#they were obviously together at that off-site meeting

[putschki1969]

2024/12/10 Blog post by Wakana おしゃべりガーデン第16回目‼️〜みんなのお誕生日の過ごし方〜

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ ❗Do NOT SHARE on other sites❗ ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Talk Garden Vol.16‼️〜Different Ways to Spend your Birthday〜

Yesterday, I celebrated my birthday early at an off-site job meeting😆 The flowers I got were so beautiful!! 💐 Afterwards, I had a meeting with my manager and there was a nice Christmas tree display so of course I had to take some pictures in front of the tree🎄✨ There was also a reindeer😍 Yesterday was filled with lots of warmth😊💕

Well, today, I uploaded the 16th episode of my podcast "Wakana's Talk Garden"! 🤗 I read everyone's stories about "recommended ways to spend your birthday"＼(^o^)／ As expected, many people end up doing "the things you love!"😳 The most common thing was "eat at a restaurant you've always wanted to try!"🍙😊 It feels like a treat💕 Many people also said, "take paid leave and do what you really want to do!" I was really moved by this😂 I think everyone is eager to spend a day making themselves happy with all their might as a reward for working hard every day😭✨ Self-love is so important so we must not neglect ourselves😊

Today is my birthday, so I want to follow everyone's example and do things that will make me happy! 🎂 I will have a rehearsal for "Wakana Classics 2024", so that already ensures that I will be very happy😍 I have a feeling that it's going to be a fun day💕 But December 18th will surely be even more fun＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／ Right now I don't know what to do with myself because I can't stop feeling excited about all sorts of things 🤣 (The hype is real *laughs*)

Thank you so much for all the messages you submitted for this episode ! ! ･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+ The next episode of my podcast will be uploaded in the new year 😊✨ So the talk theme will be [What kind of year do you want 2025 to be?]‼︎＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／ As we welcome the new year, please tell me what thoughts you have in your heart. What do you want to achieve as you spend the new year? Are there any things you have left undone this year so you want to give them another try in 2025? ! 😊 Please let me know your thoughts for 2025 ♪

I hope you enjoyed the latest episode 😆 Until next time~☆( *'▽'*)/

＊＊＊Wakana＊＊＊

Wakana’s Talk Garden #16

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ ❗Do NOT SHARE on other sites❗ ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Episode #16 »»—— CLICK ME 🎁 CLICK ME ——«« ・Everyone’s Recommended Ways to Spend your Birthday ・Anything you’d like to ask Wakana/Anything you’d like Wakana to talk about

For next month’s episode which is scheduled to air on January 10th, the following two topics have been chosen: ・What kind of year do you want 2025 to be? ・Anything you’d like to ask Wakana/Anything you’d like Wakana to talk about

The submission deadline is 12/31.

2024/12/10 Instagram post by Wakana

Today we had a rehearsal for "Wakana Classics 2024" 🎹🎻🎶 I was quite exhausted at the end of it... I felt super sleepy... 😌💤We had a small celebration for my birthday!! Thank you 💕 I'm so happy 🧚 A tart from Quil Fait Bon!! 🎂 I love tarts more than anything else 🥰 The pie and the many fruits on top were so delicious 🍓🍇🍍🥭 I hope that the next year will have lots of fun days filled with music and laughter😊✨(Source)

[slay00ryu]

Date with your Devilish Butcher

So you and Ronin are dating officially now, but hey you never went out on a real date (unless you count your first meeting or all the truth and dares games dates).

The idea of a date never came to your mind until Luca and Feli were acting all lovey-dovey in VC.

After that you were thinking about a real date all the time, you wouldn't ask Ronin out of course, you didn't know what a serial killer would even want to do on said date.

Well to your surprise Ronin decided to ask you out himself and you agreed without hesitation. How will your date go? Well let's see it together.

_____________________________________________

List of trigger warnings

- Blood and Gore

- Swears

- Violence

- Murder (duh)

You've been warmed, enjoy! <3

_____________________________________________

🫀

You were in the middle of getting ready for your date with Ronin. He asked you out a week ago while you were telling him about the story you wanted to write, you were frustrated because you couldn't find any new murder ideas and you wanted to write a "dark romance" story with a murder motive, then he said the sentence that left you stunned :

Ronin: Darlin' let's go out next Wednesday.

Those were his exact words, he didn't exactly wait for your answer, he just laughed at your surprised expression and left for "work", of course the next morning all news sites were flooded with a new murder from "The Butcher".

Now you were standing in front of your mirror adding the final touches to the outfit you prepared. For some reason your favourite devil decided that you have to wear a white shirt, everything else is up to you, but not the shirt. You still had half an hour left until Ronin would arrive at your doorstep to collect you to that mysterious date he had prepared. You sat down on your bed to mentally prepare for whatever he had planned, after all, you can't exactly expect anything from the devil.

Suddenly your phone rang, the noise almost made you jump, you quickly reached for it and picked up the call that turned out to be from Ronin.

User: Ronin? Why are you calling me?

Ronin: Get your pretty self down here, I'm already waitin' for you.

You were quick on your feet, you moved to your window and looked out of it. There he was, he gave off this arrogant energy even from so far away, you shut the curtains and looked back to your phone. He was still on the line.

User: Ronin you were supposed to be here in half an hour!

Ronin: Awh stop whining like you aren't all dolled up and ready to go now, darlin'. Don't keep the devil waiting, or he may come for you himself.

There was silence from your side, followed by his snicker and three beeping sounds informing you that the call has ended. You sighed and massaged your temples. Oh how annoying Ronin was. You grabbed your favourite bag, made sure that you've put everything you needed and quickly made your way out of your house.

Ronin: Took you long enough, my divine darlin'.

You were greeted by Ronin's wide grin. He closed the distance between the two of you and placed a kiss on the top of your head. He took your hand in his and looked you up and down. He took his sweet time while he was obviously checking you out.

Ronin: My, my, what a sight you are.

A small hint of a blush found its way to your cheeks.

User: Oh shut it.

You squeezed his hand to show off your annoyance with his behaviour.

User: Where are we going?

Ronin:'s a surprise. You'll see once we arrive.

He smirked when he saw your disappointed face and pinched your cheek with his free hand.

Ronin: Awh, cut the dramatics, you'll like it.

🫀

It took the two of you a ten minute ride to reach Ronin's chosen destination. He covered your eyes with a blindfold for a "better reaction" you didn't argue with him. It was somewhat sweet when you gave it more thought. Yes, he is a serial killer and could blindfold you so you wouldn't know how to escape the possible death he could arrange for you. But Ronin also proved himself to be quite the romantic. He made sure to visit you when you had a shitty day. He gave you advice for your killer protagonists (sometimes even tried out your ideas to see if they would actually work).

Ronin: We're here, writer darlin'.

Ronin's voice from your side and the sound of the passenger door opening tore you out of your thoughts. You could feel his hands moving to unbuckle your seat belt and then grasping your hands to help you get out of his car.

User: Can I take this thing off now?

You asked and reached your hand to the blindfold to lift it up, but his hand stopped you from doing so.

Ronin: Don't you trust me baby? I'm an amazing guide, those dead people somehow had to find their way to my favourite gruesome alley.

He chuckled at his own words and you just furrowed your brows.

User: You are so... Infuriating sometimes.

Ronin: But you love the way I push your buttons, don't you Darlin'?

He was, unfortunately, not wrong. You loved him and all that came with him. His twisted games and grotesque nature. His past and present. God, you loved him even when he made you want to punch him in that pretty face of his. You had to admit that you started to like the idea of being the Devil's Fallen angel.

Ronin was keeping his hands on your shoulders, he was walking behind you and guiding you. At first you were walking on hard concrete, but then you could feel grass under your feet. You walked through the fields of grass for some time, then Ronin stopped you. He moved his hands to your blindfold and gently untied it.

Ronin: We're here. How do you like this darling?

Ronin whispered into your ear. Your eyes had to take their sweet time to adjust to the sunlight. But after you regained your vision your eyes met the most breathtaking sight ever. You were in the middle of an apple orchid, surrounded by nothing but apple trees, never ending fields of grass, and sometimes even a couple or small groups of friends could be seen here and there.

You turned around to look at Ronin, a wide smile spread over your lips as you wrapped your around him.

User: Ronin this is... Wow... No one ever took me to such a beautiful place before.

You said with a blush as you realized how cheesy your words must've sounded. You wanted to take a step back but Ronin wrapped his own arms around you.

Ronin: You're so fuckin' adorable when you're actin' all happy and excited.

He chuckled, but this was a genuine and sweet sounding chuckle. You smiled at his words and took a step back, taking a hold of his hand.

User: So, what's the plan? Are we just going to walk around the apple orchid?

Ronin shook his head in response.

Ronin: Nah, I wanted to pick some apples and then we can go back to your place.

You could see in his face that he had mischief in mind. What could he possibly want to do with these apples to have that kind of expression on his face? You decided that it's best to not know and just regret this later if it's something really bad.

You were walking through the apple trees, Ronin picked the apples and stored them into a bag that he brought with himself. You knew that he liked anything that had even a little taste of apple in it. So it was no surprise when Ronin ate one of the apples he picked while the two of you were walking.

This date felt almost "normal", you didn't feel like your boyfriend was a serial killer who was brutal and gruesome. This doesn't mean that you don't like him when he acts like... Well Ronin, the devil's butcher. It was just this simple walk through the grass, was a good change of pace from time to time.

You didn't take long in the orchid. After less than an hour later you were on your way back home (this time you could see the road) Ronin was humming along to a death metal song while he was tapping the rhythm on the steering wheel. You watched through the window, you drove past a small village, a forest and your city.

Soon you arrived back at your place. Ronin placed the bag full of apples on the kitchen counter and turned to look at you. His signature smirk present on his lips.

User: What are you scheming?

You asked, brow raised and arms folded over your chest.

Ronin: Oh nothing dangerous, yet.

He snickered and pulled you by your arm towards him.

Ronin: Since we've got so many apples, we are obligated to use them, no?

It didn't take a genius to realise that what Ronin meant was that you have to use them. You sighed heavily clearly annoyed by his behaviour but you soon gave in. After all his help, you could as well do something for him, even though he shouldn't be praised for using the excuse of helping you to commit more murders.

You took off your leather jacket, the same jacket that Ronin gave you a few weeks prior and tossed it at the dining table.

User: Fine. I'll make you an apple pie, happy?

You asked as you started to take out the necessary ingredients from your refrigerator. Ronin's face answered your question on its own. You swore that the smile he was wearing right now was even bigger than his usual smiles.

Ronin: Oh you don't know how grateful I truly am, darlin'.

He answered for what you gave him an eye roll.

User: If you're so grateful then lend me a hand here.

You have him a scolding look and he raised him hands in a gesture of surrender. He took off his own jacket and placed it next to yours.

Ronin: Fine, fine. I'll do the chopping, after all it's something I'm good at.

He made another joke about his "profession" and you almost laughed but you couldn't give him the satisfaction of actually finding his jokes funny.

Your time wasn't bad. Ronin actually helped you with more than just chopping the apples. He also annoyed you by poking you at your sides or on your nose. You just elbowed him in answer for what he just chuckled and gave you some flirtatious answers. You placed the pie into the oven and cleaned the kitchen that was covered in flour (Ronin decided to throw some at you and answered in doing the exact same thing).

Ronin: So while we wait. How about watchin' a movie baby? I have a perfect pick for today.

There wasn't anything better to do so you agreed. You moved to your living room that was really close to your kitchen so you would hear the oven alarm go off. You both sat down on the sofa. While Ronin was looking for a movie that definitely sounded like a slasher, you leaned your head on his shoulder and let his hand wrap around your waist.

Your guess wasn't wrong. Ronin picked the movie "Saw x" you felt like Ronin had fun while you were watching the movie, although he sometimes commented about how boring some moments are for him. Maybe you didn't share Ronin's feelings towards the horror movie, but you certainly were surprised by how unfazed you were by the intense gore. Well, after receiving pictures of gory murders first thing in the morning at least three times a week on #killer_shit, you can't really expect yourself to be scared by a movie.

Now you are watching the second part of the movie, but this time with a pie to eat along, while people are opening themselves with a chainsaw.

That was definitely an... Intriguing first date. And when you thought that it was coming to an end because it was already close to midnight by the time the movie finished and you stopped discussing the plot. Ronin decided to surprise you once again.

Ronin: Oh? You thinkin' that it's already over darlin'? How adorable. But you couldn't be more wrong.

You didn't really enjoy the look in his eyes, it screamed murder. You felt like his plan wasn't going to kill you, but it would definitely be life-changing. You didn't really have much say in this, he basically pulled you by your hand to his car, you drove away into the night and found yourselves in the purgatory.

Ronin stood in the shadows, his face covered with his white mask with black dots going through the middle of it. Crowbar in one hand, the other hand reaching out to you with another mask.

User: Ronin... What exactly are we going to do tonight?

He laughed at your question, this wasn't his usual mocking snicker. He pushed the crowbar into your hands and put the simple black mask on your face, leaning down to your eye level.

Ronin: You didn't really expect a normal date with me, did you? Come on baby, where's the fun in that?

He took the crowbar from you, you could sense the twisted smile on his mouth even when it was covered. You both stood there, hidden in the shadows. Ronin was humming while you just wanted whatever this is to be over. But you were already corrupted so it was only a matter of time before Ronin actually led you into murdering someone, so making it one of your first date attractions shouldn't be so surprising.

Suddenly Ronin pushed himself off of the wall and gave you a signal to stay in your place, you were surprised by his action especially after you just saw him pulling a man into the alley. Wasn't he supposed to give you his crowbar and let you have your first taste of blood shed? It's not like you would be against it, sometimes you could find yourself fantasizing about committing a murder, it started even before you and Ronin were together, writing graphic scenes for your book twisted your brain enough on its own. But now you could only stand and watch the scene in front of you upfold.

Ronin was really rough when it came to murder. He wasn't waiting for the bastard to scream or beg for mercy. He smashed his back with his crowbar while he tried to crawl away from him (he probably twisted his ankle while Ronin threw him on the ground). Your beloved devil crouched next to him while he held his back down with his crowbar.

Ronin: Tsk, tsk. This asshole thinks that he can escape from the devil. Too bad. The devil was always stronger than the pathetic humans.

He laughed maniacally and straightened himself. He smashed the man's head with his weapon. His skull smashed under the strength of the metal hitting it. There was blood everywhere, the brain spilled on the concrete, some new blood reached the walls. Ronin smashed the body a few more times, but for some reason he avoided the torso.

You didn't feel disgusted by this sight, nor were you scared. You somehow felt hypnotized by this and before you knew it, you were almost in front of the corpse. You felt like you were in some kind of trance. You didn't even realise when Ronin moved behind you, wrapping one of his hands around your waist while the other reached your throat. His head was resting on your shoulder, his hot breath sending a ticking sensation on your skin.

Ronin: Writer darlin'... Isn't this a beautiful sight?

He whispered those words into your ear, his fingers gently pressing on your throat. You slowly nodded your head, unable to take your eyes off of the dead body.

Ronin: So how about you curve out that aaorta you promised me? Raw and beating. As filthy as nature made it.

His words sounded like the most romantic love confession to your already deranged brain. You felt like you could do it, you should do it...

Ronin: Would'ja do it?

Another sweet sounding whisper, and a knife placed into your hand. You gripped the handle and slowly walked towards the body, your feet were moving on their own. Soon you were kneeling in front of the torso. Slicing it open with your knife, breaking the ribs so you could reach the heart. You had to cut a few veins because they made it harder to take it. You took the heart into your hand, holding it like it was something precious to you.

You knelt in front of Ronin and held it out to him. He took the heart from you, letting the blood drip to the ground. He lifted the mask, so you could see how terrifyingly amazed he looked. He liked the sight in front of him, he knelt in front of you and took the mask off of your head.

Ronin: Oh I love how rotten you became, my divine lover. My fallen angel.

The next thing you felt were his warm lips pressed to yours. You wrapped your arms around the back of his neck, your kisses deep and raw, he even bit your lip to the point when the both of you felt the metallic taste on your tongues.

And this is how you became the Devil's corrupted angel.

🫀

Hi! Hi! This is my first ever work in the beautiful English language. Please don't kill me.

I hope I did Ronin justice 😭😭

[strawberries-and-summer-days]

WE'RE... WHAT?? ‧₊˚ ☾. ⋅

| percy jackson x popstar au

| au masterlist ☽

summary:

warnings: swearing and i think thats just about it!

a/n: part two of the series is out! im procrastinating the shit out of all my other requests so im not ignoring any of you btw!! lets all collectively ignore the fact that gracie like a post that has a lyric from her song (also damn im really just smashing out these fics)

"y/n has officially flitted off to boston!" clarisse announces suddenly from chris's lap.

"huh?" grover's head snaps up. "what do you mean?"

"y/n l/n, she's come to boston for her concerts," clarisse says showing her phone screen.

"you have got to be shitting me," chris says. "this is going to end terribly. seriously? here? boston? percy's gonna shit himself."

"oh really why would you think that?" clarisse drawls. "it's not like they don't like each other, they're like besties!"

"and y'know to make things worse y/n's setlist has been posted for months so we legit could've avoided her," chris sighs.

"yeah well, next time you see percy and he comes home grumbling about a business meeting in boston you deal with it then," grover argues.

"okay all of you shut it, percy's coming inside with luke so shhh," clarisse snaps.

"shh about what?" luke asks settling down on the couch next to grover.

"you'll never believe who's in boston!" grover sing songs. it doesn't take luke very long to work out who and his eyes widen in realisation

"no."

"yes."

"well shit."

"yep."

"we're in for a show."

☾. ⋅

percyjackson

liked by underovergrover, chris.rodriguez, lukecastellan, clarisse.la.rue, the.annabethchase and 1, 402, 385 others

percyjackson hello boston! one non-reschedulable meeting later and here we are...

view all comments

underovergrover i expect full compensation for making those pizzas WHICH YOU TOOK CREDIT FOR

percyjackson YOU DID NOT! I MADE HALF OF THOSE - MINE WERE BETTER

clarisse.la.rue no they weren't

percyjackson 🖕🏼

user1 ugh im in love

user2 omggg he's in boston!! so is y/n l/n!! are they following each other around?

user3 PLS I WOULD DIE MAKE THIS A THING

user4 i wonder if he's going to a concert here?? 😏

user5 does anyone else find it weird how his entire friend group follows him around?? no just me? they're just a huge freak show

user6 booooo we dont like haters here

user7 y/n l/n and percy neeeeed to happen rnnnn

user8 YES YES YES

lukecastellan im so ready to be done with this shit and go home

theannabethchase aww is someone feeling homesick?

lukecastellan yes obviously

user8 i. love. him.

☾. ⋅

"see i told you this would happen!" grover screeches, running away from percy who is threatening to castrate him if he doesn't get his phone back.

"i don't care! just give me the damn thing back!"

percy had groaned for two straight minutes when he found out that y/n was in boston this weekend - he had also face planted onto the couch and used some extremely obscene words.

"if it helps at least you'll be leaving on sunday," chris had offered in the midst of his crisis. it didn't help.

so now when grover trips over a fallen pillow - which may or may not be from percy's tantrum but we don't talk about that - and percy wrenches the phone from him a loud - and might grover add overtly girly - scream.

"WHAT THE FUCK? NO! NO NO NO NO!"

his screen is on the article grover had opened with really poorly photoshopped images of percy and y/n walking together. every gossip site/blog has swarmed the photos and circulated them sending the internet into a spiral.

"im fucking done with this grover," percy groans flopping onto the couch. "its a good thing we're leaving tomorrow - we'll be back in new york thats a huge ass city i wont see y/n there again and i can just go into hibernation, let all the rumours die down and be done with this whole shit show."

if only right....

☾. ⋅

☾. ⋅

yn.official

liked by sabrinacarpenter, lia.mandel, gracieabrams and 932, 841 others

yn.official feel like maybe i might go to boston! you were the best audience and im honoured to have performed for you these past two nights! heading home now to rest and recharge for the final shows in new york

view all comments

lia.mandel yayy you're finally coming home i missed you 🥺

yn.official bitch please its been like a week

lia.mandel and every second of it has been torture

user1 MOTHERRRR

user2 i think i nearly fainted when she came up on stage i was so happy i coulda died right then-

user3 the lyric makes me so happyyy

user4 ikrr y/n is like the queen of lyrics and the way she sneakily adds them into her posts 🤭

user5 WERE YOU WITH PERCY JACKSON THIS WEEKEND?? 🤨 I NEED TO KNOW

user6 y/n and percy are my dream celebrity ship

user7 they'd be the biggest power couple in history

user8 can you hard launch with percy plss?? i dont care if its fake i just need content to feed my delusions!

☾. ⋅

lia's soft snores fill the plane aggravating the hell out of you. usually you'd find the way she curled up in a ball underneath a blanket and snored quietly to be adorable. but since you're tired, just finished performing a concert and there's a problem with the jet, its grating on your nerves.

you had also been scrolling on twitter, instagram and pinterest, curled up underneath a matching blanket urging something to catch your attention while whatever work was being done on the plane happened.

unfortunately for you the thing that did catch your attention was the dozens of very clearly photoshopped pictures of you and percy walking together on a quiet street in boston.

no way in hell thats real. for one; ew and two; percy was only here for the weekend you were here for the week and you would've had no time to go out in between concerts.

eventually you doze off not realising you're in the air until you're ears pop waking you up to lia grinning mischievously.

"what asshole?"

"you're adorable when you wake up, you know that right?"

"yes i know."

"seriously the cutest human on the planet."

"what do you want lia?"

"a gossip podcast has picked up the subject of you and percy jackson. and the host is saying shit about you."

your eyes widen for a moment. "oh my god what? wow its almost as if i don't care!" ypu give lia a blank look. "this happens every three months lia, i do something and people either love it or hate it. thats the way it goes."

"yeah but this is PERCY JACKSON Y/N! he's gorgeousness personified."

"ugh can i go back to sleep? you can fangirl to me tomorrow when im in bed and pretending to listen."

"im offended." she leans over to place a kiss on your head. "but sleep tight babes, we land in like forty minutes."

shutting your eyes again you drift back to sleep.

only when you wake up do you realise you dreamed of percy...

TAGLIST‧₊˚ ☾. ⋅ [if you're name is white it mean i couldn't tag you] @lauptimist, @itzmeme, @mariaaaaaahhhh, @paankhaleyaar, @maybxlle, @lara20aral, @cxp1d, @user-3113s-blog, @pleasingregulus, @avihashearts4lix, @inlovewithmorales, @brokecollegebitch, [if you want to be added just let me know!]

[useless-catalanfacts]

Did you know that there is a European republic that bans entry to women and female animals, and until 2005 also banned entry to Catalan people?

This place is the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos, a theocratic autonomic republic in Greece. It's an Orthodox Christian religious centre that covers about 33,000 hectares and is inhabited by around 1,400 monks in 20 monasteries. In the 16th century, it had reached 30,000 monks in population, and right before the First World War it still had 9,000.

It was founded in the Early Middles Ages, and has been given autonomy since the times of the Byzantine Empire. Since the very beginning, in the year 1046, their laws have forbidden entry to any woman, child, and female animal with the only exception of egg-laying chicken, because they consider that women and female animals must be kept out to preserve the holiness of the site and to keep the male inhabitants away from temptation.

The reason for banning Catalans dates back to the Middle Ages, too. In 1303, the Byzantine Empire was being invaded by the Ottoman Turks. They needed help to fight against them, so the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II asked the Sicilian king for help. The Sicilian king sent him the Great Catalan Company, an army of 4,000 Catalan and Aragonese mercenaries (almogàvers) and 39 ships, led by the commander Roger de Flor. The Byzantine emperor already knew Roger de Flor, because Roger had served him when he was a Templar knight. Roger was a very respected and admired fighter with an impressive career, and he also spoke Greek. The emperor and Roger reached an agreement, Roger was nominated Megaduke and married to the emperor's niece, Mary of Bulgaria.

The Great Catalan Company was successful in their job: they fought off the Turks and gave all the land the Turks had recently taken back to the Byzantine Empire. But not everything went well: the Byzantine emperor did not pay the mercenaries what they were promised, and the mercenaries were cruel to the population. In 1305, the emperor's son Michael (co-regent of the empire) called all the mercenaries to Adrianopolis, bringing together 9,000 men of different origins. Even though last year Michael had refused to meet him, Roger de Flor went to pay homage to him again. This time, Michael welcomed him and invited him to a banquet with the leaders of the two other mercenary groups. During the banquet, following Michael's orders, the leader of the Alan mercenaries assassinated Roger de Flor and all the men who accompanied him, and dismembered Roger de Flor's body. It is said that Michael ordered exterminating all the members of the Catalan Company.

Obviously, this caused a scandal among the surviving Catalan-Aragonese troops. They answered this betrayal by declaring war against the Byzantine Empire, and sacked many parts of Greece, murdering and setting fire to many places they found on their way to Constantinoble. This terrible event became known as The Catalan Revenge. The revenge was particularly cruel against the rich monk communities, who the mercenaries brutally attacked to steal their riches and then set the monasteries on fire. The monks of Mount Athos say that the Catalan mercenaries burned 26 monks alive. The horrible revenge left a mark in the memory of Greek and Albanian people. In Albania, the word for "Catalan" became the word for "monster". Meanwhile, the theocratic government of Mount Athos banned any Catalan person from entering their territory.

Albanian book titled "Catalan", based on an Albanian folk story that depicts Catalans as monsters.

The mercenaries' cruelty only stopped when the influential Catalan doctor and intellectual Arnau de Vilanova and the Catalan king James II begged them to stop.

Mount Athos' law prohibiting Catalan people lasted for 700 years, until 2005. That year, the Government of Catalonia apologized for the events that their fellow countrymen did 700 years ago. The Catalan government paid 240,000€ for the reparation of a Mount Athos monument that had been destroyed by the mercenaries' revenge, and sent an embassy to Greece to have a reparation ceremony, which was welcomed by the Greek government, too. This way, the law was abolished.

Sources: UNESCO, National Geographic, newspapers from 2005.

[puppetwoman17]

I can’t remember who initially said the idea of the RoE being a multiverseal center but this is based off that

The RoE (depending on how it’s portrayed) switches from existing at the center of the Universe or outside it, so I went “universe is doughnut shaped” theory and said it’s both and that it’s also the only RoE in the multiverse. Which means that sometimes Billy runs into other versions of himself and just kinda got used to it.

It’s a dumb idea but Billy running into alternate versions of himself or universe hopping out of boredom or for the guaranteed adventure through the door room of the RoE.

Possibility for humor with the wackier Captain Marvels and universes, fun adventure, and the typical angst of him not seeing some versions of himself around the RoE after a while

Uh, no, this is NOT a dumb idea😍! I’ve thought about this too!

After all, it seems odd that there could be multiple RoEs. For importance purposes there has to be only one.

Anyway, the whole “Billy meeting other versions of himself(and probably his siblings too) definitely keeps my gears turning. I’m imaging that he started out seeing a lot of other Marvels/Shazams when he first got his powers. The Rock was full of kids running through different rooms, getting magic tools, reading or hanging in the cafe, complaining about their adult team members, etc. All of them grew close because they all shared the same burden.

But as the years go by, something changes. Some Billys come through their doors less and less. And when they do, the stress is written all over them. I’m ofc referring to the Billys of Injustice, Flashpoint, DCAMU, etc.

It’s a slow process, but at some point, they realize that some of them have stopped coming all together. The rock gets quiet. There are no more loud parties in the cafe. The thrones were pushed aside to make room for blankets and pillows because there were too many of them for just seven thrones. No one site there anymore.

Everyone’s too scared to reach out, stuck in their own worlds, their own problems. It’s no wonder that no one notices when their numbers start to dwindle.

The thing is, Billy can feel when something happens to his counterparts. He’s sensitive to it thanks to his position. He feels he laser eyes and the cut throat and the leg being torn off of him. He feels it all.

He goes to the rock one day and it dawns on him how quiet it’s become. Obviously he’s not the only one left, but they just don’t talk anymore. The hero life has taken its toll and the kids are scared of having any fun. Now when one billy sees another, they just walk on.

The doors to the other worlds are sealed off, as no one wants to see their own dead body. When a new Billy arrives, they steer clear, not knowing what end this one will meet.

Okay I’m gonna end the angst here cause this made me depressed😅

[wordstome]

Endless Nights - Price x Reader

I started thinking about Sandman again because of Barry Sloane as Destruction of the Endless and went back to reread everything Destruction is in, including his Endless Nights story. Now I can't stop thinking about Price x archaeologist reader...

1.7k, please forgive any archaeological or military errors I only took like 1 anthropology class two years ago

You've been on all sorts of digs, but this has got to be one of the most chaotic. Your team's been sent to this peninsula to unearth some recently discovered artifacts. They think it's remnants of a little-known indigenous population, and it's your job to dig everything up safely.

Only problem is, there's a military base on top of it.

"Maybe it won't be so bad. Military personnel are good at following orders," your coworker says while you're unpacking your tools.

You snort. "Yeah, but they're equally good at putting holes in things and blowing things up. I don't think they have a lot of respect for fragile ancient artifacts."

"Ouch," your coworker says, wincing and putting a hand to his chest in a mock expression of pain. "No love for our nation's bravest?" You roll your eyes at him.

"It's not like that. I'm just saying we need to be vigilant about keeping them away from work sites. Take no shit, as it were."

"With the military? Good luck, I guess."

It's not that you dislike or even distrust every single person who's ever been in the military, it's just that you don't have much faith in their ability to hold respect for your work. Archaeology is quiet, meticulous work, a far cry from gunfights and kicking doors in. You're going to be here for quite a while, and if you don't establish boundaries right out of the gate, you'll be fighting an uphill battle for the rest of the dig.

That's what you're telling yourself as you sit in a gray, featureless meeting room. You and your supervisor are supposed to be meeting with a John Price, a British SAS captain. Kate Laswell, an American CIA agent, told you he's the proxy you'll be cooperating with during the dig.

You're prepared for all sorts of men to walk through that door: a balding middle-aged man with a power trip, or perhaps some blustering meathead whose voice no longer goes lower than a shout. Instead, the man that walks through the door and shakes your supervisor's hand leaves you staring, just barely keeping it together enough so you're not drooling with your jaw on the floor.

He's hot.

Your head fills with static as he turns to you and hits you with possibly the most endearing smile you've ever seen on a man. It's not just that he's somehow pulling off the beard and mutton chops look, or that his rough British accent is making you feel some type of way down there. It's the way he walks, like it's heavy—

"Pleased to meet you," Price says, shaking your hand. His hand engulfs yours as he gives it a brief squeeze. It takes your every last brain cell to answer with something other than Please tell me you're not wearing a wedding ring because you're actually single.

The meeting consists of him and your supervisor laying ground rules while you nod mutely and try not to audibly moan when Price adjusts himself in his seat, his hips moving in a way that is definitely going to undo you if you think about it too hard.

You walk out of the meeting having barely survived, but confident that the whole ordeal was a one-time thing. He's just who you complain to if one of the soldiers stumbles into a work site and smashes one of the artifacts, after all. You'll never have to see him.

Except you do. Every day, multiple times a day, he's there. He's obviously got his own shit to do of course, but it's like you can't get away from him: walk into a tent, and he's there chatting to one of your coworkers. Eat a meal, and he's there talking to a squad of soldiers and clapping someone on the back with a hearty laugh. Turn a corner, and he's there to full-body slam into you—

"Pardon me, sweetheart. Didn't see ya there." You're ashamed to say you don't do much more than stare at him with what must be the most pathetic petrified doe eyes as he gives you a pat on the shoulder and goes on his merry way. That was like running into a solid brick wall...

It would be fine if it were just you having a silly little unreciprocated crush. You've had those before and survived. But what starts to get to you is the little things: the way his eyes flick to you when you enter his vicinity, accompanied by a nod. The way his eyes linger on you for a moment too long before looking away. The brief touches against your shoulders or hips when he's maneuvering past you in a small space.

Frankly, it's driving you crazy, and it's starting to show.

"If you dust that piece any harder, you're going to damage it," your coworker scolds you. You all but jump backwards from the piece you're working on. You'd been so absorbed in mentally dissecting his body language the last time you were in the same room as him that you'd brushed the piece far beyond the point of being clean.

This won't do. You have to do something about this.

Mercifully, you've been given your own individual room to sleep in, which is quite the luxury after a career full of sleeping in dusty tents or sharing bunks with coworkers. It also gives you enough privacy to...take care of business, as it were.

Obviously, you didn't bring any "tools of the trade" that weren't useful for your work, so it's just you and your hand past 11 pm. You feel beyond perverted, slipping a hand between your thighs as you think of Captain Price.

You can still feel the weight of his hands on your body, brief though they were, and picture what else those touches could be doing. Your own voice slips out in a moan as you imagine his, low and grumbling yet soothing while he pushes you into the sheets, that endearing smile turned devious and devastatingly sexy as he spreads you open for him with those hands of his and collects your wetness on his fingers...

Your heart jumps out of your chest as you hear a knock at the door. You all but fall out of bed, scrambling to pull on enough clothing to be decent. "J-just a minute!" you call, inwardly cursing yourself for how breathless you must sound.

You answer the door, flustered and a mess, to see the subject of all your fantasies staring there. For a split second, you're petrified by the possibility of Price having heard your desperate whines and whimpers and knocking on your door to politely ask you to quit cranking it in his barracks.

"Apologies, sweetheart. Hope I didn't wake you up?" His eyes are so striking, so sincere, that you know he could have woken you up from the best sleep of your life and you'd still be unable to be mad at him.

"No no, I was...no need to worry. What can I do for you?" you say, relief flooding through you. Of course he didn't hear you. He's not a total pervert like you.

"Well love, I...it's probably best if you come take a look for yourself," Price says, looking almost sheepish. Your heart sinks a little—this cannot be good.

He leads you out of the barracks towards one of the job sites, directing you towards a table with several excavated artifacts laid out. "One of my men thought it'd be wise to steal his mate's torch, had him stumbling around in the dark out here. He says he bumped one of these tables and heard something fall on the ground, and I figured you should know right away instead of waiting 'til the morning and having all sorts of people tramping through here."

You give him a brief grateful look before crouching down with a flashlight. After a bit of looking, you find the missing object: a thick shard of pottery, lying forlornly on its side by a table leg.

You reach forward to pick it up, but the captain has spotted it as well, resulting in his hand landing on top of yours over the pottery. For a brief, dizzying second, his hand lays heavy and warm over yours, and you could have sworn that his fingers had shifted as if to take your hand in his.

In a blink, the moment's over, and the captain's hand shoots back to his side. Trying not to make an utter fool of yourself, you push yourself back up to a standing position, examining the pottery shard with a discerning eye.

"Looks like no harm was done," you say to him with a smile. "Mayday averted."

"Good to hear. I'll make sure the knuckleheads who did this receive a thorough dressin' down for this incident." You're grateful that the warmth rushing to your face at his stern tone can't be seen in the dark as you carefully set the pottery back in its place on the table.

"I'll walk you back to the barracks. Can't have my favorite archaeologist stumblin' their way around themselves, now can I?" You nod mutely, unable to look at him for much longer than a few stolen glances.

The two of you are quiet all the way back to your door, where you stand in the hallway, fidgeting with your hands and feeling the urge to say something, anything. "Thank you," you blurt out. "For not waiting until tomorrow morning. There's no telling what foot traffic would have done before we noticed the missing piece."

"Your work's important, love. And while you're here, you're our guests. It'd be rude to not be taking care of your work, wouldn't it?" You nod shyly, basking in the warmth of his attention.

You're frozen to the spot as he leans in to whisper directly in your ear, his lips brushing against it. "Next time you're relievin' a bit of tension, feel free to stop by my quarters, yeah? I think you'll find there's a lot more I can take care of than just your work."

Your eyes go as wide as saucers as he winks at you. Before you can even process what just happened, he's already walking away from you down the hall.

Feeling like you've just been handed some delicious and forbidden secret, you whirl around to shut yourself into your room, sliding down with your back against the door to sit on the floor. Did that truly just happen? Are you hallucinating? Or had you fallen asleep by accident and you're really just having some beautiful, delusional dream?

It doesn't feel like a dream when you realize you're soaking wet.

God, I cannot wait until Barry Sloane's Destruction promo images drop. For reference, these are the posters we got for season 1:

To be very honest, I wrote this like a possessed woman in the span of like an hour. I don't think there's going to be a part 2 unless you guys really get me going with some new ideas 😅

Also, I don't have a tag list (because I write almost exclusively for one particular Austrian), but I will tag my beloved @danibee33, and @ceilidho, as thanks for giving me Barry Sloane brainworms.

[gx-gameon]

Okay I’ve been thinking about post cannon more and more.

About Jesse and Jaden traveling around Europe. As they do they visit different land marks and historical sites. But it’s the castles that are weird.

Every time they are near a castle Jaden keeps seeing these brightly dressed knights. They are obviously spirits, but something’s off about them. They are more transparent than other spirits. They don’t speak, not a sound. And they seemed to fade in and out of reality, like they are having difficulty maintaining their presence in this dimensions.

But the weirdest this is that Jesse can’t see them.

They’re both a little freaked out by this. Jesse has always been able to see spirits. How is he missing these?

It’s Neos and Yubel who solve the mystery. It’s an archetype that hasn’t been ‘created’ yet. The monster spirits are there but their cards are not. Since the cards don’t exist the monster spirits don’t have a connection to this world yet, so it’s much harder to for them to appear.

The same thing happened with the Neospacians when Jaden was young. Since he is the wielder of the Gentle Darkness he has a strong connection to the spirit world. He was able to see the Neospacians reaching out to him (they were always meant to be his deck) Once he drew their cards they were able to appear in full without flicker out of existence and could speak to Jaden. They had a tether to this world now in the form of their card.

With this they conclude:

These monster spirits do not have cards yet

They are reaching out to Jaden for a purpose. Whether to be ‘created’ or because they have a connection to him.

Jesse can’t see them because they don’t have a tether yet. (With training Jesse will be able to see ‘incomplete’ archetypes as well. He will need to work for it unlike Jaden’s natural connection to the Gentle Darkness. Jesse has a strong connection to the spirit world it’s just not the same as the Supreme King you know?)

But Jaden makes a fourth realization. While the knights appear to him and try to approach. They always seem to be moving towards Jesse, not Jaden. The two boys are almost always together, but sometimes they split up. They’re looking at different things, a crowd split them, they were chasing something. It happens. But anytime they are near a castle, when Jaden meets up with Jesse one of those knights will be trailing him. Following Jesse’s steps, almost like it’s protecting him.

Year it’s flickering out of existence and can’t communicate but it’s there until Jaden meets back up with Jesse. The knight will look at him and disappear. It isn’t until the talk with Neos and Yubel that Jaden realizes they were nodding at him.

The only way to figure out what these spirits want is to communicate with them. And that can only be done if they have a card. Luckily Jaden’s art skills have improved since he was four. (If the Neospacians appeared form a sloppy clones drawling then I don’t think monster spirits care if their ‘card’ is professionally drawn or scribbled on a napkin.)

Jaden gets a sketchpad. (He’s pretty sure he’s going to be drawling more than one knight. And that this won’t be the last archetype he has to do this for)

The next time they are at a castle and one of the knights appears Jaden starts to draw it. The knight realizes with Jaden is doing and tries to stick around as long as possible. Once Jaden finishes the picture (it’s not professional by any means but it’s not awful art. I think he’d be good at it especially with practice) the connection snaps into place.

Gem Knight Crystal stands before them.

Jesse is now able to see the monster has its tether to their world is now in place. The gem knight kneels before both boys and explains.

He thanks his King (Jaden) for his attention and expresses the Gem Knights desire to serve their King and General again. He tilts his head up to look at Jesse when saying General.

Jesse’s taken aback. He already has a deck, his family, the Crystal Beast. He’s not looking for a new archetype.

The Gem Knights know that. They also know that the Crystal Beast are in constant danger from poachers because of their rarity. And that it is the honor of the Gem knights to serve under the Crystal Protector is service to their King.

Jaden and Jesse are baffled. They have no idea what is happening. Crystal Protector? Why are they calling Jesse that? Like it’s accurate but it feels like a title.

But Gen Knight Crystal makes his plea to find his brothers and sisters and Jaden and Jesse can’t say no to that. As they travel around Europe they collect more and more Gen knights. (Even going back to get the knights Jaden had already spotted)

Once Jaden them all drawn he send the sketches to Chumley and asked him if he can turn them into cards. Chumley can see spirits so he can listen to the Gem knights and get their cards just right.

The deck that gets sent back is shocking because it’s a perfect blend of Jesse and Jaden’s decks. The decks is a fusion deck. The gem knights work together just like Jaden’s hero’s to create stronger monsters.

They both use it but it becomes Jesse’s secondary Deck. While the Gem Knights are thrilled any time they get to work with Jaden they belong to and serve Jesse as protection to both the Crystal Beasts and Jaden.

(Yes I know there is a character in arc v that uses that deck but we’re not talking about her… it’s just to perfect of a deck not to belong to Jaden and Jesse)

[prettyoddfever]

why are you so against ryden

I'm literally only pointing out why specific examples of "Ryden proof" don't work, or were misinterpreted by people who don't know much about the band. If me being pro-reality means that you consider me anti-Ryden then, uh… you might want to examine that more.

As long as we're on this topic, I'm going to expand on an older post here and go off on a tangent:

I actually loved the Ryden part of the fandom in the pre-split days! Ryden felt like a fandom-wide inside joke that united so many fans and sparked so much creativity (sometimes it reminded me of inventing bs symbolism in english & art classes lol). I didn’t read the slash, but it’s not like those kids stayed exclusively over in their communities… they were everywhere. A lot of my favorite accounts were massive Ryden fans & fic authors. but even the most die-hard shippers in 2006 & 2007 would scoff if new fans asked if they were ever being serious with their comments. It was all just entertaining wish fulfillment done to amuse themselves. They would act like it was a legit alternate reality and write long funny primers & posts like “look guys, they are in love. this is facts… here I go with my proof," but when it came down to whether or not they actually thought it was real… no, of course not. The fanfic authors were the first to laugh and say they weren’t hurting anyone because nobody actually believed Ryden was real and everyone was on the same page. They argued that every single band had a slash community and it just came with the fame. Some fans genuinely wanted Ryden to be real, while others thought it was entertaining how you could cherry-pick events & isolate them from any context to make Ryden look plausible. And both groups were taking matters into their own hands by trying to tie enough pictures & random dots together to make it look like a happy alternate reality that satisfied everyone. It was funny.

The majority of the pre-split fandom understood that Ryden wasn’t real, so people were on the same page when they shared their “proof.” It was like an inside joke. For example, I’ll argue that unicorns could be real because I know that the person I’m talking to is aware of reality. I can get as creative as I want and just have fun because we’re both on the same page… and the other person will be like “well yes of course they’re obviously real.” It looks like we agree. But that does not mean that we truly believe it lol... we're just bored & entertaining ourselves. Someone else who is unsure whether or not unicorns actually exist might read our convo and conclude that we are certain unicorns are real and have proof! But I never intended for my silly convo with my friend to be taken that seriously.

For me, Ryden was more about the fandom. It was just fun to see a picture or new moment and wait to see if anyone else spotted the same potential too. The slash accounts across different sites/forums would even make fun of themselves for how far they would go to make everything fit Ryden. At times it felt like an affectionate joke about the band and the fandom. 

I’d say the Ryden craze first took over with the huge surge of new fans during the summer 2006 tour (around the time Brendon & Ryan started fully going for the mic sharing each night). This was back when the band still read the forums and different fan sites and were trying to get a sense of what their fans were saying (such a bad idea lol). I was never totally clear on where the guys stood on Ryden in 2006 but it seemed like they were in on the joke… but it was so confusing at the same time. Like one minute they’d complain about the disgusting “pornfiction” in an interview and the next minute they’d be hamming it up for meet & greet pictures. Bden would practically hump Ryan’s leg during a show and then Ryan would suggestively run his hand up Bden’s thigh during a meet & greet exactly when he knew fans were watching… and then they’d both act like they didn’t get why fans ever came up with stories about them. I’m not saying their actions meant they were asking for something btw. I’m just saying that it’s equally true that the guys would claim they weren’t huge on Ryden and that they intentionally fueled the fire to get fans to laugh/scream at the right time. The band was super aware that the Ryden fans were a huge part of the fandom who drove a lot of the hype online… so it seemed like in late 2006 the guys were just trying to connect with a fanbase they were being quickly distanced from as they got more & more famous. Then in 2008 the guys intentionally added extra Ryden elements to their stage routine because they knew what a lot of fans still wanted to see.

So my conclusion was that it was all in good fun (except making suggestive comments to the band irl was horrible… people were even saying some seriously gross stuff to Zack about the boys and taking it waaaaay too far). During the lull of 2007, and even into 2008, there seemed to be a whole section of the fandom that was more invested in their fanfic communities than the irl band (they’d often come onto other boards & communities to ask for facts or details for their fanfics and watching the replies they got was like watching a really bad game of telephone haha so I’m guessing those plots diverged from reality pretty quickly). New fans were also being introduced to the band through fanfiction and seemed more intent on just spotting Ryden moments and learning the fanfic version of history rather than any real-life history. So by late 2008 there was definitely a small crowd who was taking Ryden more seriously and also understood less about the band. But I wasn't always sure if their tone was totally serious or not, because the joking posts had often been written in a serious tone too.

Side note on that: when I started this account in 2020 I hadn't thought about P!ATD much while I had been sick for years. I was just trying to throw myself back into the mindset of 2006 and rediscover a time when my world had been awesome & I was healthy. So when I saw all the sun/moon theories that had formed after I'd left the fandom I was like YES omg this is amazing. I lived for that kind of stuff. But then it was confusing how the same people who were currently posting all of the “ryden was real” stuff were the same ones who would quickly point out that another one of my Ryden posts wasn’t what really happened or that a photo manip that I considered fun was actually fake…  I mean, obviously??? I didn’t get why there was any difference between everything. It took me a few months to get a read on the current fandom and realize that things weren't being done in the same joking spirit. I started struggling to explain why I was posting Ryden-ish stuff if I didn’t necessarily believe what I was saying (and again I’m having a hard time explaining here because it never felt like the fandom was making up crap we didn’t stand behind back then! we were serious that we believed it was a darn good connection/theory or photoshop job haha). Ryden used to be like this shared alternate lens to view events through that felt like teamwork to create. We would intentionally pretend like years of full context didn't exist and create our own parallel narrative that could coexist with reality in our minds. But now it feels like people are sharing "Ryden proof" for real as though the piles of creative nonsense are an actual recap of historic events... and you need to pick some kind of "side" to believe? Idk, it's weird. I dropped any remaining nostalgia connected with Ryden content and ended up shifting the tone & focus of my account to organizing actual facts, media, and info about events I remember.

I don't think it's ok that moments in the band's history are often distorted or erased in order to pass off certain examples of “Ryden proof” as real now. It would be a shame for ridiculous Ryden stories to be prioritized as key info about the band while normal info about band members & events gets ignored now (ex: turning Northern Downpour into some kind of Ryden thing totally erases what Ryan wanted to do with the song). A lot of people have told me that they don’t care what actually happened because they prefer their ideas anyways. And that’s fine, as long as you’re aware that what you’re choosing doesn't track with reality. (Also, I always felt like knowing the real events or original photos from a manip gave me more appreciation for how creative people were… but I suppose that’s because Ryden was more about the fandom for me).

SIDE TANGENT: I drifted away from the fandom after summer 2009 when I got sick, so I don’t know specifically what happened over the next couple years to get so many fans who were impressively uninformed about the band yet super intense about Ryden at the same time... but I'm also not surprised I guess. Some knowledge about the band absolutely faded to the background in the last half of 2006 as the overwhelming amount of newer fans invented their own answers and were more interested in freaking out over cute guys than actually taking the time to learn about the band. The knowledge wasn't lost, it was just drowned out for a while in the midst of their enthusiastic chatter. It felt like a waste of time to correct them too because they were absolutely everywhere and they weren't really harming anyone by screaming things like Ryan took his mom as a date to the VMAs lol. Maybe there was a surge of younger fans by 2010-2011 who didn't have the context to know what they were looking at too, and were very enthusiastic about Ryden? I don't know. This is all purely speculation on my part.

I actually don't care whether anyone thinks Ryden was real or not... that's definitely not my focus and I'm not trying to convince anyone of a "side" either. You can conclude whatever you want. My focus in my posts is simply to provide context for some of the inaccurate stories & examples that are currently being passed around as though they're actual history. I don't expect anyone to care. But at least the info is still available for any younger fans who might be interested in the real-life band.

[thebluejetpack]

Day 24: Nature

“Hold still. I can help you!”

“What are you doing?” Adorabeezle demanded peevishly. “I told you to beat it!”

The girl didn’t say anything. Instead, she was unraveling the red cloth. It was a handkerchief with little red hearts along the edge.

“What’s the matter with you, cherry-brain? Ya got Fun-Dip in your ears or something? Didn’t you hear what I said?” Adorabeezle spat, getting seriously ticked off now. “Aren’t you afraid of what’s going to happen to you if they find you with me?”

The red racer’s mahogany eyes suddenly looked up to meet her angry blue eyes, and Adorabeezle was taken aback upon seeing that the fear once present had been replaced by a strangely determined look.

“You’re hurt. I’m not leaving you. Please sit still and let me help you.”

The girl’s voice even sounded determined and forceful, but Adorabeezle detected strong desperation mixed in the middle.

So she didn’t say a word as the redheaded racer wrapped the handkerchief around her knee and squirted it with a sticky red substance out of that tiny bottle. This girl’s hands were very jittery and her whole body was shivering, no doubt freezing from the cold. Obviously, since no one in their right mind should be up here except Adorabeezle.

Adorabeezle, meanwhile, was combing through her memory banks, trying to remember this girl’s name. Nothing sprung to mind.

Just then, the redheaded girl leaned back, inspecting her work on Adorabeezle’s leg. “All done,” she said, sounding happier now. “Pain, pain, go away…don’t you bother Adorabeezle today!”

Adorabeezle scowled. “What the Hershey was that?”

“Just a little rhyme. Rhymes always make life better and help you remember things,” the cherry racer said with a smile. “Ok, big moment here: can you stand?”

She held out an outstretched hand.

Adorabeezle looked at the site of her injury. The handkerchief patterned with hearts was wrapped tightly around her knee and held securely with that red glop from the girl’s bottle. Roughly swatting the red girl’s hand away, she propped herself up and stood gingerly. Standing was fine. Walking was a bit wobbly. But she was okay now.

“What’s that sticky stuff you put on me?” she asked.

“Oh, just some of my homemade cherry syrup adhesive!” the red racer said cheerfully. She whisked out her bottle again and waved it in the air. “I call it Cherry Stick, the magic touch for healing injuries and fixing ripped book spines! This will stick anything together. You never know when you might need some, so I never leave home without it!”

The winter-themed racer looked at her before rolling her eyes. “Whatever. Listen, this was fun and all, but I gotta go. This knee is gonna slow me down, and I’m not losing a race because of you.”

The girl’s face fell a little. But she managed to put on another smile quickly. “Okie dokie, I’ll see you on the track, Adorabeezle!”

Adorabeezle stopped. “How do you know my name?”

The girl was smiling even more now. “I know everybody’s name!”

“But I’ve never talked to you before.”

“So? I still know everybody’s name!”

Adorabeezle cast her a weirded look. But then felt a bit awkward for still not knowing this girl’s name even though she knew hers. She didn’t even know how to ask. “Ok, well…see ya later…Citrusella?”

The girl laughed out loud. “That’s my sister’s name, silly! My name is Jubileena!”

“Oh. Right.”

Turning on her heel, Adorabeezle limped back to where she had parked her kart at the base of the mountain without looking back. Not even to check where her skis had landed.

That large chunk of literature, just like Day 15, is another sneak peek pulled directly out of the upcoming story. Not exactly a warm first welcoming. Adorabeezle, with a frosty heart as cold as ice, originally wanted nothing to do with anyone. But Jubileena’s caring nature could not stay put.

Ever heard of the trope Defrosting Ice Queen? You get the idea. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DefrostingIceQueen

@dorkaarts

[novankenn]

the Nephokinetic

(Users can utilize vapor in combat, whether it be releasing waves of mist to disorientate their opponents or conceal themselves in order to land sneak attacks, or using vapor to create weapons or having it accompany the user's own attacks.)

RPV was a man down. Jaune Arc their former leader having vanished one night, for no discernable reason, at least to them. So after missing the 40th Vytal Festival due to being a member short, the trio moved into their second year... proving their ability to cope and move forward, despite their disadvantage.

/==/

Pyrrha, Ren and Nora disembarked the bullhead. The small village they were sent to inspect, had no landing pad so the vehicle had to land in a nearby prepared area. Behind them Professor Peach stepped off. It was a second year supervised inspection mission.

The goal of the exercise was to teach the students how to see the strengths and weaknesses in a settlement or hamlet's defensive structures. To help them in those times they were dispatched to protect a settlement how to best utilize the resources at hand.

Their approved site was Fort Vale. A heavily fortified community was situated near the coast to the east of Vale proper, however for some reason while on route the destination was changed to their current location. A small unnamed village of maybe a dozen families or so, protected by a stout wooden palisade, and a few automated sentry turrets.

Peach knew at one glance the place was a death trap. Any serious Bandit or Grimm assault and the place would fold like a house of cards. Yet Peach was also aware of the side objective. There was someone of interest to Ozpin in the area... and she and her charges were the closet available team. Even if team RPV was a member short.

The trio of students lead by Professor Peach closed upon the sturdy-looking main gate. Showing her ID she and her charges were quickly allowed entry. Once past the gate Peach turned to face RPV.

"Now. I want you all to wander about. Take you time. We'll meet back at the gate in a hour." Peach let her eyes glid over the three young adults. "Pay close attention, and when we get back together I want to know from each of you what is good about these defenses... and what is bad. Any questions?"

Ren raised his hand.

"Mr Ren?"

"I thought we were supposed to be inspecting Fort Vale? Is there a reason for..." Ren didn't finish but looked around. The statement was however made.

"It was changed mid-route." Professor Peach informed the trio. "But the assignment is still the same and what you see and deduce here is applicable in other places. Any further questions?"

Pyrrha and Nora remained silent.

"Very well get to it. I'm going to have a chat with whomever is in charge of this place."

It took a little prodding and about twenty minutes but soon Peach found herself leaning against the counter of the General Store, speaking to the proprietor, who just happened to also be the woman in charge of the small settlement.

"So what brings Beacon out here?" the woman named Brittany Birch. "Should I be telling people to start packing?"

"No. It's an inspection exercise, and in fact I was going to ask you if there was a reason for us to actually be here instead of Fort Vale?"

"Well I can tell you we've not put in a call in for Huntsmen." Brittany replied, "No real need once the young fella showed up."

"Young fellow?"

"Yeah, young guy, was just wandering the road. Arrive about three weeks ago. Good thing too..."

"Why?"

"Had a small grimm incursion happen a couple days later." Brittany relayed, "Bad for us too. Pushed our defenses all most to the bring..."

"How big of a group?"

"One or two dozen." Brittany replied, "Nothing a larger settlement couldn't handle, but as you can see... we're still just scraping by."

"Well I assume you made it through... you're still here, obviously."

"Well it was because of the kid." Brittany informed Peach, "Without him we would have been over run."

"Was he that strong a fighter? Up to two dozen grimm is still a task to handle by one person." Peach commented, "Or did he have a strong semblance?"

"Well I'll say this... It was something else."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't really know how to explain it... but the kid used the grimm's own bodies against each other..."

"That makes no sense. Did he control a grimm and make it attack the others?"

"No... you know how a grimm evaporate after dying?"

"Yes."

"Somehow he manipulated that... used it against the pack. I mean it was seriously disturbing... the more grimm that went down, the more powerful and plentiful his attacks and defenses were..."

Peach stood there in silence, her lips pressed together. What the head-woman was speaking off... was impossible. Someone capable of using the essence of grimm as a weapon? There had to be more to it.

"Is this... individual still in the community?" Peach inquired. "I would like to speak with them... if I could."

"He should be. For all his help I put him up at my house. He's got a room in the attic. Private, warm and safe."

The incessant and rapid ringing of an bell sounded in the distance.

[hive-sight]

Changes 3 and Authorization

Sentients, greetings and gratitudes! This one has news!

Lumina has come to this one and has expressed an interest in pursuing first contact with the Terrans of Sol-3 sometime in the near future. Lumina stresses that, were it not for Raxor showing them Terran media of encounters with extra-planetary entities, that the contact would likely be immediate.

This is a pronounced change in Lumina that this one had not expected! Jumping into the research as they did, this one had expected first contact to be approaching, however, for Lumina to take the concerns of their crewmate into consideration… It is simply unlike any Thalorix behavior this one has seen. It is… refreshing.

On a more personal note, Lumina has started incorporating Terran mannerisms into their speech and body language. They have begun gesticulating with their primary arms, crossing their secondary arms at about the middle of their torso. They have begun referring to themselves as “I” as the Terrans do.

That there is no issue with this must be stressed. It is a logical step to take in the effort of making the eventual meeting with the Terrans go peacefully. Matching actions and speech with a sentient is the typical step taken in order to begin building relations. It just typically takes a more significant amount of time.

Following will be the transcript of the crew meeting in which Lumina approved first contact.

—Transcript Start—

Elysia:       The date is 4682C 4A 6L, time is one quarter Xylopthia rotation. The assigned Thalorix, Lumina has called the crew together to discuss first contact. Absent is the assigned Xyndri, Voxen. Present are, the assigned Ithorin, Elysia, the assigned Valkorin, Raxor, and the assigned Thalorix, Lumina. This one now passes control of the meeting to Thalorix Lumina.

Lumina:     I thank you Ithorin Elysia. As you have, no doubt, noticed, I have delved deep into my own research of the sentients of Sol-3. While you, Elysia, sought to find how they had become what they are, and you, Raxor, sought to identify any threat they may pose, I investigated who they are. What separates them from us, and what separates one of them from any other one.

*Lumina places the hand of one of their primary arms on the juncture between their abdomen and thorax*

Lumina:     Obviously, given their lack of biological castes, finding this degree of difference between individuals was difficult. Outside of varying changes in color, the Terrans do heavily resemble each other.

Raxor:       By the Queen’s left wing is that an understatement! Can’t tell one from the next myself!

Lumina:      Valkorin Raxor, please.

Raxor:       Apologies Thalorix.

Lumina:     My conclusion may seem… controversial. Please hold any questions until my explanation has finished. When I look at humanity as, instead of a species, but as a singular caste, I find the differences in individuals to be nearly identical to the differences between any two members of the same caste of our own species. Elysia, you rather enjoy combing over cycles of data correct?

Elysia:       Correct. This one finds such data analysis to be soothing.

Lumina:     But Ithorin Permisia does not. Also correct?

Elysia:       Permisia does tend to enjoy a more ‘up close’ approach yes. Prefers to be on-site to make new discoveries.

*Lumina dips their antennae*

Lumina:     Terrans are much the same.

—Transcript End—

This one believes that Lumina is trying to convey that the crew should begin looking at Terrans at more of an individual level. But this one is unsure. Please, if any of you Sentients have a perspective, inform this one. This one could not bear to be the reason for the failure of this mission.

In addition, if any among you have questions, this one would be happy to answer.

On this, XD 4682C 4A 7L, TD 17th of June, 2030, Elysia of Xylopthia is looking forward to more glorious interaction, and signing off.

[yandere-fics]

♡ How They Would Act As Your Sugar Mommy ♡

♡ The Kingdom Version ♡

♡ You'd been working in the lower sector of the building and struggling financially when a friend told you that they had a friend from one of the higher sectors was looking for a partner to accompany her to company parties. Of course she would pay for anything you needed to wear at the party and would financially compensate you. You weren't usually the type to do this but a little extra cash every once in awhile would go a long way so you agreed to meet her. ♡

♡ Miriel told herself that she could do this without falling in love with whoever she goes with, but the moment she meets you, that just falls out the window. You've never done this type of thing before, maybe there is something here, afterall why chose her when you could have gone and found a proper sugar mommy. Oh well, it doesn't matter now, she will be a proper sugar mommy if that is what her darling needs. ♡

♡ She starts out by just buying you the outfits you need for her parties, but it quickly devolves into her buying every single thing you want weekly. It gives her an excuse to take you out on dates after the shopping sprees. ♡

♡ Whoopsie, she called in a favor from the boss and your apartment manager is evicting you, don't ask too many questions. Anyways it looks like you have to move in with her, don't worry, she'll still spoil you and lavish you, but now she gets her money's worth. Afterall she gives you all of her money, can't she at least savor you? ♡

♡ All in all, I think if Miriel was your sugar mommy, it would make her much bolder and way more aggressive in trying to claim you. ♡

"Spin for me, babe." Miriel was watching you intently, for the past five hours as she forced you to try on outfit after outfit.

"Uhm, Miri?" You really just wanted to pick an outfit for the party already and then go home. Every time you asked her about it though she would just wave you off. Your feet were beginning to hurt from all the heels she wanted you to try on. The store clerks knew better than to look over though. There were too many possessive freaks in the city, could never be too careful.

She gives a small hum in response and she's already onto picking out another dress for you to try next.

"Have you gotten any closer to picking out an outfit yet?" You shuffle nervously, really hoping she wouldn't respond how you knew she was going to respond.

"What do you mean babe? I'm buying all of these." Yup, that was what you pretty much expected.

♡ You'd been working next to the demon for a few months as her assistant when she noticed that you were struggling financially. She already knew you were her mate and while she was satisfied to court you while you two worked together, this presented an even greater opportunity. ♡

♡ So what does she do? Obviously make sure you see lots of people talking about sugar dating for weeks until you decide that it might be a good idea for you and then create a profile on one of the sites, and obviously she keeps her profile vague because such a sweet thing like you would probably feel uncomfortable straight up dating your supervisor, so she has to make you fall for her profile first so she can ease you into it. ♡

♡ When you two finally agree to a shopping date, you are shocked to find your boss but the look in her eyes tells you that you can't break up with her that quickly, so you proceed with the date. Afterwards you try to ignore her because you're pretty sure this is an hr violation but she keeps sending you little gifts, ones that are somewhat vaguely threatening. ♡

♡ Did you know that there's a rule that if a demon disapproves of their mate working, and has the finances to support their mate, they can get them ousted from the job? Come on, be good and let Kassien spoil you, she wouldn't want to ruin your job but you're forcing her hand, she needs you to financially rely on her. ♡

♡ Once your little lovers tiff is over, she will be a pretty standard sugar mommy, lavishing you in gifts, forcing you to wear the expensive clothes and jewelry she buys you, burning your apartment down so now you need to move in with her, the classics. ♡

♡ Being your sugar mommy makes Kassien a tad more manipulative than she usually is. ♡

You jumped when you spotted your supervisor standing outside your apartment on your way to get a coffee. You'd sent back her gifts when you realized that your new sugar mommy was actually in charge of you at work. You hoped if you sent her gifts and requested a transfer, you could just put all of this behind you. Only to find out that not only would work not give you that transfer, but you were also fired. Anonymous complaint, you suspected it was her.

"You returned my necklace, Sweetness. I had that custom made for you, I might have to charge you for it if you don't just take it. It's not refundable because of the customization." She sounded calm but you knew that she could fly off the handle in seconds, after all you'd been working with her for a bit. Even on the one date you two went on, she blew up on a guy in the restaurant for walking a little bit too close to you.

"Ma'am-" She scoffed and rolled her eyes at you. You knew how much you were probably pissing her off by not calling her by her name, "K-kassien, I know I upset you but you didn't have to get me f-fired." The look on her face was starting to freak you out. Like the calm before the storm.

"No, I did have to get you fired, what I don't have to do is allow you to move in with me after you get evicted, so don't be such an ungrateful brat." She smiles as she walks up to you with the necklace with her initials on it, holding it out for you to put on like an obedient pet.

♡ Sawyer is the only one you would meet in a classically sugar mommy way. She knows you're her mate, so what's a ??? years old all knowing being to do except create a profile on the sugar dating site you're on. You've done this before but that's okay, she can kill all the previous ones. ♡

♡ Right off the bat she is much more generous than any of the sugar mommies you've had before and you nearly faint when you discover she's The Boss, like the actually fucking boss that runs the entire city. Still she's pretty enough and generous enough for you to overlook how actually terrifying this situation is. ♡

♡ She is extremely generous with you, I mean how could she not be, she literally has half the city under her thumb directly or indirectly. What's a sapphire necklace that costs more than a house, to someone who has been saving wealth their entire life in order to spoil their mate, you don't need to know that though, she likes you feeling like she's been inconvenienced to spoil you this much. ♡

♡ She expects you to spend time at her apartment whenever you're not working, she explains she has cameras in her apartment and so it would help her to work if she could look on them and see her cute thing dressed in something nice and expensive waiting for her at home. Weird but okay, you'll accept it. ♡

♡ It's only after the two of you wake up cuddling in bed that you decide you should cut it off before any feelings develop but baby, you're already in too deep, before you know it she's suing you for all of the things she's bought you. It's okay the lawsuit will end if you move back in, be her good sugar baby, and never fucking try to leave again. ♡

♡ Her as a sugar mommy is already close to how she is naturally, with a few minor changes and an official title. ♡

"The Boss has asked us to escort you up to her office." Two security guards approached you the moment you stormed into the office. You'd been served with notice of an impending lawsuit from The Boss, she never put her real name on any documents, and well that alone would make most in the city shit their fucking pants.

You knew you should have never taken on someone as powerful as her, no matter how good of a sugar mommy she seemed. It didn't matter how many fancy trips she took you on, or how many gems you had in your very expensive hand crafted jewelry box, she had the power to completely ruin you.

"A fucking lawsuit Sawyer?" She shushes you softly when you busrt into her office and dismisses the guards.

"I'm not sure why this is such a suprise darling. I make the rules in the city, and I never included a rule that said you were allowed to leave me."

You don't even know how to respond to her audacity.

"Come darling, we'll go to a nice restaurant and renegotiate your allowance."

[charlesandmartine]

Saturday 9th November 2024

First impressions of Tennant Creek are that it is Katherine on steroids. As we drove in, we noticed a large IGA supermarket, which, like the Woolworths in Katherine, was attracting a large group of locals. The remainder appeared to be out and about milling around the main roads. The town has a population of 3,000, of which half are Aborigine Australians. The indigenous name for Tennant Creek is Jurnkkurakurr, and the Warumungu people have lived in the region surrounding Tennant Creek for thousands of years. Anecdotally, in 1930 a wagon carrying beer broke down, and when folk around heard about it, rather than taking the beer to the people, they set up a town where the wagon was. Great story, but I suspect that's all it is. The name Tennant Creek was given by our old chum, John McDouall Stuart, who named it after one of the financial backers of his expedition, which must have been one of the first confusing things the good Warumungu people must have come up against. Mind you, it is a lot easier to say than Jurnkkurakurr! It might appear that there could be one or two social problems in the area, and tourists, it is fair to say, are told to be careful. The caravan site's electric gates close at 6pm and reopen at 8.30am. We obviously have a code to get out, but I think people probably hunker down during this time. For added security an electric fence surrounds the site. All this seems extreme, but nobody wants to take chances. A policeman we were talking to reassured us crime was not too bad in Tennant Creek.

It was a quiet start, with a visit to the Tourist Information Office to find out what's around. Tennant Creek has been and is a mining town for gold, copper, and silver. Gold was first found in 1925 when an Overland Telegragh engineer was working in the area. Gold mining ceased in 1985, but recently has restarted with gold prices higher, and production costs lower, it makes mining here viable again. We decided a visit to the mining museum would be desirable tomorrow.

A place people were trying to get us to stay instead of Tennant Creek was The Devils Marbles. This appears to be an interesting sacred place of massive granite boulders; the site being called Karlu Karlu, translated as 'Round Boulders'. These can be found nearly 100kms south of here, straight down the Stuart, and though we were torn about going, we felt a detour of 200ks was unjustified for a day trip. However, not all is lost because the sister site is just up the road, but the little version. The Pebbles’, another site of equally awe-inspiring geologic phenomenon which the Warumungu hold sacred as the place of the Munga Munga dreaming. The Munga Munga dreaming travels through to the Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu). The Munga Munga went to pick up their loved ones from Karlu Karlu. They picked fruit off the fig trees and headed back, singing all the way. They stopped at three white gums along the way before returning to Kunjarra. So the story goes. Well, it's all very mystical, but they do treat this very seriously. Kunjarra is a womens dreaming site that is important to the Aboriginal women of this country. It is a place where they go for ceremony, dance, meeting place, sacred place, since the beginning and of dreamtime. The site is so important to Warumungu that when one of the Pebbles from the site was moved to Peko Park in Tennant Creek as a tourist promotion, the outcries lasted more than a year until the Pebble was returned back to Kunjarra a year later. The stones are stunning, and in the silence, there was a sense of 'place', the feeling you may get in a cathedral when you sense the age and purpose of the stones that hold this building together and the use it has had over the centuries. Then, almost on queue to increase this feeling of awe, the wind suddenly started to swirl around us, the lightening flashed, the thunder crashed, and a few spots of rain were felt. Our route to The Pebbles was 3kms off the Stuart along an unsealed road. These roads are not approved by Mr Europcar but are usually good in dry conditions. They can be an uncomfortable drive because, for some reason, parallel grooves are cut across the track, causing vibrations throughout the vehicle that Ford had not intended in its design for a smooth ride. Now, with the potential for a heavy downpour, we began to feel a long way from base and hoping we would not experience flooding on the unsealed road. We were also completely alone in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, the heavy rain held off despite the increase in thunderstorm activity, and before long, we were back on the Stuart and heading down to Tennant Creek and our Chinese meal from Woks Up. Into BottleO for beer and SB. Here in Tennant Creek, we are only permitted 2 bottles of wine each! Or 2 bottles and some beer between us. That's all the policeman would allow us. Then the heavens opened, and we have not seen rain like it before. Cats, dogs, and kangaroos. As I write this 3 hours later, the storm continues, and we have just lost all power, and very large puddles are forming in the caravan park. All is black in our little cabin, meaning the air-conditioning is also off, too.

Fantastic Chinese meal, though, from a place renowned throughout the Northern Territories. Just consumed in time.

Hopefully, all shall be back to normal in the morning. Well. It is the wet season now!

ps. Power is restored and the air-conditioning is working again.

pps. The idea had been to watch the sunset over the stones. Clearly not appropriate tonight!

[filthforfriends]

Pre-San Remo interview so wild that I have to routinely hunt whatever version YouTube hasn't removed for copy right infringement to convince myself if actually happened.

Here are the highlights paraphrased:

Do you sleep with a different person every day? D: No. Every week? D: No. Man, women, or both? D: Women.

Have you ever been in a relationship with a much younger woman? D: No, "much younger than me" is what? Kindergarten?

Have you ever been in a relationship with a much older girl? D: Yes. From 18 to 34...is 16 years (of age difference).

Have you ever experienced or been subjected to sexual harassment in a musical environment? V: Hmm, no.

Have you ever been aware of sexual blackmail in your environment? V: Of people close to me that I know directly, no.

If it happened, what would you do? V: I'd try to comfort the person that had suffered harassment and I'd try to encourage them to report the facts and to talk about it.

Do people catcall you? V: Yes. Does it bother you? V: Yes, it's annoying. Can it be considered on par with harassment? V: Yes. Obviously, its psychological and verbal harassment, not physical. However, that does not make it any less serious.

Have you ever told off a persistent fan? D: Not because of his persistence...Once, when we were playing there weren't barriers. Victoria bent over and a guy had the friendly idea of touching her butt.

What did you do? D: I told him a few things. Not good things.

Who spends more on porn? T: We don't need those sites. D: Ethan! V: Ethan! E: I don't know why I feel like the others said my name. Am I wrong? Anyways, it's not me.

And are you in favor of legalizing prostitution? All: Yes.

Do you have a girlfriend in common? D: Not that I know of. T: Absolutely not. E: God, what a weird question.

And a boyfriend? D: Neither. T: No.

Have you ever thought about the fact that sooner or later you could disband? T: There is so much chemistry that no. E: No, never wanted to think about it.

Have you ever thought of leaving the band to become a soloist? D: Absolutely not.

Is being in the shadow the fate of musicians who are not frontmen? E: No. T: No. I'm also a guitarist so I don't have this problem.

Aren't you envious of John Lennon and Paul McCartney? T: Absolutely not. E: No, it's just self-destructive.

Have you ever taken psychedelic drugs or sedatives? All: No.

Pro legalization of soft drugs? All: Yes.

Voluntary euthanasia? All: Yes.

Who smokes more weed? T: I don't know. D: Me. V: Damiano E: Damiano.

How many cigarettes do you smoke per day? D: 5-10.

Cialis or Viagra? D: None. Misfire (premature ejaculation), it happens to everyone. What do you do when it happens to you? D: Wait a quarter of an hour.

How many hours do you spend making love? D: It depends on the week. And masturbating? D: Not many (times).

Are you in a relationship? D: I won't tell you that. Then tell us if you cohabitate. D: I live alone.

To win your affection, how much does it count (on a scale) from 1-10? Buy you dinner? V: Zero. Have a six pack? V: Zero. Have intelligence? V: Seven. Have a nice ass? V: Seven. Have a beautiful smile? V: Eight.

Have you ever had mutual attraction with a celebrity? V: Yes.

Do you receive interest even from women? V: Yes. Have you ever had a fling with a girl? V: Yes. How did it go? V: Good!

Do you get advances even from boys? D: It's happened.

Does it bother you if people think you're gay? D: Absolutely not.

Who hooks up the most? T: Depends on the moment. E: None. V: Ethan. D: Ethan.

Do you sleep together? V: All four, it's too much. D: Two by Two. T: It's happened. E: Me and Thomas sleep together when we have to split the group in two parts.

Do you support yourself by music or do you still get pocket money? D: I've able to support myself through music.

Has your family ever struggled to make ends meet? D: No, we are an average family.

Have you ever got a panic attack before a concert? E: No. T: Never. D: Not before a concert. V: Yes, it was awful. I tried to calm down and the guys helped me distract myself.

Have you ever been to a psychologist? T: No. E: No. V: Yes. D: Yes. How long? D: I'm still In therapy.

The most short tempered? D: Me. V: Me. E: Damiano. T: Sometimes me.

The most vain? E: Victoria at the beginning (of the band). T: All four. V: Damiano. D: I think myself.

And now do you always wear a mask? V: Yes, of course.

Will you vaccinate? All: Yes.

Source: X X X

[smallerplaces]

Bass Pro Shops articulated fashion doll: unboxing and body comparison

A couple months ago, I was once again looking at the Bass Pro Shops fashion dolls, mulling whether to buy the ambiguously brown gal with straight hair when I already have rebodied Kylie and the second articulated-knee Dollar Tree Beauty in that role... when I saw there was a gal with freckles and a young horse and chickens.

Well. Done deal. I set her aside for Christmas and then was so happy with finally unboxing Kid Kore Piper that I set her further aside for New Year's, which is... today. So here we are.

Meet Anne. Don't call her hair red.

Here she is in the box. The $29.99 price tag that felt off-putting a couple years ago now seems in line with what a doll with a similar level of accessories would cost at Target.

Also, Dad bought her for me because we were at Bass Pro Shops so he could buy flannel shirts for an expensive trip I (voluntarily) wasn't going on, so $30 for toys presumably seemed pretty trivial compared to the $1200 in tickets it would have cost to bring me along.

The back of the box tells us to collect them all, but honestly, I think I picked the one with the most expressive face.

It turns out that the doll and all her accessories are between two layers of molded plastic that slide out, leaving the backdrop pristine to use for display.

It's not bad! I don't usually use display backgrounds, but since I'm rearranging the doll community today, I might try it out.

I love the hen. I really do.

I've already managed to lose one chick.

The foal is heavy. This is a solid little creature. As you can see, she stands easily on her own. She shall be named Mocha. Mocha comes with a velour blanket that I've removed for photos.

Here's Anne! She balances well on her own in shoes. Her head tends to tip upward, an issue made worse by the weight of her loose pony tail. She's kind of awkward, but not as much so as Lammily.

I definitely chose the one with the most expressive face. The slight upward glance on her eyes is going to trip me up a lot with taking photos, but look at those freckles!

Anne also has the most collarbone I've seen in a playline doll.

Body comparisons start after the jump.

Since Anne is articulated and has a slightly large head, the handy comparison is my Simply Fresh Kylie head that's been rebodied onto a Made to Move. We know going in that Kylie will have better articulation, but how much better?

Anne and Kylie have pretty similar body shapes: everyone's the same belly button shape these days. Anne is about half an inch shorter, though!

Obviously, Anne lacks bust, mid-thigh, upper arm, and ankle articulation. Her knees and elbows are simpler than MTM. However, she has the same kind of hip joints, so she can do great splits and also sit with her knees mostly together. She also kneels as well as Kylie does.

Arm articulation isn't as great as MTM. Kylie can touch her own head, but Anne can't.

At this point, I was wondering if Anne is simply a standard Chinese articulated body. Her plastic is lighter-weight than Kylie's, which would be consistent with that theory. I was girding my loins to drag out and undress Cinderelsa for comparison when I remembered that, of course, I have a body farm. I bought extras when I bought Cinderelsa's body.

It's close. My Chinese body has more visible seams, no collar bone, thinner legs, a slightly smaller waist, and no creases on the thighs. It also has fashion feet. The hand mold is really similar, though. Anne looks healthier and a bit more detailed.

Her back marking of Tree House Kids just leads us in a circle: here's the brand site, showing the same Bass Pro Shops dolls, labeled as such.

At this point, I got annoyed enough with the stiffness of her ponytail to take it down and comb it out. There is so much product in a simple ponytail! I'm going to have to boilwash her when I do a batch.

With her hair combed out, Anne can be Lady Godiva for Halloween.

Since her body is in the standard range, she should be able to wear some of my stash of approximately Barbie-sized clothes. My first thought was the blue jumpsuit that Mariposa (Hobbit Teresa) likes.

The jumpsuit was not a win. It's loose through the bust on Anne. However, the sunflower dress that's a genuine Barbie dress (from Big Lots) looks great, especially with the plastic straw hat! (Kylie has changed into something glitzy from one of my dollar-store fashion packs.) Anne can also wear the strappy flat sandals that I use for Skipper-sized dolls.

On the whole, the Bass Prop Shops doll is pretty nice. Her articulation is fine, though not earth-shaking. Her animal accessories are fun! And I really like the expressiveness of this particular face-up.

Here she is with Emma Dreams and Varsity Captain Zoe. I feel like she and Emma are a natural match as sisters, with poor big-headed Zoe once again as the outlier.

[moltengoldveins]

molten please tell me about your surprise cousin you have me so curious now

alright alrighty, I have been putting this off because Autism Brain for like a week now and it is Time. Gather round everyone and let me tell you a tale of drama, a tale of sorrow, a tale of how I got a dope new cousin for Christmas one year.

So once upon a time, presumably around the Middle Ages, my grandfather was happily married. Wonderful! Unfortunately, he was also in the military and was deployed very soon after his wife had their first child. Less wonderful :( Crap went down and my grandmother passed away suddenly, leaving him alone with a one year old daughter. His best friend whom he was incredibly close with passed away less than a few years later, leaving his wife a widow as well. Now, these two couples had been very close for decades, and my grandfather’s best friend’s wife spent a lot of time with him, helping him with his daughter, eventually they fell in love and married one another like… eight years after they both were widowed. But my grandma couldn’t have kids, so instead they adopted! They only wanted one boy and one girl, and they already had the girl, so they adopted my uncle. (The story of how my father was adopted is a weirder one than this one but we don’t have time for that. I’m only giving you the relevant information re: my uncle was adopted, this will be important later.)

NOW. presumably around 1990ish, my uncle was happily married! Wonderful! Unfortunately, he was also in the military, and was deployed for like eight months very soon after his wedding. Less wonderful :( but it’s ok! he comes home after deployment and reunites with his loving wife, they share a wonderful week together. She is loving and happy and cheerful and everything is grea- where is my wife and where are her things?

So. my uncle wakes up one day to find that my ex-aunt had been seeing a guy all throughout the time he was gone, and planned the whole time to divorce him and marry the other guy. Why she didn’t tell him immediately we don’t know, but she served him papers and was gone in a jiffy. We never heard from her again.

Now, after a while, my uncle remarried! His current wife already had two children from a previous spouse who sadly passed away :( they then had two more kids, so four in total, and lived a long happy life together for like two decades. My uncle is in his late fifties and one day wakes up and has himself a little think. “I’m adopted.” He thinks. “I wonder, if I do a DNA test, if I could connect to any of my bio family? Maybe I have siblings! Or my parents might still be alive!”

So off he sends a swab of his DNA and thinks nothing of it. Months later he opens his email to see a link to his account profile and, excited, he clicks on it.

“One Relative Found” the site says. “Relationship to User: Child”

In shock, my uncle realizes what this means. His ex wife must have gotten pregnant that first week he was back from deployment, and never told him. Perhaps she didn’t know? Perhaps she thought it was the other guy’s kid? He calls their house and introduces himself, only to learn that the guy never knew his wife had a previous marriage, much less that she’d had a kid by it. She’d managed to carefully schedule things (with the addition of that weird random extra week) so that nobody ever found out, and apparently none of her family was close enough or knew enough to spill the beans. The poor guy informs my uncle, obviously in shock, that his wife had passed away only a little under two months ago. The kid that they’d thought was theirs the entire time? Was now twenty two, and had just lost her mom.

So, obviously, it takes a while before they know what to do or how to handle things, but they decide honesty is the best policy and tell my new cousin the truth about things. my uncle asks if she even wants to meet him. She eventually decides yes, and they meet, and BOY is it obvious that she’s his kid, she’s his spitting image, and she ends up hanging out once in a while for holiday dinners. I haven’t spoken to her in a while but I am NEVER going to forget that soap opera of a series of events.