Nico 11.

Sword of Hades takes place in December of 2008, which means Nico is still 11.

The Last Olympian is in the summer of 2009, which means Nico is 12.

The Lost Hero is in December of 2009, which means that Nico is still 12, and because he brought Hazel out in September (page 99 of SoN ebook) and is actually younger than Hazel who is 13. [Let's ignore this I'll address this later]

The rest of the Hero's of Olympus series Nico is 13 because it takes place in the late spring to late summer of 2010.

The Trails of Apollo is said to start in mid-January, which means at the very latest the book would end with Nico being 14 at the beginning of 2011.

The rest of the Trails of Apollo series Nico would be 14.

The Sun and a Star takes place a couple weeks after ToA as Nico mentions the prophecy being a couple of weeks before. It's the end of the summer session, so it is still 2011 and Nico is 14.

Please don't get me started on Un Natale Mezzosangue [Percy, not liking shadow travel when in Last Olympian he does.] The mentions of Covid either mean this is December of 2020 or some other earlier December. Nico at the youngest is still 14.

The problem? Rick said Nico was 14 during HoO, which would make him 15. Do either leave the Lotus Hotel, causing Nico to age a bit faster for a while, Grover was wrong about Nico's age. This would also make Nico back to being older than Hazel.

-

Hazel turned thirteen on December 13th, 1941. It was also the last day that she lived in New Orleans.

She died in mid summer in 1942, so she spent about six months in Alaska.

She was brought to camp Jupiter in September of 2009 and is 13 1/2.

She meets Percy in mid-June 2010, which is 9 months afterward, which puts Hazel at 14 1/3.

Frank, whose birthday is June 5th, would have just turned 16.

[The age gap doesn't seem as bad anymore. with this knowledge. It's better than 16 and 13, though.]

The problem is that all sources regarding Hazel as being 13 during SoN.

-

So we have several problems here, and I am going to go the path of least resistance and change both the ages to reflect this. You don't have to like it, bit it works.

We assume Hazel is 14 1/3 in Son of Neptune and that Nico is 15 (making him even older than Rick stated he was so let's retrofit this timeline so that they can stay older sibling younger sibling.

December 2007: Nico is 12

Summer 2008: Nico is 13

December 2008: Nico is 13

August 2009: Nico is 14

September 2009: Nico is 14 ; Hazel is 13 1/2

December 2009 Nico is 14 ; Hazel is 13

March 2010 Nico is 15 ; Hazel turns 14

June 2010 Nico is 15; Hazel is 14

At the end of January 2011, Nico is 16 ; Hazel is 14

At the end of the summer of 2011, Nico is 16 ; Hazel is 15

The problem now? Bianca is said to be 12. This is an easy fix. Grover got the ages wrong. Bianca is 13. Fixed. She's still the older sibling.

Again, though, this relies on the idea the idea that when Bianca and Nico get removed from the Lotus Eaters that it is close in time to when they went in and that it is a small disparity.

Also, let's not get started on when the di Angelo's were put into the casino and the contradictory information Rick has written on that, and when they were born.

[iamalasagnagirl]

PART 2 OF WLW BOOKS PLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, let's see, I'll start with two of my new fav books ever, both written by Debra Flores:

1. One Day You'll Leave Me

Karen is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life in the year 2010. Until the day she hears an unfamiliar song that moves her in a way she cannot understand or explain.

Judy Paige was also an ordinary young woman, who lived an ordinary life, up until the day she sang one of her songs at a show in the year 1964.

When Karen's curiosity about the song turns into an obsession about the woman who sang it, she's drawn to the town in which Judy Paige was born and raised.

It's there that Karen is approached by a man who asks Karen a simple question. "Would you like to meet her?" The question is simple, but the answer is not.

2. The Library by the River

It was an ordinary day in March of 1985, the day Beth walked in to a library and met Sarah, the woman that would change her life forever.

At a time when the AIDS epidemic was well underway, when society still labeled homosexuality as an illness, something to be hidden away, whispered about, but not talked about aloud, there were certainly obstacles in their way.

Even so, obstacles or not, Beth is twenty and Sarah is twenty-eight, they're young, and in love, they can handle whatever comes their way. Or so they think. The one thing they may not be able to overcome is Kim. Beth's jealous best friend. She doesn't see Sarah the way Beth does, far from it, she sees her as nothing more than a problem that needs to be taken care of. An impediment to the relationship she knows she and Beth are meant to have. Volatile and hot-headed, yes, but is Kim actually capable of tearing them apart? And at what cost?

Kiss of Seduction by Rawnie Sabor

Evie is trapped. Held captive by the vampiric Court of Night, she has experienced nothing but pain and terror for over a year.

Natalya is the second-in-command of the Chicago-based Court of Chains. She is among a succubus. A being of pure Sin, whose touch is agony and whose kiss is a death sentence.

This book is an emotionally charged, sapphic love story of healing through trauma, reclaiming yourself after tragedy, and trusting another to catch you when you fall.

Meet me in Berlin by Samantha L. Valentine

"If we lose each other, then we’ll come back to this spot, on this day, at this time, every year until we find each other."

But how do you find someone from the other side of the world when you only know their first name, and the only plan you made to reunite was to meet in a Berlin park in late August at 6 pm, eleven years ago?

The Ride of Her Life by Jennifer Dugan

Molly dreams of starting her own wedding planning company when she inherits a run-down, struggling horse barn, courtesy of her late aunt.

But maybe — if she can sell the land, the profits could be the small-business seed money miracle she’s been waiting for.

The real snag in her plan is Shani. Judgmental, grouchy Shani, who thinks she’s so morally superior because she hasn’t given up on the crumbling barn while Molly wants to “destroy” everything her aunt built; who’s really good with the horses, and always comes whenever Molly calls her in a panic; and is actually kind of thoughtful, and obnoxiously hot, and has Shani become an entirely different kind of problem? One Molly can’t possibly solve, no matter how much her heart wants to?

For Love or Scandal by J.J. Arias

Laney Menendez, a once-celebrated Hollywood director, has a chance at a comeback. The catch? She must first marry her brother’s soap-star boyfriend to stop him from being outed by a tabloid.

For Laney, the lavish fake wedding is meant to be all business, until she meets the wedding planner, Jennifer Acosta.

Their attraction is instant and undeniable. As Laney and Jennifer work closely planning the wedding, stolen moments stoke the flames of a passion too powerful to resist.

Immerse yourself in this steamy tale where fantasy and reality entwine. Love makes its own rules, and for Laney and Jennifer, the fake wedding of the year may just be the start of something real.

Before You Were Mine by Heidi Lowe

After the intercity bus she's traveling on crashes into a bridge, Abigail wakes up in a hospital in Utah with no memory of who she is.

Unsure of when, or even if, her memory will return, she settles into her new life in Oakwood, where she meets Tiffany, a nurse she befriends while hospitalized. Abby knows it would be unwise to get involved with someone while her past is still a blur, so she tries to ignore her growing feelings for the beautiful woman. But as the two grow closer, and things get serious between them, Abby is finally ready to put her unknown past to bed... Which might be a problem for James, her husband of two years.

Graceless by Ruby Landers (book Two of the Grace Notes Trilogy)

Savannah Grace is on top of the world when her younger sister Cassidy shows up on her doorstep with one plan and one plan only: for her sister to turn her into a star.

Savannah’s nanny Lane has grown all the way up, from a cute punk kid to a classic handsome heartbreaker, a long trail of short flings in their wake. They don’t have a second to waste on Cassidy, after all she’s rude, ignorant, hot-tempered and kind of a brat. It’s just… does their boss’s little sister have to be so hot? Of course things could always get worse.

Of course, Sarah Waters' books:

1. Fingersmith

Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own.

Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home.

One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.

With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.

2. The paying guests

It is 1922 and in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa—a large, silent house now bereft of brothers, husband, and even servants—life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the “clerk class,” the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life—or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be

3. Affinity

An upper-class woman recovering from a suicide attempt, Margaret Prior has begun visiting the women’s ward of Millbank prison as part of her rehabilitative charity work. Amongst Millbank’s murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by an apparently innocent inmate, the enigmatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Selina was imprisoned after a séance she was conducting went horribly awry, leaving an elderly matron dead and a young woman deeply disturbed.

Margaret is soon drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions, until she is at last driven to concoct a desperate plot to secure Selina’s freedom, and her own.

4. Tipping the velvet

Nan King is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act.

At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins.

Turbulence by E. J. Noyes

Stockbroker Isabelle Rhodes has a lot of money, a lot of trust issues, and a whole lot of reasons to believe her ex-girlfriend was right when she said that Isabelle sucked at relationships. With that accusation stuck in her head, Isabelle throws caution to the wind and dives into her first one-night stand. Checking that off her bucket list should be something to celebrate—except it turns out that the woman she just spent an earth-shattering night with is actually her newly hired company pilot, Audrey Graham.

Concerned about the stigma of workplace dalliances, Isabelle vows it can’t go further than the one night. Good plan—if not for an insistent libido and an even more persistent Audrey who conspires to break Isabelle’s resolve. Soon their no strings arrangement starts to feel a lot like dating, and Isabelle finds herself wanting more than just casual nights together

Fear Of Falling by Georgia Beers

Since she was fourteen, singer Sophie James has been an international superstar. With her career (and life) directed by her manager, Ray, she hasn’t had to worry about a thing for more than a decade. But when Ray has a heart attack, Sophie is left without the only real father figure she’s ever known and questioning everything she believes about what’s important to her.

Enter Dana Landon, the new manager sent by Sophie’s record company. Dana is gorgeous, sophisticated, and ready to do her job keeping Sophie’s career on track and making the record company money. Dana captures Sophie’s attention in ways Sophie never expected--and isn't ready for, but after so many years of being told what to do, Sophie’s ready to shake things up with some ideas of her own.

[strscrossed]

mean dom hobo eren: a timeline

(feel free to point out any inconsistencies because it’s a lot and I’m adding/retconning stuff too)

eren:

march 30, 1990 - his birth

2005-2006 - he meets lara, his first wife

2006 - 2017 - eren and lara have an on again, off again relationship. he’s constantly breaking up with her and finding other girls. she’s basically always second choice

2017 - lara secretly baby traps him and he steps up and marries her. don’t remember if he cheats on her or not

~2018 - lara miscarries and eren tries to be there but then he overhears her talking to willy and he finds out that she intentionally baby trapped him, he leaves her. she refuses to divorce him. the tyburs are too powerful

2022 - eren meets mikasa in mid 2022

mikasa:

february 10, 2000 - her birth

october 25, 2010 - koji, her brother, is born

~2011 - 2012 - her parents die, either an accident or a double homicide. she and koji go to live with kenny/levi

~2019 - she moves out and takes full custody of her brother. she’s engaged to porco at this point and she moves in with him. all is well. but then she comes home early one day to find porco in bed with one of her bridesmaids so she immediately ends the engagement and the relationship

late 2019 - she starts working in a bookshop

late 2022 - she meets eren and he immediately hires her on the spot

eremika’s relationship:

mid - late 2022: the relationship is professional, though there’s attraction between the two of them

very late 2022: they have sex for the first time and the relationship keeps going even though they try to stop it multiple times

late 2022: april 2023: eren gets super involved in mikasa’s life and even enrolls her brother in the best school in the country and pays for the tuition.

may 2023: lara comes back into eren’s life again, asking to reconcile and saying that she will absolutely not sign the divorce papers

late 2023: she starts sniffing out that eren might be in a relationship with his secretary and she gets willy to do something about it

january 2024: willy threatens mikasa after a gala and forces her to move away. eren is shattered and desperately starts searching for her

july 2024: koji makes contact with eren and he finds them. and he brings them back.

august 2024 - june 2025: eren and mikasa are are back together but secretly while he gets his revenge on the tyburs via gaslighting and shorting their stock. this becomes the climax of the story.

september 2025 - eren and lara’s divorce is finalized

new year’s eve 2025 - eren proposes and that’s when mikasa figures out that they’ve been in a relationship for the last three years

february - march 2026: mikasa learns she’s pregnant

june 12, 2026: em are married in a private ceremony

october 1, 2026: their son, kai, is born

december 21, 2028: twins kane and hana are born

may 3, 2030: twins victoria and amelia are born

april 25, 2032: their daughter, emiko, is born

august 13, 2038: they have twin girls (no names yet)

[xxkissesforchanniexx]

Hi! sorry if this is wordy but could you make a story of the reader being an fbi agent undercover as skz personal bodyguard? Skz are having a concert soon and this evil organization wants to harm them. It is the readers mission to keep the members safe. But with the distraction of a specific loud and short muscular guy of the group, she gains feelings and struggles to do her task.

As long as this is the main point of the story, I don't mind with what you add. Be as creative as you like with action, romance, or anything.

ihfvnirhfnjnfoernfrihbgt jhebfrherkjfnkrjtgng hehehe

Thank you!

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞

Pairing: Changbin x FBI Agent!fem!reader Genre: action? >.> Angst (im so bad at writing that) Fluff >.> Word Count: 6.5k Warnings: Cringe T_T, not proofread (they never are.), parent death, REVENGE, reader is shorter than changbin >.>, guns, bombs, someone gets shot (not reader or stray kids.), brief horny reader, i think thats it? tell me i missed anything

A/N: AHHH THIS TOOK SO LONG AND I FEEL LIKE ITS SO BAD AND CRINGE IM SO SORRY UH if you do like it (i really hope you do) please consider reblogging and following ALSO TAGLIST APPLICATIONS >.>

December 19th 2005 "Several bombs were set off at the University of Music last night, there is a total of 59 casualties and counting as authorities work through the rubble. 80 more are critically injured and 127 are in stable condition or have minor injuries."

Janurary 17th 2008 "This is your new home."

"Guys this is Y/N.. She's going to be your sister from now on."

August 3rd 2010 "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be a police woman so I can find the person who hurt people a long time ago..

You stared at the case, "So they fled to Seoul?"

"Not just that." Your boss said, "We found this." he set a phone on your desk and pressed the play button on an audio recording.

"How should we go about it?"

"The security is tight, if we put the bombs on the little drones and get the crowd scared, we have an opening to get the people on the stage."

You sucked in a breath. "A bomb threat for-"

"A concert." Your boss sighed deeply, "I trust you to handle it. Without being reckless."

"Sir-"

"It would be best if you did it, considering your experience with these types of events." He motioned to the posters and merchandise littering your office walls and shelves.

You pursed your lips. "Where and when?"

"We're flying you out to the US embassy in Seoul tomorrow , you'll meet someone there." He said with a big smile, "Pack your bags, Special Agent L/N, you're going to Korea."

You had arrived at the US embassy in Seoul at 4:30 am, you learned from the person you met up with you were going to be protecting a k-pop boy group under JYP Entertainment.

"So, this terrorist group wants to attack a boy band?" You looked at the embassy worker.

She nodded, "But it's not about them, for the most part... they want to prove something apparently, did they not attack several concerts in the US?"

"They did." You nodded.

"Then it's not too crazy to assume they want to get some point across world wide." The woman shook her head, "It's alright though, you're going to meet them later in the morning."

"Meet who?" You tilted your head.

The woman blinked slowly at you. "Stray Kids.."

"Who?" You had to hold back your laughter.

"The boy band under JYPE."

"Ah." You cleared your throat. "Alright."

"It must have been a long flight." She smiled, "You can go to your hotel now."

When you got to your hotel room you sat on the bed, laptop open, looking for "Stray Kids". You made a face as you saw their pictures, a particular image caught your attention and you burst out laughing at the sight. He was a short, muscular man, with unruly dark hair under a hat with floppy bunny ears, You copied the image into google image search and said the name softly. "Seo Changbin."

Felix looked like he was going to cry, Hyunjin bit his bottom lip looking at the ground.

"They want to bomb our concert..." I.N asked quietly.

"Hurt our STAY..." Lee Know twiddled his fingers.

"Safest option is to cancel." Chan sighed.

"We can't cancel a concert a month before it's supposed to happen," their manager said, "The company hasn't got the time or money to return everything. Besides, boss said he has it handled."

Changbin looked up, "JYP handled it?"

"No," the manager made a face.

"Then why would you say that?" Seungmin pursed his lips.

"He found someone who can handle it." the manger explained. "That's why we're here for breakfast, she arrived in Seoul earlier."

"Who?" Han asked.

"She should be on the way here." the manager said as a waitress arrived with coffee.

"She?" The boys all asked at the same time.

It was at that time you walked in, you were dressed fairly professionally, a white button up shirt tucked into black pleated slacks and pretty black heels.

"I'm Y/N L/N," You smiled at the men.

"Hi, thanks for coming. Coffee?" The manager offered.

You shook your head.

"Please sit," he motioned to the last seat.

You sat beside a man you remembered as Hyunjin, his long hair pulled back with his bangs on either side of his face. He eyed you incredulously for a moment before you shifted slightly, making the taser you'd carefully tucked into your pants visible. He bristled.

"This is the person who's going to handle it?" Felix asked the manager. "We take STAY very seriously, if something happens-"

"I assure you nothing will go wrong, though, I doubt the people i'm looking for are really aiming for.. STAY..." You put your phone on the table and let the audio recording your boss gave you play.

The leader of the group, Chan, looked scared. Felix put his head in his hands and Minho hugged him.

"So..." Seungmin said quietly. "What happens now?"

"She's going to live with you until she figures out the threat. Please boys, I hope your dorm is clean." The manager said, sipping his coffee.

Chan turned slowly to Han.

Han huffed a small laugh. "Of course.."

"TADA!" Changbin shouted as he opened the door to the dorm.

You walked in looking around, the place was fairly secure. Changbin smiled brightly, shouting "Your room!"

He opened the door to a room that looked like it was cleaned rather hastily. You nodded, going into the room the boys had cleared out for you, you chuckled as you recalled how you'd seen Changbin and Han playing rock paper scissors for who would give away their room, Han lost.

You had sat in your room most of the rest of the day, then you got hungry, only then did you notice how dark it was outside. You considered ordering food but then dismissed the idea, what if these people found out where the boys lived. That was a big no.

You sighed, dragging yourself out of bed and into the kitchen, you opened the fridge making a face and grabbing eggs. You got noodles from the cabinet and got to work making something easy.

It was late, almost midnight, so you hadn't expected any one to be awake. So it scared you when the loud, boisterous Changbin spoke quietly next to you.

"Is there enough to share?" He whispered.

You almost jumped out of your skin. "What the fuck?!" You whisper-shouted, clutching your heart.

"Sorry, I smelled food.." he laughed lightly, watching as you worked. "You know how to cook?"

You hummed. "I know how to not get food poisoning."

He laughed. "Let me help?"

You opened your mouth to protest, but the man was already moving around the kitchen grabbing things. You couldn't stop staring at the way his muscles strained against his shirt.

Get your head in the game. You shook off the thoughts that were invading your head as you stared at his arms.. My head could be in a headlock there... WHAT ARE YOU THINKING????!!!

You left the noodles aside and started frying the eggs, semi-watching as Changbin made instant tteokbokki.

When you both finished, he sat with you and ate.

"Y'know I expected cops to be more serious." he said, before putting some noodles in his mouth and jumping at the taste.

You made a face. "I'm serious."

He looked at you. "Let's be real here."

"I'm so serious." You pouted before popping a rice cake into your mouth.

"Uh huh." He teased.

You rolled your eyes. "I was under the impression that a dark rapper should be moody and brooding."

He made a face. "They call me baby Changbin as well."

You smiled to yourself as you remembered the picture. "Of course," a smirk came to your face. "I should invest in Dwaekki."

Changbin looked up from his tteokbokki. "Have you even listened to our music?"

"I can start." You said proudly.

Changbin stared at you for a moment. "Whatever you say, Princess."

It wasn't even two weeks after you had met the boys something happened. You were on the couch in dorm 1, writing an email on your laptop.

Chan poked your head, "We're going to practice choreo."

You shoved your computer into your backpack and followed the boys out. You got to the dance studio and looked around curiously at the big room, a mirror covered the full length of the wall opposite the door.

It was the mirror that let you see it.

You whipped around just as the person at the door fled.

Changbin stared at you in confusion as you blitzed past, running after the person. It didn't take you too long to catch up, tackling the man to the floor of the hall just before the lobby and grabbing his badge.

You remembered what the manager had told you, all the badges were recently issued in an off white color...

You held the man down, pulling his arm in an awkward position. "Try me and I'll break it. Who the fuck are you?"

The man stuttered before shouting.

Your brows furrowed. "That's not going to wo-" You stared in confusion as a firework looking object rolled towards you.

Then it popped.

A loud bang resounded through the lobby and you instinctively covered your ears, stunned. Your ears were ringing.

The man pushed you off and ran for it. You were about to get up and run after him but that Changbin...

He grabbed your shoulders and shouted at you a few times, then Chan pushed him looking at you with wide eyes for a moment.

Changbin sat with Chan, listening to what the doctor said about your ears, you'd be fine, it was just a very loud sound, the doctor recommended quiet for a few days to stop the background ringing.

Licing with Changbin, Chan, and Han let you know that they really couldn't be quiet, in the dorm, only Hyunjin was ever not shouting. But the moment you walked in, that changed. Changbin and Han were quiet, the others from dorm 2 were all staring at you.

"What?" You asked, raising a brow.

"Are you okay?" I.N asked.

"Oh, of course." You smiled. "I just almost lost my ability to hear."

Lee Know sighed and looked at you. "We're sorry to put you through this."

"Put me through what." You raised a brow before sitting down. "You guys didn't put me through anything. This is what I do."

The boys all stared at you for a moment.

"Is it okay if I hug you?" Han broke the silence.

You smiled slightly. "Hey hey hey. We just met. Back up chipmunk."

"Squirrel." Seungmin corrected, laughing.

"It's a quokka!" Han groaned.

You spent almost two weeks researching the group that had threatened the concert. Most of the time the dorm was quiet, Changbin was usually the only one awake when you were up. He would usually eat late night snacks with you or hover over your shoulder as you worked. In most cases it would make you uncomfortable, but with Changbin it was different.

You watched as the group prepared for the concert, weeks dwindling into days. It was two days before the concert, you were sitting on the couch, it was almost 3 in the morning but you were making calls and asking about security and establishing that no bags would be allowed into the concert.

Changbin watched you for a moment, leaning against the wall.

"No bags of any kind." You sounded so professional.

He smiled and walked over to the couch standing over you as you continued talking to the person on the phone.

"Clear diaper bags?" You sucked in a breath. "Why would a baby be at a- Never mind, leave it on hold for now."

Changbin tapped your head. He looked down at you, dark glasses framing his eyes, his hair looking unruly.

You leaned your head back and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow as if you were already aware of his presence. "No, backstage should be secure. I'll be there myself."

Changbin huffed a small laugh. "You're going to protect me princess?"

Despite your blank expression you felt the blush creeping to your face.

Changbin smiled at you muttering, "I want to take you out."

You stared at him as the person on the other end of the line said something to you. "Uh- Repeat that...?" You asked both the people you spoke to.

"Are we still doing the drones?"

"So will you go out with me after the concert?" Changbin leaned down, his face was so close.

"Yes." You answered.

"Alright ma'am." The person on the other end said. "Will that be all?"

"Yeah..." You hung up the phone and looked at Changbin.

He smiled and leaned down, closing the distance between you and pressing his lips against your forehead gently. "It's late, go to sleep."

He pulled away and walked back to his room, you sucked in a breath and exhaled slowly.

Focus...

You were almost as busy as the manager the day of the concert, running back and forth making sure metal detectors were working and security was extra tight.

"You're taking this very personally." A security guard said behind you.

You looked at you the man. "These are terrorists we're talking about. Of course I'm taking it personally."

One of the staff walked past you with coffees in his hand.

You stopped them. "Where to?"

"Hyunjin, Han and Chan asked for coffee." the man said, looking at you, you noted the mole beside his eyebrow.

"I'll take it." You moved to take the coffee.

"No ma'am. You're very busy-"

You tried to grab the coffee and he turned away quickly. You managed to knock it out of his hand. The cups scattered, empty.

He turned and elbowed the security guard hard as he lunged for him and the man started running. You barely caught the stumbling guard, settling him down before started chasing him, pulling up your walkie talkie you said into it, "Gate 4 check?"

"Good check," Came a flurry of voices through the walkie talkie.

"Lock down on gate 4, all security personnel on west wing on alert."

"Copy."

"Backstage security, do you copy?" You said barely dodging someone pushing a huge sound system.

"Loud and clear."

You cursed as people pulling a big screen moved between you and the man. "FUCK MOVE!" You snapped and they scurried out of your way. Much to your utter horror and dismay, the man was gone. The door to the outside of the backstage area wide open, leading into th lines of people waiting to enter the conert.

You kicked a trashcan, "All units do you copy?"

"Copy."

"Keep your eyes open, goldilocks."

"10-4." they all said and your eyes narrowed as you stared at the door.

You sat outside the dressing rooms twiddling your thumbs. Was it really safe... were you just stupid...? You bit your lip, feeling tears brimming in your eyes at the thought of letting these people bomb this concert full of innocent people.

You looked up as you the sound of footsteps. It was just Changbin, he looked much different, more like those pictures you'd seen online, with his tight, shiny, black leather pants and dress shirt that hugged his arms so perfectly, the black vest and fingerless gloves giving him a scary edge. You quickly wiped your eyes and sucked in a breath. "What?"

"What's wrong?" He kneeled in front of you, being more able to move in the pants that you'd thought originally.

"It's nothing." You lied.

His eyes narrowed at you. "You're going to make my perform badly, I can't perform if I feel bad. I'll mess up rapping, Seungmin might do better than me."

You giggled and looked down as he took your hands in his. "I'm scared." You whispered.

"Of?" he prodded quietly.

"There are really dangerous people here, and I fucked up and lost one." You muttered.

"It's okay." He squeezed your hands gently, moving to sit next to you. "If you can't protect all these people, Chan will protect them all himself."

You smiled gently.

"Hug?" Changbin opened his arms and you leaned into him. You relaxed as he hugged you.

"And I said 'There's no way! It's ok YOU EAT~' " Jisung and Jeongin came around the corner and paused.

Jeongin tried to grab Jisung and turn him around but the man smirked and cleared his throat.

You pulled away from Changbin and stood. "Good luck. Uh, get down if something happens."

You sat there off to the backside of the stage hearing the loud music and screams as boys got on stage. In all your time watching the boys practice there was something about actually seeing them on stage as Hyunjin had told you in the dorm.

"Being in the practice room is one thing. Actually being on stage is another thing, there's an energy we get in front of our STAY."

You were particularly amazed at the volume of the girls who shrieked when Felix started singing, his deep voice reverberating through the dome. You couldn't help but marvel at Changbin for a moment, the way his muscles strained against his clothes as he danced, his hips moving so seductively... FOCUS!...But it's fine isn't it... nothing has happened yet..

The stage lights reddened and you looked up as the drones filled the air, flashing lights everywhere. You exhaled slowly, realizing everything was fine with the drones. After finishing off S-Class Chan calmed down the crows and stared to say a few words.

A scream ripped through the soft buzz of the crowd. You looked in the direction of the scream, Chan raised a brow, opening his mouth to say something and then...

"HE HAS A GUN!" On the opposite side of the huge hall.

You jumped over the railing.

All your time studying these people.

Fear.

Ease.

You ran up the stairs to the stage.

Unrest.

And a big boom..

You grabbed the mic from Chan and shouted, "GET DOWN!"

And the first bomb exploded.

You had your ears covered, head down. There was someone there shielding you, you heard him shouting and knew.

"We have to go!" Changbin shouted.

Chan was staring at the crowd, which was frantic after the series of explosions, many of them were running for the exits. "We should've cancelled..."

You saw a red light flashing on a wall, and a man moving away quickly.

You got from under Changbin, who tried pulling you back but you were already sprinting off the stage. You ran into the crowd, pulling out your gun as you shoved past the scared fans.

The man was so close to the exit, you were going to lose him. Lose another, because you lost focus.

You heard a deep voice, it sounded like it was crying.

"STAY! LISTEN TO ME!" Felix shouted into the mic.

The crowd was still moving.

"THE BOMBS WILL KEEP GOING OFF IF YOU'RE RUNNING AROUND SO STOP!"

The crowd stopped and you looked at the stage, your eyes meeting Felix's as he dropped the mic.

You ran through the crowd toward the red light and grabbed it tossing it out of the open door far from the crowd. The police were already gathering and you turned to see the man moving through the crowd for the door.

You pushed past the people and tackled him gun to the back of his head. "Don't move. I'll shoot." You said.

You sat on your bed, staring at your hands. What type of shit was this...?

"Who gives you orders?" You and a police man had interrogated the man yu had caught for almost two hours but he refused to speak.

"My boss isn't afraid of my death." he huffed.

You grit your teeth, "Who is your damn boss?"

"I won't say anything."

and maybe you punched him a little too hard.

A knock on your door made you look up. "Come in."

Hyunjin entered and closed the door quietly, behind himself, walking over to you. "You did well." he said quietly.

You saw the tears filling his eyes. "Hyunjin..."

He got on knees beside your bed and took your hands in his muttering. "You're doing well... Thank you."

You touched his head and whispered, "It's what I do.. It's okay... I'd do it again without hesitation.."

He shook his head. "You fit in so perfectly, you fill the cracks that we haven't been able to fill," He looked up at you and smiled, "Thank you for being our sister... Thank you for saving our STAY.."

You hugged Hyunjin. "Don't cry, you idiot..."

He sniffled and nodded. "But really.. thank you."

You smiled, "Of course."

Following Hyunjin out you stared at the other members who also looked like they had been crying.

"You caught someone.." Seungmin said quietly. "Does that mean you're leaving us?"

You stared at the boys for a moment, your gaze lingering on Changbin.

"I caught someone." You said quietly. "But my job isn't finished until you're safe.."

Felix was the first to hug you. and then suddenly you were attacked by all of them in a big bearhug.

"You're one of us." Chan smiled, "Don't go back."

You looked at all the boys and for the first time since you got here, you let the tears fall.

Changbin ended up not taking you out due to the lockdown placed on the group by their boss, it didn't stop him from spoiling you, in the building, he came to your room with flowers and (fav candy). He would bring you food and bought you a few clothes he thought you'd look good in.

Everytime he'd surprise you while you were working, Jisung would give you a look. The kind of look that said, "I KNOW WHAT YOU TWO ARE", but was completely wrong, because even you didn't know what you and Changbin were.

You were sitting in at the kitchen table staring at your laptop, it wasn't too late, just around 10pm, but the noise that met your ears made you flinch. Han and Hyunjin came in shaking you wildly as Han shoved his phone in your face.

You grabbed it and made a face. "ARE YOU DONE?"

"LOOK!" They shouted back.

You looked at the screen and your eyes widened. "Is that me?"

There was a video, of the events from a few days ago.

"GET DOWN!"

there was a series of loud bangs and a fast forward, of you grabbing the bomb and throwing it out. Then another fast forward to you tackling the man.

You stared at the comments.

"such a strong woman"

"Our savior."

"why did binnie grab for her like that 😭"

"are we gonna ignore how felix calmed the crowd.?"

You pursed your lips, "I was doing my job."

"You saved them though." Han smiled. "You should come with us later when we can go out as a treat. Chan will pay."

Hyunjin cackled.

You rolled your eyes and shook your head, "Alright."

You sat in your room, when your phone rang, you answered.

"We've got a name and a face. We've sent you the necessary info. When you close the case contact us, we'll book you the next flight back to the US."

and the line cut.

You stared out blankly for a while.. so soon?

And when you opened the email you were sent your ear throbbed at the memory of nearly going deaf... That man... you'd tackled that man and he set off the firework that nearly took your hearing.

"Ah Changbin." Minho sighed. "Look at you. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Seriously." Chan smiled. "Just, tell her how you feel. She's Fiona and you're Shrek."

"You need to hit her with the immature swag." Jisung snickered.

"You-" Changbin raised his hand like he was going to punch the man.

Jisung ducked behind Chan.

"What am i supposed to say hm? 'I think you're strong and really pretty and I want to go out with you.' Seems a little eh?"

Chan cringed.

Han just stared at him.

"I like the Shrek and Fiona thing better." Minho shrugged.

"Changbin just wing it." Chan gave him a thumbs up.

You opened your door in the morning and almost stumbled over a box. "What in the world?"

You picked it up and examined it for a moment. You took it into your room and set it on the bed, carefully you lifted off the lid and stared at (fav color) dress. You took it out and smiled at it a little. You noticed the card at the bottom of the box and picked it up.

Your smile grew as you recognized the writing as Changbin's,

I think this dress fits you just right, wait for me outside at 7 tonight.

You rolled your eyes at his poetic nonsense and stared at the dress.

Hyunjin and Jisung were all over you at 6 pm, pampering you and making you look as pretty as they could.

"You look so gorgeous! I'm a master!" Hyunjin said proudly.

Han gasped exaggeratedly, "Are you saying she only looks good because you did her makeup?!"

You gasped with Jisung. "I thought you were my friend Hyunjinnie!"

"Oh- Oh MY GOD!" Hyunjin groaned before giving Han a side eye.

You giggled and looked at yourself in the mirror, you were really pretty.

"It's 6:45." Han sighed smiling at you, "Our Y/N is all grown up."

hyunjin wiped fake tears. "I'm so proud."

You made a face and rolled your eyes, standing and smoothing your dress, you hummed as you patted down the area where your gun sat on your thigh, just in case, and you grabbed your bag and went to the door.

You only waited about five minutes before Changbin pulled up in front of the building with a sleek, black company car.

"You look pretty." he said as he stepped out of the vehicle and came around to open the door for you.

You smiled. "Thank you, you good too." You stepped into the car and giggled, "Such a gentleman."

Changbin took you to a fancy restaurant and after you ordered, the conversation flowed so smoothly. Even the silence was comfortable, but you noticed it from the corner of your eye.

Two men, sitting at a table a few back from yours, eyeing you... no. eyeing Changbin. When the server came and poured your wine you paid close attention..

Using his right hand he turned the bottle to the left when he poured the wine for your but to the right Changbin.

You swallowed and looked at your wine, something was going to happen.

The thought left your mind when Changbin took your hand in his and smiled. "Y'know during my last stream, STAY kept asking if you were my girlfriend. I couldn't exactly say."

You blushed slightly, "What did you want to tell them?"

"Yes, I'm dating her." He laughed slightly, "Though, since it's jsut me and you," he squeezed your hand gently, "I can say you're only mine."

You blushed even more and laughed. "You're so stupid."

"I think you'd really like only belonging to me, I wouldn't let any guy touch you, I'd buy you food and spoil you."

"You do that anyway, Binnie." You smiled slightly.

He leaned close and whispered, "I guess that makes you mine."

Your heart skipped a beat.

Changbin stared into your eyes and leaned in close, his lips gently brushing against yours. All thought left your mind, it was just Changbin.. but..

You heard the dull click, and whipped around, pulling your gun from the holster under your dress, just as one of the men from the other table, cocked his gun.

You were faster and fired. The man fell back and Changbin grabbed you, pulling you back as the other man sprang up, he pointed a gun at you and it was a intense stare down.

You held your breath. Changbin remain unmoving behind you.

Your heart stopped as a white car pulled up in front of the restaurant. "Changbin get down!"

Changbin kicked the tabled over and grabbed you pulling you back with him as bullets flew through the dining room.

It was a long moment before they stopped, and as you peeked over the table, you locked eyes with the man from the picture, pulling his gun back into the car and smiling at you before they drove away. (Insert evil villain name cus I couldnt think of one)..

The boys were on lockdown again and you were busy, searching everything, everywhere for that man.. for (villain name).

You'd moved to the other dorm, much to the dismay of Hyunjin, who moped about being surrounded by gym freaks.

You took Seungmin's room, which was tidier than Han's. You hadn't moved because you needed quiet, in fact they boys had been quite good at being silent while you worked. It was because you didn't trust yourself, you were scared you wouldn't react as fast as you had at the restaurant with Changbin, you were scared he'd become a worse distraction... you were scared he'd get hurt because of you.

After a month, your informant intercepted another message saying that the man you were looking for was going to a shopping mall to put things up with a bang.

You discussed with the manager, he increased security to compensate for you not being present in the dorms and allowed you to go.

So there you were, sitting in your car outside the mall, staring at the entrance for anything suspicious. You remembered how Changbin had asked you what was wrong when you left, and where you were going...

"You're going alone?" His brows furrowed. "Y/N, be serious, things could happen-"

"What do you want me to do? I'm dragging anymore people into this."

"I'm not asking you to, I just want you to be safe."

"I'm here to protect you and the guys. It's not my choice what I do anymore, this has gotten too out of hand. You can't even go outside without the fear that someone might try to kill you! That's my fault."

"Take me with you then, I'm not afraid of it, I just don't trust the idea of you being alone!"

"Seo Changbin. I'm doing my job. It's not just about you and them anymore."

You pursed your lips and looked at your phone, tempted to say you were sorry..

but your phone rang before you could even take action.

Your brows furrowed, it was an unknown number.

You answered and lifted the phone to your ear. "Hello?"

"I'm glad we could lure you out. I like this game we're playing. Cat and mouse is fun no? It's a two party game. I have to eliminate the extra players, they're taking away my fun. If you involve the police... well that won't be fun."

"What?" You sat up straight.

"I'm not that cruel anyway... I'll give you 30 minutes."

Your heart dropped into your stomach. "WAIT!"

"Starting now."

The man hung up and you stared at your phone for a moment. "Changbin..."

Yongbok stepped out of the bathroom, drying his hair and he tilted his head as Chan sat down with a box on the floor. "What's that?"

"I was going to ask you." Chan said.

Seungmin stared at it. "It has a bad aura about it."

"Since when did you care about that?" Hyunjin looked up from his phone.

"We should open it." Jisung sat beside Chan.

"But-" Jeongin started.

"Didn't Y/N say don't be stupid while she's gone." Changbin said, glaring at the others.

They all nodded.

Minho sat on Chan's other side. "Opening a box isn't stupid."

"I agree." Hyunjin said.

"Guys-" Felix started.

"It's fine Yongbok." Minho said and pulled the lid of the box off.

Chan's brows furrowed, every one sucked in a breath.

"Fuck." Changbin said.

A timer sat in the box on top of a black thing bound with plastic straps, it read 15:50...

Changbin's phone rang. Everyone jumped in fear. His eyes widened as he saw you name. "Y/N- Calm down I can't understand-"

"PUT HER ON SPEAKER!" Felix shouted.

Changbin did as he was told.

You sounded on the verge of tears. "Did you get it?"

Chan looked at the box. "Yeah... We got it."

"I won't make it." You sniffed, "I need you to get scissors and listen carefully."

Jeongin ran to get scissors.

"Someone with steady hands. Listen close. There's no mistakes right now. This isn't acting."

Chan took the scissors from Jeongin and nodded, "I'm listening."

"Remove the timer by cutting the plastic straps. Be careful not to cut the wire surrounding them."

"Are we diffusing a bomb right now?!" Hyunjin shrieked.

"I CAN'T MAKE IT THERE IN TIME THERE'S TOO MUCH TRAFFIC! I CAN'T CALL THE POLICE AND NEITHER CAN ANY OF YOU!"

Chan cut the plastic binding, exposing the explosive and a few more wires.

"There should be a blue wire leading into the bomb directly."

"I see it."

"Cut it."

The boys watched in fear as their leader cut the blue wire.

"Black then grey."

"ok..."

"What's left?"

"Green, red, orange, and purple."

"Purple."

Another cut.

"Orange."

"Now what...?"

"Someone needs to push the button on the back of the timer for 5 seconds. It will give you a 20 second window to cut the last wire."

"What's the last one?" Minho asked.

"Whichever leads to the center of the explosive."

You met silence on the other end of the line before Jisung's voice said, "They both lead to the center..."

You sucked in a breath. "Wait for me."

"We don't have time to wait!" Seungmin shouted.

"How much time is left?!"

"2 minutes!" Felix said.

You slammed the steering wheel and cursed loudly.

Changbin stared at the bomb for a long moment as the members began freaking out.

Hyunjin pulled out his phone and opened instagram starting a stream. "Stay, I love you, we love you!"

"Tell my parents I love them." Jeongin sobbed.

"Chan push the button." Changbin grabbed the scissors.

"Changbin!" You shouted.

"Green means go." Changbin said as Chan pushed the button. "STAY, we love you. Y/N, I love you."

And he cut the green wire.

You heard a loud bang and the line went dead, your heart plummeted. You finally pulled off the highway and into the parking around the dorms. You ran to the dorm and-

Changbin hugged you tightly as you opened the door.

Your hands trembled before you hugged him back. "I thought you died."

"You were that worried about me." He muttered into your hair.

"Yes.."

Jisung coughed loudly, earning a punch from Minho.

You laughed and pulled away from Changbin, arms open.

You shrieked as Chan bear hugged you and then everyone was on you.

As you laughed you saw someone in the hall shaking their head. You pulled away as the man started running.

And you took off running after him. Not this time. You wouldn't let him get away again. You jumped onto him just as he got to the stairs, he stumbled and fell with you. You felt the cold metal of a gun barrel brush your arm and bit down on his arm hard.

The gun fell away and skidded away. You hit the landing platform hard, your shoulder taking the brunt of the force before you rolled for the gun.

You thought about a statement you'd heard from your boss months ago. I trust you to handle it. Without being reckless.

Why were you reckless? Why did you never give a shit what happened as long as you caught the criminal..? Because you didn't care then. Because it was your job... your obligation.

What was it now?

The man grabbed your leg and dragged you towards him and you kicked his face hard.

You scrambled with your opportunity for the gun.

Your fingers wrapped around the grip, as the man dragged you back towards him..

and it all seemed to go in slow motion as the boys came down after you. And the man's hands wrapped around your throat. You held the gun to his head and shouted with the last of your breath as he squeezed your windpipe, "BANG!"

and you pulled the trigger.

17 years ago December 19th 2005..

"Shh, she might hear."

"The gifts are better down by the college anyway."

"Honey. You're being loud."

"Fine fine."

You heard them giggling before you poked your head outside your room. You watched your parents leaving the house. You smiled to yourself knowing they were going to buy Christmas gifts.

When the morning came and your parents weren't in their room, you became confused. In the snow, dressed in your pajamas and bunny slippers you went to your neighbors house to ask if they'd seen your parents.

The little old lady next door stared at you before the tears welled in her eyes, "You poor thing.."

You were only 5 when your parents died. You were only 5 when you learned what it meant to yearn for revenge. You'd spent all your years in the force since you were 17 trying to find the organization behind the bombs...

And you were today many years old when you learned revenge wasn't a liberating feeling.

"BANG!"

BANG!

The boys stared in shock as you pushed the man's body off of you and sat there. Changbin didn't hesitate to run and wrap his arms around you, examining your face before looking into your eyes.

"Y/n... y/nnie?"

And you passed out.

The past week had been a blur of appointments with press and a million other things.

It was Friday you finally got to lie down and breathe.

You were lying in bed staring at the ceiling when you got a call. You rolled over and answered the phone. Your boss's voice came to your ears.

"Good job, L/N. We're glad you could do it. We're booking your flight back to the US already."

"Sir-"

"You'll be receiving a promotion to a less risky position as a token of our gratitude."

Changbin entered your room and stared at you.

"I can't-" you tried.

"I have to admit I myself am shocked, L/N you've proved your reckless behavior is productive and I owe you-"

"SIR I QUIT!"

The other end of the line went quiet.

Changbin sat beside you and pulled you against him.

"I- I accomplished what I wanted. I'm pretty young still. I'll go to college. It's time I change careers."

Your boss was quiet on the other end of the line.

"Consider this my resignation letter. It was an honor. But i can't be reckless anymore."

The boys were poking their heads into your room now.

You looked at them all and smiled.

"I have something... some people..." You leaned against Changbin. "Someone... I want to keep living for."

"We'll send your pay for the case..." Your boss said softly. "I'm glad I met you L/N, it was an honor to have you in the force."

You lowered the phone and hung up.

"Soo....?" Minho said, looking at the others. "She's NOT going back to the US?"

"No Minho. I'm here to stay."

The boys cheered and jumped. You smiled slightly and looked at Changbin.

He leaned in and kissed you.

You blinked. Stunned.

Jisung jumped and held his hands out to Hyunjin "5000 PUT EM IN MY HAND! ALL OF YOU!"

You stared at them for a moment, "You were-"

"Green is green!" Jisung ran away cackling.

You laughed and shook your head. "I love you guys."

"I think you love me most." Changbin said and kissed your cheek.

"I love you just a little bit more than them."

He rolled his eyes as the others ran shouting about their money. "I love you."

You hadn't gotten the feeling you dreamed for in revenge but in them... in Changbin you found something more.

"STOP BEING LOVE BIRDS AND MAKE THEM GIVE ME MY MONEY!" Jisung shouted.

[ndconceptarchive]

Interview with Creators of the original Secrets Can Kill game

It's honestly a very interesting interview about the early days of HI and it includes some foreshadowing to Alibi in Ashes, Tomb of the Lost Queen, and Labyrinth of Lies. (There was also a mention of possibly remastering Message in a Haunted Mansion! Although that likely wasn't in development.)

The following is a transcript from a video titled, Interview with Creators of the original Secrets Can Kill game | Nancy Drew Games | HeR Interactive. Published Aug 20, 2010. It was created in promotion for Secrets Can Kill Remastered, as seen in the video description:

"We interview Megan, Kris, Robert, and Tim about their experiences making the original version of Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill from 12 years ago! They share funny stories and give a few little known clues about the game. It's a look back at how far Her Interactive has come and where it's going with the upcoming release of Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill REMASTERED (PC/Mac, available on August 24)."

Interviewer: Hello, so we are here today, with four of the original people who worked on the very first Secrets Can Kill game: 

Megan, our CEO, what were you back when we made Secrets Can Kill?

Megan: I was the Creative Director when I got hired in 1997, and then Robert was…

Robert: The Program Manager. I had been recruited from the accounting department in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Kris: I’m Kris, I was hired as a 2D artist and I came in to work with Tim…

Tim: who was also a contract artist and then, I kind of took over the 3D part at the very tail end of the project. 

Interviewer: Did you know anything about creating games when you first started on Secrets Kill? 

Robert: I did a little. I made games when I was a kid. When I got my first computer, all I did was make games for it, especially adventure-type of text-based games, so I knew just a little, but definitely not enough. I was really surprised and overwhelmed by the amount of work that it took to make a computer game.

Kris: I used to do computer day camps with my father who taught us to to program to program games in BASIC. But beyond, that no. 

Tim: Oh I played a lot of computer games, but mainly board games was my big thing. I had a little board gaming group that would just play tons of a lot of German board games. And I think that helped because a lot of those mechanics and bargains translate over into, you know, mini games and puzzles and stuff. So that was fun, but I had no design experience or [anything] at that point. 

Interviewer: So what is the biggest challenge that you guys had to face when you were making Secrets Can Kill?

Megan: Well, first, we were a new team and half the team was in Albuquerque. Then it shifted and I guess everyone moved to Bellevue by the end of the game, really, we were all learning how to work as a team and to kind of create this game around Nancy Drew. So communication I think was probably the hardest. 

Robert: yeah, because there there was a lot of assets, but not a lot of documentation to go with.

Megan: No documentation. 

Robert: Yeah, I remember you, you brought down your, the art director at that time, Laura Henion, to Albuquerque so we could all meet. 

Tim: I think the hardest part was just finishing it. It went really long, much longer than we have [now]. I mean, we got it down to a science now. 

I remember [that] I would take my work home. [I would] then get up at like 3:00 in the morning and start another render on the computer, then go back to bed and get up another half hour and check it and make some tweaks and keep running. I was doing that almost every night it seems for a while there just to get it done. 

Kris: That's really true. There were three of us in the art department at that time- counting Laura the art director. So it was a big push at the end to get work finished. That was a challenge. 

Megan: I think you know, communication was the biggest challenge, but the good part was that everybody was so excited and enthusiastic and passionate. It didn't seem to matter what obstacle came up, because we just figured out a way to overcome it. So there's a lot of trial and error in the first game. 

Interviewer: What is something funny or memorable that you remember from the process when you made that first game? 

Robert: So remember we just had a recorder, a voice recorder. So we thought, let's make silly, silly voicemail messages when you would call different places like Maxines or Aunt Eloise. So we all gathered around the microphone and and just add libbed and it was really funny. 

Tim: When I was just basically just kind of an art assitant and helping Laura, the art director, and I just came in and sat down and started doing some work and I heard some rough rustling going on. What's going on? And I looked behind me and Glenn, who was our contract 3D artist at the time (three years at the time) came out of a sleeping bag from underneath his desk.

Interviewer: Kris, do you have any memories? 

Kris: I remember the marketing at the end. When we finished the game, Megan gave me a huge stack of cell sheets to take with me to spread around town. And I remember I was going to visit my family back east, so I was supposed to take them across the country and spread them around. 

And so there was really some guerrilla marketing that went on at that point.

Interviewer: Come a long way for sure. Say, what do you think of the original Secrets Can Kill now that's been 12 years since you've made it?

Robert: It's always, it was, it's very, it was very surprising to replay it when we're when we're looking at it to remaster Master. I mean, it's just it's so much more different. It was shorter. The storyline wasn’t as as intricate as our current ones. The puzzles were pretty primitive and I think there was only like. I don't know, like 7 inventory objects. Now we have at least 30. 

Tim: We also kind of approach it little differently. It was I think the only game where we hid these hidden messages all throughout the game that had really. That we're really outside of Nancy's world and universe. It was just like like the designer hitting hiding messages in there maybe about the game. 

But it was, you know, if you look at different book spine titles in the library, you could actually, spell out a sentence or something that that might say something, mysterious.

Megan: Meaningful? Tim: But it was like, if you were actually a player in the world, you’d be like, “where did that come from?” So we kind of changed our design tactic on that later on, but that was the one game where we did kind of funny things like that.

Kris: A player wouldn’t notice, but a lot of the articles were written by our family members. Or you know, some of the photos in the game, like for example, in the student dome where Hal Tanaka sits, there's the bulletin board for student of the Month.

Tim: That's where Connie was at. 

Kris: Oh, it’s where Connie is. And so that's, you know, pictures of ourselves and our friends and family. 

Interviewer: What kind of other things did you put in there that you don't think our fans would necessarily have picked up on playing through the games that you guys hid in there?

Robert: Ohh, I remember in the opening cinematic Darrell does that, [pulls his ear] which is an old Carol Burnett move to say “hi Mom!”.

Tim: My son Sam is in the teacher's lounge, he’s in a photo, and he was like a year or two years old and now he's like a grown man, you know, it feels like (he's like 13 now). 

Megan: So I can't remember if that's the one my nieces were in, but when I told them [that they were in a game] they said, “do we talk when you press on us?” And I said “no, maybe in the next game.” 

So what was really neat was when we got together with girls to have them play games at that time to see what they thought about Nancy Drew and games in general. 

And girls didn't really play games back then. And so their feedback actually helped us to improve on existing gameplay rather than just perpetuate stereotypes. 

They would say, when they're playing a shooter, “you know, we don't mind shooting, however, we prefer a reason before we shoot. Like if they were beating up my little sister, I'd be all over them.” So they really helped us with their input in terms of making the games, that that they wanted. 

Interviewer: What are some of the changes that you think have made the biggest impact in the newer games versus the original one? 

Tim: I think the design, the tighter design, kind of the overarching puzzle that is woven into the game is very compelling and interesting to follow for this new game. I think. 

The old game was much more open and just kind of, I mean, you could explore, but. There was a little bit more wandering and trying to piece together what was going on. This one, it's just more cleverly put together. Also the graphics. I think make a big difference with the new lighting and just a little bit updated the 3D characters definitely is a huge difference. 

Robert: Something the players won’t notice is that we now use Lua rather than our proprietary scripting language. It was horrendous. Very 20th century, so even though that doesn't affect the players, it really affected us and made it much more easy to put the the games together.

Kris: I feel really nostalgic playing this game going back but as far as the fun factor is concerned, I really liked that the arcade-style mini-games are now included

Interviewer: Barnacle Blast!

Kris: Yeah. 

Megan: I remember when we were on our first or second game people would say so what are you gonna do after that i mean nobody's gonna play a third Nancy Drew game.

Interviewer: Did you imagine that you guys would be still making these games 23 games later? 

Everyone: No [visibly shaking heads]

Tim: It’s pretty incredible just to think about. Every once in a while I’ll just pull up the codes and stuff because I can’t keep track of which games are in what order anymore. I’ll just look through this list and think “I’ve been here for all of these.” It’s crazy. I mean, it’s something I’m really prud of, that we’ve been able to last that long and create just this wonderful collection.

Megan: I think there’s just the team that you know, that we had all these years. Everyone is so talented and creative. There’s this creative collaboration from the beginning where everybody feels comfortable to add their ideas to the mix. 

Robert: The sky’s the limit for Nancy Drew. There’s so many stories you can tell, so many places you can go, so many people you can meet. It’s fun reinventing Nancy Drew for other platforms as well.

Tim: We get feedback all the time from players who are like “I really wanna see Nancy go to Egypt or to Greece” and we 

Megan: We’re all storytellers. We all come from very different backgrounds. Math, architecture, film, art, but we all love to tell a story. And in these Nancy Drew games, there’s a weave of fact and fiction. And it’s a lot of meaningful content. Historical references and characters, cultural discovery, you learn about the folklore. You learn, but you’re having so much fun you don’t even realize. 

Interviewer: What mystery would you like to see Nancy Drew solve in the future now that we’re talking about how the sky’s the limit? Robert: I actually liked going back to Secrets Can Kill. And I kind of wanna do some retro stuff. So I wouldn't mind going back to like Haunted Mansion and maybe something was left unfound. 

Kris: I might like to see Nancy go to Thailand so we could showcase the architecture of Thailand.

Tim: So many great characters.  some of these secondary characters that you never see like Krolmeister and Sonny Joon and all these people that have kind of built up this universe. It's it's great to be able to go back and and draw from some of that and create more content from that. 

Megan: Traveling just to different countries. I think that's so interesting. Egypt would be fascinating. 

Robert: I think it'd be also fun to take her back home. You know, we we haven't explored River Heights and there's just so much there too and this just wide geography of River Heights. It would be fun to look at. 

Interviewer: Do you guys have anything else that you'd like our fans to know about the new version of Secrets Can Kill Remastered? 

Robert: There's clues everywhere so…

[laughter from everyone] 

Megan: What made you give that away! 

Interviewer: We hope to see a lot more games from you guys.  Megan & the others: thank you, Thank you! We hope you enjoyed this.

[justforbooks]

Jimmy Carter

US president whose subsequent decades of tireless humanitarian work brought him the Nobel peace prize

The former US president Jimmy Carter, who has died aged 100, achieved a far more favourable reputation after leaving the White House than he ever secured during his single term of office. Following his electoral defeat in 1980 – when Ronald Reagan beat him by 489 to 49 electoral college votes – his sustained efforts to improve life for the deprived people of the world won him the 2002 Nobel peace prize.

Carter left a mixed heritage from his presidential term. He put human rights firmly on the international agenda, persuaded Congress to cede US control of the Panama canal, demonstrated that peace settlements could be achieved in the Middle East, and completed the second strategic arms limitation treaty with the Soviet Union.

But he was not cut out for the White House. He became the 39th president because he was not Gerald Ford: he was ousted after one term not only because of his administration’s inept handling of the Iranian hostage crisis but because he was overwhelmed by the job.

Carter came into office faced with the continued economic aftermath of the Vietnam war. To meet its burgeoning costs, President Richard Nixon had abandoned the fixed international exchange rate agreed after the second world war and allowed the dollar to float. That immediately imported inflation into the US, exacerbated by the 1973 Yom Kippur war in the Middle East, which provoked Arab oil-exporting nations to quadruple the price of their oil. Carter arrived in Washington with inflation running at 7%. Within 18 months it had climbed to 11.3%.

Oil, which had been $20 a barrel, surged to $107. Carter’s response was to ask the US to curb its profligate use of energy. The plea fell on deaf ears. He then nominated Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board to deal with the problem. Volcker arrived proclaiming that the US “could not inflate itself out of a recession” and embarked on a ferocious campaign to kill it. The interest figures tell the story: in June 1979 America’s prime rate was 11.5%, by November 15.5%, by March 1980 18.5% and by the end of that year it peaked at 21.5%. During his election campaign Carter had devised what he called the misery index, combining unemployment and inflation. It stood at 13.5 when he was elected. He left the White House with it at 19.9.

He eventually retrieved his reputation by founding the Carter Center in his home state of Georgia and embarking on a vast range of activities designed to defuse international conflict and to introduce democracy and a decent standard of life across the globe.

This took him to countries ranging from Zambia to Peru and from Sudan to Guyana, for such disparate projects as mediating in civil warfare, encouraging sustainable agricultural development, establishing a proper judicial system, or installing a clean water supply. He became a familiar figure at election counts around the globe, part of the international team that sought to ensure that where skulduggery could not be prevented, it was at least well publicised.

With the agreement of the Clinton administration, in 1994 Carter took up an invitation to visit Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang, and out of their talks came the Agreed Framework, by which North Korea undertook to suspend its nuclear weapons programme in return for increased energy aid from the US. Initial progress was not sustained, and by 2003 relations between the two countries were openly hostile again. In 2008 he was criticised in the US and Israel for urging peace talks involving Syria and Hamas. In August 2010 he returned to North Korea to secure the release of a US citizen, Aijalon Gomes; he visited the country again in 2011, and six years later indicated his willingness to do so once more if called on.

Carter acknowledged that much of the energy he brought to the Carter Center had stemmed from the unexpected frustration of his presidential career. “I don’t think that if I had had two full terms in the White House, I would have launched so ambitious a new career. I would probably have become a professor and written some books.”

Born in Plains, Georgia, Jimmy (James) was the eldest of four children of Lillian (nee Gordy), a nurse, and James Carter, a peanut farmer. He planned a naval career, graduating from the US naval academy in 1946. Then he became involved in the design and development of nuclear power for ships, and later with training seamen to serve in them. This was apparently when he acquired his dogged interest in organisational and functional minutiae.

In 1953, however, the death of his father obliged him to resign his commission to take control of the family business. This sparked an interest in politics and, in 1962, he was elected a state senator. At the end of his four-year term, he ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of Georgia. In 1970 he was elected at his second attempt and began to plan his presidential campaign.

His ambitions coincided with the Watergate scandal and the enforced resignation of Nixon in August 1974. Ford, a Republican congressman from Michigan, had been hand-picked by the beleaguered incumbent as his successor. The electorate, initially neutral about the constitutional niceties of this procedure, erupted in fury when the newly sworn-in President Ford announced an unconditional pardon for his patron. The stage was thus set for Carter’s bid, on the basis that he did not belong to the Washington establishment and that he espoused the simple moral and religious values that the electorate was then seeking.

In the 1976 primaries he easily outpaced his Democratic rivals. But his presidential victory was uncomfortably narrow: he won only 23 of the 50 states and secured less than half the popular vote (excluding Washington DC). His arrival in the White House arose more through the quirks of the electoral college, where he predominated by 297 votes to Ford’s 240. His election showed plainly what became even more starkly evident as his term progressed: that support in the country was marginal and could be eroded by almost any setback. The honeymoon lasted long enough domestically to get the Panama canal treaties ratified in 1978 – no small achievement – and internationally to bring Israel and Egypt to a widely applauded peace settlement in 1979, brokered by Carter.

But the very nature of his electoral campaign quickly rebounded on him. He chose to emphasise the shift from previous administrations by appointing a group of inexperienced assistants to senior posts. Within a short space of time, his budget director, Bert Lance, was forced to resign amid allegations of impropriety – charges that sat ill with Carter’s repeated emphasis on probity. His chief of staff, Hamilton Jordan, became notorious for his poor handling of influential figures on Capitol Hill, a vital factor for any administration, but even more critical in the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate climate in Washington.

Congress, in its own eyes, had been bulldozed into the expansion of the Vietnam war by Lyndon Johnson, grossly affronted by Nixon’s constant claims of executive privilege and eventually by his illegalities, and circumnavigated by Ford’s accession. It had fettered the White House with the War Powers resolution of 1973 and came within a whisker of impeaching the president. It was singularly unimpressed by the arrival of a man whose experience was as a one-term southern governor.

It might have been easier had Carter arrived with a clear political agenda, but he seemed geared to the politics of symbolism rather than substance. In an effort to focus his compatriots’ attention on their profligate use of energy, he addressed the nation wearing a woollen cardigan, which simply drowned the message in derision. His national energy policy was barely recognisable by the time it emerged from Congress.

The international community also found itself with problems caused by the amateurism of the White House. Within six months of taking office, Carter requested funds to develop neutron warheads for missiles deployed in Europe, particularly West Germany. There had been no consultations within Nato, and a row erupted in Europe. The Dutch defence minister resigned and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany, faced with demonstrations and parliamentary dissent, publicly dissociated himself from the move. The furore continued for months, until Carter suddenly announced that he had abandoned the idea, having exposed serious rifts within the Atlantic alliance to no useful end.

In spite of alarming the Kremlin with unsignalled proposals for huge cuts in strategic weapons (later abandoned), his administration did manage to negotiate the Salt II (strategic arms limitation talks) agreement, a complex, phased programme of strategic disarmament. But it aroused deep suspicions in the Senate, which had little liking for the president anyway, and the treaty was consequently never ratified.

By now it had become evident to the country that its chief executive was becoming impotent through his insistence on bogging himself down in detail to the extent that he even insisted on drawing up the playing rota for the White House tennis courts. With his popularity waning steeply, particularly after a disastrous television address in which he seemed to saddle the nation with his own uncertainties, Carter was hit by the twin crises that doomed his presidency – the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the fall of the shah of Iran.

Long after he left office, it emerged that much of the blame for the Afghan crisis could, in fact, be laid at his door. In February 1979 the US ambassador in Kabul, Adolph Dubs, was kidnapped and died in a botched rescue attempt by the local police. The Soviet Union was alleged to have been behind the kidnapping and, in retaliation, Carter signed a secret directive on 3 July 1979, authorising the CIA to fund and arm Muslim opponents to the Kabul regime, which the Soviet Union supported.

This decision was later described by Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, as “giving the Soviet Union its own Vietnam”. Its consequences, including the rise of the Taliban, have clanked unpredictably through the ensuing decades. As US-funded fighting spread rapidly across Afghanistan, the Kabul regime tottered and Moscow decided that the only answer to the destabilisation of its strategically vital southern border was to invade.

Carter, already in deep trouble over the fall of the shah, responded to the Soviet invasion by shooting himself in the foot. With domestic political attention focused on the impending 1980 presidential campaign, he announced an embargo on a portion of US grain exports to the Soviet Union, the prime victims of which were America’s midwestern farmers rather than the USSR.

He did manage to see off the internal party challenge of Senator Edward Kennedy, but slipped badly in the broader race for re-election. He had been unlucky in inheriting the brewing Iranian crisis, but he handled that no better. The shah was entirely the creature of successive US administrations. It was, therefore, self-evident that the dethroned monarch would turn to his patrons in his final crisis and that, conversely, the new Iranian regime would stoke the anti-Americanism built up by his autocratic reign.

The US embassy in Tehran sent repeated warnings of the likely Iranian reaction if the terminally ill shah was allowed into the US, but they were ignored by the White House. Within three weeks of his arrival for medical treatment, the embassy had been seized and 53 of its staff held hostage. A bad situation was made far worse by an ill-conceived and ultimately disastrous attempt to mount a rescue operation. Its chances of success were always slight and were wholly nullified by the combination of equipment failures and excessive interference from above.

Had Carter been held in greater confidence by his countrymen, they might have had more sympathy for his dilemma. He had nothing to bargain with, and it became evident that for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the fundamentalist Shia cleric who had overthrown the shah, the crisis had become a personal contest. He released the American hostages only at the moment when Carter was succeeded by Reagan.

Carter’s political ambition far outreached his experience or capacity, but his brief sojourn in the Oval office at least gave him the international standing to carry out the humanitarian work for which he will probably be best remembered. With his wife, Rosalynn (nee Smith), whom he married in 1946, he visited more than 140 countries.

He wrote 30 books, including A Call to Action (2014), which addressed discrimination and violence against women, and A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety (2015). Having turned 100 last October, he fulfilled his aim of voting in the presidential election.

Rosalynn died in November 2023. He is survived by their four children, Amy, Jack, Chip and Jeff, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

🔔 James Earl Carter, politician, born 1 October 1924; died 29 December 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[sophietv]

Kaylor Timeline BEFORE VSFS 2013

It's a thread I did on my Twitter that I'll transfer here.

Once again, I used amazing Tumblr posts to do it. So I'll credit them as we go (If I need to do something else tell me, I'm new to the Tumblr etiquette).

So the official story is that Taylor and Karlie crossed path a couple of times without interacting and met for the first time at the Victoria Secret Fashion Show in 2013 🤔

Well they met A LOT of times and interacted before actually 😅

Let's see the Timeline before that VSFS in 2013!

***I'll edit this post as I find new interactions (because I feel like I'll find a lot of them) I'll add this 🆕 beside new additions and dates when it was added at the end of the post.

First meeting!

So what motivated my thread in the first place is this Interview Taylor did in 2014 with Andrew Bevan of Teen Vogue.

Here's the YouTube Link (X)

But here's the most important part of that interview:

He is saying that he introduced Karlie and Emma Stone to Taylor!!

Ok we know that Taylor met Emma at the 2008 Young Hollywood Award.

I don't think though that he is talking about that event. Because he says that he congratulated her for her cover.

Taylor did two covers with Teen Vogue, one in 2009 and one in 2011.

Following the Timeline and everything it's most likely the March 2009 one:

EDIT:

Thanks to this Anon! (X)

A magazine cover is planned 2-8 months in advance, up to a year for major celebrities.

The Young Hollywood Award was on late April 2008 and the cover was for March 2009 so it make sense.

So it's most likely that Taylor met karlie for the first time at the same event she met Emma for the first time.

🆕 Really cute fact.

On the Cover of that magazine, Taylor wears a dress from the Calvin Klein Spring 2009 show. (X)

Guess who walked that runway??

Karlie! (X)

I exceeded the limit of picture so click on the (X) to see the posts.

Tommy Hilfiger spring 2010 collection:

Septembre 16th 2009 Taylor attends the Tommy Hilfiger Spring Show during New York Fashion Week. (X)

Karlie was there too! (X)

In this post, you can see videos of Taylor watching Karlie on the runway: (X)

Here's the YouTube video : (X)

🆕Met Gala 2010:

They were both at the Met Gala in 2010

🆕In Milan together

Although they were not at the same Fashion Show (that we know) Taylor and Karlie were in Milan at the same time during the Fashion Week.

Another interesting facts. This could explain the "1958" reference of Timeless:

Thanks to Izg on Twitter for giving me this!!

Roberto Cavalli 40th Anniversary Party:

Septembre 30th 2010

Taylor and Karlie attends the Roberto Cavalli 40th Anniversary party in Paris.

Met Gala 2011:

May 2nd 2011

Karlie and Taylor both attend the Met Gala:

This is also the first time that we have confirmation of an interaction between them:

Thanks to that amazing post! (X)

Karlie said in Teen Vogue that they joked about having a baking date.

Rodarte Spring 2012 fashion show:

Septembre 13th 2011

Taylor attend Rodarte Spring 2012 fashion show where Karlie walks.

Here's a link to the video (X)

Vogue Febuary 2012:

January 17th 2012

Taylor mentions Karlie in her Vogue interview: "I love Karlie Kloss! I Want to bake cookies with her!"

And this quote, made history.

Karlie answers the same day:

Vogue Fashion's Night Out:

August 2012

Thanks to this post (X)

Taylor and Karlie star in the same commercial about Vogue Fashion Night Out:

Thanks to @hairpinraindrop for the video

Karlie and Taylor were present at the event too on Septembre 6th 2012

Paris 2012:

Septembre 30th 2012

Karlie walks the runway for Jean-Paul Gauthier in Paris:

Taylor is in Paris at the same time to film the Begin Again MV:

Funny Koincidence(?), I went back and watch that MV again, and look at the opening scene!

The Love Lock Bridge!!!

Elie Saab Spring Summer 2013 show:

Octobre 3rd 2012

Taylor is still in Paris and attends The Paris Fashion Week (X) at a fashion show where I'm pretty sure Karlie walked (I'm still searching for photos/videos).

But we know that Karlie was at the Paris Fashion Week too! (Thanks Astra!)

Here's a video:

🆕Met Gala 2013

They were also both at the Met Gala in 2013. Wich was in May.

So there you have it! All of Kaylor interaction BEFORE the 2013 VSFS!

This explains the timing of it all.

Because they allegedly met at the 2013 Victoria Secret Fashion Show in Novembre.

But as we know, Taylor moved to New York because Karlie asked her:

Timestamp 1:23

And people believe that she moved there after their Big Sur trip in March 2014.

Actually. Back in January 2014, Taylor was already looking to buy an appartment near Karlie's:

And she actually bought her Tribeca oenthouse in February.

Thanks to Bigsurlor for this!!

So they definitly knew each other before 2013!

Edit August 19 2023: Met Gala 2010, Milan trip together and Met Gala 2013 and the appartment hunting

Edit August 27th 2023: the Calvin Klein Spring 2009 dress section

[zyxwl2015]

Some excerpts from the new Lando Norris biography

Although Lando was born into a rich family, his dad, Adam Norris, did not come from wealth himself. Adam's dad was a farmer & mum was a teacher. Adam has dyslexia and he was terrible at school and hated it. So he always has the mentality of working harder than anyone else to success

Lando and his brother Oli tried horse riding, quadbike and motorbike before eventually got into karting. Lando was 7 yo when he first started racing in karts

Adam was not willing to just buy the best equipment for his sons, instead he wanted to develop them. He approached Mark Berryman and Fraser Sheader in 2011 for help, Mark and Fraser has just founded ADD management in 2010 and their philosophy is on "developing and nurturing talents" rather than "just place them in teams", so they matched perfectly.

Mark on first meeting Lando: "for at least the first nine months he didn't listen to a word I said. "(😂😂) They were doing great with Oli because he was listening, but Lando just wasn't listening, but even then he's still winning races because he's really fast

Lando is the polar opposite now: he listens to everything Mark suggests. Brazil GP 2022 when Lando was on track, Mark texted Jon some suggestions, and Lando tried it straightaway. Out of Mark's students now, Lando is the best at "if you put something forward, he just does it".

Lando was so incredibly fast at that early age that people were convinced he/the team was cheating. One race when he was in the junior category, his lap time was so incredible that it would have put him in top 6 in the senior category

Lando had two crucial meetings in 2014, one was Jon Malvern, who's still his trainer to this day, the other was Trevor Carlin, who's the boss of the Carlin team, with which Lando competed from 2015 to 2018

Fraser approached Zak Brown in August 2016 to help bring some commercial values to ADD management. Zak at the time was the co-owner of United Autosports, a sports-car team. They agreed on a deal, and Zak then became part of the core Norris team together with Jon, Mark and Fraser. Little did they know Zak would soon became CEO of McLaren (😂)

February 2017. Charlotte Sefton was setting up a filming event on the Boulevard of MTC. She was making sure no one is on the Boulevard, tours was canceled, etc, apart from one guy "Lando Norris", who's a "VIP guest" and "it's top secret". Charlotte went "who's this guy?" and looked up on the Internet. (😂) Later that day she saw this shy kid got out of a Mini, said "hello" to her and walked to Zak's office. Days later Lando was confirmed as a junior driver for McLaren

(This book isn't as interesting as I initially thought, it's mostly "Norris raced in xxx series in year xxxx and did xyz"; but it does have a lot of quotes from people around him & some behind-the-scenes stories)

[gentlemanviolet]

Storytime until I actually got there! Pt 4!!

First of all my eng sucks, cuz it's my second language

and second of all, no one is dumb or gonna confused but I wanna explain yall that I haven't fully shifted yet (i think i minishifted before but nvm) but I'm posting storytimes for fun but especially to motivate myself that's why it's "Storytime until I actually got there"

Storytime here ⬇

It was when we were so bored being at a party in LA, 2010 August, with my bestie even tho she's a Korean actress not in hollywood, I don't wanna go alone even when i'm friends with other female celebrities but still she's my bestie since childhood so yeah

We both can speak english fluently so we're fine with it, but what's boring is the party (idek if that calls a "party") is boring yk? Rich people rich laughing and yapping about their rich projects that makes that richer, unlike parties in Korea, all of us are young and they like to drink and dance to the loud asf music, do silly shits so even tho we both are rich asf, I only love american parties that threw by a young person so basically we do not fw those rich people's quiet and elegant parties, so we both acted like i was so sick so my bestie had to take me back to our hotel, and then we came back to the hotel and called Angelina Jolie to meet somewhere that we can have fun

She took us to a place, it's an amusement park, three of us were messing around and riding everything that we can ride, we forgot that we were celebrities, and there was a group of boys that been following where we go, like....yk? I noticed and tell two of them and guess what? Both beaches said "Yeah...like you can't do karate or boxing so you're telling us there are some boys following us to ruin the moment", they said that cuz I'm good at most of combat sports, of course I said "okay bitches have fun until you get kidnapped" both of them side eyed me but idgaf

As i thought, mins later, one of those mf ask for our number for his friends, I said "no thanks, we love to keep our phone numbers for ourselves so.. I hope your friends find a good number for their phones one day!" And then grabbed my friends arms and left, they said "girl you ate their ass up", we don't wanna play around anymore so we came back and we ate some mcdonald's on our way back to the hotel,

At the morning, we both misses Korea so much and we've already bought tickets so we pack things and came back to Korea, after hours of spending time on the plane, we finally arrived! Yay

The day we arrived was Saturday so like usual, me and my bestie got invited to a party where most of idols and a few actresses and actors gonna be there, we were so tired but our friends were begging us to come to the party so we went there

When we get there, we had to say hi to some random mfs but it's ok, they're hot, and a few minutes later, Eunjung(from T-ara) come up to us and said "Unnies, we're playing a drinking game right over there, please join us pleaseeee" and she point a corner and then before we could say anything, she grabbed us and when we realized, we're already there,

Before the story, I wanna say that I really don't fw There 4th, 5th or 6th gen kpop so 2nd gen kpop never dies in my reality even the new groups give the 2nd gen vibe, so the people that were playing the drinking game were CL(2ne1), Eunjung(T-ara), Jessica(SNSD), Yuri(SNSD), Lee Hyori (Solo artist), Park Jiyeon(T-ara), Taecyeon(2PM), Junho(2PM), Lee Joon(MBLAQ), GD(BIGBANG), T.O.P(BIGBANG, but yall call him Thanos from squid game), Daesung(BIGBANG)

And btw since you're hearing a lot of "BIGBANG" so yes, in my reality, se***ri is not a bad person but also not in the group but Hyunseung (who was supposed to bs the 5th member) is the 5th member, and my dad (who's an American but) owns all the famous entertainment companies, YG, SM, and JYP (I know, the companies names are the names of the ceo's in this reality but in my reality, we just give the conpany name to the ceo we're hiring like YG, SM, JYP), and there's only three kpop companies and they are YG, SM and JYP (yeah, sorry)

So let's get back to the point, I kept losing the game unfortunately, and I start to get drunk, all of them notice and tell me to stop and just get rest or smth but I'm a Taurus(yes I remember I said i was born in april 22 but a leo but now I just wanna be a Taurus, but it's a fire sign) so I'm stubborn asf, the more I play, the more I lose and had to drink, I've been drinking a lot so I started want to pee so I told them that I'm going to the bathroom

And just like every drunk mfs, I wanted to prove that I'm not drunk so I went there alone, when I get out of the bathroom and slowly walking back to the place we play games, but a random mf blocked my way and start messing with me, and he tried to HIT me, so I was so pissed and plus i was drunk so I punched him in the face so hard that guy didn't go well and start rolling on the damn floor even tho I just punched his stupid face without kicking his nasty balls

Luckly, CL was on her way to check on me so she saw the whole thing, and she helped me walk cuz I was super drunk(obviously) and before we go, she even kicked his ass, and when we're back to there, she told everyone abt the situation and Taecyeon and Daesung go check on his guy to beat his ass or do something yk?, sue or smth, but they came back a few minutes later

My bestie did not like the situation so she said we're leaving but for SOME REASONS, ALL of them (except gd and t.o.p) starts convincing my bestie to stay and let GD TAKE ME BACK HOME??, MY BESTIE WAS LIKE..... WHAT THE FREAK?? IVE BEEN ALWAYS THE ONE WHO TAKES HER BACK HONE CUZ WE LIVE IN THE SAME CONDO BUILDING AND SHE LITERALLY LIVES NEXT DOOR SO I SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO TAKES HER BACK HOME, they were talking and discussing about taking me back home but drunk mf me couldn't pay attention and just sitting and laying my head on Eungjung's shoulder

My bestie and most of them were discussing so hard abt it cuz my bestie wouldn't let other people to take me back home, after a few minutes, they turned to me and ask me to choose a person to take me back home and i couldn't understand what they were saying so I just chose my bestie, but it didn't end there, they convince my bestie AGAIN and my bestie just let them drop me back home cuz it'll be rude if she make it seems like she doesn't trust them, ik GD is my ex s/o but he's literally everywhere so that's why he's in every "Storytime until I actually got there",

I couldn't walk so poor dude had to carry my ass on his back to the car (his driver drives the car), on the car, I kept saying "Where's Ji hyo(it's my bestie's name)?, Ji hyo ya, Ji hyo?" In korean, he kept giggling and saying "Noona, here's only "Ji yong", Ji hyo noona is still at the party" (he call us "Noona" cuz both me and my bestie is 5 years older than me), I couldn't care less, when we arrived, he had to carry my ass again, cuz i live on the 5th floor (i know my room no. Is 222 but i just want to live on the 5th floor, and there's elevator but I can't stand so.. he had to carry), when we get to the door of my room

And the door is locked with code number so he look away and let me unlock the door but I kept messing up and putting my bestie's door code number instead of mine, he laughed so hard (that mf) and called my bestie and she told us the numbers through the phone and yay we finally got inside, he put me on my bed and as soon as he put me down to my bed, I literally fell asleep like I passed out or smth, I don't know what happens after that but the next day, my bestie tells me everything what happened, when I fell asleep, he was so worried if I passed out or smth but just found out that i was just fell asleep so he left and came back to the party

And as soon as he came back to the party, my bestie left the party and came straight back to my place and check on me, and she just slept over my place

Okayyy, so lastnight I accidently cleared the phone while choosing some photos for my post after finishing the whole thing so my draft disappeared, but how to explain, I wrote some in the afternoon (evening or night? Id remember) and that save it to draft so technically, the whole post didn't disappeared but I had to write the half again

And tonight even tho i had to write this again, i was so excited and grabbed my earphone and guess what? The left side went deaf, i was so mad and disappointed my tears starts to fell automatically (i sounds dramatic but yeah), i really donit wanna post this anymore but i tried to stay positive and now here I am!, the money situation is not okay I guess I'm getting a new earphone after a few weeks or something (my family is poor<3, and we live in a tiny apartment that would be smaller than your living room), but i'm actually the richest person on earth in my reality, so byebye, I didn't shifted lastnight but tonight, i will!

[yurimother]

Dark Fantasy Yuri Manga 'ROLL OVER AND DIE' Volume 4 Release in English

On Tuesday, Seven Seas Entertainment released the fourth volume of Sunao Minakata's manga adaptation of Kiki's dark fantasy Yuri series ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! (Omae Gotoki ga Maou ni Kateru to Omou na" to Gachizei ni Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou Sareta node, Outo de Kimama ni Kurashitai) The manga is available in English digitally and in paperback.

Based on the light novel of the same name, Roll Over and Die follows Flum Apricot, a hero born with the unique affinity "Reversal" that leaves her with zero stats across the board. When she is prophesized to join the hero's party and defeat the Demon Lord, Flum thinks she will only be a burden, and, unfortunately, some members of the party agree, leaving her betrayed and sold into slavery. However, in her darkest moment, Flum meets the timid Milkit, and, desperate to protect her and save her own life, she discovers the true nature of her power.

The publisher describes the fourth manga volume:

Flum has triumphed over Dein and thwarted his hostile takeover. With Milkit safe once again and her scars healed, Flum can finally remove Milkit's bandages and reveal the face of her beloved partner. Things take an abrupt turn, however, when a child without a face of their own arrives on Flum's doorstep, and the ghost of a defeated foe is revived by the Church of Origin. Just what sinister schemes are lurking behind their pious facade?

Author Kiki began posting Roll Over and Die as a webnovel on Shousetuska ni Narou in 2018. Micro Magazine acquired the series and began releasing it as light novels under the GC Novels imprint in July 2018. The light novels include illustrations by Kinta. The fourth and most recent volume was published in Japanese in 2020 and English in 2021. While Kiki said in 2021 that a fifth volume is coming, it was never released, and the series is considered stalled.

In December 2018, Micro Magazine began serializing a manga adaptation of the series on Comic Ride. The manga is illustrated by Sunao Minakata, best known as the artist for Akuma no Riddle: Riddle Story of Devil. The fifth collected volume was released in Japan in August. Seven Seas will release it in English on April 30, 2024.

Roll Over and Die is notable for its mix of Yuri and fantasy elements. It is one of several fantasy Yuri works, including I'm in Love with the Villainess and Sexiled, that began as a web novel in the late 2010s before being acquired as a light novel and later adapted into a manga. It has received praise for its storytelling and prose but garnered some criticism for its use of the video game stats trope, violence, and gore.

Christine Dashiell translates the manga into English, with lettering by Bambi Eloriaga-Amago & Roland Amago.

You can check out the fourth manga volume of Roll Over and Die today in English digitally and in paperback: https://amzn.to/3EIM47u

Reading official releases helps support creators and publishers. YuriMother makes a small affiliate commission from sales to help fund future coverage.

[kalinko]

bug david 𓆣

pinterest || playlist || art

bug david is a canadian veteran and sniper who has been running heists for two decades. following her rough childhood and military tour during the gulf war, she entered a partnership with michael townley and trevor philips. her life was thick was hedonism for ten years – murder, drugs, sex, money. she only came down to earth following the botched heist of ‘04, which pushed her into hiding and she presumed her old friends were dead. in 2010, he moved to los santos for a fresh start and took assassination contracts for her primary source of income. three years later, bug was put in contact with lester crest, and subsequently reignited her unorthodox friendships.

name: bug david (nee melissa david) was given the nickname ‘bug-eyes’ in the military (later shortened to ‘bug’) and she opted to use that name over her birth name pretty much exclusively.

age: 49 in 2013 (main story of gta v) d.o.b. august 21st, 1964

gender: ??? (she/he pronouns) was socialised primarily as a dude growing up and while in the military; bug does not care much for gender generally and thinks it’s unimportant. does however hate being referred to as ‘melissa’, and responds neutrally to both feminine and masculine terms, so take that as you will.

sexuality: ??? bug never bothered labelling herself because she thought it was pointless given that he was never into traditional relationships. there has been flings with men, women, everything in between.

timeline

(cw: abuse, ptsd, drug addiction, miscarriage, overdose. list is not extensive, read w/ caution)

1964: bug is born in new brunswick to parents katlin milliea and terrence david. she is the youngest child and has five older brothers.

1967: due to her parents marrying, bug’s mother loses her native status and is forced out of the  mi'kmaq reservation. the family move to saskatchewan, to a small town on the canada-us border.

1972: bug’s mother engages in sex work to pay off her father’s drug debts. when under the care of their father, the children are subjected to physical and verbal abuse.

1980: after her 16th birthday, bug moves into an apartment with her brothers to escape their turbulent home life. three of bug’s eldest brothers enlist in the military.

1982: bug scrapes the grades necessary to graduate from high school.

1984: while attending community college, bug works odd jobs at a local slaughterhouse.

1989: bug drops out of community college and opts to enlist in the military following the legalisation of women in combat roles.

1990: bug is deployed as a field sniper in the middle east during the gulf war.

1991: bug is discharged following a suicide attempt.

1992: bug returns to canada and moves along the border. she self-medicates with recreational drugs due to ptsd.

1993: bug picks up shady shooting jobs due to her lack of education and skills outside of military experience. these include illegal poachings, and cheap assassinations (usually scorned spouses looking to get rid of their partners)

1994: at a shooting range, bug is approached by michael townley who propositions a job. she is hired as sniper support for an armored truck heist. bug meets trevor for the first time.

1995: bug & trevor enter a complex emotional and sexual relationship, which they keep from michael.

1999: bug & michael’s friendship begins to deteriorate due to her jealousy regarding the bond he has with trevor.

2003: the trio temporarily moved to north yankton to carry out a handful of jobs.

2004: michael sets up the lundendorff heist but bug refuses to participate due to their tumultuous relationship. bug finds out she is pregnant and opts to tell trevor when they return from ludendorff. the botched heist takes place. bug goes into hiding in the north of canada and later suffers a miscarriage.

2005: after a year of searching with no leads, bug presumes trevor and michael to be dead. bug becomes reliant on a myriad of drugs, primarily heroin.

2007: bug attempts to get back into heists but ends up murdering her replacement crew in an emotional fit.

2010: after an epiphany following a near-overdose, bug sporadically packs up and moves to los santos.

2011: bug works at a bar part-time while taking assassination contracts for her primarily form of income. bug serves community service after being caught trespassing in an abandoned building.

2013: bug is contacted by lester crest for a job, and informed michael is alive and ‘back in the game’. through his intel, she discovers trevor is alive. she rekindles her old friendships with the pair.

[foxes-that-run]

2011 Haylor Timeline

Timeline Tag We don’t know the whole story. Harry and Taylor have never said when they met or started dating, often assumed to have met At the March 2012 Kids Choice Awards, because it was the first time we saw them together. more.

A source close to Taylor later said to Vanity Fair he had chased her for a year, before the started dating, before he kissed Emily Ostily on the 21 April 2012 and Taylor posted about infidelities to Instagram on 23 April 2012 (they cannon met 24 days earlier). They were in the same city and locations throughout 2011. In 2014 Taylor told Rolling Stone:

"People think they know the whole narrative of my life, I think maybe that line is there to remind people that there are really big things they don’t know about."

As Taylor said to Time Magazine in 2023 and Harry said to Howard Stern in 2019 it's not in their interests for a new relationship to be public before they are solid.  In Harry's words 'it's never benefited me' for a relationship to be public. In 2011 people were sent death threats for having dinner with Harry.

2010

31 January - Fearless won AOY & CA Grammy

27 March - Harry styles auditions for x factor

23 July - One direction formed on X factor.

3 August - Harry's name first appeared in the Sun newspaper

23 October - Taylor first seen with Jake at SNL taping, sung monologue song

25 October - Speak Now released.

12 December - X factor semi final, 1D third, Syco signed One Direction for £2 million, each boy was only paid an initial £8,000. Maybe signed on the 13th.

13 December - Jake not at Taylor’s birthday, in January announce broke up in December. It was 7 weeks.

2011

4 January - Taylor seen in LA on the 5th January then not again for a month.

25-30 January 1D fly to Los Angeles. The Sun reported they were in US meeting writers and producers to start recording. It's likely they first met here.

5 February - Taylor seen for first time in a month, in LA, wearing the Key necklace in LA. It later appeared in the I knew you were trouble music video (4:45) and was sold as merchandise, there was a key for Fearless too, but it stopped after this.

19 February - 9 April; X-Factor live tour. TS tour break 20 & 21, 20th was X Factor O2 show.

1 March - Harry left Manchester hotel and arrived Sheffield

3 March - Harry pokemon white/black

7, 9 March - Harry Liverpool

10, 11, 12, 13 March - Harry in Manchester

17 - 30 March - Speak Now in Europe. Taylor wrote ATW

15 March - one direction Birmingham show, fans see boys leaving on the 16th then have 4 day weekend where he is not seen.

16 March - Taylor's Lover Journal talks about Paris, seeing castles, 4th grade and career anxiety over the Mean video. She talks about visiting having visited Neuschwanstein Castle that later appears in Bejewelled MV.

16 - 19 march Taylor seen in Paris

17 March - Taylor plays speak now in Paris at Zénith de Paris, in park bordered by Canal Saint-Denis, (technically) outside Saint-Denis.  Holy ground's secret message is “when you came to the show in SD” later the film clips for Begin Again, EHC, Falling and LOT tour images all reference canals in Paris. Taylor plays Soul Sister / Fearless mash-up for the first time that show. Soul Sister was Harry's first X-Factor Audition song. She plays the mash-up on/off for the rest of the tour and on the DVD.

21 March - Taylor in London Recording Studio wearing a rose dress key from IKYWT video. Taylor wore a Rose ring and Rose Dress the day before too.

22 March - Taylor shopping at Portobello Market and photographed at Alice in Wonderland themed store (Wonderland)

23 March - a Wednesday, Taylor wore white dress (Begin again cover) in London, Harry also in London before Nottingham show. Vanity Fair article later says they'd known each other for a year by March 2012. Harry return to hotel after performing at O2

30 and 31 March - One Direction Tour Break, Speak Now at O2

4 April - 1D iTV Studios (filming a year in making)

6, 8, 9 April - Harry Cardiff

30 April - 1D Recording Studio

2 May - 1D outside hotel London

10 May - 1D recording studio Kent

23 May - 1D left Britney Spears Concert LA Staples Centre

27 May - November 22 - Speak now in US, arm lyrics start.

2 June - 1D LA recording studio

3 June - 1D meet fans London

11 June - “In Detroit, Swift seemed somewhat melancholy. Once in a while, I had the feeling that she was on the verge of bursting into tears. She said that she had recently decided that life is “about achieving contentment… . You’re not always going to be ridiculously happy.” She had written about ten songs so far for her next album. Asked to characterize them, she said, “They’re sad? If I’m being honest.” The most recent one, she said, “is about moving on.” (x)

6-12 June - 1D in Sweden, likely record What makes you Beautiful.

13-20 June - 1D has a break, Harry unseen, not active on social and reappears in LA on the 20th. Taylor also free 13 - 16 other than the 15th:

15 June - Taylor arm lyrics "“A moment, a love, a dream, a laugh, a kiss, a cry, our rights, our wrongs.” – The Temper Trap, Sweet Disposition. Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Exactly one year later Harry got the lyrics from this song tattoo'ed.

17 June - Lover Journal Taylor wrote in her journal on way to Nashville “Something so unexpected and amazing happened recently... I’ve become blissfully happy with my life. Like, actually grateful for every second of the day. I've notice this onset for a while, but it's really hit me in the last week and especially since I wrote those 2 new songs. I'm happy I get to meet so many people on the road who make me feel like my music really matters to them.” One song may be State of Grace.

20-27 June - 1D in LA. Speak now break 23 & 24 June.

20 June Harry reappeared in LA at Britney concert

21 June - Harry at Staples centre LA

26 June - Harry Heathrow

27 June - Taylor in Teen Vogue with photos like Babe video

2 - 10 July - Speak Now dates rescheduled due to Bronchitis. Taylor in LA and does magazine shoots.

8-15 July - 1D in LA. What makes you beautiful shot at Sycamore Cove Beach in  Malibu 14-15. 15 July - arrived back at Heathrow

27 July - 1D iTV London (shot A year in the making where H cried)

16 August - 1D Key 103 Manchester

24 August - Arm Lyrics “But my heart cried out for you, California.” – Joni Mitchell, California. Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

31 August - Harry wearing paper plane necklace in heat photo shoot (1:55)

6 September - One Direction at GQ Men of the Year Awards 2011 - London. It gets mentioned in a few interviews after.

7 September - Taylor plays Tacoma -arm lyrics: “You are the ever-living ghost of what once was.” – Band of Horses, No One’s Gonna Love You. In her Lover Journal she went to Nashville rather than LA and writes Red on the plane.

10 September - WMYB on Red or Black, Harry is anxious in his solo and his hand shake. Arm lyrics “There was always something that meant more to you than me” - Jessica Andrews, “There’s More To Me Than You”

11 September - What makes you beautiful debut #1. 21st - Up all night. 1D helicopter to Manchester, shown in A Year in the Making

13 September - 1D Real Radio Manchester

14 September - asked who was most confident with girls LT says "Definitely without a question say Harry, like Harry, no matter how long is known her, or who she is he will go up to her, like if it's a celebrity, like at the GQ Awards, [Niall adds "Like Pixie Lott] he will go up and sing their song and dance. It's like 100% Harold Styles." Harry then changes the conversation to silly names, Louis brings up GQ again and Harry mouths "Stop going' on about it" (9:50).

16 September - 1D Harper Collins London

18 September - Harry at G.A.Y. perform WMYB

21 September - Harry at GQ end of FW party

18 - 30 September - 1D in New York, filmed Gotta be You in Lake Placid NY 29 and SUNY 29 September. Speak now break 18, 21 - 23 September, shows other days. The film clip included scenes on a train, the SBT message is "when you were on the train", she wrote it sometime on a bus. Speak Now dates in Colorado, Utah and Georgia. However, 28 September is possibly an anniversary and in the Four hang out (31-33) Harry said gotta be you was his favourite 1D song of all, which Niall clapped and said “well done Taylor your boyfriends back”. Harry met Emily Ostilly.

30 September - 1D at Heathrow

4 October - At Bring 1D to me Munich, when asked about ‘Celebrity Dreamgirls’ Louis says "Celebrity dreamgirls um,  yeah like there's a lot of people I suppose that we think is HOT, like... Harry?" the look Zayn, Niall and Liam's expressions, and Louis this is not flirting, he is 'ribbing' Harry for making out with a famous person and sharing his secrets. Harry says his crush is Emma Watson, who the interviewer says has a crush on him,  H blushes and, not willing to let it go, Louis points out a love bite. Arm Lyrics “It’s easy saying nothing when there’s nothing to say” - KT Tunstall, “Fade Like A Shadow”

5 October - Taylor tweets “Leaving Little Rock, headed to New Orleans. Writing a song on a moving bus” in the album video (8:20) Taylor said she wrote sad beautiful tragic on a bus. She has USA tour dates with only short breaks, not seen between.

7 October - Harry tweet ‘whoops, lost something pretty important…’

17 October - Harry goes to Ed Sheeran concert with Louis at Eleanor's university then not seen till rehearsals 2 weeks later.

19 October - Harry did a 10 min phone interview alone with Grimmy and said he was passing through Birmingham. There are voices in the background at the end.

20 October - Taylor played San Diego. Harry was not seen. He posted "Finally set the correct time on my Microwave..I feel like a new man." on Twitter.

24 October- Harry is coughing in an interview and looks and sounds unwell. At 16:20 the interviewer asks about their break, Harry purses his lips for age thinking then says he is tried when he comes back to work because he spends his break rushing around to see everyone. Zayn looks to Louis who gives a loud “Hmmm” which is a tell of his for knowing more than is said.

30 October - Taylor writes in lover journal she (also) has a chest infection!

31 October - Taylor adopted Meredith!

2 November - One Direction Tour rehearsals Harry back in London for month

9 November - Harry Shepperton Studios

13 November - Harry Fontain Studios, Xfactor also

15, 17 November - Harry London. filmed One Thing Hyde park 17th

17 November - Louis quoted in media  "Harry's found 'The One' now." and doesn't name Caroline. Harry and Caroline never say more than friends, Eleanor seen with Louis often. Harry in London

18 November - Up all night released. In listening party says “more than this” is his favorite, it’s a deep one. Harry in London,  has dinner with Caroline Flack. On 27 November on chatty man Harry clarifies there were other people there and again says just friends. Articles and Caroline tweets about death threats for having dinner with Harry. (Like WTF would anyone date him publicly?).

19 November - Harry Dublin

22 November - Harry Alan Carr. Taylor posts photo of London shop for preppie rugby menswear (!) and posts a photo to instagram with "Superior Style and Quality Fit" 👀 written on the window. This is a latergram, she had a show in Madison Square Garden. On October 3 Harry had said Rugby shirts look better on girls.

24 November Sugarscope asks if they have an eye on anyone in the US and mention Taylor Swift, all 5 are actually quiet for the first time, Liam’s face changes to serious (0:34), Harry and Zayn look at Louis, maybe because of Oct 4. Niall offers Demi Lovato and all the boys start saying Hollywood in a silly voice. The same interviewer asks about romantic Christmas plans, Louis looks at Harry again, Harry answers truthfully “Christmas at home with family” seems the interviewer and band know what’s not being said, they ask Harry twice

6 December - H Caroline's house

8 December - Caroline and Harry photo, see Caroline post from another blog

10 December - Harry london nightclub,

13 December - Taylor's birthday party inside her Nashville apartment. posted a photo in a recording studio, so assumed that Begin again was recorded on on her birthday. Taylor not seen again that year other than Snow on the Beach Photos. Harry seen in London on the 13th. One direction in tour rehearsals till tour begins 18 December in England (12 & 13)

15 December - Harry posted that he went skinny dipping, as in no shorts to avoid doubt. Taylor still MIA. Paper Rings vibes.

16 December - it snowed in Liverpool, including the "Snow on the beach" 50 minutes from Harry's house in Holmes Chapel.

I8 December - 1 July - Up all night tour, Europe till us in February

22 December - in 1D you tube the band chose a fan question “from Taylor, if you were a girl who would you date” and Zayn laughs and says Harry.

24 December - One Direction Holiday till 3 January. Taylor MIA.

28 December - Taylor posts three photos from a beach one with her face on the beach "Childhood beach memories revisited" and one with snow on the beach behind her "Nothing quite like a freezing cold, wintery beach." some have assumed this was in New Jersey, but the shadows look like an afternoon on an western coast and there was no snow in NJ, nor Taylor seen near there. It had snowed at the beach in Liverpool which is west.

29 December - Taylor posted a seashell with Safe and Sound Lyrics written (it had just been released) with the caption "Saying goodbye to the shore, writing on a seashell."

30 December - Harry got his drivers licence, on 28 June 2012 on Bert show (11 mins) said “the first thing I did was my …….. someone brought the car to me and I dropped them off at the pub” Harry was in Manchester. Louis posted he was in Paris Disneyland with Eleanor. Apart from the winter/snow on the beach photos Taylor hadn't been seen for a week, she then posted a goodbye and Harry's first drive was to drop someone secret somewhere. 👀 

31 December - Harry goes back to London flat for new years party, in same interview Harry said they spent Christmas at home

3 January - Caroline Break up announcement. Harry later tweets, he 'didn't dump' her, he never said they were more than friends. Caroline also said "95% of what was reported was false". 

Continue to 2012

[kimmiessimmies]

Sweet Beginnings Tag

This tag is all about looking at your past. All you need to do is to find one of the first screenshots you ever took (preferably also published), and post it beside the recent one! And tell everybody when you took that first picture! Oh, and don’t forget to tag your posts! #sweet beginnings tag.

Thank you @hancyan, @greenplumbboblover, @nocturnalazure and @eljeebee for tagging me in this.

I have to be honest though, seeing this Sweet Beginnings Tag going round has been bringing out my insecurities. I see people posting their 2010's stuff saying "Eww!", "Cringe!", "OMG, look at this puddingface!", "The lighting is horrible!" and "What was I thinking with that camera angle?!" Meanwhile I'm sitting here looking at these pictures they deem to be such an embarrassment and all I think is "Umm, that's better than what I currently do... So if that's all so disgusting, what does that say about (your opinion on) my stuff?"

But I will play! I love looking back! I know what everyone is expecting is a huge difference between a Sim created in the 2010s and one created now, but guess what, peeps; the Sims that were the centre of my Sim-universe back then are the same ones still going strong today. I stick with my babies foreverrrrr. I also will not say, "Oh, look what an embarrassment I was back then." What I will say, though, is there was a time when I didn't know turning off headline effects was an option. See for yourself:

September 2012

This is The Prom of 03, one of the first (non-)story posts. We see Dan and James, still the best cousin-friends ever, talking after James had just publicly broken up with Jill.

At that point, I posted to my WordPress blog and to The Sims Daily (I know I keep commenting this on everyone's posts, but I soooo miss the awesome atmosphere of the forums and to my darlings from the TSD days: I MISS YOU! I MISS US!).

However, aside from the picture above, I also managed to shoot the picture below by NOT posing anyone and just clicking at the right time. For the early days, that's quite the skill, I think! Especially when you realise I also didn't know how to use the tab camera mode yet.

September 2012

This is Ellie's mum Annabel meeting teacher Eva on Ellie's very first day of school. With Ellie standing by. Just using in-game interactions (not even Animator).

In April 2013, I came to Tumblr. At first, I mainly reblogged posts by my Daily friends and posted pictures of Honeycomb Valley and interiors. I feel tempted to reblog one of those full posts now. Should I?

After a few months, I started posting links to my (non-)stories on my blog, accompanied by some pictures to get a taste of the story and hopefully lure people to my WordPress blog. Funnily enough, one of those first pictures is my darling Sadie singing, which is the same thing I photographed today! :)

June 2013

Fun fact: This is the karaoke performance which landed Sadie her place as The Hot Wings female lead! Oh, how this moment would end up changing her life... Neither her nor me knew just how much by that point. Makes me all nostalgic to see her like this again.

By this point, I did know how to turn off headline effects and how to work the camera in tab mode, which already made a difference.

Unto the current stuff. Well, my absolute proudest pictures are these:

August 2023

Particularly because of the emotions they portray. Which were so on point for the story they were telling. Aww, my Joshua <3.

A lot of the credit for these goes to the pose creators though. In particularly @danjaley for her railing poses.

I will also share Singing Sadie again, even though I've shared this picture two times already, but I figured it would be fun to see in this post to compare her (and me) to the picture above.

October 2023

I do think I've grown over the years. No, I know I did. And I know even my current stuff isn't as shiny and polished and perfect as a lot of other stuff out there, but these are my babies and I love them just the way they are. :)

Tagging @simsaralove, @ice-creamforbreakfast, @wasset-aseskara, @missy-hissy, @danjaley. But feel free to ignore if you've already done this or simply don't feel like it.

[nextstopwonderland]

“It just made me want it more” - Video compilation of Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson’s meet cute ugly origin story, from their first match in Chillicothe, OH in 2007 to their August/September 2010 battles, intercut with Mox’s 2/17/2022 Dynamite promo.