#than if it had been altered through years of natural selection (which has already happened to almost every fruit and vegetable you eat)

[weemstar]

Isn't most sunscreen made with almost full natural ingredients anyways because we haven't been able to make anything better than the naturally protective extracts of plants

[donutloverxo]

Good little wife

Note - Inspired by a request I got long ago and written for the happy hoelidays challenge I'm cohosting with my sister hoes @navybrat817 and @stargazingfangirl18 . I used the prompts two idiots in love + Character A loves Christmas. Character B hates it. A melts Bs cold heart Dividers by @firefly-graphics .

Summary - Your husband makes up to you for being a Grinch and a meanie to you throughout your marriage.

Warnings - 18+ only, smut(m/f), dub con, older man/younger woman, arranged marrige, leaking nudes, daddy kink, blood play, virginity/innocence kink, loss of virginity, virgin reader, painful sex, misogyny, mob activities.

Pairing - Mob!Andy Barber x reader

Word count - 8k

“You look beautiful, cookie,” your mother raved, pressing her lips to your cheek, “He’s a lucky man.”

You only hummed. Staring at your refection, seeing someone you didn’t even recognize.

Your white lace dress somewhat conservative, still really pretty, something you would’ve been more than happy to wear if your circumstances weren’t so depressing.

You almost let out a sardonic laugh, you didn’t get to choose your husband but at least you chose your wedding gown.

“It’ll be alright,” your mother picked at your hair, noticing your evident sadness, you’ve never been one to hide how you feel anyway, “you’ll learn to love him. He’s very successful.”

“I always thought ‘money doesn’t make you happy',” something she had said to you so many times over the years.

“That’s just a fairy tale. People fall out of love, run out of things to talk about, men cheat, in the end all that’s left is how well he can provide for you,” she stated.

You checked your phone as soon as you could, going through your messages to see if your boyfriend, or rather your now ex boyfriend, had sent you anything. You still naively hoped that he'd come on a white horse and sweep you off and away, so you wouldn’t have to marry someone you’ve else. So you wouldn’t have to give up your freedom forever and just be someone’s wife.

But you saw nothing. He hadn’t talked to you, not since your father found out about you both. Since he was from a family your daddy hated with a passion, and you were supposed to as well, your father made you cut all times with him. Locked you in your room in a timeout till you came to your senses.

After over three weeks he came to you, telling you how he was ready to forgive you and move on. You were so happy. For a minute you let yourself believe that this was your father, he loved you unconditionally, of course he'd set aside whatever vain feud he has and let you be with your love.

All your hopes were crushed when he told you he had selected a husband for you whom you have to marry in just a month. That you had to drop out of college since you wouldn’t need that degree anyway.

You always did believe that he had your best interests at heart, you wanted to believe it this time as well, but you just couldn’t.

Cringing inwardly when he kissed your cheeks, “You look beautiful,” he told you, cold eyes staring at you, “Don’t try anything stupid. Andrew is a good man,” he looped your arm in with his.

“He’s more than a decade older than me,” you argued, biting your lip as he squeezed your arm to warn you.

You slapped a fake smile on your face, walking down, one step after another as everyone looked at you in awe.

This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life...

But when you looked at Andy waiting for you at the alter you felt nothing but grave anxiety which made your teeth clatter, his palms joined together at his front, he did look handsome with his tux and neat beard. You have had a crush on him for a long time but you’ve never even had a real conversation with him, you didn’t know him. No one did.

Your heart filled with dread as your father handed you over to Andy, patting him on his shoulder, “Take good care of her.”

“I will,” Andy smiled.

You weren’t really there, maybe your body was but your soul had left you to maybe make the whole ordeal less painful. The priest read the vows asking you if you were ready to take him as your husband forever.

“I do,” since you had no other choice.

“I do,” he repeated.

You felt a shiver jolt up your spine when his fingers grazed yours, putting the thin silver band on your finger before lifting your veil to press his lips to yours, giving you a chaste, barely there kiss as everyone cheered you on.

The rest of the evening was a blur, you could barely register what had happened, everyone sweetly calling you ‘Mrs Barber’ only making you more nervous.

Andy however, was cordial and formal as always, shaking their hands and thanking them.

Since you hadn’t really taken any dance lessons you were left to simply wing it with him at your first dance. With your clammy hands in his you tried to match his pace as he lead you, bumping into his feet with yours more than once.

He leaned in to whisper in your ear, “Relax,” making you shudder.

You looked up at him, he had barely said two words to you but your grandmother often said ‘Eyes are the windows to the soul’.

And Andy’s eyes were so... kind, like a blue ocean you could happily drown in. He almost looked at you as if he were fond of you.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad...

You didn’t really expect Andy to carry you over the threshold, that was just a silly little fantasy you’ve always had and you knew he’d never indulge you in it but he didn’t even hold the door open for you.

You looked around his condo, so grey and boring, looked like it was out of a magazine catalogue, you felt so out of place there.

Naturally, you followed him to his bedroom, watching him wake his coat off, followed by his cuffs as he rolled his sleeves up.

You went over what you wanted to say in your head, how do you tell your husband that you’re a virgin, on your wedding night--that was something your grandmother never gave you advice on. You could’ve used her wisdom then.

With your mouth suddenly dry you tried to speak as he poured himself a drink, “Um... I’ve...”

“What?” he looked at you, quirking a brown brow up.

“Nothing,” you shook your head as you took a seat on the edge of the bed. “This is a nice house.”

“You can take the guestroom,” he said bluntly.

“What?”

“You can take the guestroom. I’ve already put all your bags there, you can decorate it however you like but don’t touch anything else.”

“But I...I’ve never heard of husband and wife sleeping in different rooms.”

“That’s true, it is unusual. This is not a normal marriage though, is it?” His tone so frustratingly patronising, as if he was talking to a child.

You’ve never really been appreciated for your mind, women never are--not where you come from, even your love Alex only ever thought of you as a ‘pretty face’. But Andy didn’t need to spell it out for you, “You... don’t want me...” you realised.

He only scoffed. He’d never been one for long term relationships, he had tried but he could never give himself to another person, women often called him emotionally unavailable, his demanding and dangerous job did contribute a lot to that, but more than that it was his unwillingness to change. He was self aware enough to know that but he didn’t need anyone else. He didn’t want to be tied down or to have a nagging immature wife.

“But why...” you wondered. Sure, you weren’t thrilled to marry him, but now you had accepted it and wanted to make the best of your new life. You thought he wanted the same.

“Why would I want you?” he spat. “ You’re nothing but a spoilt rich girl who’s had everything handed to her. Who was ungrateful and stupid enough to fraternize with the enemy.”

You let out a shaky exhale, looking at him with teary eyes, “I loved him...”

“You don’t know the first thing about love,” he rolled his eyes.

“He loved me too! But I’m willing to put that behind me. I made a vow to you.”

“You really don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?” you frowned.

He took his phone out of his pocket, opening his gallery to show you the compromising pictures you had sent to your ex, “He shared that with everyone, it was all just a ploy to humiliate your father.”

You gasped, taking his phone in your trembling hand, your breasts exposed as you shyly looked at the camera. You had flat out refused to send him a nude when he asked for it but then he threatened to break up with you, to go after your best friend, even called you a prude because you hadn’t slept with him. At the moment you felt as if you had no choice but to do it...

“He wouldn’t,” you sobbed.

“And because of your stupidity I had to marry you since no one else would ever want you,” he said. But then regretted it as you just started crying harder. He thought of maybe trying to console you but what would he even say?

He took the phone from you before you could even think of deleting the photos. He used them to pleasure himself almost every night. Maybe he was an idiot, he could have the real thing, yet he was pushing you away, “Go to your room,” he told you which made you sob even moreso.

You looked up at him, begging him for a hug, for some sort of comfort or sympathy but his face was cold and harsh. Finally gathering your wits you went to the other room, ready to cry yourself to sleep.

No matter how beautiful you were, you were still thrusted upon him, you didn’t love him, you never could because you never even had a choice

“Perfect,” you beamed, setting down the chicken pot pie you had just cooked up.

Your grandmama had always told you that a wife should be a cook in the kitchen and a whore in the bedroom. So that her man would never stray.

And while you hadn’t had a chance to be a whore for Andy... something that you were looking forward to, you hoped the fresh home cooked meal, the holiday season and decorations you had spent the past few days working on would put him in the mood. To maybe accept you as his wife.

For the past six months you had tried everything, making him breakfast, packing his lunch, offering him massages, even trying to help him with his work but he was always so cold to you.

You feared that this is how it will be forever. He would never love you, not the way you’ve always loved him. Even when he was so cruel towards you.

But you were nothing if not resilient. So you said chuck it and went all out. Decorating your whole house, with a real tree for the past few days while Andy was out on a work trip for thanksgiving. Maybe you could surprise him and he’d realise just how much he lucked out with you.

You even went with a more risqué outfit than you usually would. Your little emerald green skirt with pleats was a bit too short and impractical for the cold winters but you were going to stay inside anyway. It was topped off with a tight burgundy blouse and a push up bra which made your girls look enticing and some red pumps.

With a pumpkin pie for dessert in the oven, your salads done and the gingerbread flavored candles lit up you were good to go.

So you sat on the couch, watching 'A Christmas story' for the hundredth time to kill time till he gets home and to distract your nervous mind.

After ninety minutes the movie was over but Andy still wasn’t home. You tried calling him but it kept going to voicemail.

Frustrated, but determined to follow through with your ‘Seduce Andy Barber’ plan you put on another movie, chewing your lip till it bled as you impatiently waited for him.

Soon it was midnight, your food got cold and the rumbling in your tummy became more prominent so you decide to eat your dinner, put the leftovers in the freezer and cut your losses.

You were almost done with your dishes when your husband coming into the apartment, turning around you saw him hang his coat on the back of the chair and plomp down on it. He groaned, pulling the sleeves of his shirt up to reveal his bulky forearms.

“You’re home,” you said, taking off your apron so he could see your little get up.

He didn’t smile at you like you expected he would, he didn’t say ‘Good job’ like you thought he would. He certainly didn’t look like he wanted to bend you over the dining table and take you then and there. He simply frowned at you. Looking at you as if your mere existence offended him.

“I told you; you were allowed to decorate your room however you liked. Not the whole apartment,” he growled, rubbing a hand over his face.

“What? I did it for you... I thought you would like it, ” you stood there, dumbfounded, shifting from one foot to another, “You don’t like Christmas.” You realised.

“No, I don’t. Christmas isn’t all fun and jolly for everybody. I’ve never had anyone to celebrate it with,” he did you a once over, his pants tightening uncomfortably as he took in your little ensemble.

He had never had a single good Christmas in his whole life. He’d usually spend it either working or drinking. But now, he had you, his good little wife who had gone out of her way to do all this just for him.

He could kiss your red lips then and there, finally do what he’s been wanting to go for the past few months and make love to you, eat the delicious meal you had made him because he was fucking starving.

But then he realized how easily you could be taken away from him. How this was all so fickle.

“Do you want a divorce?” he crossed his hands over his chest, as if daring you to give a wrong answer, “If you do, I’ll give you one right now.”

“I - ” you strutted, you didn’t really know, “Daddy would never let that happen.” To which he scoffed.

Your father would kill you both if this marriage failed. He knew that, why would he still be willing to risk everything?

“Where are you going?” you asked when he got up from the chair.

“To my room, to sleep,” he sighed.

He knew what you would say, he knew you were daddy’s little girl who’d die before disappointing her father, which was solely why you were with him, and yet he let himself fall for you and get hurt.

You tugged on his shirt, ready to beg him to at least eat the meal you made for him but then you frowned, inhaling the feminine perfume from his shirt, mixed with his own Cologne, you took a step back, your eyes brimming with tears as you realised he might’ve been with another woman.

While you were home slaving away to make everything perfect for him.

Your father had a handful of mistresses, a few of them younger than you. Your mother knew, all wives know and look the other way. That was how it was supposed to be. It was how you make marriages last...

And your poor beaten heart could take his coldness towards you, it absolutely could not bear him being with another woman. Your father had always praised him for being loyal, and it was one of the things you loved about him...

“Where were you?” you sniffled to keep the tears at bay.

“I was out working. So I could pay for your shopping sprees.” He spat.

You gasped, “I haven’t gone shopping in months! I only did now for Christmas!”

“That tree better be down by the time I wake up. You can out all that crap in your bedroom if you like. I do not what to see it.” He said gravelly, before slamming his door shut.

Something was horribly wrong.

Andy came home to an empty, cold house. You weren’t there to greet him like you usually are, in fact you hadn’t been for the past few weeks. He could hear the TV from your room, some kind of musical playing.

He checked the kitchen for some food, you used to make dinner every night, rave about your love for cooking and baking, but now it seemed that you lived on poptarts and McDonald’s.

He knocked on your door, to ask if you wanted some of the alfredo he was cooking up, also to maybe get you to have dinner with him.

Ever since he had married you, he had such a beautiful companion to have dinner with. To watch silly romcoms with, someone who waited for him to come home, called him all worried when he was late, asked him how his day was

It’d break his heart to say good night to you, you’d give him those puppy eyes, fluttering your lashes as if begging him to invite you to bed with him.

He wanted to ask you to come, to feel what it would be like to snuggle up with your soft body, to smell your hair, to finally fuck you, but he’d just go away to sleep in his cold bed with a heavy heart. Making do with his hand as he thought of you, it wouldn’t feel nearly as good as you would but it would have to do.

“Can I come in, honey?” he asked.

Letting himself in when no answer came from you. You were lying on your bed, blankets draped over you, your eyes trained on the television. He looked around your room, he had only been there a couple of times, he had expected to see some kind of winter wonderland since you were such a fan of Christmas.

But it looked just how it usually did... pale pink walls, a queen sized bed, a small closet and a dresser and a vanity. No tree or fairy lights or nut crackers.

He leaned against the door frame. “Did you have dinner?” He wanted to know.

You made some sort of unintelligible noise; which could mean anything. So he asked, “Would you like some pasta? I can’t make it as good as you do but I’ll try.”

“No.” You answered. Still not even looking at him.

“It’s Christmas Eve, do you want to go celebrate with your family?”

You shook your head in response. “No, I think I’ll just stay here.”

He had stolen your brightness and sunshine away, tainting you with his darkness. “Stop it,” he scolded, switching off the TV and standing in front of you to make you listen to him. “Get ready, I’m dropping you off at your fathers. You’re not spending Christmas in bed.”

“What difference does it make?” you huffed.

“Get ready. Right. Now.” He ordered, pulling your blanket away from you.

“No!” you whined. Sitting up, your face heating up with a simmering rage you had harbored for months. “Why do you even care? Do you want to get me out of the house so you could spend Christmas with her?!”

“Who’s her?” he furrowed his brows.

“Your mistress!” you yelled, looking around for something you could hurt him with, you grabbed a hold of your Mrs Bunny, your cute pink stuffie and threw it at his face. “I’m not going anywhere. And you’re not bringing her in to my house!” You said, throwing another stuffie at him which he caught with his hand.

“Honey,” he said, as if he was so disappointed with you, for catching him in his lies and deceit. “I don’t have a mistress. Where would I even find the time for one? All those late nights were spent at the office or in meetings.”

He would be the world’s biggest idiot to get a mistress when he had a wife like you waiting for him at home. A wife he hadn’t even so much as even kissed... given how pouty and tempting your lips looked, he didn’t know how he resisted for so long.

“Don’t call me honey,” you puffed out your cheeks, “And I don’t believe you.”

“Well, what can I do to make you believe me?”

You sighed, laying back down on the bedding, “There’s not much you can do. Except leave me be. I just want to sleep this Christmas away.”

He had to do something to get your spirits up. And since you has thrown away your old decorations he ran to every store in the town, waiting in the queue for hours, calling in as many favors as he could to get some new ones.

While he wasn’t able to get a real Christmas tree, he got a fake one which was a bit smaller than the one you had put up but not all that bad.

You had decorated the apartment with the traditional red, greens and golden he decided to go with a soft pastel pink theme. Hoping that you would like it and forgive him.

He had gotten you couple of gifts, a little babydoll he saw on the internet, it was pink and sexy, he thought of you the moment he saw it. Ordering it for you but he never really gathered enough courage to ask you to wear it. He wrapped it up for you in some festive paper, tying a ribbon around it.

He decided to get as many gifts for you as he could so the tree wouldn’t look so depressing, a Tiffany’s set, an advent calendar from a make up company he knew you liked, a box of cookies and one of chocolates, a new apron with floral patterns and frilly trimmings, some cozy socks, and a surprise gift he had been saving for you.

Looking around the living room, while it wasn’t as good as what you had done with the place he was still proud of what he could pull off in just a couple of hours.

He called out your name before knocking and entering, switching on your bedside lamp he sat next to you, stroking your hair, “Wake up, angel.”

“Seriously, stop it with the petnames,” you said, your voice groggy from sleep and irritated. Because he had only ever said your name with contempt before.

“I’m not going to stop, honey. You’re my wife, I can call you whatever I like.”

“Whatever,” you mumbled, rubbing your sleep away from your eyes.

“I have a surprise for you.” He smiled at you.

And while he had certainly smiled at you before that, when you had said something funny or silly (which you usually did just to see him smile), this one seemed so much brighter and warm.

“What is it?” you sat up. Still a bit crossed with him but excited to see what surprise he had for you.

“You have to come into the living room for that, and promise to stop being a Grinch,” he said, bopping your nose.

You scoffed incredulously, “I’m being a Grinch?! You were the one who made me take everything down in the first place!”

“I know, honey, and I am sorry for that. Hopefully I can make it up to you.” He winked.

You combed your hair, splashing some water on your face and then following him out to see what he had in mind for you.

You all but gasped at the tree in the middle of your living room, so beautiful, the soft glow of the fairy lights illuminated the room, little festive trinklets all over the room.

He had got you a pink stocking with sparkling silver hearts on it. His was a normal red one with ‘Andy' written with a sharpie or a pen. You giggled at that.

“You like it, honey?” he asked.

You nodded, observing the ornaments on your tree, “I do. Thank you so much, Andy. It’s so beautiful, I don’t think anyone’s ever done something so grand for me.”

Your rave gave him the courage to out his hand over your waist, pulling you into him, “I know this doesn’t make up for everything, but it’s start.”

“Yes! I think... I’d like a fresh start,” you beamed up at him

He excused himself to make some hot chocolate for you both, handing you a mug with little heart shaped marshmallows and sprinkles on top of it. You didn’t even realise how you ended up snuggled up next to him on the couch, Elf playing on the TV which he shockingly had never seen before.

“You know... for someone who hates Christmas so much you did a pretty good job saving it!” you giggled, kissing his bearded cheek.

“Well...” he looked down at you, wiping away the mustache the hot chocolate gave you before sucking his thumb off, “I don’t hate it anymore, because I’m not alone,” he said, his thumb pulling on your plump bottom lip.

“Um...” you face heated up as looked away, “You got me gifts!” you screamed a bit overzealous to change the subject, “Can I open one now? Please?! I’m just so excited!”

“Sure,” he murmured, a bit salty that he didn’t get the kiss.

He knelt next to you on the carpet as you pinked one up, shaking it next to your ear, scrunching your nose up so cutely as you tried to decipher what it was.

“Mmm... I can’t tell...”

“Why don’t you just open it?” he asked as his hand caressed your bare thigh, finding himself unable to keep his hands off of you now that he has you.

You ripped at the wrapping paper, opening the box to reveal the skimpy baby pink lingerie he had got you.

You pulled it out of the box and then started stammering, unable to form words once you realised what it was. “Is this... um..”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes, it’s very cute and nice. Do you, want me to wear it for you?”

“If that’s what you want,” he said casually and then shrugged but then regretted it as your face fell and you let. He wasn’t used to half-assing things if he was going to tell you his true feelings, he had to go all out.

Taking a deep breath, “I have to tell you something I’ve been meaning to say for months.”

“What?”

“I... love you,” he looked down at your lap, because he couldn’t bear to look in your eyes if you decided to reject him.

“Oh, Andy!” you beamed, “I love you too! I’ve always loved you,” you crawled on top of him, throwing your arms around his neck you hugged him.

“That’s good then,” he smiled stroking your back, he pulled you back so he could look at your pretty face, cupping your cheek he pressed his lips against yours.

He had only kissed you once, months ago at your wedding, and while it was not bad at all it was too short and formal and distant, nothing compared to how he felt right now. Moulding his lips against yours, kneading the flesh of your ass, you tasted just as sweet as he imagined you would.

You gasped in his mouth when he rutted his erection up into your core. “Andy!” your chest heaving as you felt him pressing against your thigh.

“What do you say you go put that on for me, doll? Hm?” he instructed.

You meekly nodded, grabbing a hold of the lingerie which you just now noticed was so sheer and would not really leave anything to the imagination.

“Come on out quickly now,” his impatience seeping through his voice as he sat on the edge of his, or what would now be both of your marital bed, one leg crossed over the other, his foot tapping against the floor.

His pants already snug, just from imagining what you would look like with the flimsy thing on. It wasn’t as revealing or kinky as some of the other pieces he had seen, but he felt it would match your personality perfectly.

He groaned, calling out your name again, “I’m gonna fucking die of blue balls, if you don’t come out right now, I’m coming in,” he got up to his feet to do just that but then stopped when he heard the knob twist.

One smooth leg peaking out of the bathroom, “Um... promise you wouldn’t make fun of me?” you asked. Your eyes screwed shut, you didn’t really have much of choice but you had never been so vulnerable in front of anyone. You’d hate to not be satisfactory for him.

“I promise,” his face softened, he had to practice some restrain, at least until he breaks you in, “Now come on out.”

You opened the door, your meek eyes fixed on your hardwood floor, your hands hugging your midsection. You blinked when he said nothing for several long, tortuous moments. Peaking a glance up at him you found him staring at you.

“Uh, do you like it?” you asked as your hands played with the helm of the teddy.

He almost scoffed. Like would be an understatement.

He knew pink would be your color. The nightie so short, clinging to your curves, your nipples pebbled against the satiny fabric, you looked like a sweet little doll and a whole fucking meal to devour at the same time. He would burst before he even got to touch you.

“Twirl,” he made the motion with his forefinger to demonstrate it, “Let me look at you better. And hands to your sides.”

You took a deep breath, letting your hands fall, doing as he had asked, your heart hammering in your chest because for the life of you, you couldn’t figure out if he actually liked you.

“Stop there,” he instructed when he got a look at your pert, round butt, the cloth barely covering it, he could see the imprints of the thong you wore.

“What are you thinking?” you asked.

“If I like your front better or your behind.” He almost chuckled at the incredulous gasp you let out. “Alright, look at me again.” Definitely the front, because he could see your beautiful face. Taking his original position on the bedding, “Come here,” he patted his lap.

Like the obedient wife that you aspired to be, you followed, perching yourself up on his lap, your arms around his neck for some support, looking into his lust blown, dark eyes.

You bite your lip when you felt that pressing into your thigh. Unable to bear his intense gaze you hid your face in the crook of his neck.

He hushed you, snuggling your soft body closer to his, his fingers drawing patterns on your hip, “How many men have you been with before?”

It didn’t really matter whatever your answer would be. But he wanted to tell you, that how ever many there were before him won’t matter anymore. From now on you are solely his.

“None,” you whispered so lowly that he almost couldn’t hear you.

“What?” Holding onto your chin so that he could make you look at him, “None? How is that possible?”

“I’ve just been waiting for the right one... I was going to with Alex but then didn’t...” you said as your hands caressed the coarse hair on his jaw.

He hummed, the fact that he would be your one and only, forever, only served to entice him further.

“Have you ever sucked a cock before?” he asked, although he knew the answer.

“No...”

“Don’t worry, I’ll guide you,” he promised, pushing on your shoulders to make you get on your knees.

You hissed at the cold floor, biting into the your calves and knees.

His dainty princess, he grabbed a throw pillow, instructing you to put it under, all the while staring at your cleavage peaking out like a creep.

Your eyes were fixated on his crotch, eager to see what a real penis looks like. You had watched some porn when you were a teen, out of sheer curiosity, but your friends had told you to lower your expectations. That real ones are much smaller and not so aesthetically pleasing.

You all but gasped when he took his cock out of the confines of his sweats, slapping over his abdomen. So big... and thick, with two veins over it, a bright flushed tip leaking with pre-ejaculate, and some soft hair dusted at the base of it.

You tried to stop yourself but then couldn’t help it, your hand shyly touching his tip yanking it down and then releasing it to see what happens. As suspected it flew back over, hard against his tummy, making you giggled.

“Oh gosh...” you slapped a palm over your mouth to stop from laughing.

He scrunched up the hair on the back of your head, yanking your neck back so that he could look at you, “What’s so funny?” he growled.

“Nothing,” you gulped, “It’s all just so strange and new... and exciting...”

He hummed as he took in your words. Grabbing the base of his cock as he rubbed his tip and precum all over your cheeks till your face was positively glowing with his essence.

“You wanna taste it?” he asked, to which you eagerly nodded.

Nudging your pouty lips with his tips before tapping on them when you didn’t get the clue, “Open.”

“Oh,” you said before opening as wide as you could, his length easing into your mouth. You hummed around him, the salty unique taste of him you had never really known before and couldn’t get enough of now.

He was barely halfway through inside you when he touched the back of your throat, he tutted, “Relax your throat,” he told you.

You didn’t really know what he meant but you tried loosening up all your muscles. Choking around him when he pushed in a few more inches.

Most of him was still out but it was as good as it’s gonna get, not that he’d ever complain... no... your mouth was like heaven. He had only known his hand for the past year Or so, and your mouth was almost too much.

Holding onto your face to keep it in place he started thrusting upwards into you, his heart swelling with tears escaped your eyes but you still tried to take more of him, to please him like the good girl that you were.

He stopped his hips, gently slapping your cheek to get your attention, “You always look at me when my dick is in your mouth. Got it?”

Since you couldn’t talk with your mouth full of cock, you just nodded.

You peered up at him innocently, fluttering your lashes, popping him out of your sloppy mouth, “Am I doing it right?” because you truly couldn’t tell.

He chuckled, smoothening a hand down your hair, “More than right... it’s too good but I want to come in your pussy. Maybe I’ll make you swallow my load latter, what do you think?”

“Yes, I’d like that,” you licked your lips to taste more of him.

“Get on the bed,” he ordered.

“Um... can I go fix my face before that,” you rubbed your mouth with the back of your hand, you doubted you looked very pretty to him then.

“No,” he stated, pulling you up by your armpits and all but throwing you on the bed.

You yelped and tried to protest, “I wanna look good for you...”

He pushed your legs apart to make room for him, smirking above you, eyeing you up as if you were a piece of meat, his prey, “This really does look pretty on you...” he rubbed the flimsy spagetti strap between his fingers, “but it’s served it’s purpose.”

You screamed, holding onto his wrists as he ripped the babydoll in two pieces, revealing your breasts to him, he yanked at it, throwing the remains away.

“That’s much better,” he gritted, pinching one of your peaks, capturing it in his mouth and suckling at it to his hearts content.

You pouted as you looked at the torn cloth, a bit upset that he ruined his gift to you. “I really liked that...” you sniffled. But couldn’t really ponder because Andy’s ravenous mouth was sucking hickies all over your breasts.

“I’ll buy you another one. I’ll buy you ten more,” he bit into the side of your breasts, your mewls and whines were like music to his ears.

“Andy...” you heaved, “Don’t leave marks... I have to go to dinner tomorrow to moms...”

He stopped abruptly, propping himself up above you and you were afraid that you had upset him, “You’re my wife now, honey. Your father gave you to me,” his hand snaking down your body, between your legs, he parted your moist lips, the pad of his fingers meeting your little pearl, “I can do whatever I want with you,” he reminded you, pushing a finger into you, “This cunt is mine now, got it?”

“Yess...” you whined as you squirmed under him, the invasion of his finger inside you too alien to your body.

“Which means you ask for permission before you touch yourself, or better yet, don’t touch yourself because that’s my job,” he stated.

“Have you ever made yourself come?” he asked, trailing soft kisses down your body till he settled between your legs, moving the strong of the thing to the side so he could get a better look at your virgin pussy, adding another finger inside you, your snug walls clinging to his digits, “You’re so fucking small. Can barely fit my finger. How will you take my cock,” he teased.

He’d make you take it.

You whimpered at the sting of it, “I’ll try, daddy...” throwing your head back as you massaged your breast.

You propped yourself up on your elbows, looking down at him when he stopped his ministrations, “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” he quirked a brow. “Do you realise what you just called me?”

You simply shook your head because you hadn’t really called him anything, “Andy?”

“No,” he huffed, “You called me daddy, honey.”

You gasped, you didn’t mean to say it out loud! “No...” you shook you head from side to side, trying to pull away from his fingers still knuckle deep inside you, “It can’t be!”

“Oh, but you did,” he laughed, “And you’re gonna say it again. In fact, from now on, when it’s just the two of us that’s the only thing that you will call me. Unless you wanna get punished...”

“Okay...” you said, still a bit unsure of it all.

You had always called him ‘daddy’ in your fantasies. It was maybe a bit expected for it to slip out like that but still so embarrassing. You said it again just to make sure that he actually wanted you to call him that and wasn’t just teasing you.

“Good girl,” he winked, latching his mouth around your clit, fucking you with his fingers as he kept sucking.

“Daddy...” you whined, biting on your hand to muffle some of your noises, a knot building up in the pit of your stomach, “Don’t stop, please!”

You gushed over his mouth, he lapped it all up, making sure nothing went to waste.

“You did good, honey,” he said, your cheeks heating up when you saw his beard glistening with your juices. He rolled your thong down your thick thighs, “You wear this to dinner tomorrow,” he told you. “Since I’m going to be a real husband from now on I pick out what you wear.”

All so he could see you in those pretty flowy dresses you wear sometimes, but you didn’t need to know that.

He hastily pushed his sweats and briefs past his hips, throwing them off the bed before pulling his t-shirt over his head.

You bit your lip at just the sight of him. His shoulders so broad, chest so wide, dark hair dusted all over his chest, you just knew then that all those hours he spent at the gym paid off, you knew he’d be ripped.

But you absolutely did not expect, someone as uptight as him to have numerous tattoos all over his torso.

Something inscribed in Sanskrit on his chest that you didn’t really understand... the logo of your family’s mob on just under his pectoral.

You sat up to get a better look at them, tracing a skull on his bicep that looked much less sophisticated than the others, the lines a bit scribbly, it was already fading.

“That’s the first one,” he interrupted you, “I was a kid back then, got my foster brother to do it.”

You pressed a kiss over it, “I love it.”

His blue eyes beamed at you, he was so beautiful...

“Now for your gift...” he circled your wrist bringing it down to his pelvis.

“Hm?” you looked down, tears brimming up in your eyes as you saw your name written on just beside his hipbone, next to his hard cock, standing tall against his stomach. In a small heart, dark ink against his pale skin, “When did you get it done?” you sniffles, touching his skin to feel the texture of the tattoo.

“A few weeks ago. I just... I’ve never belonged to anyone. Never had a family of my own. But now I have you, and you have me, I’m just as much yours as you’re mine,” he confessed, finally feeling the weight of it lifted off his shoulders. You were a blessing in disguise.

“I love you,” you beamed up at him.

“I love you too, doll, now come on,” he pushed you till you were on your back, “Daddy’s waited long enough. Can’t wiat to fill you up, make you mine.”

He planted a hand on the mattress, so he could see what he was doing to your virgin cunt, look at you and her, as he defiles you and makes you a woman, his thick manhood nudging your glistening lips as he eased into you, he felt you stretching around him, your face twisted in pain as you begged him to go easy on you, he halted when he felt your barrier.

He looked up at your pretty face, sparkling with his spend and your tears, your sweet little whimpers filled the room, he stayed still for a moment to let you get used to him, he knew he should take it easy.

His wife was a delicate, fragile, sweet little girl. He should be more gentle. A better husband and man would be. But he had his whole life to become a good man for you, tonight he just wanted to take what was rightfully his.

Letting out a deep, almost animalistic growl, piercing through your seal, your innocence till you were screeching, your nails drawing blood from the sides of his thighs.

“It hurts!” you screamed.

“It’ll only hurt for a little bit, doll. Just ride through it,” he cooed, stroking your sensitive clit to draw your attention away from the pain, he withdrew his hips before snapping them back till he was deep within your womb.

“You’re so snug, honey,” he grunted, not letting up his pace as he kept fucking into you,

A proud smirk gracing his face as he looked down to see himself covered in blood, a sticky mess of both your bodily fluids where your sexes were joined. His dick somehow grew harder inside you knowing how he took something from you that you’ll never be able to give someone else.

Slowly your crying and whining was subsiding as you got used to have him inside you, but he wanted to hear you scream for him in a different way. “Don’t you want to make your husband, no, your daddy happy, honey?” He asked, each word punctuated with a deep, harsh thrust into you.

You nodded, willing your tears away, cringing when you saw his crotch covered in your blood, “Yes I do, daddy. What do I do?”

“Your cute dumb brain always needs to be told what to do,” he chuckled, moving closer to you he circled his palms around your wrists, pinning them above you, “Wrap your legs around me.”

You followed along, wrapping your legs around his hips and hooking them together on his back. Closing your eyes when you felt your body seizing up, your pussy pulsating around his length when you felt the familiar feeling creep up on you.

“Look at me!” he barked and you immediately opened your eyes, “You look at me when I fuck you.”

You gulped and dared not close your eyes again. Even as you felt your orgasm wash over you, clenching around his length. His face was scrunched up, his neck, face and chest flush as he chased his own release till you felt his warm release coating your walls.

He collapsed above you, panting beside you he kissed your hair, “You liked that, babygirl?”

You let out a meek little yes. Feeling empty and void of his warmth and hardness when he pulled out of you before settling next to you.

“But...” you trailed off. Not finding it in you to bare yourself to him like that just yet.

“But what?” he whipped his head to look at you.

“But I’m sorry if I wasn’t very good!” Since you had simple laid there and took whatever he gave you. You had heard that men don’t like that...

“Don’t worry, honey, you were absolutely perfect,” he sighed. “You’ll get even better with practice, we’re gonna practice a lot from now on.”

You tried to cover your breasts up with the comforter, still awkward about being stark naked right next to a man, a man who looked as good as like Andy, but he swatted at your hands, reprimanding you and telling you to stay still and let him look at you to his hearts content.

Soon you felt your cunt throbbing back up again, still so raw from the loving Andy gave it, you tried rubbing your legs together to ease it a little bit.

“It still hurts?” Andy asked as you nodded.

He snaked a hand between your legs, massaging your little nub and your lips, tutting when you tried to pull away from his touch, “Shh I’m trying to make it hurt less.”

He hummed when he saw his seed leak out of you, pushing a finger in you, much to your displeasure, to keep it inside you, where it belonged.

He would make you go on some form of birth control as soon as he could. While the idea of you all round and plump with his kid was more than appealing, he didn’t want to share you with anyone else just yet. You were young, he had plenty of years to breed you.

“You’d make a good mother,” he wondered out loud.

“Hm?” you blinked at him. Squirming from the torture he was yielding on your overworked sex. His lips curled up in a twisted smile as he pulled his fingers out of you, wiping your blood on your soft nipples, painting them crimson as you shivered.

You looked at his cock, hard again against his stomach. “Does it hurt?” you asked, your hands twitching to touch it again.

“Yes, it does. Do you wanna help me get rid of the pain?”

“Mm... can I use my mouth again? I’m sore...”

“It’s okay, honey, you’ll get used to it,” he promised, grabbing your hips and pulling you on top of him, your palms pressed into his abdomen as you looked so wrecked, “Guide me in,” he ordered.

You shook your head which earned you a harsh slap on your ass so you held onto the base of his cock, parting your intimate lips, before slowly sinking down on him.

You sighed as you settled, sitting on top of him with his cock nestled inside you, so full and strangely satisfied, his warmth soothing your aching walls, he spanked you again to remind you to move, so you started bouncing on top of him the best you could.

His hand groped at your bouncing titts before he wrapped a hand around your throat, applying the slightest bit of pressure as you whimpered and cried, just to remind you who’s in charge, not that you’d forget anytime soon.

His only regret was that he hadn’t done this sooner. He was an idiot to ever resist an angel like you. He’ll have to do a lot to make up for lost time.

Tags will be in the reblog! Click the link in the bio to be join the taglist or shoot me an ask/dm. Comments and reblogs are really appreciated! ❤❤

Please note that my work is not to be reposted or published anywhere other than my Tumblr or AO3 account without my permission. Reblogs are most welcome though!

[eujazmine]

⟨ RYAN DESTINY. CIS FEMALE. SHE/HER. ⟩ though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, JAZMINE HARPER is actually a descendent of H E C A T E. it’s still a question of whether or not the 23 year old BUSINESS MAJOR from HOUSTON, USA has taken after their godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite PASSIONATE & MISCHIEVOUS.

hi everyone it’s rae #2 again 😔 but allow me to introduce you all to my darling jazmine, who is a revamping of a couple muses i’ve played in the past. as always, like this post and i’ll hit your dms!

History (death tw)

claimed at birth in houston, texas since her father could see through the mist. her father started physically training around the age of three. it wasn’t anything too crazy at first, since she was only a toddler when they began, but her father wanted her to have a head-start athletically. on her 6th birthday, hecate gifted her a spell book and required that she started her magical training.

she started attended camp elektra in california during the summers when she was seven years old. at some point, her father got married and started having more children. when she was twelve, he announced that they would be moving to new york for her new step-mother’s job. that summer, she attended camp half-blood, and leaving for camp was the last time she had seen her texan home.

it was around that time that her and her father’s strong personalities truly began to clash. they had different visions for jazmine’s future, and she started to resent being under his control. it also frustrated her that she couldn’t alter his perception via mist, which led to even more complications whenever she was caught doing so to her step-mother.

she spent nearly two years with her family in new york. after nearly getting expelled from school and having too many issues at home, her father sent her away to year-round camp in greece by the time she was 14.

due to extensive training, she was among the top-ranked during her time at camp athens. she devoted much of her free time, including summer breaks, to questing and rigorous training, and was often recruited through the school for selective quests.

once she graduated, she tried staying with her father in new york again to work and save money, but this only lasted about six months. she went back to europe to travel and she fulfilled quests for money to support this new lifestyle.

at 20, jazmine had another terrible fight with her father. she left and hasn’t seen him since. after this, she started to take questing seriously again. she went on more dangerous and complex quests, knowing there was no one really out there waiting for her safe return.

then came 2019: the zeus incident. she, celeste (daughter of zeus) and adelphie (daughter of apollo) teamed up to retrieve poseidon’s trident from zeus. these three had quested in the past, and were a notoriously powerful trio, but they had never gone against celeste’s own father.

by the time they had defeated the guard monsters and reached the trident, zeus had become aware of what they were up to. he killed adelphie on sight. as jazmine futilely tried to heal adelphie’s lifeless body, celeste used this moment to carry the trident back to the ocean via the wind. soon enough, zeus zapped celeste off the mountain. whether the god of thunder hadn’t seen her hiding in the darkness or he just didn’t care, she’ll never know, but he spared jazmine and left.

after carrying adelphie back down the mountain and presuming that celeste was also dead, she came across rostam, who had prophesied that something would happen at the mountain. he helped her bring her friends back to eonia, where she was allowed to rest and enroll for the following semester.

now, she’s at eonia studying business because 1) she has nowhere else to go and 2) she doesn’t think she wants to fight her whole life anymore. 

Personality

being able to manipulate mortals as a child has made her view people more as vessels of entertainment or stimulation, and it shows. her sense of humor primarily revolves around teasing others, such as mocking them or playing tricks on them, and her blunt remarks can often be perceived as quite insensitive. she is very observant and has no problem using this trait for blackmail or manipulation, but she uses this to provide frank judgment or advice when asked. “0 to 100″ is a pretty accurate way to describe jazmine -- meaning for the most part, she has a calm, cool vibe, but her hot-temperedness can quickly get her in trouble. she can be impatient, vengeful, and petty, refusing to be the bigger person or the “loser” when crossed. stubborn and prideful, she could hold a grudge forever until she serves her own sense of justice or receives external mediation.

her bluntness and outbursts might give off the impression of her being mean, which she kinda is sometimes, but she isn’t that mean. she’s a compassionate person, and she’ll often help others if she feels sorry for them, despite trying to brush off their problems as beneath her. this is especially true when it comes to her friends. although she can be particularly harsh with them, her fierceness also comes with extra love and protection.

Powers

her most powerful ability is mystiokinesis, but it didn’t come easily. like other children of hecate, her magic is strongest at nighttime and very limited during the day. she was given a spellbook once claimed and has been perfecting her craft since. her magic gives her a limited grasp of all kinds of abilities, but she is most skilled in the areas of magic that have helped her the most on quests, such as vitakinesis, offensive spells/curses, and magical tracking. she works hard to improve her mystiokinesis through camps and personal training, but she is prone to overdoing it and negatively affecting her own health.

mist control is her secondary ability. it was the first of her powers to develop. as a child, her suggestions seemed to be a little too convincing to mortals. although it wasn’t fool-proof, she found herself manipulating people’s perceptions in her favor, possibly to get herself out of trouble or solely for entertainment purposes. she mostly uses it to her advantage around mortals or on quests. at eonia, and hasn’t found much use for this skill at eonia.

umbrakinesis is definitely her weakest power, but she would love to be more skilled in it. it has been the most difficult for her to develop, so she can only sometimes use the shadows as a shield or as a method of travel during the night. however, she has been able to levitate since she was a kid, which has been pretty convenient ever since she learned how to control it.

Extras

tl;dr: retired adrenaline junkie prone to moodiness

she has been at eonia since summer/fall 2019. you can get some more details about that last quest on celeste’s intro and self-para, if you haven’t already! feel free to assume that your muse had heard something about it.

she’s very hard-working and puts 110% into the things she cares about. the number of hours she has devoted to magic and academics is endless. neither of these areas come super naturally to her, so she has to work extra hard to develop them to reach her standards.

those 2 years she spent traveling europe and questing for cash?? she was living her best life. she used mist control and mystiokinesis a lot during this time to do things like avoid getting arrested, sneak into fancy masquerade balls, crash weddings, and waive any extra fees she couldn’t afford. she’ll bring up a wild memory from time to time if the conversation calls for it, but it’s rare for her to give out too many other details.

character inspo: think michelle jones (1), jessica huang (1, 2), hotaru imai (1, 2), fallon carrington (1, 2, 3), mal (1), daoming si (meteor garden), jennifer pierce (1, 2, 3), sam puckett (1), rosa diaz (1, 2, 3, 4)

works at the dining hall. she doesn’t care about this job and therefore puts no effort into it, so don’t expect a smile or cheery tone from her when you walk in.

involvements: black student union, gamer’s guild, football (soccer)

a skilled fighter, she is well-versed in swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat, but she prefers using magic since it comes from her godly lineage.

she’s been playing soccer since she was a child, a sport her dad forced encouraged all of her siblings to partake in. although her and her father had many other issues, this actually wasn’t one of them, seeing as they both shared a genuine love for the sport. she’s known for being overly aggressive and instigative on the field, so she's at risk of losing her position if she starts any more fights.

Potential Connections

ex: there was probably never any official title tbh so she might even claim that they weren’t exes. jazmine’s a very private person and finds this kind of stuff too vulnerable, so maybe your muse got tired of being treated like a secret.

quest mates: could’ve been for anything tbh, but if your muse was significantly weaker than jazmine, she would’ve for sure let them know.

tutor: she works hard to maintain her grades, but sometimes she needs the extra help. 

people she protects: for whatever reason, jazmine has a soft spot for your muse, so she’ll take care of them when they’re sick, bring them home from a party, put a curse on their ex, you name it.

past hookup: she never called. consider yourself blocked.

friends: self-explanatory! unlikely friends, friends who bond over mutual hatred, frenemies., etc.

enemies: her moral ambiguity and rude remarks probably rub some people the wrong way, so enemies wouldn’t be too surprising.

clients?: i’d imagine that some people have paid her in the past to bring misfortune to their enemies. they probably paid her some money to put a lil curse on them. it’s never anything permanent. if they paid her extra, maybe she did some research and brought them something to blackmail them with.

targets: the people that her clients have paid her to curse. she’s just a third party trying to chase the bag, so no hard feelings, really -- but if your muse somehow found out they got cursed by her, she’d be willing to reverse it for a price.

pawns: maybe she views them as weak. maybe she just finds them funny. either way, she has little respect for your muse and will mess with them for her own entertainment. it’s all in good fun!

people she met while exploring europe: she was up to a lot of shenanigans during those two years, so the possibilities are endless.

[fpinterviews]

Jaclyn Santos

FP: We've spoken about the subject of the male gaze, and even part of the mission statement of FP is to question what it means when women artists control the power of their own objectification. There have been other artists who have paved the way, ie. Vanessa Beecroft, why do you think it is still considered controversial and shocking for a female artist to portray her sexuality as outwardly powerful and/or vulnerable?

JS: While many women artists have displayed their own sexuality in their artwork, every girl and woman still has to confront this topic individually and form her own convictions. It's something we continuously re-examine as we age and deal with new personal  struggles. There are so many conflicting messages in society regarding a woman’s stance on her own sexuality and most women are still trying to figure it out for themselves. On one hand, society definitely rewards physical beauty yet, in many other ways, it can be an impediment. Increasingly, I think people turn to media figures as a barometer for their own morality. For the "Shock Challenge" I wanted to generate discussion about the way women are often criticized because of images they present of themselves – particularly the way certain female celebrities objectify themselves by posting sexy personal photos on social networking platforms such as Twitter. Often these photos are low-resolution and snapped from cell phones. I decided to photograph myself in this manner as a sort of contemporary “self-portraiture” and elevate the photos to fine art status by re-contextualizing them. I then displayed the images in the gallery and allowed the audience to physically alter the work in any way with sharpies, which draws attention to the way women are criticized online. I titled the��piece, “Triple Self-Portrait in Bathroom,” which references Andy Warhol, an artist known for working with the idea of celebrity persona.

Another reason it may still be considered controversial is because of female competition, which occurs in part due to socially imposed myths of female worth. The scrutiny with which women can judge each other is incredible. Growing up, I wasn’t horrendously unattractive but I did go through an “awkward phase,” and for five years of my life other girls ridiculed me nearly every day. Now that I am older and have grown into my looks, I am condemned by some women because I keep up my appearance, when if I didn’t I would be put down for it. The world sets up a standard for beauty, then criticizes those who admit they struggle with it. I’m willing to honestly examine this contradiction through my artwork.

FP: You've also mentioned isolationism in your statement...a theme that seems to be prevalent in American culture today, particularly because of the internet, and our ability to be alone yet still remain virtually connected. Can you speak about how that relates to your work?

JS: I think the piece I did for the "Art That Moves You" challenge on WOA, "11x17", touches on the issue of isolationism in contemporary urban culture. It also examines voyeurism, a somewhat natural response to isolation.  While most people do not spy on their neighbors' with binoculars, voyeurism has transcended to the internet in a more diluted version, where many of us use social networking platforms and blogs to comment on the lives of those we see on Television and other forms of Media. The pseudo-anonimity of the Internet offers protection while potentially causing further isolation. I think this has affected women in a very specific way. Oftentimes women display sexy images of themselves in an attempt to garner attention or praise, yet this often backfires into “unwarranted” criticism. Too often photos or explicit videos are released without consent.

FP: In regards to the nudity on the show...it really was a missed opportunity as you said for the production to discuss the current state of feminism as it pertains to the art world. Such a HUGE topic and yet (for the sake of time constraints? titillation of tv?) Bravo chose to edit down your provocative "shock value" piece to a hot girl defaulting to her own voyeuristic sexuality more than anything else. How did you feel about that? What could they have done to further the dialogue? What do you think would have happened if say one of the male artists had asked to photograph you naked or had photographed themselves naked...do you think more or less would have been made of that episode?

JS: So far my character has appeared very one-dimensional. The fact is, I am not a "bimbo" in any capacity.  Instead of portraying my true personality, they jumped on every opportunity to dumb-down my character. I was very disturbed by the way my piece, “Triple Self-Portrait in Bathroom,” was depicted on Work of Art as well as the way my character and art making process were completely distorted. I don’t think this was done because of time constraints; rather, it was done to create a very simple story arch that any casual viewer could follow. This was problematic because it made me look like I default to nudity without any thought behind the concept of the work, which undermines my art process. I am not shy about my appearance as they suggest, but I did feel incredibly vulnerable being taped in the nude. There's a huge difference between presenting a photograph that I have carefully selected and composed, verses handing over raw footage that can be manipulated in any way whatsoever. I was very hesitant about doing this but I believed in the piece and the producers said they needed the footage only to display my process. Yet in the episode, the rest of my process was barely discussed, then it was falsely made to look as though I was not responsible for conceptualizing the final product.

The treatment of sensitive issues on set was different for the boys. A male contestant was not required to film himself ejaculating on a piece of art, which caused some tension on set.

FP: In The Art of Reflection: Women Artists' Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century, Marsha Meskimmon states: "If the task was to find oneself, then the crisis for the postmodern subject is that nowhere is home, everything shifts and changes. What is the reflection in the mirror that 'vanity' holds? She refuses now to be the 'site' of another's desire and reflects back to you the insubstantiality of your projections."1

Do you think it's possible for the physicality of an attractive female artist to ever be a separate entity from her work, particularly if she is the subject matter of her own work? Is vanity and the mirror important to an artist?

JS:  To answer the question, if the womans' chosen subject matter deals with nudity or sexuality in the form of self-portraiture - i.e. Marina Abramovic, Cindy Sherman - no, I don't feel the artist's appearance could be a seperate entity. If the subject matter involves sexy images of other women or the imagery is more illustrative - i.e. Lisa Yuskavage, Hillary Harkness - I think it will be much less of an issue. I think it can only be a non-issue if the artist completely plays down her appearance or doesn't acknowledge it in her work. Yet this doesn't necessarily mean it won't be an issue. At a college critique, a guest artist was invited to our studios and the minute he saw me, before he ever saw my work, he blurted out, “you are the artist”?  “You don’t look anything like an artist... YOU are as interesting as your work." This sort of thing happened so often that I made a decision to incorporate my appearance into my work.

FP: Another great quote from this same book: "One of the key issues in feminist theory has been that of women's voice in male language. To what extent is it possible to enunciate a truly different position when you are already within the structures which mark your difference?"2 Do you think the art world is still a predominantly masculine one or is it now equal...what has your experience been thus far?

JS:  While certainly more doors are now open to female artists, there’s no denying the highest paid artists are all still men. There’s also no denying that the vast majority of Art collectors are men.  I worked for Jeff Koons for two years and there were very few women who came in to purchase work. Granted, this may simply be because men still make more money than women and if women had more spending power, more of us would invest in contemporary art. I think it is a challenge to make work about women that can appeal to both a male and female audience on the same level. We respond to images of the female form rather differently, and it's hard to subvert the provocative aspect of a sexualized image.

FP: The high-low art status is interesting in your pieces --do you think anything can be elevated to art status by redepicting it?

JS:  Yes, it can, if done in a particular way.  Intent is important -- low art must be appropriated in an intelligent way. For instance, a high school student copying his incredible hulk comic book is entirely different than Jeff Koons appropriating the hulk into his personal iconography.

FP: You worked as a studio assistant to pop art icon Jeff Koons. Has he influenced your work? And who are your biggest influences?

JS:  Before I ever worked for Jeff Koons, I loved his Made in Heaven series as well as his Luxury/Degradation series. Speaking of Made in Heaven, that’s a prime example of low-art being successfully elevated to high -art. Jeff Koons is brilliant and there are very few people who love art as much as he does. Working at his studio was an incredible learning experience. It was so interesting to see how he spoke with visitors about his work and I learned an incredible amount of technical skill while at his studio. Jeff talked "acceptance" quite often. We must accept who we are -- our individual and collective pasts -- our shortcomings, failures, weaknesses, and strengths. As artists, we must be honest with ourselves in order to make work that is personal yet transcends to a wider audience. So many artists have influenced my work, but to name a few: Damien Hirst, Marilyn Minter, Laurel Nakadate, Liz Cohen, Vanessa Beecroft

FP: Where do you see your work evolving now that you've participated in Bravo's Work of Art? Has the show inspired you in a new direction? What's on the horizon? Where can we see your work next?

JS:  Participating in the reality show was an experience like no other. It really made me more aware of the internet as a portal for criticism and dialogue in fine art. It also opened my eyes to how incredibly critical and voyeuristic our culture is, and I think I would like to comment even further on these qualities in my new projects. The show also allowed me to branch out into other mediums when appropriate, something I think I may have been afraid to do before.  Since the show wrapped up, I’ve been continuing my series of figurative paintings as well as a new series of explosions that respond to the war and oil spill.

Check my website, www.jaclynsantos.com for frequent updates of my new work.

[xb-squaredx]

Please Don’t Sleep on Hades

2020’s…been a real year, huh? At a time when in-person gatherings aren’t much of a thing and people have to stay in, video games are suddenly a pretty attractive option. That said, few games have really grabbed me this year; in a roundabout way, 2020’s been a year of reruns, as I go through a lot of games I’ve already played or games that are just yesterday’s news (but new to me!). However, in the nick of time, the folks at Supergiant Games delivered unto us their latest title, Hades. While they’ve been working on this game for years, with it hitting Early Access on Steam back in 2018, the full version of Hades finally hit Steam, the Epic Game Store and made the leap to consoles with the Switch, which is where I picked it up. It has been a WHILE since I’ve had a game grab me so strongly so early on, and I’ve been hearing this game’s praises for years now already, so allow me to happily state why I think Hades is worthy of the hype and is a fantastic game I’d easily recommend!

DADDY ISSUES

OK, so first things first…you don’t actually play as Hades in this game, but rather his son Zagreus. Ol’ Zag has had it with his father, and tries to literally fight his way out of hell to reach the surface, and no matter what his old man puts in his way, Zagreus (and the player) will meet the challenge. And probably die, but hey, that’s OK! In the underworld, death is more of an inconvenience than anything else, so after taking a moment to dust himself off, Zagreus will head out for another attempt. For as long as it takes.

Hades is a rogue-like, meaning it’s a game based around randomization and adaptation. On any given “run” of the game, the level layouts, enemies present and the variety of power-ups Zagreus can find will be left to chance, with the player challenged to amass the best build they can to eventually break out of hell and reach the human world and if you die…start from scratch. That said, Hades is among the ever-growing sub-genre of rogue-lites, in that there IS some permanent progression, which takes a bit of a sting out of dying, but more on that later. Now, most games of this type aren’t really big on story. They have a premise that’s little more than an excuse to play. Splunkey wants you to explore a cave, The Binding of Isaac sees you escaping a basement and in Enter the Gungeon you uh…e-enter the gun—you get the point! But what separates Hades from most rogue-likes/lites is that there actually IS a very interesting story that unfolds as you play.

There’s more to Zag’s desire to get to the surface than just getting away from his father, though their strained relationship certainly doesn’t help matters, and over the course of your many, MANY escape attempts, players learn of the rather screwed-up nature of Zagreus’ family of deities, though any mythology nut could tell you to expect that. Hades has an incredibly charismatic cast, superb voice acting across the board, and some real sharp writing that really got me wanting to meet anyone and everyone and learn more about this world. You’re likely to run into Hypnos first, who always has a “tip” ready for you when you meet your end to a given enemy or hazard, or the fabled hero Achilles, who acts as a mentor to Zagreus. There’s Dusa, the adorably frazzled flying gorgon head who acts as the House of Hades’ maid, and of course…Megaera, of the Furies.

She serves as the first proper boss in the game, and will be a pretty sizable challenge for most players, but as you eventually overcome her again and again, she and Zagreus end up attempting to reconnect with each other, and her recurring fights become an excuse to flirt and test each other. I may as well say too that it’s easy to fall in love with the characters in this game because…I-I mean, just look at them! This game is a bisexual’s paradise, that’s all I’ll say.

A bit of a fun fact, but Zagreus’ voice actor, Darren Korb, is also a composer at Supergiant, so he’s a man of many talents, since Hades has a killer score. From the laid-back tunes at the House of Hades where you can unwind and recharge after a botched run, to the pulse-pounding boss theme, there’s some GREAT music on display here. And that’s before you meet Orpheus and Eurydice, two characters with amazing singing voices that, if you play your cards right, might start singing together. The game’s visuals, meanwhile, aren’t a slouch either. While the level layouts are randomized, everything manages to look well-crafted, each region of the underworld having their own distinct look and feel. The fiery pits of Asphodel end up juxtaposing well with the paradise that is Elysium. Now, character models are generally less-detailed since the camera stays zoomed out to give players a good view of the action, but the portraits for the various characters more than make up for it with their distinct, detailed designs. A-And I’m not just saying that because everyone’s hot! Now, admittedly you might take a look at Zag and think he’s nothing but an edgelord and the game itself might be taking itself too seriously, but in reality, Hades strikes a pretty good balance, and definitely carries a sense of humor. Characters love to snark at each other, the various Shades chilling in the House of Hades’ lounge have some funny conversations you can listen in on and all told, the game only gets serious when appropriate. Really, I have no real complaints with the game on a presentation level; it’s all aces so far, and thankfully the game-y part follows suit!

LIVE.DIE. REPEAT.

Hades is best described as a dungeon-crawler. You have an isometric view as you move about, avoiding hazards and fighting off enemies as you climb each chamber on your way to the surface. Defeat every enemy in a chamber and get a reward. Sounds simple enough until you factor in all of the various permutations of events; Hades aims to make sure no two runs are alike, with different enemies, power-ups and challenges awaiting you. All of this is doled out slowly, as with each subsequent playthrough you begin to have more of the game unraveled. First and foremost, Zagreus can gain various Boons from the other Olympian Gods, who are sympathetic to his plight and lend him some power if he makes contact with them. Each God has their own twist on the abilities they grant Zagreus. They can all increase his stats in some way, or affect either his dash ability or his Cast, a projectile attack. For Zeus, naturally, all of Zagreus’ moves will gain an electric effect, whereas Artemis focuses more on upping Zag’s critical hit chance. Dionysus, the God of Wine, grants you the “hangover” status effect, allowing your attacks to uh…make enemies drunk? Sure! You’ll be given a random selection of three Boons to pick from, of varying rarities. Over the course of a run, you might try to nab as many Boons from the same God as possible, or vary it up and see which abilities synchronize together. At times, you might even be granted a Duo Boon, where two Gods decide to combine their power for a special ability that plays to both of their strengths. Still, at other times, you might be forced into a Trial of the Gods, where you must choose one God’s Boon over the other, with the snubbed God lashing out afterwards. Hey, just because they’re Gods, doesn’t mean they’re nice. Of course, you’ve also got a variety of health and weapon upgrades too. In fact, let’s gush about the weapons for a second, shall we?

At the time of writing, Hades has six weapons to play with. You start with a sword, which is the all-rounder of the set, but as you gain keys to unlock more weapons, you can start to really experiment. The bow and rail cannon serve as ranged options with different approaches, while the spear is the melee weapon with the best range at the cost of pure power. The shield grants you absolute defense at the cost of range, while the gauntlets let you unleash your fisticuffs on underworld scum, though leave you with limited ranged attacks. Each weapon has specific Boons and weapon upgrades you can find as well, some of which can radically alter how a weapon works. The rail cannon, for example, fires a lot faster than the bow, but this is balanced by needing to manually reload…unless you get a weapon upgrade that gives you unlimited ammo with the only catch being that you can only do burst fire. Adding to this, players eventually unlock hidden Aspects of weapons, morphing them into different forms which can also influence their moveset. Change the shield to the Aspect of Zeus, and when you throw your shield Captain America style, it stays out and continually spins, dealing tons of damage over time and effectively forcing enemies to get sliced to bits if they want to get near you. I didn’t expect this game to have half this many weapons or to have them balanced so well. Really, just like anything else, weapons are another tool you can poke and prod and experiment with until you get a truly killer collection of Boons and upgrades that let you just demolish anything in your way. It’s very satisfying when you finally clear a run with a great build…though depending on the RNG, you WILL get some crummy builds, but that’s the nature of the rogue-like!

It’s likely that a bad build (or really, just getting hit with a new boss or enemy you aren’t prepared for) will lead to a death, but as already established, death isn’t really that much of an inconvenience in the underworld. Zagreus just spawns back at home and is free to immediately try to escape again, but this brief reprieve lets you chat up whoever happens to be around, give them gifts, advance some side-quests, pet your dog Cerberus and practice with weapons and such before you’re ready to go at it again. It’s after a run that you also get to spend a lot of the spoils of your escape attempts. While you lose Boons and weapon upgrades and the like upon death, there’s a LOT of various items you keep with you that have plenty of uses. Darkness shards are used for permanent skills that can be applied to Zagreus, like Death’s Defiance, which grants Zagreus another life upon dying, which can eventually be upgraded to give him THREE extra lives, just as an example. Precious gems can be used to fund a variety of cosmetic changes to the House of Hades. Just because Zagreus doesn’t want to live there anymore, doesn’t mean he can’t at least make it look good! Nectar can be gifted to other characters to improve your relationships with them, with bottles of Ambrosia being required later on, while special keys can be used to unlock weapons, more upgrades for your Darkness shards, or just used as a secondary currency for trade. There’s really a LOT of different items to mess around with, though admittedly if you’re the type to want to max out EVERYTHING you’ll be in it for the long haul, as there is not only a LOT of stuff to upgrade and purchase, but the random nature of things means rewards are never a guarantee. Though it’s worth noting the game’s totally beatable without going nuts with completion. Which I guess leads me to the biggest compliment I can give this game: even after “beating” it, I still can’t stop playing, and there’s plenty of reason to keep going.

REPLAYS AND REWARDS

So, full disclosure, I’ve gotten Zagreus to the surface. Several times, actually. But I haven’t quite “beaten” the game yet. In fact, at the risk of sounding pretentious, it is as if the true game begins after you’ve beaten it once. Without getting into specifics, let’s just say the game gives you a very good in-story reason to keep playing, and you won’t reach credits without several completed runs under your belt. And even then, there’s still stuff to do. I’m almost 30 hours into Hades and I’ve barely scratched the surface honestly. Every major character has their own sidequest you can undergo, but it can be slow goings when it comes to advancing them. Trying out all the weapons and boons and different combinations will easily take dozens of hours to fully experience, though the game has a handy in-game list of what you’ve done and haven’t done, as well as in-game achievements with tangible rewards that will spur you on. I was admittedly surprised at how dense of a game Hades can be. A successful run will likely take you somewhere between a half-hour to an hour, which is pretty devious. Just long enough to stay engaging throughout, and short enough that I can keep convincing myself that I have time for “one more run” and then suddenly several hours have gone by. Strangest thing.

Something that’s become a bit of a staple of Supergiant’s work is customizable difficulty, various modifiers you can flip on to make the game harder if you so desire, which in Hades takes the form of the Pact of Punishment. After a successful run, you can turn on a given pact to spice things up for subsequent runs. Maybe enemies do a bit more damage, or you give yourself a super strict time limit to clear a run. You can give enemies armor that makes them sturdier, or jack up the in-game shop’s prices. You can even be forced to give up Boons in order to advance past certain doors! Probably the most impressive Pact is Extreme Measures, which ends up greatly affecting the boss fights in the game…trust me when I say you won’t be ready for them the first time you flip that on. Activating a given pact increases a “heat gauge” that, should it reach a given level, will end up granting you various special items to help with fully upgrading and unlocking stuff. Of course, with each successful run completed with a given Pact activated, you’ll have to raise the heat more and more in order to keep getting these upgrade materials so be prepared. You can also still gain these materials (albeit at a much slower rate) playing through the game normally though, and there’s really no penalty for choosing NOT to activate a given pact. On the flip side of things, there’s also a God Mode you can toggle on that makes Zagreus a little stronger with each death, which can help those that want to see more of the story but are struggling with the game. Have your God Cake and eat it too!

All and all, this game just delivers on every level and I’ve been devouring it since release whenever I have a spare minute. You can see that Supergiant is taking all the lessons they learned from each previous game and combined it to make what is easily their best game yet. I don’t throw around words like “masterpiece” lightly, but Hades is just such a slam dunk that I’m sorely tempted to call it just that. I mean, if you hate rogue-likes, I’m not sure if Hades will really push you over the edge admittedly? You get way more rewards retained after death than just about any other rogue-like I’ve played, but if you’re the type that hates having to constantly adapt and not being able to memorize what’s coming, I can see this not working for you. But for me at least, I’ve had an absolute blast with the game and the only issue I really have with it is a small nitpick at best. When it comes to getting to know various characters, you can talk to them and give them Nectar or Ambrosia as a gift right? But what happens if they don’t show up on a given run? Or what if they DO show up, but they’re locked into a conversation with someone else? That means you can’t really advance anything with them until a given dice roll pities you. MEGAERA I THINK YOU’RE COOL, PLEASE JUST TALK TO M—oh sorry, don’t know where that came from… So yeah, that’s the nittiest of picks.

I adore this game’s cast, the voice work and music is excellent to the ear, the combat is engaging, the gameplay loop is addicting…need I say more? I mean, I’ve said almost 3000 words, but to really sum it up…I highly recommend Hades and I hope you don’t pass it up if you’re even remotely interested. You can find it on Steam, the Epic store and Switch as of right now, and I don’t think you could go wrong with any version.

Blood and darkness await you.

-B

[realtimereports]

Creating An Automated Report In Word - Principal Toolbox 9.5

How I Automated My Daily Progress Report As A Software ...

Table of ContentsAutomated Reports - Jotform'Automated Writing': Implications For Digital Communicators ...Automated Journalism – Ai Applications At New York Times ...Quill - Narrative ScienceCan You Tell The Difference Between A Robot And A Stock ...

As online marketers in 2020, there's one significant thing that we share: We're driven by information. Despite whether we're copywriters, social media supervisors, videographers, or web designers, data is key to helping us determine which jobs are successful, which methods may need more of a spending plan, and which methods we need to leave behind.

Even if you have an analytics software application that tracks a campaign's traffic, engagements, ROI, and other KPIs, you'll likely still require to take some time to arrange these numbers, evaluate them, and create a reasonable method to report on your projects to your group or customers. In the past, marketing companies and companies charged full-timers with reporting-related responsibilities. real time reports.

Top use cases in automated report writingphrazor.ai

This is an issue that my Cleveland-based marketing company, PR 20/20, encountered a couple of years back. As part of our procedure, we produce monthly efficiency reports for each of our customers. When we produce them, we pull the information from HubSpot and Google Analytics. Then, we compose a report to describe the information to our colleagues, clients, and task stakeholders.

However, although they were assisting our customers, creating them was holding our team back. While our clients found the reports important, the procedure of pulling the data, examining it, and preparing the reports easily took five hours per customer, per month. This took our marketers far from tasks that might have been productive in the long run, such as conceptualizing new concepts and techniques that could visibly assist their customers.

Automated Reporting With R Markdown

Whenever you're trying to explore or implement a brand-new technique, you'll wish to look into the subject completely. For example, you'll want to recognize your budget and after that look into software application that suits it. You'll likewise wish to determine the advantages and disadvantages of any software you think about. This will help you better acquaint yourself with the world of AI and which tools can actually help you.

Prior to choosing that we desired to improve our reporting method, we 'd been researching AI through resources at our Marketing AI Institute. The Institute is a media company that aims to make AI more friendly for online marketers. time reports. Because we launched the business, we have actually published more than 400 short articles on AI in marketing.

2 billion. After learning about how AI had already streamlined lots of marketing-related procedures, we chose to explore how automation and expert system could help us with our clients at PR 20/20. We ended up being consumed with how smarter technology could increase earnings and lower costs. While doing so, we discovered natural language generation (NLG) innovation that wrote plain English automatically.

You've encountered NLG anytime you have actually used Gmail's Smart Compose function. Or, when you hear Amazon's Alexa react to your voice inquiries. As soon as we discovered a possibly practical NLG software, we decided to run an experiment to see if the AI technology might partly or fully automate our efficiency report writing procedure.

Dream Report For Hmi Panels - Automated Data Collection ...

Now, the next action is to browse for software that works for your company. Here are a couple of things you'll need to consider: You'll want to consider the expense of any of the software application's memberships or costs, as well as the cost to implement it. For example, you might require to contract or employ an engineer to prepare your information and take any actions to ensure the software works smoothly.

Make certain to comprehend what you'll require to do if something isn't working effectively so you do not sustain any emergency costs. As a marketer, you will not want to rely on a full-time engineer to utilize AI software application to run your reports. You'll wish to purchase software that your less tech-savvy staff member can ultimately get trained on and discover. time reports.

As you select software, you'll likewise want to locate case research studies, reviews, or user testimonials that explain how a company used the software to run reports or complete a similar activity. This will provide you an idea of if the item you're considering has a good track record or credibility in the AI software application industry.

Here are two highly-regarded examples: Domo is a data visualization and reporting tool that integrates with significant data and analytics platforms including Google Analytics. When you link these platforms, you can use a control panel to set up and generate data visualizations or reports for your customers. These visualizations include pie charts, other graphs, and word clouds.

Manual Reports Vs. Report Automation & Scheduling Tools

The platform offers guides on how to produce datasets or spreadsheets that its algorithms will recognize as well as a drag and drop guide which asks you to submit specific info such as "Monthly Budget plan." Here's a quick demo that shows Domo in action: This reporting software application permits you to generate reports or reporting control panels that your group and clients can edit and cross-collaborate on.

Sales Reporting 101: Here's Everything ...propellercrm.com

Aside from data visualizations, you can likewise include boxes to your control panels that reveal you scorecards that note whether you're hitting your goals or not, in addition to filters that assist you drill down on particular aspects of your task. Here's a demo explaining how small companies such as nonprofits can take advantage of the software application's dashboard reporting features: Despite which product you pick, you'll likely require to prepare your data in a manner that your software application's robotic or algorithm could quickly acknowledge and analyze - automatic report.

Plecto ApS

Address: Viby Ringvej 11, 1 tv

Phone: +45 71 99 71 60

Email: support@plecto.com

Real-time insights

The software application needed structured information in columns and rows to generate text. So, first, we had to pull HubSpot and Google Analytics information into spreadsheets. Because doing this manually would take excessive time and limit the potential time conserved with automation, we utilized APIs and constructed our own algorithm using Google Apps Scripts to pull information into a Google Sheet.

We understood NLG software application would be unlikely to deal with entirely custom-made reports well. So, we developed a design template for these reports that didn't alter every month. To produce a format for each report, we determined a set of 12 common questions we were trying to address for clients monthly: Just how much traffic concerned your site, and how does that compare to the previous month? In 2015? How engaged was last month's site traffic? What were the top traffic-driving channels? Was there fluctuation in general traffic, and if so, what caused it? How did the blog site carry out last month? How engaged was blog site traffic? What were the top-performing article? Were there any modifications in blog traffic last month, and if so, what triggered them? The number of objectives or new contacts were generated last month? What were the top transforming pages? Where did objectives or brand-new contacts originate? Was there any modification in overall goals or lead volume, and if so, what was responsible? A great AI software will either permit you to develop files or even dashboards, as your reports.

04 Instant Asbestos Survey Report In Your Format - Start Software

When we 'd structured our data and developed a basic report format, we had to translate our basic report format into an NLG template. The design template was basically a completed version of an efficiency report. When the NLG software runs, this report gets copied into the NLG software application. Then rules are applied to the copy to programmatically update what's written based upon the structured data offered.

------------[ 1 ]------------

Search Funded Research Grants And Contracts - Details

Table of ContentsAutomated Sports Journalism. The Anafut Case Study, The Bot ...Writetolearn - A Web-based Ai-automated Writing Scoring ...Dawn Of The Intelligently Automated Agency - Pr 20/20Automated Writing Evaluation - Excelsior College OwlGuide To Automated Journalism - Academic Commons

The last output might be a CSV, Word, or Google Doc file. Even if you're working with a trustworthy AI software, you'll still want to check it and fix any problems that emerge. This avoids any AI-related occurrences from happening when the tool is actively being utilized by workers or on tight deadlines.

Plecto ApS

Address: Viby Ringvej 11, 1 tv

Phone: +45 71 99 71 60

Email: support@plecto.com

Real-time insights

And we ultimately perfected the process to regularly produce clear, precise automated efficiency reports. If a software application company that you work with deals a trial or discount rate for testing out their product, leverage it. This will permit you to witness first-hand if the expense of the item outweighs its advantages, or give you time to determine if there is a preferable item that you need to be utilizing - time reports.

When you do this, here are a couple of things that you'll wish to examine: The amount of time that the software is saving workers, or if there were any bugs, just how much time the software application cost. The amount of other efficient or revenue-generating tasks your group was able to get done with the extra time you had.

Sales Reporting 101: Here's Everything ...propellercrm.com

As we tracked our brand-new automated efficiency reports, we discovered that our tools took a portion of the time to produce the very same report that we took hours to create. Furthermore, the level of information in our client reports is now constant throughout all accounts. Prior to we carried out AI tools, the reports were only as strong as the account team's convenience level of analyzing marketing efficiency reports.

Study Report Writer - Synchrogenix

The only handbook part of the process now involves spot-checking the data for precision, applying some styling, and after that sending out. real-time progress reporting. What when took us five hours per report now takes 10 minutes. While the original process needed to be managed by multiple teammates, only one employee is needed for spot-checking.

Although our team has the ability to gain access to AI companies and specialists for our in-office experiments, other little service online marketers can likewise benefit from this strategy rather economically. Nevertheless, bear in mind that AI execution can take some time. For us, we required to put time into developing structured datasets, along with our Report design template so that our AI software application could read our analytics and draft reports correctly.

Complete info, faster conclusions, and much better decision-making digital-era success hinges on them (automatic reporting). However an organization with a single version of the reality, spreadsheets filled with accurate information, is still a couple of rungs brief of success. One reason: management needs easy-to-digest reports that translate the numbers. That tends to lead to cleaner interpretations and crisper decision-making.

These items drill-down into ab organization's database and auto-produce easy-to-understand, written reports from the very same information that Microsoft Excel utilizes to create graphics. Some of these relatively brand-new AI tools also known as natural language generation, or NLG, software application are variations of the exact same technology that helps major media companies produce computer-written news products.

Top Use Cases In Automated Report Writing - Phrazor

Anna Schena, a senior item manager at Story Science, another AI-generated composing toolmaker, states that "data storytelling" indicates users do not have to discover how to evaluate spreadsheets or glean insights from long rows of control panel dials. "Easy-to-understand language and one-click cooperation features ensure that everybody in a business really comprehends the data, all the time," Schena says.

States Sharon Daniels, CEO of Arria: "NLG-driven, multi-dimensional stories are the advancement that [data-generated] visuals were years back. The big data issue was partially addressed with the development of organization intelligence dashboards," she discusses. "However while visuals paint a picture, they're not the complete image." Adds Daniels: "The ability to gain access to key details in near real-time communicated as if written

[generatereports]

04 Instant Asbestos Survey Report In Your Format - Start Software

The Robots Cometh: How Artificial Intelligence Is Automating ...

Table of ContentsAutomated Journalism - WikipediaAutomated Insights: Natural Language GenerationCreating An Automated Report In Word - Principal Toolbox 9.5Understanding The Automated Report - Cove.tool Help CenterHow Ai Tools Dropped One Agency's Reporting Time By 97%

As online marketers in 2020, there's one significant thing that we have in typical: We're driven by data. Regardless of whether we're copywriters, social networks supervisors, videographers, or web designers, data is key to assisting us figure out which tasks succeed, which methods might require more of a budget, and which techniques we need to leave behind.

Even if you have an analytics software application that tracks a campaign's traffic, engagements, ROI, and other KPIs, you'll likely still require to take time to organize these numbers, analyze them, and develop a reasonable method to report on your tasks to your group or clients. In the past, marketing companies and companies charged full-timers with reporting-related responsibilities. automated report writing.

Free Year End Report Templates Smartsheetsmartsheet.com

This is a problem that my Cleveland-based marketing firm, PR 20/20, faced a couple of years earlier. As part of our process, we develop month-to-month efficiency reports for each of our clients. When we create them, we pull the information from HubSpot and Google Analytics. Then, we compose a report to explain the data to our associates, clients, and task stakeholders.

However, although they were helping our customers, creating them was holding our team back. While our customers discovered the reports valuable, the procedure of pulling the data, examining it, and drafting the reports quickly took five hours per client, per month. This took our marketers far from jobs that could have been efficient in the long run, such as brainstorming originalities and techniques that might significantly assist their clients.

Automated Reporting Systems & Tools To Boost Your Business

Whenever you're attempting to explore or execute a brand-new method, you'll want to research the topic thoroughly. For example, you'll wish to acknowledge your spending plan and after that check out software that suits it. You'll likewise wish to figure out the pros and cons of any software you consider. This will help you much better acquaint yourself with the world of AI and which tools can actually assist you.

Prior to deciding that we desired to enhance our reporting technique, we 'd been researching AI through resources at our Marketing AI Institute. The Institute is a media business that aims to make AI more friendly for marketers. automatic work time reports. Because we released the company, we've released more than 400 short articles on AI in marketing.

2 billion. After finding out about how AI had already structured lots of marketing-related processes, we decided to explore how automation and artificial intelligence could assist us with our customers at PR 20/20. We became obsessed with how smarter technology could increase profits and decrease costs. In the process, we found natural language generation (NLG) technology that composed plain English instantly.

You've come across NLG anytime you've used Gmail's Smart Compose feature. Or, when you hear Amazon's Alexa react to your voice inquiries. Once we found a possibly handy NLG software, we decided to run an experiment to see if the AI technology might partially or totally automate our performance report writing process.

Google Analytics Report Automation (Magic Script)

Now, the next action is to look for software that works for your business. Here are a couple of things you'll require to think about: You'll desire to think about the expense of any of the software's subscriptions or fees, in addition to the cost to implement it. For example, you might require to agreement or hire an engineer to prepare your data and take any steps to make sure the software works smoothly.

Be sure to understand what you'll require to do if something isn't working properly so you do not sustain any emergency costs. As a marketer, you won't wish to count on a full-time engineer to use AI software to run your reports. You'll desire to go shopping for software application that your less tech-savvy employee can ultimately get trained on and learn. automatic dashboard.

As you select software, you'll likewise want to track down case research studies, reviews, or user reviews that explain how a business utilized the software to run reports or complete a similar activity. This will give you a concept of if the item you're thinking about has a good track record or reliability in the AI software market.

Here are two highly-regarded examples: Domo is an information visualization and reporting tool that integrates with major information and analytics platforms including Google Analytics. When you connect these platforms, you can utilize a dashboard to set up and generate data visualizations or reports for your clients. These visualizations consist of pie charts, other charts, and word clouds.

Automated Report Generation With Papermill: Part 1 - Practical ...

The platform provides guides on how to develop datasets or spreadsheets that its algorithms will recognize in addition to a drag and drop guide which asks you to submit specific information such as "Month-to-month Budget plan." Here's a fast demonstration that shows Domo in action: This reporting software allows you to generate reports or reporting control panels that your team and customers can modify and cross-collaborate on.

marketing reporting with Google Data Studiosupermetrics.com

Aside from information visualizations, you can likewise include boxes to your control panels that reveal you scorecards that keep in mind whether you're hitting your objectives or not, as well as filters that help you drill down on particular elements of your job. Here's a demo explaining how little businesses such as nonprofits can take advantage of the software's control panel reporting functions: No matter which item you select, you'll likely need to prepare your information in a method that your software's robotic or algorithm could quickly acknowledge and evaluate - automatic reports.

Plecto ApS

Address: Viby Ringvej 11, 1 tv

Phone: +45 71 99 71 60

Email: support@plecto.com

Real-time insights

The software application needed structured data in columns and rows to create text. So, first, we needed to pull HubSpot and Google Analytics information into spreadsheets. Because doing this manually would take too much time and restrict the prospective time saved with automation, we utilized APIs and developed our own algorithm utilizing Google Apps Scripts to pull information into a Google Sheet.

We understood NLG software would be not likely to handle totally customized reports well. So, we produced a template for these reports that didn't alter every month. To produce a format for each report, we recognized a set of 12 common concerns we were trying to answer for clients monthly: Just how much traffic pertained to your site, and how does that compare to the previous month? In 2015? How engaged was last month's site traffic? What were the leading traffic-driving channels? Was there variation in total traffic, and if so, what caused it? How did the blog site perform last month? How engaged was blog site traffic? What were the top-performing blog site posts? Were there any changes in blog traffic last month, and if so, what caused them? How many objectives or new contacts were generated last month? What were the top converting pages? Where did objectives or new contacts come from? Existed any change in total goals or lead volume, and if so, what was accountable? A good AI software application will either permit you to create documents or even control panels, as your reports.

The Robots Cometh: How Artificial Intelligence Is Automating ...

When we 'd structured our data and developed a standard report format, we needed to equate our basic report format into an NLG design template. The template was essentially a finished version of a performance report. When the NLG software application runs, this report gets copied into the NLG software application. Then guidelines are applied to the copy to programmatically upgrade what's composed based upon the structured information supplied.

------------[ 1 ]------------

Automated Reporting With R Markdown

Table of ContentsAutomated Writing Evaluation - Excelsior College OwlVphrase - Get Insights From Your Data In Natural LanguageEnhancing Whse And Safety Reporting With Nlg NarrativesEts Research: Automated Scoring Of Writing QualityStop Wasting Time – Automate Monthly Analytics Reporting In ...

The final output could be a CSV, Word, or Google Doc file. Even if you're working with a reputable AI software application, you'll still wish to check it and troubleshoot any issues that emerge. This avoids any AI-related events from happening when the tool is actively being used by workers or on tight deadlines.

Plecto ApS

Address: Viby Ringvej 11, 1 tv

Phone: +45 71 99 71 60

Email: support@plecto.com

Real-time insights

And we ultimately refined the process to consistently produce clear, precise automated performance reports. If a software application supplier that you deal with offers a trial or discount rate for testing out their item, take advantage of it. This will allow you to witness first-hand if the expense of the product outweighs its advantages, or offer you time to determine if there is a better item that you need to be utilizing - automatic reports.

When you do this, here are a few things that you'll want to examine: The amount of time that the software application is saving employees, or if there were any bugs, how much time the software cost. The quantity of other efficient or revenue-generating tasks your team had the ability to get finished with the additional time you had.

Sales Reporting 101: Here's Everything ...propellercrm.com

As we tracked our brand-new automated performance reports, we found that our tools took a portion of the time to produce the exact same report that we took hours to create. In addition, the level of information in our client reports is now consistent throughout all accounts. Before we carried out AI tools, the reports were just as strong as the account group's convenience level of examining marketing performance reports.

Reuters Uses Ai To Prototype First Ever Automated Video ...

The only manual part of the procedure now involves spot-checking the information for accuracy, using some styling, and then sending. real time reports. What as soon as took us five hours per report now takes 10 minutes. While the initial procedure required to be managed by several colleagues, just one staff member is needed for spot-checking.

Although our team is able to access AI providers and specialists for our in-office experiments, other small service marketers can also make the most of this technique rather cost effectively. However, bear in mind that AI application can require time. For us, we needed to put time into constructing structured datasets, as well as our Report design template so that our AI software could read our analytics and draft reports properly.

Total info, faster conclusions, and better decision-making digital-era success depends upon them (generate reports). However an organization with a single version of the truth, spreadsheets filled with precise data, is still a couple of rungs brief of success. One factor: management requires easy-to-digest reports that analyze the numbers. That tends to cause cleaner interpretations and crisper decision-making.

These products drill-down into ab organization's database and auto-produce easy-to-understand, written reports from the very same data that Microsoft Excel uses to generate graphics. Some of these fairly new AI tools also referred to as natural language generation, or NLG, software application are variations of the very same innovation that assists major media companies produce computer-written news items.

School Report Writer - Progress Reports In Minutes

Anna Schena, a senior product manager at Narrative Science, another AI-generated composing toolmaker, says that "information storytelling" indicates users don't have to discover how to examine spreadsheets or glean insights from long rows of control panel dials. "Easy-to-understand language and one-click collaboration features ensure that everybody in a company really comprehends the information, all the time," Schena says.

Says Sharon Daniels, CEO of Arria: "NLG-driven, multi-dimensional narratives are the breakthrough that [data-generated] visuals were years ago. The huge data issue was partly attended to with the evolution of service intelligence control panels," she describes. "However while visuals paint an image, they're not the complete picture." Adds Daniels:

[ray5244]

Top 15 Weight Loss Myths

There are many common weight loss myths that people live by when it comes to their health. It is difficult at times to separate the weight loss myths and fact from what is true. Many sound true while others are just laughable. I once read somewhere that if you drink water at night that you are going to gain weight or that if you scratch your head too often you are going to lose your hair....

Weight Loss Myth # 1 The more weight that I have to lose the more intense my exercise routine should be

Weight Loss Truth: Although having an intense workout routine is great, there are a few things you should consider: the first being that everyone is at a different level when it comes to their fitness and how much intensity they can actually handle. If you have been physically inactive for a number of years, an intense work out for you might be, walking half a mile a day. After you walk that half mile you notice that you are sweating bullets and that you are tired. However, for someone who has been physically active for many years, walking half a mile can be done without a sweat. Everyone has a different definition of what "intense" is.

If intense for you is working out for an hour a day, but due to life's busy schedule you only have time for 20 minutes a day, then those 20 minutes will go an extremely long way. It might not necessarily be classified as "intense", according to your definition, but those little cardio moments will have positive health altering effects.

Fat Loss Myth # 2 Stress and weight gain do not go hand in hand

Weight Loss Fact: This is one of those "laughable" myths. To learn more how stress is adding lbs. to your life please download my free E-Book, "Psychology of Releasing Weight"

Weight Loss Myth # 3 I can lose weight while eating whatever I want

Weight Loss Truth: Sir Isaac Newton once said " What goes up must come down." There are natural principles that govern our lives. If you throw a ball up in the air, it is going to come back down. You can sit on your couch and imagine and visualize that the ball will staying afloat in the air, but natural principles teach us that it will come down. Same goes when it comes to our weight.

This is one of the most common weight loss myths out there. It is illogical to think that your health and weight are going to be in balance if your nutrition consists mainly of twinkies, chips, and donuts. Sure you can burn it off by exercising, but most people whose diet consists of mainly junk food are probably not disciplined enough to stick to a workout routine. I do know a few people who, from the outside, look like they are in good shape, because they are not "fat, but who have high cholesterol.

Just because I feel sorry for crushing the hearts of so many twinkie lovers out there, I would say this. You can eat junk food, cookies, chips, ice cream, pizza, burgers.... All of those "soul satisfying foods", but it should be in moderation. Anything in excess is never good.

Fat Loss Myth # 4 Skipping meals is a good way to lose weight

Weight Loss Fact: There are numerous studies that show that people who skip breakfast and eat fewer times during the day tend to be a lot heavier than who have a healthy nutritional breakfast and then eat 4-6 small meals during the day. The reason to this might be the fact that they get hungrier later on in the day, and might have a tendency to over eat during other meals of the day.

Weight Loss Myth # 5 I will not lose weight while eating at night

Weight Loss Truth: You can over indulge in food during the day and not eat a single thing at night and you WILL gain weight. As is the fact that you can starve yourself during the day and eat all night long and you still will gain weight. The key here is balance. If your body is telling you that it is hungry then perhaps you should listen to it. The truth is, that over eating, while not exercising, will cause you to gain weight; no matter what time of the day that you eat. Whenever I am hungry at night, as is my habit with other meals during the day, I try to select something that is natural in nature. Something like fruits, vegetables, or I might even make myself a fruit smoothie. During those moments that I am craving ice cream or something sweet, I allow myself to get some, and DO NOT feel guilty about it. Many people who are overweight live their life in guilt and shame. I allow myself to get some, however, WITH MODERATION.

Fat Loss Myth # 6 I'm not acceptable until I lose weight

Weight Loss Fact: The person who doesn't feel acceptable because they are fat is because they are not acceptable to themselves first. The way that you think others view you is based on your view of yourself. I honestly believe that one must become emotionally fit before becoming physically fit. I have gone through these self-limiting emotions before. Once I realized that I was ALREADY ENOUGH in the eyes of God and that I had no need to prove myself to anyone or to receive external validation for my self-worth, that made all the difference for me. Once you accept yourself as who you are RIGHT NOW and realize that you are already enough in the eyes of God, you will not feel like you are not acceptable because of your weight.

Weight Loss Myth # 7 I need to cut calories to lose weight faster

Weight Loss Truth: Cutting your calories down might be a great thing, if you are drastically overeating and stuffing your face. However, if you are eating proportionally then cutting calories might have an aversive affect. If you are cutting calories and are starving your body, then that will lower your metabolism, or in other words slow it down, which may result in you actually not losing any weight at all, even if you are "cutting calories"

Fat Loss Myth # 8 Skipping meals will help me lose weight

Weight Loss Fact: Skipping meals may actually cause you to gain weight! You will become too hungry and will eventually have to eat. This will knock your metabolism off track and will eventually slow it down. Think of a car running low on gas (food), if you do not fill it up, it will eventually stop working. Same goes for our body, we need to keep it fueled constantly.

Weight Loss Myth # 9 I think I have genetic weight gain, it runs in my family!

Weight Loss Truth: Can someone say E-X-C-U-S-E-S? I will not deny that there might be tendencies for heavy parents to raise heavy children who will remain heavy their whole lives, but I don't believe that there is actually a "fat" gene or DNA out there. What we do inherit from our family, primarily those who directly raised us, are our views and beliefs. Your views about food, money, religion, politics, education, etc. are based upon how you were raised. If you were raised in a home where the primary meals cooked where fried foods, then you might have a tendency to continue cooking and eating fried foods throughout your life. If that is the case then you might be a little heavy around the waist. The easy thing to do is to blame it on those who were in charge of your upbringing, however, you ALWAYS have a choice to change.

Fat Loss Myth # 10 Eating healthy is too hard

Weight Loss Fact: Eating healthy is the simplest thing in the world.....once you have trained yourself to do it. How many times have you placed a goal to lose weight or to "eat better"? The first few days you are doing great, eating all kinds of foods which you normally wouldn't eat. Then something funny started to happen, you went back to your old habits and behaviors. This has happened to you in other areas outside of your health. It could be with making money, looking for a new job, or in your relationships. Creating a new habit takes time because our brain's do not like change. Change to the brain is dangerous. Anyways, if you would like to learn more about how our brain attempts to sabotage us from creating new habits then please download my free E-book, "Psychology of Releasing Weight"

Weight Loss Myth # 11 You have to give up your favorite foods to lose weight

Weight Loss Truth: What would a world without chocolate and without pepperoni pizza be like??? I think it would be a torturous world to live in!! lol, now on a real note I completely disagree with this myth. You are definitely able to eat your favorite foods. Depriving yourself of this kind of pleasure is not fun, and quite frankly you probably WILL eat it anyways. As has been mentioned before, the real key is moderation. If you are a steak lover, then perhaps it might not be the best things to eat it every single day, but perhaps once or twice a week. Those who know me personally know that I LOOOOOOOOVE chicken wings with pizza. In a perfect world where I wouldn't gain any weight and my arteries were clog-less, I would love to eat it several times per week, well more like every day. However, I know that those aren't the healthiest of food choices so I have it about 2-3 times per month. I am not giving up my favorite foods, I am just eating it in moderation so that it doesn't catch up to me in the form of excess weight.

Fat Loss Myth # 12 Overeating is caused by hunger

Weight Loss Fact: Nice try there. If only we could blame "hunger" for it. In fact, this person we call hunger has nothing to do with you OVEREATING. It might have something to do your body telling you that it is time to "fuel up" and that it needs food, but that is not an indication that one should overeat. What causes many people to overeat are different reasons. One of the main ones is feeling of stress, depression, loneliness, anxiety, fear, and other down grading emotions of that nature. Many times food can be a means of satisfying your needs. You might be actually getting your needs met through your foods. For example, if you live a lonely life, and aren't very happy, then food could perhaps be a means of you feeling happy and comforted. There are other articles that I have written on this subject but suffice it to say that overeating is NOT cause by being hungry.

Weight Loss Myth # 13 Only drastic diets work

Weight Loss Truth: There goes that word again...DIEt....those "drastic diets" are only good for quick weight loss and rapid weight gain once you get of it. These drastic diets range from the "cookie diet", lol.... All that way to "the water only diet"..... I am sure you can lose weight while on these DIEts, however the weight will be gained right back and usually with some added weight as a bonus

Fat Loss Myth # 14 I am too fat and too far down the road to begin

Weight Loss Fact: A long journey begins one step at a time. It is natural to expect instantaneous results and to even fear the road ahead of you; especially if you are extremely overweight. The secret here is to make SMALL incremental changes. Don't expect perfection because that will lead you to disappointment. You are never too far down the road to where you cannot see the sun's light......

Weight Loss Myth # 15 I can't do it, I have tried many times and have failed

Weight Loss Truth: The great Henry Ford once said "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't- you're right.'"......It is 90% mindset, and 10% actually getting off your butt and doing something about it. You fall down, you get back up.... you fall down again, you get back up again. If you have tried to lose weight in the past then it is time to keep trying. Discouragment is to losing weight as is a piece of fried chicken to a vegetarian......they DO NOT go hand in hand.

Click here for more information:   https://linktr.ee/ray5244

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #205: Shadow of the Claw!

March, 1981

"... And the CLAW shall inherit the Earth!” isn’t even what the villain plan is, come on, cover copy person.

Yellow Claw was going to have a bunch of kids, make them fight to the death, and then the super child was going to inherit the Earth.

The actual cover is neat though. I like how all the red draws attention to the center where red is not.

Yes, I am good at talk about art.

Anyway, last time on Avengers: a woman named Shu Han who had been brought to Yellow Claw’s island to be one of Yellow Claw’s many wives (despite being a genius physicist athlete and could honestly be a superhero in her own right with those skills) sent out a distress signal which was eventually received by the Avengers. A lot of goofy stuff happened, Vision got captured like a dingus, Wasp did none things, a cyborg slime kraken was fought, and eventually Yellow Claw was like ‘whaaaat Shu Han doesn’t love me? Fine, begone!’ and told the Avengers to gtfo his island so he can start living his harem anime protagonist self-insert fic and also take over the world.

Which brings us to now.

After his dingus-like capture, Vision needs to be recharged because photons are his sweet calories and he never diets.

In fact, weirdly, he’s hungrier than usual this time. Sixty-seven whole additional solar units more than usual hungrier.

I don’t know how much a solar unit is. Even as a ballpark. But Iron Man finds it noteworthy so I’m noting it.

Meanwhile, in the only one person sitting room, Wasp retcons some actual actions into the last issue so that her entire screentime wasn’t pointless.

Maybe I should learn to be more patient on multiple part stories.

No. No, its the comic writers who are wrong.

Anyway, while Wasp was spying on Yellow Claw, she noticed some weird equipment in the research lab, including a lot of tubes filled with odd, sparkly mist.

Unfortunately, that’s all she managed to see before Yellow Claw told the Avengers to gtfo his island.

Which leaves them without much they can do about Yellow Claw.

Sure, they suspect he’s up to something. Hell, Iron Man would even admit that they know he’s up to something.

But being able to prove it is a different matter. And since Yellow Claw’s island is in disputed waters, moving without proving could lead to political fallout.

Captain America: “Iron Man is right. If we had proof that the Yellow Claw poses a global threat, international law would allow us to investigate. But as it is, we don’t have a single, tangible clue to--”

And then Jarvis walks in and tells them that the Yellow Claw’s top assistant, Dr. William Liu, is here to speak with them.

The timing this man has. Outstanding.

They scan the man to make sure he’s not walking in with a bunch of laser guns stuffed down his pants and then let him in.

And Dr. Liu pleads for the Avengers to help him. Cap asks why they should help or even trust one of Yellow Claw’s men.

Dr. Liu: “I could no longer live with the horrible nature of the master’s plan! That is why I secretly left the island, hoping that my absence would go unnoticed until I could reach you, and tell you of-- AAAGGHH!”

He doesn’t get to finish his warning because his crotch suddenly explodes.

I don’t know how else to describe it.

Apparently Yellow Claw rigged his assistant to explode in case of treachery or just for funsies. A barely alive, crotch exploded apparently a cyborg all along Dr. Liu realizes that Yellow Claw must have remotely activated his destruct code.

He gives the Avengers some coordinates in Australia and begs them to stop Yellow Claw.

Dr. Liu: “... Y-you must stop... the Claw! Y-you’re the only hope for... the children...!”

And then he dies. And based on panels, it seems like his chest exploded more than his crotch. His pants are intact.

This was the proof the Avengers needed to act, so as soon as Dr. Liu’s body is carried away by ambulance, the Avengers prepare to leave.

But Jarvis finds a note on Vision’s door begging leave from the mission.

Vision: “I regret that I have not yet recuperated to the point where I may participate in Avengers’ activities. Please understand. I do not wish to be disturbed.”

What an oddly formal ‘I’m sick, don’t come in’ letter to pin to your door.

Iron Man is perplexed since he oversaw Vision’s recharge himself and the solar gas tank should be full. But Scarlet Witch says that Vision has his reasons to do things and they should just carry on without him.

So off they go in the Quinjet.

But as soon as they take off, Vision goes to take the second Quinjet.

Why, he’s not sick in his room at all!

Hours later, the Avengers arrive in Australia, of course passing over a kangaroo, or else how would we know its Australia?

And at the coordinates poor exploded Dr. Liu gave them, they find a cave. And in the cave they find a secret base where that sparkle gas Wasp saw being loaded onto three missiles.

Y’know. I think I gave Vision too much shit last time for his stealth fail. Because the Avengers as a whole get spotted while they’re scoping out the missile cave.

Black Panther needs to give them all some refresher learning.

MEANWHILE, though. Back at Yellow Claw’s island, Vision ditches his Quinjet and intangibles into Yellow Claw’s base.

When he reaches Yellow Claw’s throne slash harem room where Yellow Claw welcomes him back and asks him how the hell he discovered he had been tampered with.

Vision explains: 1) that he required extra power to recharge, 2) that he detected ultra-wave radiation being emitted from Dr. Liu when he blew up, 3) detected the same radiation from his own bad self. Thus he deduced that he had been altered to be an unwitting mole through which the Yellow Claw could spy on the Avengers and that the alteration was what was draining extra power.

Also why Vision ditched the Avengers and came here instead.

And it was all a very smart move up until it was a dumb one.

Yellow Claw was prepared that Vision might figure things out and show up again so the doorway had a Vision trapping trap installed in it and now Vision is trapped in the Vision trapping trap.

After all his ‘I’ve come alone to defeat you’ bravado, Vision can now only defiantly claim “the other Avengers will turn your dreams into dust!”

You Tried, Vision. You Tried.

But Yellow Claw isn’t done having been one step ahead of things yet.

See, he let Dr. Liu escape and warn the Avengers because based on the broken into vent he knew that Wasp had been in his base and probably saw enough to suspect something was up. The coordinates Dr. Liu gave the Avengers was a trap!

A trap of three strong mooks with really dumb names.

Bludgeoner, Transformer, and Compressor.

Guarantee these guys won’t be recurring.

Anyway. Iron Man and Jocasta repulsor and eyeeeeee beam at the three so Transformer can readily demonstrate why his name when he absorbs the energy and blasts it back at them.

And Bludgeoner and his big hammer hands bludgeon Wonder Man and Captain America.

And Compressor, why if you guessed that his big ol cheese grater hands compress the air between them to put the squeeze on anyone stuck between, ... wow. That’s a really good guess.

You’re good at comic books, friend!

Scarlet Witch uses a hex bolt to drop a stalactite on Compressor to free Beast but the fly swatter hands man crushes the rock and shoots the shrapnel back at Scarlet Witch.

And Wasp is as useless as she often is. Sigh.

Iron Man tries to swing behind Compressor and repulsor him but Compressor blasts air and sends Iron Man SKRRUURRUNCH into the cave dirt, carving up a furrow.

Sure, this has been only two pages but this is a bad showing against three dinguses with dumb names. I mean for crying out loud, a man named Compressor just bodied a guy called Iron Man.

Back at the Claw Cave... no, wait, that’s confusing. The Avengers are fighting in a cave. The Claw Condo? Back at the Claw Condo, Yellow Claw tells Vision that hey his friends are going to die gruesome and frankly embarrassing deaths but maybe Vision could eke out a little win for himself.

Claw has long platonically admired his construction and capabilities and with Dr. Liu exploded, he does need a new second-in-command.

To sweeten the pot, he’ll even explain his villainous plot because I’m sure we’ve all been wondering about that.

Yellow Claw: “You see, my line was created to rule this planet -- though mankind has stupidly resisted that inevitability. But now, despite the chemical concoctions that prolong my existence, I grow old. My years are numbered. And that is why I selected these women, exemplary in both body and mind, to assure a form of immortality.

For each shall bear me a son, and in time those sons shall fight each other to the death! The survivor, the fittest, shall then fulfill my fate by becoming supreme ruler of the Earth!

Though I swear, he’ll not be subjected to the same obstinacy, to the blind sense of human freedom that has frustrated me for these many decades!

For within those cryogenic storage banks is genetic material gathered from the world’s most physically and mentally perfect humans! And from that matter, my heir will create a new order, a new population, all raised to obey by a single edit: unswerving reverence to my son!”

Vision: There is a flaw to your logic, Claw. You seem to forget that there are already several billion people on this planet -- people who will never serve the likes of you.

Yellow Claw: Ah, once more you underestimate me. For at this very moment, the missiles at my Australian launch base are being readied for take-off. Once in orbit around the Earth, they will dock with my private spacecraft.

Then at my command, they will release a specially formulated vapor, one which will permeat the entire planetary atmosphere, rendering everyone on the globe -- except for those here in my closed-environment sanctuary -- irrevocably sterile!

With no children being born, the Earth will be barren in the space of a few generations -- barren save for the followers of the new Yellow Claw!”

Okay, so, credit where it’s due.

That’s a VERY evil plan.

Sterilize planet, replace humanity with genetically servile slave race, make babies fight to the death for the right to rule that whole shebang.

In terms of a dick move that's a major league one.

So when Yellow Claw asks if Vision will become his new number Liu, Vision answers: “Perhaps, miscreant. Perhaps I will join you... in hell!”

Yellow Claw isn’t too bothered by the refusal and even decides to let Vision have a front row seat to his plan being fulfilled.

And I don’t mean tying him to the front of one of the missiles.

I mean, Yellow Claw’s throne room launches from his base as a hot rod pink spaceship, sold separately.

Back at the Avengers fight, Wasp does a thing.

Honestly, its a pleasant surprise.

Her powerset of ‘be small, shoot tiny lasers’ not being much of a help, she thinks outside the box. She scoops some dirt from the cave floor and jams it into Bludgeoner’s arm joints to slow him down.

And then Wonder Man clocks him in the face. Who bludgeons the bludgeoners indeed.

It does go to show that a ‘useless’ power like Wasp’s can actually be very useful if you write her smart. A superhero team should be more than just big punches, more than just spectacular powers. Wasp has great combo potential for playing things strategic and that should be something the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are too.

Beast realizes that Wasp had a really good idea. The Avengers outnumber these three jokers so why not gang up on them with teamwork? Besides, they’re not working together in any way so the Avengers might as well.

So Beast grabs Transformer’s shield arm to leave him open for Jocasta to OPTIC BLAST!

And Cap throws his mighty shield to know Compressor’s arms apart so Iron Man can kick him in the face.

Which is impressive since Iron Man was flat on his ass in the immediately previous panel.

Apparently this was a gaffe caused by the pages being edited separately and the error not being caught before the book went to print.

As far as things go, not the worst error! I didn’t even notice it until it was pointed out.

Anyway, in a fit of pique from his dumb name dudes losing the fight, Yellow Claw kliks a button. The goons join hands or whatever weapon they have passing for hands and then they blow up.

Yellow Claw: “It is done. It cost the lives of three worthy operatives but at last -- the Avengers are dead!”

Ah, villains. Always ready to flip the board if they start losing.

And with the Avengers totally dead for realsies no foolin’ Yellow Claw is free to launch his missiles full of sterility vapors.

Actually, he could do that by remote so I don’t know why he had to wait for the Avengers to be explode. He could have just launched the missiles while they were busy fighting.

Anyway.

With the Avengers dead I guess the book will be about- can’t think of a good one for that recurring goof. So yeah, the Avengers aren’t dead.

Scarlet Witch used her powers to shield the team just in the nick of time.

Captain America: “Thanks, Wanda. If you hadn’t cast that protective hex sphere around us just in time...!”

Scarlet Witch: “Don’t mention it, captain. I rather enjoy being alive myself!”

Although, I didn’t know she could just shield people with her powers like that. Unless she altered the probability that explosions hurt so that they didn’t. Yes, that sounds plausible.

The two flying members of the team, Iron Man and Wonder Man fly out of the cave after the missiles, still determined to save the days as heroes often do.

The missiles launch into orbit and then something really goofy happens.

I’ve been saying missiles because the comic has been saying missiles and I guess they are technically missiles. But if I asked you to imagine a supervillain launching some missiles full of a chemical weapon, would you imagine this?

When the missiles launch into orbit they link up with Yellow Claw’s hot rod pink spaceship.

When I first saw this, I thought: is he going to launch them again from his spaceship? A bit of an unnecessary additional step.

But no. That is not what is going on here.

The man is just super committed to his iconography. The missiles join the spaceship and then bend to make it clear its supposed to resemble a claw.

That’s the kind of goofy nonsense I’m here for.

Iron Man and Wonder Man show up, to Yellow Claw’s alarm, and try to attack the hot pink spaceship but bounce off uselessly. The thing is protected by a strong force field.

Yellow Claw probably goes ‘phew’ internally and gets on with his evil plan.

With the missiles bent, as missiles are known to do??, to resemble claws, they can begin to spray the sterility gas into the atmosphere.

Yellow Claw: “Soon, it will be over! When enough vapors are released to mingle with the entire atmosphere -- the shadow of the Claw shall cover the Earth!”

And with things looking grim, Vision decides that things are down to him. I mean he did go off alone and is now stuck inside the enemy’s spaceship. He’s in a good position to mess things up.

So stuck suspended in a trap, he increases his density and mass to his limit and beyond! One ton, two, further!

The energy bubble holding him gives way to his weight, allowing him to make contact with the deck of the ship. Adding his weight to that of the ship and throwing it out of orbit.

The ship will crash into Earth and at this point, it can’t be stopped.

Yellow Claw is fairly pissed.

He smashes the device holding Vision captive and then starts trying to kill him with his bare hands.

And he’s capable of hitting Vision when he’s intangible because he studied Vision while he was a prisoner, the first time he was a prisoner. And created circuity to his metal sleeves that lets him tangible the intangible.

And thus he tries to strangle Vision.

I’m not sure he needs to breathe. Probably why Yellow Claw is punching him instead in later panels.

Vision points out that this fight is fairly pointless and that Yellow Claw could be using this time to escape but Yellow Claw is determined that he get something accomplished today.

And then the ship crashes into the ocean.

A short time skip later and the Avengers have parked the Quinjet on the ocean (it buoyant) and are searching for the Vision.

How did they know the Vision was here? Didn’t they think he was recuperating back at the mansion?

Apparently another gaffe but one that could be handwaved. Earlier in the issue when the three dumbnames appeared, Yellow Claw appeared on a monitor to taunt the Avengers and Vision was visible behind him. Captain America even appears to be pointing at Vision like ‘hey I know that guy from work.’

So conceivably they knew he was with Yellow Claw when his ship crashed.

Iron Man gives up on searching the ocean, not being able to find the Vision in the water but Vision just peaces in from the sky. He intangible’d out the ship just before the crash. He’s totally fine.

Scarlet Witch: “I am glad that you are safe, my husband. And I’m glad that the danger has ended.”

Vision: “No, my love. Though it is true that the Yellow Claw is dead, that he will no longer plague us with his particular form of madness -- there are too many others like him, others who would rise to power by crushing the freedom that is every being’s birthright.

And as long as any of them remain unchallenged -- the danger will never end.”

With that, Vision sort of stares out across the ocean moodily. Because a true Avengers story ends with someone staring at something moodily.

And I dunno! Maybe it was the extended break from doing this liveblog but this two-parter wasn’t as bad as I dreaded.

Supposedly, part of the impetus of the story was to do a last hurrah story for Yellow Claw and then shove him under some furniture because his yellow peril character concept was growing increasingly awkward.

After one more story in Marvel Fanfare with Cap, Yellow Claw was shelved for nearly three decades.

And man launches sterility gas missiles into space to form a giant claw to make it so that his successor can repopulate the Earth with a new, freedom hating breed of humanity is pretty great as far as comic book nonsense goes.

Although, in retrospect, I’m realizing that this was basically the same plan the Sentinels that kidnapped Scarlet Witch had.

Sterilize the planet with Wanda’s magical uterus and then replace humanity with a genetically engineered kind that could not mutate.

Comic books are weird.

Next time: Human Torch guest stars. Everything is on fire.

Follow @essential-avengers or like or reblog or send me questions or tell me I’m doing an okay job or do nothing. There are many choices available. But I would appreciate feedback.

[xxsovereignsarayaxx]

Elizabeth Mikaelson - What If? Chapter 16

Authors Note: Sorry for such a long wait, I lost my original draft and Iv’e had to re-write it to the best I can remember. As always thank you for continuing to love Elizabeth’s journey! 💜 And if you love the story and want to be notified when the next chapter is released join my Lizzie-Lijah Stag Tag. Lizzie-Lijah Stag Tag: @skeletoresinthebasement​ @sparrowsparrow​

I swallowed and playfully raised my eyebrow. “Don’t think it’s the right time for that sort of thing is it Elijah?” 

Clearing his throat. “I won’t ask again, the truth.” Elijah replied to you. 

“Alright, no need to get handsy although if you make the offer later tonight I’ll definitely change my mind.”  I said with a chuckle. 

Elijah took a step back, eyeing me while sorting out his tie. “It’s your mother Elijah I don’t trust her.” I admitted. 

“Why didn’t you come to me? You know you can always confide in me.” Elijah asked. 

“You just had your mother return from the dead after all these years, I didn’t think you would believe me.” I said softly. 

“I will always listen to you, you have my word.” Elijah replied cupping my cheek. 

Leaning into his touch I smiled at him. “Mother wishes to speak with Elena, I’m going to ask her in hope that we still can rely on her to find out what she says.” Elijah says. 

“I was going to see if I could speak with Esther myself, try and make out that she can trust me in whatever she could be planning.” I whispered. 

“Be careful please Elizabeth.” Elijah asked. 

“Of course, I’ll find you shortly.” I said reassuring him. 

We shared a simple kiss and then parted ways, I went to find Esther. I knew that I was doing was dangerous if Esther figured out I was just trying to get an idea of she could be doing I could be in serious danger. But my instincts were never short so I knew I was onto something and with the burning of sage I smelt the previous night and even now as I approached the door everything was adding up. Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves I knocked on the door. I was met with Finn, he didn’t look thrilled to see me and how he opened the door only slightly so he could fit part way through blocking my view into the room. 

“Elizabeth? Something the matter?” He asked. 

“Is your mother available to talk? I would like to speak with her. Its a topic that she knows strongly about.” I said to my oldest brother in law. 

“Mother, Elizabeth wishes to speak with you.” He said. 

“Let her in Finn.” Esther replied from inside the room. 

“Very well.” Finn said out loud and opened the door fully allowing me to walk inside. 

As I walking inside the saw items and object spread out on the large table in the room, a large bowl, stained paper and the remains of the smoldering sage.

“How can I help Elizabeth?” She asked softly offering me a seat at the table she was sat at. 

“There have been things that have happened recently.” I started. 

“Things you can’t explain?” 

I nodded my head as I smoothed the skirt to my gown and took my seat opposite her, resting my elbow. “I can help you with that, I can explain everything to you, even teach you a new thing or two.” Esther added. 

I said nothing and just eyed her up and down, whilst quickly looking past her to keep and eye on her eldest son. 

“Nature demands balance, and already that balance has been altered because of Niklaus. I’m ashamed with what I had done however I now must live and accept that. But your something very different and yet so similar to my son. Elizabeth my dear your a hybrid of your own.” Esther explained. 

I chuckled at her remark. “I’m a vampire Esther there’s no changing that.” 

“Have you ever heard of a siphon?” She asked. 

I shook my head. “A siphon is a witch unable to cast magic on their own. They must rely on magical objects or beings to absorb. Some call them abominations but that is what you were before you died.” 

“And what would you call them?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Special.”

“Just because I was a siphon then doesn’t mean I am now.” I told her. 

“No your right, your something a little more now. Your a heretic vampire. A siphon now stuck with a vampire body, with an endless amount of supernatural energy to absorb. Help me and I will teach you everything I know.” Esther added. 

“Help you?” I questioned. 

“Yes, you could become so powerful and yet bring the balance back to nature.” She replied, trying to entice me to her cause. 

“Your plotting something.” I said abruptly. 

Seeing as I had already cottoned onto her scheme she let out a sigh. “I am merely fixing my mistakes.”  

“The ball its a cover! It makes sense for all your children to be under the same roof along with the doppelganger. You want me to help you murder my family?! The people who took me in. You just want to end it all? What about Elijah? You said you were happy that he had found someone and settled down!” I ranted. 

“In another lifetime you pair would have made a perfect couple.” Esther admitted. I got up from my chair and made a bee-line for the door to where Finn sped over and intercepted my way of escape. 

“Finn out of my way.” I growled, flashing my eyes and veins. Getting up from her own chair Esther made her way over, cautiously I stepped backwards I turned to face Esther, I was out numbered and seriously overwhelmed. And Esther knew that, I was a fool to come alone. But to make sure I would no longer be a threat with a simple flick of her wrist my neck snapped and my body tumbled to the floor. 

Fluttering my eyes open, I squinted at the light, I sat up as I had been placed on the sofa in the room. Inhaling I smelt a chance, I recognized the scent anywhere it was Elena she had been in the room. Seeing that I had awoken Esther and Finn turned to look at me as I got up and stood on my feet. “You had Elena in here haven't you.” I mumbled. 

“She just left and so should you, Elijah will be concerned.” Esther replied. 

Picking up the skirt to my dress I wobbled towards the door once more. “One more thing, I can’t have you telling Elijah our little secret.” Esther added. 

“Finn would you please, make sure Elizabeth doesn’t remember anything about our plan.” She asked her son. 

“Yes mother.” He replied. 

I tried to make my way to the door before Finn got to me, but he was too fast. He held onto me I tried to avert my eyes but it was impossible I was drawn to them. “You will not remember the details of mothers plan, you only spoke about your history.” His eyes bore into my own as his pupils dilated. 

“I will not remember the details of Esther’s plan, we spoke only about my family history.” I repeated plainly. 

“Go enjoy the ball Elizabeth.” Esther said, encouraging me to leave. 

Unsure why the back of my neck ached I left the room and made my way back down the hallway and down the stairs. Spotting Elijah I headed over to speak with him. As I carefully made my way down the stairs I saw he was speaking with Elena. 

“She just wanted to apologize for trying to have me killed.” She told him. 

“So it’s true, then? She's forgiven Klaus?” Elijah asked. 

“Seems that way.” Elena replied. 

Hearing from Elena that Esther had forgiven Niklaus I had hope that we could all live together happy as a family. But as each step I took towards Elijah and Elena I could help but feel something in my memory was missing. But seeing as I left Esther she was happy and explained what I was I shook off the feeling and returned to Elijah.

“Where did you get to?” He whispered. 

“The talk with your mother lasted a little longer than expected, I’m sorry if you worried. She knew a lot about me.” I told him. 

Pulling me close to him his hand around my waist. When the sound of a crystal piece of glassware being tapped. Looking up to see where the sound had originated from I saw Esther making her way down the staircase and addresses the guests. 

“Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy then to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!” Esther announced. 

While Ester was speaking I noticed that waiters where milling around everyone with trays of champagne selecting two glasses I offered one to Elena. “Too a fresh start.” I offered, giving her a smile to which she reciprocated. 

“Cheers.” The three of use and we all clinked our glasses with one another. We all took a sip of the champagne and I rested my head on Elijah’s shoulder smiling. 

After the toast Elena had gone out to find her companions and myself and Elijah had taken a moment away from the ball to have a walk outside. The bitter cold would have made the humans turn back to the warmth inside but it was refreshing and made me sometimes wish that we are not affected by the change in weather, however Elijah being the gentlemen that he was placed his suit jacket over my shoulders, we walked together hand in hand. 

“How did mother seem to you?” Elijah asked me, coming to a stop.

“She seemed helpful, I was told about my heritage.” I explained. 

“Your heritage?” Elijah asked sounds slightly puzzled. 

“I was a siphon back when I was human all though years ago, but now that I’m a vampire she said I have the ability to cast my own magic. It would explain how the dagger suddenly became too hot when I tried to stop the fighting between you and Niklaus that night.” I replied to him. 

“Well that would clear up that mystery.” Elijah said with a chuckle. 

“Is everything ok? You seem rather unsettled.” I asked as I look up to him. 

“I just find it odd that mother has the ability to forgive Niklaus for everything he has done, are you certain that mother never mentioned anything about him?” Elijah asked. 

I paused for a moment. “We only spoke about me, we didn’t have chance for a change in topic.” I explained. 

“Were you in the room when Elena came to speak with mother?” Elijah asked coming to a halt. “Elena never entered the room, perhaps she spoke with your mother beforehand?” 

“I see, well lets head back inside. Shall we?” Elijah gestured for me to hold his arm as we made our way back inside. Handing Elijah his suit jacket he had put it back on when a commotion was heard just by the balcony. 

“I’ll follow you right in, just give me a moment.” I promised and gave Elijah a kiss on the cheek, stroking his arm for reassurance. Hearing the faint sound of bones being crushed I saw Kol speaking with Matt, the human Rebekah had a soft spot for. 

“Kol, please let go.” I asked joining them both. Matt fell to his knees in agony then Damon appeared helping Matt back to his feet. 

“Hey, hey, hey, hey.” I rushed over to Kol trying to calm him down, not liking that Damon had gotten involved. 

“Easy on the hand, guys a quarterback.” Damon added. Damon and Kol look at each other and in a square off. 

By instinct of knowing both of the vampires in front of me that something bad was going to happen I immediately rushed over to Matt to try and shield him from what is next to come. “Kol! Damon! Now isn’t the time for this.” I pleaded hoping that the two males would maybe see sense. 

But to my dismay Damon rushed at Kol knocking him off the balcony, jumping down to join him, leaving Matt’s side momentarily I looked down to see Damon landed a few punches and then snapped Kol’s neck his body lifeless from the action. I ushered Matt inside to one side and rushed down the small staircase to where I was met with Stefan. “Damon are you crazy?” Stefan had asked his older brother shocked. 

“This will not bode well. What were you thinking?” I scolded. 

Just as I had finished my sentence Elijah, Elena and the rest of my family joined us outside. Damon  looked at me then Elena “Far be it me to cause a problem.”

 Esther cleared her throat. “Finn will you please take your brother to his room, and I think it might be best if you three go home.” Esther suggested. 

“Elijah please see me in my study when you have a moment.” She added.

Within a matter of moments Finn was taking Kol upstairs making sure to not be seen. Damon, Stefan and Elena had left and I had taken the time to check on Matt. 

“How are you feeling Matthew?” I asked. 

“Don’t get called that very often.” He said with a pained chuckle. 

“Might I suggest a trip to the hospital? I heard that you refused vampire blood in the past.”

“Its weird to think most of my friends are vampires.” Matt had said to me. 

“Just remember not all of us are monsters just a select few, most of us have a heart just dependent on who sees it. Rebekah cares for you, so I shall as well.” I told him. But when I had mentioned Rebekah’s name he pulled a face. 

“I appreciate the concern but...” Matt started. 

“But Rebekah is the baby of this family and has a few over-protective siblings? I understand it’s intimidating but she has a heart of gold and she wants to show you it. Head to the hospital Matthew, your adrenaline will fall soon.” I finished giving him a quick smile and headed up to Esther’s study.

I stood in the hallway waiting for Elijah to finish speaking with his mother, I could still smell the scent of sage burning so I couldn’t overhear on the conversation. 

Seeing the door open and then close Elijah walked up to me. 

“You look like you could go for a drink.” I said to try and lighten the mood. 

“I have to deal with my siblings actions but nothing that can be sorted until the morning, how about we retire for the evening?” Elijah stated. 

“Now that, would be perfect. As much as I adore this dress I am very much eager to have it off.” I replied seductively. 

“Something I can help you with my dear.” Elijah whispered into my ear. A smile crept on my features once more as he held me hand leading me to our bedroom. 

[thiscrimsonsoul]

About the Muse

Okay, so... since mobile is dumb and no one can see Wanda’s about pages from there, here they are:

[CAUTION: NOT SPOILER FREE FOR ANY MOVIES!]

{ Basic Stats and Family }

Name: Wanda Maximoff

Avengers Alias: Scarlet Witch

Age: Winter Soldier (17), Age of Ultron (18), Civil War (18), Infinity War (20), Endgame (20+, however you want to count that haha)

Birth Mother: Magda Eisenhardt (deceased)

Birth Father: Max Eisenhardt/Magneto (Yes, I’m ignoring the retcon in the comics that stomped all over this, heh.)

Adoptive Parents: Django and Marya Maximoff (deceased) are the only parents the twins have ever known.

Siblings: Fraternal twin brother, Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver

Languages: Romani dialect (native tongue); Transian and Sokovian (learned as a young child); English, French, and German (taught to her at the Hydra facility)

Romantic Orientation: demi-heteroromantic

Sexual Orientation: demi-heterosexual

{ Background } – Trigger warnings: sexual assault, child harm, child death, suicidal thoughts

(Basically, what I have done with Wanda is flesh out her background a little better than the films did, borrowing from certain parts of her background in the comics and melding it together with the movie verse. So neither the comic- nor movie-verse is 100% canon for her, but most of the changes and merges of the two are in her background before the movies. I will be counting the majority of what happens in the movies as canon for her later years. Below I have detailed her background story and general headcanons about her life, mental health, and the events of the movies as I will be using them on this blog. This does not mean all of this is set in stone, however, it is just what I will be working from as I write her unless otherwise specified in rps. Some of this could be changed or truncated depending on verse and starter situation.)

Wanda and her twin brother Pietro were adopted as infants by Django and Marya Maximoff, never knowing any different but that the Maximoffs were their real parents. From the time she was very young, Wanda knew she was different. She could lift and push small objects with her mind, and sometimes she could make things happen just by saying it, by willing it so. Wanda could do these things because she is the child of a mutant. Pietro had his own abilities because of this as well. She was very close with her brother, and they sometimes got feelings about each other (being in pain or being too hot/cold, for example) without speaking.

When the twins were little, the family lived in Transia, but an incident with Wanda forced them to emigrate elsewhere, to Sokovia. Her family was Roma, also known as the Romani people, an Indo-Aryan ethnicity, so they already faced prejudice for that reason, but when Wanda’s budding abilities as a mutant as a young child became known, that only made her family greater targets for hatred. The incident that caused it was very traumatic for Wanda. When she was six years old, she was molested by a boy her age. Her fear and anger caused her to release this force inside her, the same one that allowed her to move objects with her mind. It pushed the boy away from her and, still not done with him, she cursed him for what he had done, telling him he would die for it. The next day, the boy was run over by a wagon and killed. Because the boy had told his parents about Wanda’s curse and then it had come true, she was labeled a witch, and to protect her, the family left Transia and eventually settled in Sokovia.

More detail about Wanda’s early life is in this headcanon post here.

At the age of ten, there was an attack that resulted in the deaths of Wanda and Pietro’s parents. For two days the twins were trapped under rubble, staring at a bomb that thankfully was a dud, but the children hadn’t known that. The name “Stark” was printed on it, causing the twins to develop a hatred for America and one of its foremost security and weapons inventors. They survived the event, but it left them feeling angry and helpless. So when Hydra began recruiting for a research project that the deceptive organization said was to help empower the citizens of Sokovia, the now orphaned and homeless twins jumped at the chance.

For eight years, Wanda and Pietro were kept at Hydra’s facility, mostly residing in their individual rooms, but having supervised time together. They were put through many evaluations, tests, and training sessions designed to detail the effects of the experiments involving Loki’s scepter on them. Of the many children selected for the experiments, Wanda and Pietro had been the only willing participants, and the only ones to survive. I headcanon that this was because only someone of mutant blood could withstand the power contained in the scepter. The experiments were at times frightening and even painful, but the twins could see the results manifesting as time went on. For Wanda, it meant the ability to bring forth this force she had always felt was within her, to call it outside her body and have it do her bidding. The energy took whatever shaped she willed, or the shape of fluidly-moving smoke if she did not define a shape. Although she did not choose its color, Pietro insisted that it came out red because that was Wanda’s favorite color.

The experiments enhanced the twins’ already partially-existent powers and brought out whatever was latent within them, but that wasn’t all they enhanced. As the experiments progressed, the twins’ ability to feel things about the other became more intense and pointed. Sometimes, they could communicate telepathically as well, although it was more of a passive thing than something they could employ at will. In addition to having telekinesis and other matter-altering powers, Wanda also has the ability to be extremely empathetic, sometimes whether she wished to or not. She sometimes would feel the emotions of others around her so strongly that it would affect her own. Over the years, she learned to tune out what was not hers, although she could not stop herself from passively experiencing it. She could enter people’s minds, something she discovered by accident one day when she became angry with one of the scientists at the facility. She was able to not only see inside his mind, but to induce a dreamlike state in which the man experienced his darkest fears. This reality of her own creation that drew from the man’s own psyche was something she also witnessed, and combined with her heightened empathy, it frightened her. But after that first time, it became a weapon of hers, and something she did not allow to frighten her or make her sad if she deemed the person deserving of it. Wanda to this day carries guilt over what she did to the Avengers in the Hydra facility, knowing that they did not deserve the nightmares she manifested in their minds.

When the Avengers came to Sokovia, the twins were told that they were being attacked and encouraged to help defend it. Thinking they were being loyal to Hydra, whose true nature they didn’t know, they did their best to defend the facility. Later, they joined Ultron, but that fell apart once Wanda realized the computer didn’t want to make the world a better place, it wanted to help destroy it. She decided to aid the Avengers, despite her hatred of Tony Stark, and Pietro followed suit. When Pietro was killed, Wanda felt him die through the bond they shared. Not only did she feel what it was like to die, something she spoke to Ultron about later, but the loss of her beloved brother caused her powers to go haywire for a bit. Responding to her heightened negative emotions, a wave of energy was released from her, disintegrating Ultron’s bots around her.

She has survivor’s guilt regarding Pietro’s death, thinking that if she had not decided to stay and fight, he would still be alive. After she tore out Ultron’s “heart,” Wanda was prepared to die. In some ways, she wanted to, since she now had nothing and no one to live for. Vision’s gesture of saving her life and literally carrying her out of danger made a huge impression on her and painted him in a good light from that moment on. It was the very beginning of her feelings for him.

From this point onward, I pretty much follow the movie canon as far as events in Wanda’s life, so in the next section I’ll just list some random headcanons that I have for things in the later movies as I address Wanda’s mental state.

{ On Wanda’s Emotional Stability, PTSD, Fear of Abandonment, and Agoraphobia-Like Symptoms }

Wanda has been through a lot in her young life, and it has definitely left her emotionally and mentally scarred. She suffers from nightmares and flashbacks about the sexual assault she experienced as a child as well as the two days she spent with Pietro near that dud bomb after her parents were killed. She also has nightmares about Pietro’s death and physiologically feeling him die. I headcanon that she also has nightmares about killing Vision and subsequently seeing him killed by Thanos.

After spending almost half her life inside a facility and mostly inside one small living space, Wanda developed a fear of wide open spaces, crowds of people, and chaotic situations. They can cause her to experience either panic attacks or the exact opposite, going numb and being unable to move. The reason for this is, although she was somewhat a prisoner inside her room in the Hydra facility, it was also a place where she felt safe and calm. Her life had been so sheltered in that facility, that once she was freed, the outside world was something unfamiliar to her. Her social skills also suffered because of her time in the facility, and to this day she still sometimes has trouble with average social cues. She is not good at reading people, discerning intent, or telling if someone is lying.

Wanda tends to think that holding in her emotions is not only necessary but that she must do it to be strong. This is something she learned from Pietro, whom she never saw cry or be afraid of anything. It formed an understanding in her mind that strength equaled stoicism, so the only time she emotes to any huge degree is when it’s over something significant enough that she’s not able to hold it in. Sometimes when that happens, her powers react to her emotions, causing damage and even death around her.

Wanda went through a very rough time after Age of Ultron. She was alone, with no living family left, she was mourning Pietro, she was away from home in a country she had thought of as an enemy for most of her life, and she was in a large facility full of people who distrusted her. She was bombarded by doctors, psychologists, and evaluators trying to determine whether she was able to be rehabilitated and scared of what would happen if they determined she wasn’t. During this time, both Clint and Vision were friends and supporters, and Natasha was very sympathetic toward Wanda because of her own background. But Natasha had work to do and Clint went back to his family, so Vision quickly became her main source of emotional support.

In Civil War, Wanda was very sorry for what was a quick and not well thought out decision to move the bomb where she did, but she does not hate herself or her powers. She is very proud of her abilities, she just regrets causing the deaths of so many people. This is an important point to mention, because although Wanda has at time contemplated allowing herself to die and feels insecure about a number of things, she is extremely proud of her powers. To insult them is to insult her, for she views them as truly an extension of herself. At the end of Civil War, when she is placed in the Raft and put in a strait jacket and shock collar, two things are happening in her mind. She is fending off a feeling of numbness and dissociation due to the feeling of forced confinement, something that really upsets her, and she is also offended and angry that her ability to call upon and use her powers would be taken away from her.

Pietro was a protector for Wanda in addition to being a beloved brother. When he died, that role was immediately filled by Vision, who first protected her in Sokovia. Wanda prefers her romantic partners to be physically larger than she is (not an unusual feat since she is a petite woman), and when she feels afraid, angry, or otherwise unstable, being enveloped in her partner’s arms stabilizes her, makes her feel calm, and brings back a similar feeling of being in a safe and small place like her room in the Hydra facility. It makes the world stop spinning out of control, a feeling she gets when she is panicking about something.

Vision is the only romantic and sexual partner Wanda has ever had. She opened up to him in a way that she had not done with anyone else, even Pietro. Although they were only together for a short time, he meant everything to her, since she had lost everyone else in her life. Fear of abandonment had taken hold after she lost her parents, and then again after losing Pietro, so to then lose Vision after she had become so close to him (and given the manners in which he died twice) was incredibly traumatic for her and left her very unstable indeed. She retreated inside herself, unwilling to become close to anyone else after that, because at that point she assumed that everyone she loved was just going to die and leave her. What some view as a calm exterior of a woman at peace with Vision’s death is actually the visage of a woman dissociating from a pain she has not even begun to process.

Being “dusted” was a familiar feeling for Wanda. It was this feeling of ebbing away, of fading into nothing. She experienced the same thing when Pietro died. She smiles slightly as she disintegrates because she will not have to mourn Vision as she did Pietro, which was a very painful process she didn’t want to go through again, and she hoped to see Pietro again on the other side.

{ Shipping }

{ General Shipping Info }

I am willing to ship with canon characters and OCs from any fandom or even fandomless OCs, as long as there is chemistry and Wanda wants to. XD

Wanda likes her romantic partners to be physically larger than she is. (Not a huge feat, since she is a very petite woman, heh.) This is because, when she is anxious or upset, being enveloped in another’s embrace is comforting to her and makes her feel safe.

She is very much attuned to hands and eyes in her partners. The eyes are just something she focuses on, and hands mean a lot to her. The way she manifests much of her power is through her hands, so anyone who will hold and be gentle with her hands will earn her affection.

Orientation: Wanda is heterosexual. She is also demi-heteroromantic and demi-heterosexual, meaning she needs time, chemistry, and a strong emotional attachment to someone before she can/will fall in love with them or be interested in sex.

{ Shipping With Vision Muses } For my version of Wanda, the standard ship will be Vision. If you do not like this ship or disagree with how I view it, that’s perfectly fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, hate and harassment will not be tolerated, so do not bring drama or unkind behavior my way. Since there appears to be much confusion, hate, toxicity, and vitriol in the fandom regarding this ship, I want to detail where I stand and what will be considered canon for my version of Wanda on this particular blog.

Yes, I ship them. Hard. They are my favorite ship in the movie verse and have been one of my favorites since the comics.

Yes, I ship them romantically.

Yes, I ship them sexually, provided it is a verse in which Wanda is 18+. I will not write smut with minor muns at all and I will not write any with Wanda in a verse where she is 17 or younger, even though I am 21+. This is not negotiable. If muns and muses are 18+, I’m all for it, provided there is chemistry. With Vision, chemistry can be somewhat assumed ahead of time unless the Vision muse is extremely canon-divergent or it’s an evil AU of either muse or something like that.

Yes, I do assume that they were already lovers when engaging in their meetings in Edinburgh, during the events between Civil War and leading into Infinity War.

{ Shipping With Muses Other Than Vision } Honestly, my version of Wanda will not be able to be shipped with just any muse. This has to do with my interpretation of her and how I have structured her background. The following things are obstacles to Wanda becoming romantically or especially sexually involves with someone. They’re not deal breakers, but rather are things that may cause her to standoffish and slow to warm up to people:

She is emotionally damaged and at times mentally unstable. I don’t mean she’s batshit crazy, I mean she has been through SomeShit™, and that has left her with erratic emotions at times, poor social skills, PTSD, and an intense fear of abandonment. (See “About the Muse” page for details.)

She is extremely distrusting of people, especially people she’s just met.

She is a sexual assault survivor. (See “About the Muse” page for details.)

Because of these things, I really only see Wanda getting into a romantic/sexual ship with two types of people: 1. The strong, stable, “I’ll be your rock but I am also a cinnamon roll” type that she can feel safe and protected with (example, Vision). Not that she can’t take care of herself, but it’s more of an emotional protection she’s after than a physical one. 2. Someone who has also been through SomeShit™ and is just as damaged as she is, and therefore she is able to empathize with and relate to them well (example, Bucky).

[loseweighthacks101-blog]

Top 15 Weight Loss Myths

There are plenty of common weight loss myths that people live by when it comes to their health. It is difficult at times to separate the fat loss myths and fact from what is true. Many sound true while others are just laughable. I once examine somewhere that if you drink water at night that you are going to gain weight or that if you scratch your head labor you are going to lose your hair.... Weight Loss Myth # 1 The more weight that I have to lose the more intense my own exercise routine should be Weight Loss Truth: Although having an intense workout routine is great, there are a few things you should consider: the first being that will everyone is at a different level when it comes to their fitness and how much intensity they can actually handle. If you have ended up physically inactive for a number of years, an intense work out for you might be, walking half a mile a day. After you go around that half mile you notice that you are sweating bullets and that you are tired. However , for someone who has been in physical form active for many years, walking half a mile can be done without a sweat. Everyone has a different definition of precisely what "intense" is. If intense for you is working out for an hour a day, but due to life's busy arrange you only have time for 20 minutes a day, then those 20 minutes will go an extremely long way. It may possibly not necessarily be classified as "intense", according to your definition, but those little cardio moments will have confident health altering effects. Fat Loss Myth # 2 Stress and weight gain do not go hand in hand Losing weight Fact: This is one of those "laughable" myths. To learn more how stress is adding lbs. to your life please get my free E-Book, "Psychology of Releasing Weight" Weight Loss Myth # 3 I can lose weight while taking in whatever I want Weight Loss Truth: Sir Isaac Newton once said " What goes up must come down. inch There are natural principles that govern our lives. If you throw a ball up in the air, it will come back down. You can sit on your couch and imagine and visualize that the ball will staying afloat in the air, but natural principles teach us that it will come down. Same goes when it comes to our excess weight. This is one of the most common weight loss myths out there. It is illogical to think that your health and weight are going to be in stabilize if your nutrition consists mainly of twinkies, chips, and donuts. Sure you can burn it off just by exercising, but most people whose diet consists of mainly junk food are probably not disciplined enough to stick to a fitness routine. I do know a few people who, from the outside, look like they are in good shape, because they are not "fat, but who have excessive cholesterol. Just because I feel sorry for crushing the hearts of so many twinkie lovers out there, I would claim this. You can eat junk food, cookies, chips, ice cream, pizza, burgers.... All of those "soul satisfying foods", but it surely should be in moderation. Anything in excess is never good. Fat Loss Myth # 4 Skipping meals constitutes a way to lose weight Weight Loss Fact: There are numerous studies that show that people who skip breakfast and eat a lower number of times during the day tend to be a lot heavier than who have a healthy nutritional breakfast and then eat 4-6 small foods during the day. The reason to this might be the fact that they get hungrier later on in the day, and might have a trend to over eat during other meals of the day. Weight Loss Myth # 5 I will not shed weight while eating at night Weight Loss Truth: You can over indulge in food during the day and not eat a single thing at night and you should gain weight. As is the fact that you can starve yourself during the day and eat all night long and you still might gain weight. The key here is balance. If your body is telling you that it is hungry then perhaps you should listen to it. The reality is, that over eating, while not exercising, will cause you to gain weight; no matter what time of the day that you eat. Whenever My organization is hungry at night, as is my habit with other meals during the day, I try to select something that is usually natural in nature. Something like fruits, vegetables, or I might even make myself a fruit smoothie. At the time of those moments that I am craving ice cream or something sweet, I allow myself to get a few, and DO NOT feel guilty about it. Many people who are overweight live their life in guilt and shame. As i allow myself to get some, however , WITH MODERATION. Fat Loss Myth # 6 I'm not acceptable until such time as I lose weight Weight Loss Fact: The person who doesn't feel acceptable because they are fat is because they are not acceptable to help themselves first. The way that you think others view you is based on your view of yourself. I genuinely believe that one must become emotionally fit before becoming physically fit. I have gone through these self-limiting emotions in advance of. Once I realized that I was ALREADY ENOUGH in the eyes of God and that I had no need to prove average joe to anyone or to receive external validation for my self-worth, that made all the difference for me. As soon as you accept yourself as who you are RIGHT NOW and realize that you are already enough in the eyes of Goodness, you will not feel like you are not acceptable because of your weight. Weight Loss Myth # 7 I need to cut calories to lose pounds faster Weight Loss Truth: Cutting your calories down might be a great thing, if you are drastically overeating and filling your face. However , if you are eating proportionally then cutting calories might have an aversive affect. If you are cutting high fat calories and are starving your body, then that will lower your metabolism, or in other words slow it down, which may result in that you not losing any weight at all, even if you are "cutting calories" Fat Loss Myth # 8 Skipping dinners will help me lose weight Weight Loss Fact: Skipping meals may actually cause you to gain weight! You will become too hungry but will eventually have to eat. This will knock your metabolism off track and will eventually slow it down. See a car running low on gas (food), if you do not fill it up, it will eventually stop working. Same goes for our own bodies, we need to keep it fueled constantly. Weight Loss Myth # 9 I think I have genetic weight gain, that runs in my family! Weight Loss Truth: Can someone say E-X-C-U-S-E-S? I will not deny that there might be tastes for heavy parents to raise heavy children who will remain heavy their whole lives, but I don't think that there is actually a "fat" gene or DNA out there. What we do inherit from our family, primarily people directly raised us, are our views and beliefs. Your views about food, money, religion, state policies, education, etc . are based upon how you were raised. If you were raised in a home where the primary ingredients cooked where fried foods, then you might have a tendency to continue cooking and eating fried foods across your life. If that is the case then you might be a little heavy around the waist. The easy thing to do is to blame the application on those who were in charge of your upbringing, however , you ALWAYS have a choice to change. Fat Loss Myth # 10 Eating healthy is too hard Weight Loss Fact: Eating healthy is the simplest thing in the world..... once you have trained you to ultimately do it. How many times have you placed a goal to lose weight or to "eat better"? The first few days you are doing terrific, eating all kinds of foods which you normally wouldn't eat. Then something funny started to happen, you went back for a old habits and behaviors. This has happened to you in other areas outside of your health. It could be with making money, buying new job, or in your relationships. Creating a new habit takes time because our brain's do not like switch. Change to the brain is dangerous. Anyways, if you would like to learn more about how our brain attempts to sabotage people from creating new habits then please download my free E-book, "Psychology of Releasing Weight" Fat burning Myth # 11 You have to give up your favorite foods to lose weight Weight Loss Truth: What would a world without the need of chocolate and without pepperoni pizza be like??? I think it would be a torturous world to live in!! lol, today on a real note I completely disagree with this myth. You are definitely able to eat your favorite foods. Starving yourself of this kind of pleasure is not fun, and quite frankly you probably WILL eat it anyways. As may be mentioned before, the real key is moderation. If you are a steak lover, then perhaps it might not be the preferred things to eat it every single day, but perhaps once or twice a week. Those who know me personally know that I LOOOOOOOOVE roasted chicken wings with pizza. In a perfect world where I wouldn't gain any weight and my blood vessels were clog-less, I would love to eat it several times per week, well more like every day. However , I know that people aren't the healthiest of food choices so I have it about 2-3 times per month. I am not abandoning my favorite foods, I am just eating it in moderation so that it doesn't catch up to me in the form of pounds. Fat Loss Myth # 12 Overeating is caused by hunger Weight Loss Fact: Nice try there. If only we're able to blame "hunger" for it. In fact , this person we call hunger has nothing to do with you OVEREATING. It'd have something to do your body telling you that it is time to "fuel up" and that it needs food, but that is not symptomatic that one should overeat. What causes many people to overeat are different reasons. One of the main ones is feeling of pressure, depression, loneliness, anxiety, fear, and other down grading emotions of that nature. Many times food can be a means of pleasing your needs. You might be actually getting your needs met through your foods. For example , if you live a lonely lifetime, and aren't very happy, then food could perhaps be a means of you feeling happy and comforted. There are many other articles that I have written on this subject but suffice it to say that overeating is NOT cause when it is hungry. Weight Loss Myth # 13 Only drastic diets work Weight Loss Truth: There goes that phrase again... DIEt.... those "drastic diets" are only good for quick weight loss and rapid weight gain once you get from it. These drastic diets range from the "cookie diet", lol.... All that way to "the water only diet"..... I am sure you may lose weight while on these DIEts, however the weight will be gained right back and usually with some increased weight as a bonus Fat Loss Myth # 14 I am too fat and too far down the road to begin Weight-loss Fact: A long journey begins one step at a time. It is natural to expect instantaneous results and to even worry the road ahead of you; especially if you are extremely overweight. The secret here is to make SMALL incremental changes. Don't hope perfection because that will lead you to disappointment. You are never too far down the road to where you cannot see the sun's lightweight...... Weight Loss Myth # 15 I can't do it, I have tried many times and have failed Weight Loss Truth: The great Holly Ford once said "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't- you're right. '"...... It is 90% mindset, and 10% actually getting off your butt and doing something about it. You fall down, you get back up.... people fall down again, you get back up again. If you have tried to lose weight in the past then it is time to keep intending. Discouragment is to losing weight as is a piece of fried chicken to a vegetarian...... they DO NOT go hand in hand.

[sixwheelriker]

So the Otakon accessibility policies seem... pretty shady

Otakon is a (mostly) Japanese pop-culture con (i.e. anime convention +) that happens annually in DC, though it had been in Baltimore up until recently.

This is my first year going. I've been to other conventions in that convention center in the last 2 years, and the accessibility policies and practices were pretty good. But then I read up on this years and saw a lot of stuff that, while not necessarily an issue for me (as I will be dependent on my walker and cane while there), could spell trouble for people with invisible disabilities (which used to be me).

I copy and pasted the full text from the website, and I highlighted the questionable bits with purple and italics (I'm sorry for the color, but I'm hoping its the least problematic choice color-wise for visual issues... italics isnt enough of a highlighting format when scrolling theough text and having visual issues, so its been a catch 22). I apologise for the wall-of-text nature of my post!:

//start website text

Member Accessibility

Last Updated: Aug 15, 2017 11:10AM EDT

The Basics:

What is “Member Accessibility”?

Member Accessibility is a department that assists convention attendees who may need a little extra help, due to differing abilities. When attendees need and request it, we can provide them with elevator access, priority seating, and in very limited instances, an escort through or around crowded areas. We do not provide medical equipment, including wheelchairs, nor do we provide assistance in using such equipment. You will need to provide this on your own.

Where is Member Accessibility?

We have a desk in the main registration area. We also have staff located in many areas of the convention center, called rovers. They will have a black Otakon Staff t-shirt, with a blue reflective armband.

What are the hours of operation for Member Accessibility?

Member Accessibility will have someone on duty for all hours the convention center doors are open to the public, including Thursday’s online registration pickup period. However, someone may not be present at the desk during lulls. If this is the case, please see the next question for information on reaching us.

How do I get a hold of Member Accessibility?

During the year, you can reach us by using the email us option through our online contact system. Please select “Member Accessibility” as the topic to ensure your question is sent to the right department.

Please keep in mind that we may not be able to respond to all messages. If you have an urgent concern, please come to the Member Accessibility desk at Registration. If you are unable to travel to this desk, please ask a member of staff to page Member Accessibility. Member Accessibility will dispatch someone to assist, if they are available, but it may take some time to arrive at your location.

Preparing for the convention:

Should I request assistance from Member Accessibility?

You should ask for assistance if you have a medical need, or such assistance would prevent damage to an existing injury. For example, if you have a broken leg, or are pregnant and in your third trimester, you should ask us for assistance. On the other hand, if you have a large costume, or are tired from walking all day, we apologize, but our department cannot assist you.

What qualifies me for Member Accessibility assistance?

As stated above, any medical need will cover you. Some examples:

a condition that limits movement;

something that alters your ability to navigate stairs;

something that limits your travel distance;

a condition that causes pain while standing or walking for an extended period;

heart or lung related issues;

recent surgery; or

blindness.

The list is not complete, and only serves as a handful of examples. If you are unsure if you qualify, please contact us before the convention, so that we may investigate, and if necessary, provide alternative advice for you. For clarity, below are some examples that would not qualify for our assistance:

diabetes;

broken arm;

bulky costumes;

limping; or

“I don’t feel good.”

Regardless if you are eligible for Member Accessibility services during Otakon, if you begin to feel unwell during the convention, please take a break, and if needed, ask a friend for assistance. If you experience a medical emergency during the convention, please call 911 immediately.

Do I need a doctor’s note?

If it is not easily apparent that you are in need of assistance, we will ask for some kind of documentation of your situation. Some examples of acceptable forms of documentation are

a doctor’s note on script paper;

prescribed medication for condition in original container, with a label containing your name;

a note from a hospital or clinic on letterhead or script paper;

handicap parking identifier; or

a Maryland MTA reduced fare identification card, or your state or country’s equivalent.

The following are a few things we would not accept as documentation:

over the counter medication;

a note written by yourself or, when applicable, a guardian; or

a doctor's note dated more than two months prior to Otakon.

At the convention:

Picking up your badge

First things first, check into your hotel, if needed, and relax for a little bit. When picking up your badge, go directly to the door, bypassing the line. Indicate to the Otakon staff member (not security) you are proceeding to Member Accessibility. The staff will show you how to get there, or call for assistance if it is needed.

Already have your badge?

Unless your badge has been specially modified by Member Accessibility, you will not be permitted to use any elevator inside the convention center, except the one located nearest to the Member Accessibility desk. If this limitation would prevent you from reaching the desk, please ask any member of staff to page Member Accessibility. We will dispatch someone to your location to escort you to the Member Accessibility desk. During peak times, it may take a long time for someone to come to your location, due to limited staff available to respond.

At the desk

If there is a wait at the desk, please use the provided seating if it is needed. If seating is not available, consult with the nearest member of staff with reflective tape on their arms.

Member Accessibility will ask you to explain your situation, and provide documentation, if it is necessary. We will look at your documentation, or medication, and immediately return it to you. You will be responsible for its safe keeping or disposal.

While it is understandably frustrating, if your needs are not readily apparent, and you do not possess some form of documentation, we may turn you away. So, we urge you to please bring something with you to support your claim.

Upon verification of your claim, we will modify your badge, indicating to all staff that you are allowed to use the elevator and/or have priority access to seating.

Waiting in line

If you find yourself in a long line for an event that provides seating, please speak with the member of staff at the start or end of the line. They will provide whatever assistance they can to ensure you receive a safe seating area.

//end website text

SO, the very vague language about what is a "readily apparent" disability vs not really concerns me (for just one example: could an ambulatory wheelchair user seen standing from their chair lose their elevator access?), especially when they ask for the kind of proof they do. Just off the top of my head, some problems could include:

medical conditions that haven't been diagnosed formally because sometimes these things take years, or doctors dont believe you, or doctor visits are costly, etc (e.g. I've had a syncope condition since I was 4 that didn't get formally diagnosed until I was 29)

people who can't just pop into their doctors office within a very specific time frame because of schedules (really common! How many of us have had to wait months to be seen for even the most routine thing or urgetnt thing and ended up going to the ER because of that?). People who can't just pop into their doctor's office because of cost (and some of you might say "yeah, but cons cost money", but those are very different costs and maybe someone bought you a pass, or... really all kinds of things that arent anyone's business).

Doctors who straight up won't write you such a specialised note for this. A lot of doctors are busy and won't/can't give you an appointment for this kind of thing, and since it has to be official letterhead or script paper they can't even just send you one via email or an online patient chart portal.

How are they regulating elevator access anyway? If someone is determined "not disabled enough" and they manage to somehow make it up to, say, the 3rd floor anyway by sheer stuborness then, I don't know, find they're gonna faint, what should they do? Hope they dont faint on the stairs and injure themselves possibly horribly? Call 911 unnecessarily and incur the related hospital bills because some random person who... I'm guessing WON'T be a doctor had decided they aren't disabled "enough"?

The specific call outs for diabetes, broken arms, and "I dont feel good".... I give that side eye. If someone with diabetes gets in a bad way while in a hot, crowded, indoor venue (which I'd bet happens to many folks), and they need quick and safe egress, then just... too bad? I don't know much about diabetes but even I seriously question this con telling people who do and who have it what they supposedly don't need. I also remember having a bad shoulder i jury in jr high and high school and having my doctor order that the school ley me use the elevator to move between floors to avoid further injury from a crowded halway. Pretty sure someone with a broken arm at a major con could have the same need. And of course, "I dont feel good" could mean so many things! It could mean I'm gonna have a seizure, or faint, or a whole bunch of things, amd when your cognition is being reduced by such a condition you are hardly gonna be up to explaining to some staff member who is, again, PROBABLY NOT A DOCTOR, that you are about to have an episode and you need fast safe egress. What you probably CAN day is "I dont feel good".

And even if you DON'T have a condition, its late July and a huge convention center full of bodies and noise, and people will be in costumes that can over heat them unexpectedly. Are they really gonna deny someone a help as simple as an elevator ride down a floor or two if they get in a bad way because they aren't officially approved or whatever? People who AREN'Y disabled get sick, too. "Call a friend" yeah people, you know, do stuff alone. And badges are not free. This is not a viable option... not when the alternative is CALL 911. There are all kinds of emergencies that are not 911 emergencies, but ARE I-cant-use-stairs emergencies. WTF.

Anyway, I can go on, but honestly I haven't the energy or constitution for it 😂 But mostly it's the elevator access restriction that's worrying me. I went to Awesome Con in this same place last year and there were NO elevator restrictions, and I didnt see the elevators being over run by people who "didn't need them" (and really, taking the stairs was way more convenient if you could take them). So this isn't a convention center policy but an Otakon one.

I want to contact someone about this, maybe post something on the con or convention center facebook page, but I'm... not really well enough to put it together properly, like what to include or not include. I'm also not too sure of the law here - ADA says sonething about open access for platforms but nothing about elevators. What applies here? Can I try to effect a change anyway, regardless of legal clout behind me?

What do you all think?

[fasterthanmydemons]

About the Muse

[CAUTION: NOT SPOILER FREE FOR ANY MOVIES!]

{ Basic Stats and Family }

Name: Pietro Maximoff

Avengers Alias: Quicksilver

Age: My starting age for Pietro during Captain America: The Winter Soldier is 17, for Avengers: Age of Ultron is 17-18, depending on the kind of thread we’re doing. If he’s saved from death at the end of Ultron, he turns 18 shortly after that. If he’s brought back by Clint during the time travel test in an Endgame verse, I will probably just make him 18. Age is somewhat flexible, though, it’s not set in stone. Please be advised though that in most verses the twins are still minors during their Hydra experimentation, and although I will not write that out in detail in threads, I do refer to it (or he does, rather, heh) as part of his past, so if that bothers you, we can age Pietro up a little or best not to interact.

Birth Mother: Magda Eisenhardt (deceased)

Birth Father: Max Eisenhardt/Magneto (Yes, I’m ignoring the retcon in the comics that stomped all over this, heh.)

Adoptive Parents: Django and Marya Maximoff (deceased) are the only parents the twins have ever known.

Siblings: Fraternal twin sister, Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

Languages: Romani dialect (native tongue); Transian and Sokovian (learned as a young child); English, French, and German (taught to him at the Hydra facility)

Romantic Orientation: demi-heteroromantic

Sexual Orientation: demi-heterosexual

{ Background }

Trigger warnings: sexual assault, child harm, child death, suicidal thoughts

(Basically, what I have done with Pietro is flesh out his background a little better than the films did, borrowing from certain parts of his background in the comics and melding it together with the movie verse. So neither the comic- nor movie-verse is 100% canon for him, but most of the changes and merges of the two are in his background before the movies. I will be counting the majority of what happens in the movies as canon for him. Below I have detailed his background story and general headcanons about his life, mental health, and some events of the movies as I will be using them on this blog. This does not mean all of this is set in stone, however, it is just what I will be working from as a starting point as I write him unless otherwise specified in rps. Some of this could be changed or truncated depending on verse and starter situation.)

Pietro and his twin sister Wanda were adopted as infants by Django and Marya Maximoff, never knowing any different but that the Maximoffs were their real parents. From a young age, Pietro always had a lot of excess energy, had a short attention span, had difficulty concentrating on anything for too long, and found it hard to sit or lie down for long amounts of time. He got by on much less sleep than Wanda, and even then, he would wake up several times a night and often be very restless. He could also run very fast, outrunning all of the other children in his village as a boy. He was fast, agile, and had impeccable balance. So even before the experiments, Pietro had a genetic tendency toward these abilities. This is due to him actually being a mutant, the son of Magneto, although he never knew this.

When the twins were little, the family lived in Transia, but an incident with Wanda forced them to emigrate elsewhere, to Sokovia. Their family was Roma, also known as the Romani people, an Indo-Aryan ethnicity, so they already faced prejudice for that reason, but when Wanda’s budding abilities as a mutant as a young child became known, that only made her family greater targets for hatred. The incident that caused it was very traumatic for Wanda. When she was six years old, she was molested by a boy her age. Her fear and anger caused her to release this force inside her, the same one that allowed her to move objects with her mind. It pushed the boy away from her and, still not done with him, she cursed him for what he had done, telling him he would die for it. The next day, the boy was run over by a wagon and killed. Because the boy had told his parents about Wanda’s curse and then it had come true, she was labeled a witch, and to protect her, the family left Transia and eventually settled in Sokovia.

This incident, aside from causing his family to have to move, deeply affected Pietro in a negative way. Until that point, he had loved his sister and spent time with her and regarded her as someone very close to him because they were twins. It was a carefree sort of thing. But after she was assaulted, he felt that he had failed her as a brother. Brothers (especially older brothers, even if only by 12 minutes), should always protect their sisters, he felt. This incident is the root of Pietro’s intense desire to protect his sister as all costs. It is driven partly by guilt for not having been there to stop the assault when she was little, and partly by the desire to never allow anything like that to happen to her again.

At the age of ten, there was an attack that resulted in the deaths of Wanda and Pietro’s parents. For two days the twins were trapped under rubble, staring at a bomb that thankfully was a dud, but the children hadn’t known that. The name “Stark” was printed on it, causing the twins to develop a hatred for America and one of its foremost security and weapons inventors. They survived the event, but it left them feeling angry and helpless. So when Hydra began recruiting for a research project that the deceptive organization said was to help empower the citizens of Sokovia, the now orphaned and homeless twins jumped at the chance.

For eight years, Pietro and Wanda were kept at Hydra’s facility, mostly residing in their individual rooms, but having supervised time together. They were put through many evaluations, tests, and training sessions designed to detail the effects of the experiments involving Loki’s scepter on them. Of the many children selected for the experiments, Wanda and Pietro had been the only willing participants, and the only ones to survive. I headcanon that this was because only someone of mutant blood could withstand the power contained in the scepter. The experiments were at times frightening and even painful, but the twins could see the results manifesting as time went on. For Pietro, it meant that his naturally high energy, speed, agility, etc. were enhanced to a superhuman degree. In addition he experiences an actual overhaul of his metabolism to be very fast and efficient, gained an apparent immunity to friction as he moves, gained the abilities to heal at a faster rate than normal humans and to create and utilize a slipstream. The slipstream is basically a molecular disturbance in the air that results from him reaching a certain speed when he runs. It creates a wind effect and even a vacuum effect at times behind him, causing objects and even people or animals to be dragged in the direction he’s running sometimes. He is also exceptionally strong, can lift much more than the average human, and his punches can crack rock and dent steel (or Ultron’s bots, heh) if he gets a good enough running start.

The experiments enhanced the twins’ already partially-existent powers and brought out whatever was latent within them, but that wasn’t all they enhanced. As the experiments progressed, the twins’ ability to feel things about the other became more intense and pointed. Sometimes, they could communicate telepathically as well, although it was more of a passive thing than something they could employ at will. In addition to having telekinesis and other matter-altering powers, Wanda also has the ability to be extremely empathetic, sometimes whether she wished to or not. She sometimes would feel the emotions of others around her so strongly that it would affect her own. Over the years, she learned to tune out what was not hers, although she could not stop herself from passively experiencing it. She could enter people’s minds, something she discovered by accident one day when she became angry with one of the scientists at the facility. She was able to not only see inside his mind, but to induce a dreamlike state in which the man experienced his darkest fears. This reality of her own creation that drew from the man’s own psyche was something she also witnessed, and combined with her heightened empathy, it frightened her. But after that first time, it became a weapon of hers, and something she did not allow to frighten her or make her sad if she deemed the person deserving of it. Wanda to this day carries guilt over what she did to the Avengers in the Hydra facility, knowing that they did not deserve the nightmares she manifested in their minds.

When the Avengers came to Sokovia, the twins were told that they were being attacked and encouraged to help defend it. Thinking they were being loyal to Hydra, whose true nature they didn’t know, they did their best to defend the facility. Later, they joined Ultron, but that fell apart once Wanda saw the computer’s intentions and realized it didn’t want to make the world a better place, it wanted to help destroy it. She decided to aid the Avengers, despite her hatred of Tony Stark, and Pietro followed suit. Pietro warmed up to the other Avengers aside from Stark rather quickly once he saw what they were trying to do for the people of Sokovia. That’s all that he and Wanda ever wanted was to protect children so they wouldn’t have to go through what they did and to protect people in war-torn countries who were often killed as collateral damage during conflicts. Once he saw the Avengers were on the same page as him and Wanda, he got excited about it. He wanted to join them and have their collective power behind him and his sister to do good for the world. Sadly, in the movie canon, he never got the chance, but he did give his life for Clint and an innocent Sokovian boy, which was a very honorable and heroic death that any Avenger would have been proud of.

[hopevalley]

I’m back, and with the usual nonsense. 

I’ve been thinking about that potential novelization again. Heck, I dreamed a while back that I was going to tweet Hallmark to ask “permission” to do it (but ended up tweeting them in the dream to novelize the Wedding March series instead). It’s fanfic. I don’t need permission to write it!!! (Dream!Me was stressed out at the idea that Hallmark could say yes, because then I’d be locked into writing it. I’m still marveling at Dream!Me’s confidence.)

I’m gonna ramble about the potential for a novelization of When Calls the Heart here, just ‘cause I can. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings and nowhere to put them. Read on if you’d like!

I like When Calls the Heart! I really do. It’s had its ups and downs, but overall things have been pretty darn awesome.

I don’t think any of us would be here if there wasn’t something about the show that really captured us, took us by storm. For some people it was the romance. For others, the friendships. I know people who watch the show for specific characters or character arcs (Henry comes to mind), or because they like the feel-good nature of the series while it deals with some realistically awful situations/issues; the Lee and Rosemary and the infertility plotline that popped up in S6 comes to mind, here.

Honestly, I wish I could trust someone else to novelize the tv series the way I’d like to see it done. Unfortunately I’m a picky baby and I have very specific ideas of what these characters are like from a more intimate POV than we get with the show, so...if I want it done, I gotta do it myself. (RIP my free time, though.)

The biggest roadblock, though is...feedback.

This fandom is notorious for being terrible about ‘participating’ and fanfic isn’t everyone’s cup of tea anyway. Imagine working your tail off to produce a well-crafted novelization of the series only for it to get ignored. I’d probably never write again...and that’s not me being dramatic, either. I think it’s fair to say “my time is worth something” and stick to that. It is. My time is worth a lot to me. I could use it to clean the house, do dishes, spend time with my husband, play with the cats, clean the yard, do gardening, work longer hours and get paid, play video games, crochet, et cetera. I have an endless supply of hobbies! It’s harder than it sounds, because it means I can’t ever dedicate tons of time to just, you know, one of them. On the plus side it means I’ve got something waiting in the wings no matter what mood I’m in!

The possibility exists that the story would be a surprise success, too. I mean, I doubt it (judging by the numbers, fanfic for this series isn’t that popular), but...you never know! Jack and Elizabeth are a focal point of the first few seasons and a novelization of the series would also support this.

Anyway, I think I said before that I was toying with the idea of pre-writing five chapters, posting them a week or two apart, and gauging interest based off of that. If people aren’t interested, I can abandon the project early enough into it that nobody has to feel sad about it. If people are into the idea, and take the time to comment on the chapters... Well, it looks like I’d have to keep going.

It’s just a struggle to get started.

For two reasons. 

The first is the possibility of failure. Now, you could say it’s not a failure if you complete the project, or no time spent on a hobby is wasted, but for me that just isn’t true—at least not completely. Writing is a hobby, but it’s a very personal hobby. I pour a lot of myself into those stories, into storytelling, and the very point of writing for me, especially when I post it online, is the social aspect of it. Fanfiction is a social hobby! When nobody comments on the story, nobody favorites it, nobody bookmarks it... 

Well, I might as well have just left it all in my head and not taken the time to write it down.

The second is...Elizabeth, and by extension, Jack. And, uh, by extension of that, Jack/Elizabeth.

Hear me out!

I think both characters have some good foundations going for them. Season 2 shattered a lot of the good things they had going on for the Dramaz (which I wholeheartedly disagree with), but I feel fully capable of warping the S2 events to better suit the characters we ended up with (and to avoid some of the unnecessary meaningless drama that never did sit right with me). I just feel like both characters are...a little bit...empty? And especially for focal characters, they need depth that the show just simply refused to provide outside of Dramatic Situations.

I’ve been working through some of that in my head. Something I always liked about Elizabeth was how she unapologetically enjoyed being rich! Whether she was in Coal Valley or Hamilton she sported fashionable things. She loved going shopping with her sisters, dressing up for dinner, et cetera. Her vague ignorance of people like Abigail visiting (welcome in the house, but definitely unaware of ‘dressing for dinner’) was this really nifty mix of like...endearing and frustrating. I think playing that up a little further, or rather...bringing it to the forefront, might be a great idea.

--

Speaking of Abigail, I think the character was an excellent addition to the series in the beginning and I’d prefer to continue along those lines, here. I’d fully plan to include her, but with my own slight twist on things; she stays Abigail. No Lorigail.

I can’t decide exactly what to do with some of the other characters, though. I greatly enjoyed Cat and her children, and as Emily is still around later I feel like I’d want to keep her around, but she needs a role to fill and it doesn’t feel quite right to relegate her to the very background when Elizabeth spent the first season going up to bat for her. I think I could figure it out easily enough, but it’s another consideration I’m up against.

--

Of course, this is all kind of hinging on the idea that the first five chapters would be met with some measure of success, because if people kind of shrugged over them it won’t matter what I do with Cat or anyone else.

Anyway I feel like it should be stated outright that I have no real intentions of completely altering anything...at this time. That could definitely change, though, if the readerbase wanted it badly enough and I felt it was appropriate. There are some things that I think need more attention, but that’s not the same as altering events, per se. Bill as a character comes on really mysterious but what’s the point of writing him that way when the entire potential readerbase already knows he’s married? Already knows about the counterfeit plotline? It might actually be more fun to get into his head and write some of those scenes from his perspective (third person limited, not first person; I despise first person). Then we have his reasoning (stupid or not) instead of the mystery.

Therein lies the reasoning necessary for anyone to actually start reading it in the first place: it offers something the tv show doesn’t (because text-based mediums can get into people’s heads and narratively examine their psyche) but doesn’t actually deviate hard from what people already know and like about the show. I guess you could say that it’s giving them more of what they like?

--

I think the difficult part of balancing a novelization has to do with the points of view; do you pick a few and stick with those? Do you GRRM it up and everyone gets it sometimes, or do you choose the scenes and select the narrative based specifically on how that scene would best be told, which could result in some people having more scenes than others?

I’m leaning a little toward the latter with the idea that some characters will probably never get their own scenes, because if a character is only allowed to have one, why bother even giving them that? I’m not sold on the idea though, because I can’t even choose a character who wouldn’t get a scene. Probably characters who just aren’t around enough for it to matter? I’m thinking about characters like Greta (the investor) or Jenkins (bank manager) more than I am even characters like Ray Wyatt, ‘cause at least Ray sticks around in the story for a reasonable period of time (and therefore might deserve a scene or two along the way).

(Though I mean, I can’t say for sure. We all know what happens to these characters, so maybe I’d have to stick with giving characters scenes who will eventually join the ensemble of Hope Valley? Hm.)

I guess it’s something to think about.

--

Rolling again with the assumption that the story is a success (let’s just be confident, here!) there are future aspects of the series that didn’t really do it any favors and/or weren’t presented in a satisfactory manner.

I’ll give a few examples off the top of my head: Season 2′s drama, Lorigail, AJ and Bill’s weird relationship dynamic, wedding drama for Jack and Elizabeth.

I can swallow a lot of nonsense! I like drama...when it’s interesting and done well. What I don’t appreciate is the cheap stuff, designed to fling a roadblock in the way of a romantic couple. Jack and Elizabeth didn’t need Charles to make things feel off/weird/bad, or for Jack to be made to feel unwelcome. I personally think the entirety of the S2 plot could be better shaped and molded for the characters. We can still have drama, but not at the expense of the characters’ integrity!

Just throwing ideas out there, but in the novels Elizabeth’s original contract was only for a year, so when that year was up and it was the summer break from school, she returned to Hamilton and waited to hear from Coal Valley to find out if she’d be invited back there for the next school term. I’m not against Elizabeth’s mother falling ill to get her back to Hamilton, but I’d prefer if her...extended stay there didn’t hinge of iffy (flimsy) health stuff. They resolved that way too neatly and it was just... I don’t know. It could have been better done, maybe to offset the potential for drama.

As far as Lorigail goes, I think Abigail taking on a role in town as part of the town council and eventually stepping up as mayor should come at a cost, and those costs eventually lead to her giving up her role as mayor (which would take care of a lot of the lorigail issues of her just being involved in everything). Obviously this is so far in the future it’d hinge on a very successful story overall, but I’m busy being confident so I’m willing to entertain the idea that someday I’d have to address this. 

AJ also doesn’t show up for a very long time but her introduction was pretty mediocre, and Bill’s reaction to her (not chasing her down instantly) didn’t make a lick of sense. Bill isn’t easily swayed by anyone’s dumb opinion, and he’s not a romantic in the traditional sense so it’s hard to imagine a kiss from a stranger made him slack on his job duties. An easy fix here would just be to show the good moments that had to have existed between the bad ones. The only reason Bill would let AJ go without even trying to find her is if he feels that 1) she doesn’t deserve to be jailed, and/or 2) she’s safer if she’s free. It’s not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things but I think it’d be a real shame not to ‘fix’ the issue while possible.

Finally, with the wedding drama... Honestly they didn’t need any of it. The church didn’t need to burn. If we want wholesome content: there’s been a bit of a drought and there aren’t any nice flowers for the wedding, so Elizabeth’s dad remembers that his girls used to like making paper flowers and organizes everyone to use colored paper to make them so they can string them up in the church. I mean, something little like that doesn’t really change the backbone of the story we’re getting (I mean, we’re here for Jack and Elizabeth’s wedding, a celebration of happiness, not for the drama that ends up being completely meaningless). Cute mishaps on the wedding day would be much better/more interesting/tell a better story.

(Or maybe Bill just about completely misses the wedding and then we get Lee and Rosie’s rings being used, which sort of ties in with how close Elizabeth gets with them in S6 storylines...)

--

The more I think about it, the more potential for an amazing story I find in this, and the more excited I get. 

Henry is SUCH an interesting character; it would be amazing to get into his head early on.

Imagine getting to see Elizabeth and Abigail’s friendship actually form.

Clara’s relationship with other people, like Abigail and Elizabeth, but also exploring the specific kind of grief she feels vs. the grief Abigail feels and how that might clash/be different.

Exploring the different relationships the women in town had with their husbands. Some were obviously still in love, some not so much, others ready to move on quickly and a few completely closed to the idea.

A schoolhouse/group of kids that isn’t replaced every ten seconds and remains somewhat consistent...

Getting to write Jack and Elizabeth actually falling in love over the big and the little things. 

Elizabeth as a passionate teacher.

Characters dealing with nightmares, good dreams, dreams about their friends or potential love interests... I want to see real raw human emotion, here! The good stuff, definitely, but maybe some of the bad, too, because writing the different ways they deal with it could be...fun.

Abigail being Abigail and staying Abigail... ♥

HOBBIES being a part of everyday life!!

CHURCH!!!!! SERMONS! Worship! Gathering together for meals! 

Rewriting some of the dangerous scenes to actually FEEL dangerous.

Writing in Julie’s perspective would be SO much fun.

Including travel time for the big events and shaping the world into a place where time MATTERS aaaaaa that’s so fun too!

--

Anyway, I’m rambling. I just really, really love the idea of writing this. I have so many thoughts and ideas I want to do, all without deviating too far from the source material that we all love so much.

It’s just hard to feel like I should spend my free time on it...but lately it’s really been gnawing at me, so...

We’ll see! It could be a lot of fun just to try. At least if I try, I’ll know. If I don’t, I’ll probably always wonder what might have happened if I had.

[crystalbluesoul]

Alright, I wrote a whole damn frigging lot of the Naglfar Lore to one bud on Discord and will share this here. Look at this, @CApexHunter on Twitter and be amazed! Major spoilers for a thing you’d never hear about otherwise unless I’d actually get my ass up and start making it a novel, game, VN or whatever goes.

A few select people I know might be crazy enough to actually read all this nonsense, so this is for you too:

@aftertheend-gamedev @johnny-writes​ @soulwitch​

Also you @yukianesawarachia​ get your lore straight.

It’s a pretty rough summary about the most important parts up to the start of the main story, so don’t get your hopes up if you want to read about elf hierarchy (can be sorta found here), a summary of internal politics between more influental royal families, happenings that were deemed too insignificant to be relevant or the history between state and church, principles of magic and catalysts and basically everything not named until now you’ll be severely disappointed.

Alright, we're talking the world called Naglfar. It's a planet, however follows the hollow earth principle which is important, but also a massive spoiler. A planet with its own immune system, regulated through both atmospheres, outer and inner one so to say.

 [Idiot’s note: Not a reliable map but correct for visualisation.]

Scattered throughout the Overworld are the World Trees, which share information and help keep the planet's condition stable, being interconnected but also regulating said atmospheres to keep a balance. Their roots make up quite a bit of the inner landmass too.

[Terranigma, which used a similar principle with the hollow earth.]

Millions of years ago a meteorite struck and penetrated the outer husk, latching itself onto the world’s core and gradually darkened it, the underworld's sun. With it came a being carrying a virus, taking the antibodies of the planet and corrupting them which lead to the creation of even more of antibodies. Feel free to call me out for Chrono Trigger btw. Congratulations tho, we now have what I lovingly call "AIDS-earth". Lots of World Trees naturally fought for balance, but soon their roots were taken by the corrupting nature of the invader. Only a few managed to cut off their roots themselves to stop their own corruption, but most started to die from within, sapping the land surrounding them of Mana and nutrients, that's how they collapsed and crumbled further towards the core and with time the darkened atmosphere of the underworld came through.

[Ash Lake from Dark Souls, which ignited my World Tree ideas.]

That's what the situation today is like, there's only a handful continents with World Trees at their centre today, surrounded by a massive cliff with a black fog at its visible bottom. There's various human factions deciding over the future, given the chance the crumbling will continue unlike the past few 100 years. Should they just stay like this? Should they look for mechanical flight machines? Should they look for a magical engine? Or... should they research the fog and prepare for a life within that bottom?

[Fanart of the Zeal Island from Chrono Trigger. There’s a chance kingdoms like this already exist but keep to themselves. Damn, this image goes from pinterest to photobucket to shutterstock, so I’ll insert a source if someone can tell me.]

There's various local groups of descendants from other lands which were affine  to some options, skilled technicians or mages, but that's that for the current group. Here the rules are different too, aside from natural things we are used to, there's also a portion of mana in soil, air, water, heat, you get the gist. Elements. These elements have largely influenced the life of people, if you live in caves for generations you become smaller and sturdier, magma caves bring fire in, which reverses that for bigger and stronger. Places filled with water, perpetually recycled from the tree, and fresh air from forests attune the people and animals to make them more receptive (and basically elves). Animals in time could become monsters, sometimes humans had relationships with whatever they could find and so various subbreeds and variations came into existence. Humans fuck. Animals fuck. Things do weird things. Some genes are more compatible than others, so sometimes results are rather random even after generations. Yuki has an OC biologist who's researching this,  makes it quite fun. Aside from the biological view, there's also the theological view. Angels and Heaven, as well as demons. Though there's.... not yet really a hell. Heaven is purely ethereal and lower angels are sent for their mission on earth sometimes.

[Humans fuck.]

Heaven came to exist from faith and prayers of humans, praying for certain things with certain images in mind became lower deities, sub-'specialities' so-to-speak created a hierarchy with an "all-powerful" god at its top, but no one really knows about that. Likewise demons came into existence from the fear of mankind. Stories of men and women sucking blood or directly your soul and whatever else the human mind can produce. At least that's the true demons who became concepts similar to the deities. There's offspring here too (because everything fucks), but they're not true demons anymore so w/e. Our main-story follows a trio of knights in what I call different things, but most commonly... let's say the "reset"-timeline. But before that, let's go through royal hierarchy! ...or at least the most basic thing.

Aside from sending angels, the heavens chose certain bloodlines to hold their power and bring peace. If you've played the new Fire Emblem: Three Houses you've heard of crests, it's basically that funnily enough. I had the idea first, pah!! Well, it's not much of an idea, but let's continue. There are four major crests, or as they're called here "gifts", with their given nicknames: The Beast - Inconceivable power The Dragon - Unwavering heart The False Prophet - Unending magic The Wish - The power of the royal bloodline For the wish, this story is a bit more intricate too, as some people are granted their wishes for their piety or pure prayer. It plays a major role in the story too, so you better remember that.

[Indeed inspired by biblical tales! But don’t question me on them please. It has ties to what happened between religion and state, hence the names.]

In the original timeline, the three knights. Daryll, the one carrying the Gift of the False Prophet Siegmund... turning out to carry the Gift of the Dragon Nyr, turning out to carry the Gift of the Beast Are currently completing a final test for knight school and are soon to be deployed to a remote village they've been to alot for missions. Protecting citizens, routing monsters and undead in the area, pretty basic stuff. But in a larger skirmish Daryll goes missing, Nyr and Sieg turn back to report. In the meantime Daryll has joined up with the undead boss, a scientist who wants to prepare humans for life below the dark fog. They carry out a number of stuffs, promising Daryll the fulfilment of his innermost wish... This also included killing some people but Daryll is determined.  His desire burns bright and won't stop at anything, even when Nyr and Siegmund ended up opposing him. Siegmund died preventing their battle and Daryll ended up slaying Nyr in battle... but went mad, realising that this will only distance himself from the fulfilment of his wish. Upon confronting the undead Boss, Albert, he was discarded and roamed the lands alone with his thoughts.

[Best boy.]

It took Daryll a few years to come clear with his conscience, which is when he picked up Kai, a girl from the orphanage in the village he was first stationed in. Along with other people, a resistance of people not fine with basically everything, they fought Albert and the army of turned people which was established in the past few years. However soon they'd find out that Albert had taken energy from the World Tree to reach his goals, which weakened its influence and allowed beasts from within the Abyss to reach their lands, as well as continue the rate at which the continent broke off. In a last effort Kai and a few people went to steal what could still be salvaged while Daryll and the rest of their resistance keep Albert from further destroying the continent and becoming the, maybe, first man in the Abyss.

...however the Resistance is pushed back and Kai returns alone, deadly wounded and with... the Seed of the World Tree in her hands. Dying in Daryll's arms, he takes the Seed from her and confronts Albert, activating one of the ultimate spells by accident, the Divine Nova, which... is where the original timeline ends. I wanted to leave the ending open, but best case they manage to grow a new tree, but even then there's hardly anything to build up from... but mankind will push on.

[Yes, Divine Nova is basically a small Supernova. It’s also called “Heaven’s Gate”, since it’s light alone can probably burn something. Also looky here.]

In truth this Divine Nova brought the last bit of energy the heavens needed to perform a 'reset'. You could say a time-altering spell which brought us back to the point of before the test/trial the three knights underwent. Only this time, a few people were made to angels and sent back, to alter the outcome for the better. Niamh and Caireall, who are both reincarnated from Kai, who internally wished for a protector, a big brother to care for her, similar to how she came to love Daryll in her lifetime. And Shou... a girl with false memories, implanted by the heavens to keep her psyche from collapsing. Daryll, who in his final moments wished for all to start over, overcoming his original wish which lead him down his path of madness... which was funnily enough granted on a whim. Instead of going report, Shou, at this point calling herself Susan meets up with Nyr and Siegmund and convinces them to go after Daryll instead, this is where the story begins I could go into detail for some family trees here, but I'm beat up... If you'll excuse me, I'll post this here to my tumblr for now in hope of receiving internet points.

[Me walking into freedom.]