#//87 years later i reply

[muzaktomyears]

In 1980 Peter Brown, a former assistant to Brian Epstein who later ran Apple Corps, managed the Beatles and was best man at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s wedding, started work on the definitive account of the Beatles. With the American author Steven Gaines, he spoke to the three surviving band members alongside wives, girlfriends, managers, friends, hangers-on and everyone else in the Fabs’ universe. The book promised to be the last word in Beatles history. Then in 1983 The Love You Make was published, and all hell broke loose.

“They were furious,” recalls Gaines, 78, still sounding pained at the memory. “Paul and Linda tore the book apart and burned it in the fireplace, page by page. There was an omerta, a code of silence around the Beatles, and they didn’t think anyone would come forward to tell the truth. But Queenie, Brian Epstein’s mother, told us above all else to be honest.”

“Even she didn’t think we would be quite so honest,” adds Brown, 87, his upper-crust English tones still in place after five decades in New York.

Why did The Love You Make, retitled by Beatles fans as The Muck You Rake, incite such strong feelings? The suggestion of an affair between Lennon and Epstein on a holiday to Barcelona in April 1963, only three weeks after the birth of Lennon’s son Julian, had something to do with it, but more significantly it was taken as a betrayal by a trusted insider. Brown and Gaines locked the recordings in a bank vault and never looked at them again — until now.

“Very good question,” Brown says, when I ask why he and Gaines have decided to publish All You Need Is Love, an oral history made up of the interview transcripts from which The Love You Make was drawn. He is speaking from the Manhattan apartment on Central Park West where he has lived since 1971. “When [Peter Jackson’s documentary] Get Back came out, a journalist from The New York Times wanted me to talk. I told him I hadn’t talked about the Beatles since the book was published and suggested he go to someone else. He said, ‘There isn’t anyone else. Paul, Ringo and you are the only ones left.’ And I thought, do I have a responsibility to clear it all up, once and for all?”

After the death of Epstein in 1967, Brown assumed the day-to-day responsibilities of managing the Beatles and Apple Corps. He had on his desk a red telephone whose number was known only to the four Beatles. Unsurprisingly, given his insider status, the interviews make for fascinating reading. Paul McCartney, yet to be asked the same questions about the Beatles thousands of times over, is remarkably unguarded. Asked by Gaines if the other Beatles were anti-Linda, he replies: “I should think so. Like we were anti-Yoko.” On the image the Fabs had for being good boys on tour, he says, “You are kidding,” before going on to reference a notorious incident involving members of Led Zeppelin, a groupie and a mud shark, concluding: “No, not in the least bit celibate. We just didn’t do it with fish.”

Ono, speaking in the spring of 1981, not long after Lennon was killed in December 1980, reveals that she didn’t sleep with Lennon for the first two years of their relationship — “John didn’t know how to make a move” — and claims that she was blamed by the Beatles camp, George Harrison in particular, for getting Lennon onto heroin in 1969. “Everything we did in those days, anything that was wrong, was my responsibility,” she tells Gaines. But everyone, from the Beatles’ notorious late-period manager Allen Klein to the Greek electronics wizard/hustler “Magic” Alex Mardas — “the Mordred of the Beatles’ Camelot” according to Brown — has their own version of events.

Going through the transcripts reminded Gaines of the long shadow cast by Lennon. “I didn’t realise how sensitive the other Beatles were to John’s opinion,” he says, speaking from his home in the Hamptons, Long Island. “Paul worried about what John would say [in the event Lennon died before being interviewed] and was still longing for his friendship. George said that John didn’t read his autobiography because it was called I, Me, Mine. Those interviews were done before John’s death and Paul’s heart was broken, even then. It wasn’t just the break-up of the Beatles. It was more personal than that.”

From around 1968, the transcripts reveal how the key Beatles duo started to come apart. McCartney’s enthusiasm was only getting stronger. But Lennon grew increasingly bored and disillusioned. “You have to remember that John wasn’t in love with his wife Cynthia,” Gaines says by way of explanation. “He wanted to get away from the life he was leading and that’s why he started to experiment with drugs, all the way up to heroin.”

Brown says Ono was, and probably still is, a distant, mysterious character, exactly the kind of person Lennon was looking for, having done the right thing and married the sensible, quiet Cynthia after she discovered she was pregnant with Julian in 1963. “John told me about meeting this woman, and how frustrated he was that he couldn’t get to know her better; he couldn’t take her to lunch because it would cause gossip. I gave him the key to my apartment so he and Yoko could be together in private and thought, naturally, they were going there to f***. When I went home that evening, the apartment was untouched. They did nothing more than sit on the sofa and talk. That’s what they wanted: to know each other.”

Regarding the long-held, unfair suggestion that Ono broke up the Beatles, Gaines says: “Yoko came along at the right moment to light the fuse, but the dynamite was already packed. They resented her, she was difficult to understand and had a deep effect on John, but they were getting more and more unhappy with each other and needed to have their own lives. As people in the interviews say again and again, [the split] was bound to happen.”

It was Brown who in May 1968 introduced McCartney to Linda Eastman, an ambitious young American photographer whom he knew from his business trips to New York, when she came to London on an assignment to shoot the Rolling Stones. “I was having dinner with Paul at the Bag O’ Nails [a club in Soho] when she turned up, so I introduced them and he was obviously taken with her,” Brown recalls. “The following Friday, May 19, we were holding a party for 12 top photographers at Brian Epstein’s house in London when she walked in. Paul says I didn’t introduce him to his wife … but I did.”

If the book has a villain it is Klein, the New York accountant who took over management of the Beatles and sacked everyone around them, much to McCartney’s horror. As Brown puts it: “He was a hideous person. He even looked like a crook: sloppy and fat, always wearing sneakers and sweatshirts. Everything he didn’t like was ‘for shit’.”

You wonder why Lennon fell for him. “The interviews suggest it is because Allen Klein offered Yoko a million dollars for her movie project,” Gaines says. “She was enticed and John would do anything Yoko said.”

“I asked Mick Jagger to come over and explain to the four Beatles who this Allen Klein was,” Brown remembers. “And John, in his wonderful way, had Klein turn up to the same meeting, which was deeply embarrassing. It made Mick very uncomfortable too.”

Epstein, the man who saw the Beatles’ potential in the first place, is a central figure in All You Need Is Love. It includes a transcript of a recording of him from 1966, not used for the original book. It was in the possession of Epstein’s attorney Nat Weiss, and seemingly made by Epstein to mark the end of the Beatles’ final tour. He claims not only that Lennon felt remorse for the infamous comment on the Beatles being bigger than Jesus — “What upset John more than anything else was that hundreds of people were hurt by that” — but that the Beatles would tour once more. “There’s no reason why they shouldn’t appear in public again,” Epstein claims. They never did, unless you count that rooftop performance on January 30, 1969.

“Brian was driving them around the north of England in his car for a year,” Brown remembers of the early days. “This Jewish guy from Liverpool, who was gay, was with these guys who had been hanging around in Hamburg, so both had interesting backgrounds. They understood each other.”

For Gaines, a self-described “gay Jewish boy from Brooklyn”, Epstein is at the heart of the story. “Brian never felt the love of a real relationship. Then he found the Beatles. Everyone thought it would be just another of his phases, but he had tremendous feelings for John, both sexual and intellectual, and that’s what really pushed him. If there was one thing that started the whole thing off, it was Brian’s love for John Lennon.”

That love affair was the contentious issue of the original book. In his interview, McCartney says of Lennon going to Spain with Epstein: “What was John doing, manipulating this manager of ours? Sucking up to him, going on holiday, becoming his special friend.” It wasn’t the suggestion of a homosexual relationship that was troubling McCartney, but the balance of power tilting in Lennon’s direction.

“Paul wanted to be in charge, and he deserved to be because he was the motor, the driving force,” Gaines says. “Paul felt that John would steal away the power. He felt threatened by John’s relationship with Brian.”

“Paul always wanted to be active,” Brown adds. “After Brian’s death the world had to be carried on. Who was going to do that? It wasn’t going to be John, George or Ringo. Brian was my best friend and I was very upset [at his death]. I had to go to the court to convince the magistrate that it wasn’t a suicide, and the following day Paul set up a meeting so we could discuss what we would do next. I said we’d do it next week, and he said, ‘No, it has to be now.’ He was right.”

How did Brown and Gaines feel about the horrified reaction to the book, not just from fans but the Beatles themselves? “The world has changed,” Gaines says, by way of answer. “Now, after all these years, hopefully people can see it as a truthful, loving and gentle book.” It has been decades since Brown spoke to the surviving Beatles and he has not contacted them about this new publication.

What the interviews really capture in eye-opening detail is the story of four young men who became a phenomenon, then had to deal with the fallout as the dream ended. On December 31, 1970, the day McCartney sued the other three to dissolve the partnership, Brown handed in his resignation as the Beatles’ day-to-day manager and officer of Apple Corps. Ringo Starr said to him: “You didn’t want to be a nursemaid any more, and half the time the babies wouldn’t listen to you anyway.” Brown moved to New York and became chief executive officer of the Robert Stigwood Organisation. But the Beatles never fully left him, and in the wake of Get Back — and the news that Sam Mendes is to direct four biopics, one on each Beatle — he decided he had one last job.

“We have finished our responsibilities,” Brown says with quiet authority. “It is the end of the story.”

EXTRACTS

‘It’s like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!’

Paul McCartney on the Beatles signing Allen Klein as manager against his wishes

[John Lennon] said, “I’m going with [Allen] Klein, what do you want to do about it?” and I kind of said, “I don’t think I will, that’s my roll.” Then George and Ringo said, “Yeah, we’ll go with John.” Which was their roll. But that was pretty much how it always ended up, the three of them wanted to do stuff, and I was always the fly in the ointment, I was always the one dragging his heels. John used to accuse me of stalling. In fact, there was one classic little meeting when we were recording Abbey Road. It was a Friday evening session, and I was sitting there, and I’d heard a rumour from Neil [Aspinall, road manager] or someone that there was something funny going around. So we got to the session, and Klein came in. To me, he was like a sort of demon that would always haunt my dreams. He got to me. Really, it was like I’d been dreaming of him as a dentist. Anyway, so at this meeting, everyone said, “You’re going to stall for ever now, we know you, you don’t even want to do it on Monday.” And I said, “Well, so what? It’s not a big deal, it’s our prerogative and it could wait a few more days.” They said, “Oh no, typical of you, all that stalling and what. Got to do it now.” I said, “Well, I’m not going to. I demand at least the weekend. I’ll look at it, and on Monday. This is supposed to be a recording session, after all.” I dug me heels in, and they said, “Right, well, we’re going to vote it.” I said, “No, you’ll never get Ringo to.” I looked at Ringo, and he kind of gave me this sick look like, yeah, I’m going with them. Then I said, “Well, this is like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!”

‘You don’t like to see a chick in the middle of the team’

Paul McCartney on Yoko Ono

Give Yoko a lot . . . that was basically what John and Yoko wanted, recognition for Yoko. We found her sitting on our amps, and like a football team, an all-male thing, you really don’t like to see a chick in the middle of the team. It’s a disturbing thing, they think it throws them off the game or whatever it was, and these were the reasons that I thought, well, this is crazy, we’re gonna have Yoko in the group next. Looking at it now, I feel a bit sorry for her because, if only I had been able to understand what the situation was and think, wait a minute, here’s a girl who’s not had enough attention. I can now not make this into a major crisis and just sort of say, “Sure, what harm is she doing on the amps?” I know they would have really loved me. You know, we didn’t like Yoko at first, and people did call her ugly and stuff, and that must be hard for someone who loves someone and is so passionately in love with them, but I still can’t — I’m still trying to see his point of view. What was the point of all that? They’re very suspicious people [Lennon and Ono], and one of the things that hurt me out of the whole affair, was that we’d come all that way together, and out of either a fault in my character, or out of lack of understanding in their character, I’d still never managed to impress upon them that I wasn’t trying to screw them. I don’t think that I have to this day.

How Cynthia Lennon was driven to drink — at an ashram

Alexis ‘Magic Alex’ Mardas on Ono’s love letters to Lennon

Alexis Mardas was also known as Magic Alex, a name John bestowed on him because he was so taken with Alex’s inventions. Alex was handsome, charming, and a charlatan. (He sued The [New York] Times in Britain for calling him a charlatan and settled out of court. He’s dead now.)

[The Maharishi] was fooling around with several American girls. The Maharishi was making all of us eat vegetarian food, very poorly cooked, but he was eating chicken. No alcohol was allowed in the camp. I had to smuggle alcohol in because Cynthia wanted to drink. Cynthia was very depressed. John was receiving letters from Yoko Ono. Yoko was planning to win John. She was writing very poetic and very romantic letters. I remember those letters because John was coming to me with the letters, and Yoko was saying to John that “I’m a cloud in the sky, and, when you read this letter, turn your head and look in the sky, and if you see a small cloud, this is Yoko. Away from you but watching you.” Poor Cynthia was prepared to do absolutely everything to win John. She was not even allowed to visit the house where John was staying. She was longing for a drink. Now, drinks, they were strictly prohibited in the ashram, but when it was discovered that Maharishi had a drink, I said, “Just a second, at least equal.”

‘He’s become so nasty’

George Harrison on reaching out to John Lennon

What’s wrong with John, he’s become so nasty. It sounds like he hasn’t moved an inch from where he was five or six years ago. I sent Ringo, John, and Paul all a copy of my book. I got a call from Paul. He called me up just to say how much he liked it. I shouldn’t have called it I Me Mine, because that title was a bit much. I sent a copy to John. I’m wondering if he’s actually received it, if he’s received it, he probably doesn’t like it or something offends him about it.

‘I told John that ... it was just a nice feeling’

Yoko Ono advising John Lennon how to take heroin

George said I put John on H, and it wasn’t true at all. I mean, John wouldn’t take anything unless he wanted to do it. When I went to Paris [before I met John], I just had a sniff of it and it was a beautiful feeling. Because the amount was small, I didn’t even get sick. It was just a nice feeling. So I told John that. When you take it properly — properly is not the right word — but when you really snort it, then you get sick right away if you’re not used to it. So I think maybe because I said it wasn’t a bad experience, maybe that had something to do with it, I don’t know. But I mean so, he kept saying, “Tell me how it was?” Why was he asking? That was sort of a preliminary because he wanted to take it, that’s why he was asking. And that’s how we did it. We never injected. Never.

‘It was time’

Ringo Starr on the end of the Beatles

Ringo Starr: Well, I’m pleased it happened because in so many ways, I’m glad it’s not going now. It was time. Things last only so long. Steven Gaines: The Rolling Stones are [still] going. Ringo Starr: Yeah, but they’re old men.

(source)

[has-merlinofficial-posted-today]

News from Merlin Official?

Year 1 Day 87 pt.1

No

Yes ✅

I guess as an apology for missing the posting date they replied to a bunch of people

This hasn't happened in 2 months.

First reply. Honestly? ExFP vibes. All around. Slay.

This one above I have already shown you. But it's too iconic to not include. Let's make it a meme.

And they answered to this (heartbreaking. But funny) reply with the following

Again, they are memeing. They think they're clever.

And they are...

They answered to this poor fellow:

They are entering their bitchy Arthur era and I love that for them. But also ouch.

This

And also this in the same thread. They are now entering their S3 Morgana era. Deny deny deny the violence. No violence here.

That was all folks.

As far as the replies go.

What they liked will be included in the usual post later today.

[lonesome-witching]

New Year's Eve

Not promted by anyone but I had to write something for New Year's Eve this year. So here is a short ronance story surrounding New Year's Eve. Does this make sense? Who knows? Is it cute? I think so. Am I overtly obsessed with these two? Most definitely and I will remain so in 2024. Happy New Year (it's still a few hours for me but well, time is an illusion anyway).

Jonathan had brought a new girl. Nancy didn’t really care. She wondered how he had met her. She seemed nice enough. Pretty as well. Not that Nancy was staring.

Steve had brought a new girl as well. Not Robin, although she had been hanging of his other arm. No, a brown-haired girl with brown eyes. She had smiled sheepishly in Nancy’s direction and whispered something in Steve’s ear. He had waved and she had nodded her head in acknowledgement. Robin has parted from him to actually say hi and Nancy had felt her heart speed up.

But now Robin was sitting next to Steve’s new girlfriend and she could feel the jealousy creep up her body. It wasn’t Steve or Jonathan that she wanted. It was Robin. Robin who was laughing with a joke that this other girl had said. Nancy decided she didn’t like Steve’s new girlfriend.

“What are we thinking about?” Max leaned against the kitchen counter.

Nancy shook her head. “Nothing, are you ready for 1987?”

“Can’t be worse than ’86.” Max took a sip of her drink. “So, will you be kissing Robin at midnight?”

Nancy nearly choked on her own saliva. “I­— I don’t think I’ll be kissing anyone at midnight.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Her eyes returned to where Robin sat. She regretted throwing this thing. But her mom thought she should live a little. And now she was sipping a lukewarm beer that she never wanted to drink in the first place while staring at a girl who was clearly not interested. She could have been in bed already, staring at her ceiling and dreaming of Robin’s lips. Somehow that sounded better than standing here.

“You should go for it, you know,” Max said. Her fingers were circling the top of the glass.

“Will you be kissing Lucas at midnight?” Nancy shot back. She wasn’t entirely sure if the two were back together or not. She thought they were.

Max lifted her shoulders. “Probably.”

Nancy smiled at her. She put her glass down and sighed. “Is it obvious?”

“Your crush on Robin? Not really. You just have a look in your eyes.”

“A look?”

“Yeah, like you’re trying to will her to make a move. She’s not going to. And it’s not because she doesn’t want to but it’s because you always look away when she looks at you.”

“Excuse me.” Nancy already made a move for the stairs. She didn’t care enough about the amount of people in her basement, she needed to be alone.

“Where are you going? It’s nearly midnight,” Max called out. Nancy ignored her and ran to her room.

She didn’t bother closing the door. Instead dropping face first on her mattress. Who cared about New Year’s Eve anyway? It was overrated. A New Year’s kiss was overrated too. She remembered the ones she shared with Steve and later Jonathan. A quick peck on the lips in a crowded room and then the shouts of people wishing you a happy new year. She didn’t need that tonight. She’d be fine.

“Are you alright?”

Nancy shot up from the bed, turning around with a soft blush on her cheeks. Robin was looking at her.

“I’m fine. It was just a bit crowded down there. I needed a minute,” Nancy replied. She hoped it sounded believable.

“It’s nearly midnight.” Robin walked into the room, closing the door behind her. Maybe she would make the first move. Maybe Max was wrong.

“Yes, but that’s all it is, isn’t it? Just another midnight.”

Robin smiled at her. “It is the start of a new year.”

“And a year is just a year.” Nancy shuffled out of the way, offering Robin a seat on the bed. Robin took it. Her knee bumped into Nancy’s leg.

“I disagree. ’87 will be different.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I have decided it will be my year.” Robin fell down on the bed.

Nancy hesitated before laying down as well. “Is that your New Year’s resolution?”

“No, my New Year’s resolution is to kiss this girl I like. I got 365 days to make it happen.”

The blush on Nancy’s cheeks got a bit redder. She was hopeful. Robin didn’t know all that many people. But neither did Jonathan and he had a new girlfriend. So, maybe there was someone else for Robin too. Another girl that Robin wanted to kiss at midnight.

“What about you?” Robin asked, poking her finger into the bare skin of Nancy’s arm.

“Not dying maybe.”

“That’s a great start. Can’t have you dying on me, Nance. What else?”

Nancy smiled. “You only have one thing.”

“Mine is already unrealistic enough.”

“I don’t think it is.”

Downstairs people started shouting. It sounded muffled and was overpowered by the melodic sound of Robin’s laugh. It was magical.

Nancy leaned in slowly. Her heart was beating fast. The rest of the world vanished around her as Robin’s eyes widened and then fell shut. Nancy stalled, feeling Robin’s breath on her lips. She should pull back. She couldn’t. She held her breath as she pressed her lips against Robin’s. Robin’s hands reached up to hold Nancy’s face close as she started moving her lips. Her thumb stroking over Nancy’s cheek.

Nancy could feel the heat spread through her body. She could see fireworks behind her eyelids. Her skin tingled where Robin touched her.

Robin pushed up, keeping their lips connected for one more second before pulling away. Outside bright red fireworks went off. “Happy New Year, Nance.”

“Happy New Year,” Nancy replied, still slightly dazed.

Robin leaned in to peck Nancy’s lips again. And again. And again. “It seems I’ve already achieved my resolution.”

“Yeah? Looks like it really will be your year then.”

“Hell yes.” Robin pecked Nancy’s lips again and this time Nancy held her there. Her hands reaching up into Robin’s hair to keep her from pulling away. She wasn’t ready for the kiss to end.

“Actually,” Nancy started as she finally pulled away, “I think it will be my year too.”

Robin’s lips curved into a bright smile.

[cielles-random-vault]

HIIIII MLLL! I would love if you could write a Mike x reader following the FNAF plot? I haven’t ppl write anything like that! Maybe the reader being forced to go with Abby when Freddy comes to get her and Mike saving them and being protective? Smth angst WITH A FLUFF ENDING BC AHHHV I LOVE FLUFF WITH SOME ANGST! (also nothing with smut bc everyone’s been writing Mike smut and it feels so ooc for him 😔)

HAIIIII THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REQUEST <33

you're so real asexual mike canon!!

also the angst part is a bit rushed i'm sorry i'm slowly getting out of writer's block and it truly ain't shit 🤧🤧 BUUTTT HERE WE AREE

gender neutral reader!!

wc: 1141 🦦

find the fic on ao3 here! || link to my ao3 profile 🦇

“Give me the vest.” Mike tried to command to his sister, but it was to no use.

“No. Me and Y/N are coming with you.” Abby replied on a taunting tone.

“ Are we?” you said, looking up from your book, and the death stare Abby gave you left you no choice but to follow her.

“Please.” Abby begged, doing her signature puppy eyes.

“No.” Mike replied sternly.

"What?! You can't say no to her, especially not with those puppy eyes!!" you chimed in, doing puppy eyes as well, hoping it would persuade him.

“Fine” he sighs, and you and Abby exchanged a hearty high five. “But only if you come with us as well, Y/N.”

“Fine by me!” you reply with an eager smile. “Come on Abby, let’s get ready!”

The happy trio then found itself impatiently sitting in the car, while the radio was silently playing Talking in your sleep.

A few moments later, you all three arrived n front of the abandoned pizzeria.

“Don’t get your hopes up, okay?” Mike warned as you were entering the building. “Just… Do whatever while I’m watching the cameras. Y/N? (you turn your head to look at him) I’m counting on you, you’re the adult, you take care of Abby, okay ? (you nod) And you, Abby, don’t be too much of a trouble, okay?”

“Mhm!” she agreed excitedly.

A few moments later, you and Abby found yourselves discovering all the oddities of the ancient pizzeria, but one in particular caught your eyes.

“Look at that muffin!” you say to Abby as you point your flashlight towards a muffin with a pink icing and some gloomy yellow eyes. “Imagine if it started chasing you here, what would you do?”

“I sure wouldn’t want that to happen” Abby chuckled as you switched rooms, not paying attention to the now moving muffin.

On the other hand, boredom seemed to have gotten the best of Mike. After all, if nothing tragic happened in this pizzeria in over 30 years, the bite of 87 aside, why would it change now?

That’s how our dear camera monitor ended falling asleep, the soft noise of the cameras’ static slowly lulling him, but he shouldn't have…

You and Abby kept on exploring the various and numerous rooms, and found a room full of blanket of pillows and blankets.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” you ask Abby as you give her a mischievous look.

“If you’re thinking about building a pillow fort, then totally!!” Abby replied cheerfully. “We should do it in the main plaza!”

“Yes!! Start off with bringing these there, I’ll take the rest!” you say as you hand her a few blankets.

A few moments later, you and Abby started running out of blankets, so you decided to take the ones who were covering some oddly tall figures.

“What the- oh my god this is awfully terrifying” you say as you uncovered a strange purple bunny looking animatronic.

Should you have left? Of course. But you somehow couldn’t take your eyes off of the strange creature before your eyes. Its red eyes were staring back at yours, and something felt off, but you couldn’t put your finger on it. It’s as if the creature in front of you was…

Alive.

“Help!!” you tried to scream, but nobody could hear you.

Strange, Mike thought as he noticed one of the cameras stopped working. I should check what’s going on there.

“Abby?” he asked as he headed towards the main plaza. “Do you know where is Y/N?”

“They’re in the storage room, we are going to build a pillow fort!” Abby replied cheerfully.

Mike then rushed to the storage room where he thought you were, where he noticed you silently studying the purple robot-looking bunny.

As you tilted your head in curiosity, the robot did the same, and you couldn’t help but to find it endearing.

"Oh my God, I thought something bad happened to you," Mike sighed, relieved to see you alive and well. "Are you the one who screamed earlier?"

“Yes” you admit with a sheepish smile. “That’s because he didn’t want to put me down.”

“Okay...” Mike replied, slightlty doubtful.

“By the way,his name is Bonnie! Bonnie, this is Mike, my best friend!” you said with a smile. “He can be of good use for taking all the pillows we need to the plaza!”

A few hours pass as the night comes to an end, and time to head back home arrived.

Both you and Abby fell asleep in the car, lulled by the smooth roaring of the car.

“Y/N?” Mike called you after Abby went to sleep. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure, but what’s with the serious face?” you ask him, starting to get worried.

“Nothing I just…” Mike sighed. “I’m just glad you’re safe. The animatronics can get dangerous at times.”

“There’s something you’re not telling me.” You point out. “Whatever it is, you can tell me, I’m your best friend, I won’t judge.”

Mike sighed deeply before saying:

“If I got so worried about you, it’s because I thought I would lose you. And I couldn’t bear losing the one I love.”

“Is that… A confession?” you ask, not wanting a misunderstanding.

“What else do you want it to be” he replied, smiling awkwardly.

“Well” you chuckle, “I’m surprised you beat me to it. It’s been a while since I wanted to confess as well.”

“Wait, really??” (you nod with a soft smile) “So, does that mean that we’re, you know, dating?”

“I don’t know” you chuckle softly, “We’ll have plenty time to disscuss it later, okay? Let’s just say we’re lovers for now, okay?”

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

A/N: This is how my fiancee left me right before Christmas a few years ago. Although, he didn't accuse me of being in love with someone else, and it was my grandmother who died. We also had a very good relationship.

'87 to '88

Steve had felt it in the air that this was going to be the worst Christmas of all, and it was true. It had started off pretty well. He proposed to his beloved girlfriend, Heidi, and she had eagerly accepted. He was ready to tell everyone, just like she was, until he found out his mother died a few days before Christmas. Not only did he find out from his father over the phone, but he also found out that his father had already buried her. It broke Steve’s heart to know that he was never going to say goodbye to his mother, something Heidi was too selfish to understand. So far, she had been the only one to know about his mother.

"I thought you wanted to tell everyone!" Heidi exclaimed.

"My mother just died! Forgive me if I don't feel quite up to celebrating!" Steve exclaimed.

"Well, it's not like you were on good terms with her anyway!" Heidi yelled.

"She's still my mother!" Steve yelled.

"Yeah, and she's abandoned you on several occasions. Screw her. Why not try to make this a happy occasion. Come on, Steve, let's tell everyone," Heidi said.

"No!"

"Fine. . .if you don't tell everyone, I'll leave you for someone else!" Heidi screeched.

"What?" Steve gasped and stood back as if he had been slapped.

"I said that I'll leave you for someone else. I've been talking to a friend who's willing to be with me and only me," Heidi said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"It means that you're clearly in love with someone else," she said.

"Because I don't want to make my mother's death about you, that must mean I'm in love with someone else," Steve scoffed. "I told you before that Nancy and I have been over for a long time!"

"I wasn't talking Nancy. I was talking about Eddie," Heidi said.

"Eddie's a guy. I like women," Steve replied.

"You can like both, dumbass," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I love you," Steve said.

"I know you do," she said softly. "But you also love Eddie. It might not be clear to you or anyone else, but it's clear to me that you love him," Heidi said.

"I love you, I want to marry you," he said.

"I know that you do," she said. "You also want Eddie, and I want to be with someone who wants only to be with me."

"Okay. So, if you knew all of this then why the fuck did you agree to marry me?" Steve asked.

"Because I really wanted to marry you," she said. "I thought I could handle being your second choice."

"Fine. Leave then and leave the ring," Steve snapped. "Tell your other guy that you can be with him."

"I already am," Heidi said and placed the ring on the table before walking out the door.

Steve waited for a while after she left and picked up a vase before slinging it at the door that she left through. He had loved her, he really did but as she thought about it. . .she might have been telling the truth. He thought about all the times that he hung out with Eddie, how he always yearned for more, but he didn't know what. He had craved his touch and his affections. He had wanted to be touched by him all the time. Steve thought about when he finally left town for good and how Steve had stayed in bed for three days, how Heidi tended to him without letting the others know. Jesus, she should have left him a long time ago. He had wanted to be with her, though, as badly as he wants to be with Eddie. . . Eddie, who barely calls anymore and who doesn't even visit. Steve realized that he had been clinging to Heidi to avoid the huge hole in his life where Eddie used to be. Eddie was probably better off without him, everyone was.

A few days later. . .

Christmas had passed, and now, New Years Eve was right around the corner. Steve didn't see anyone, didn't pick up the phone. He just stayed at home with the lights off and the phone off the hook, so no no one would call him. He just laid in bed, and when he wasn't laying in bed, he was drinking. It was all very pathetic. He drifted off to sleep, and when he awoke, he heard voices from downstairs.

"I'm telling you something is wrong," Robin's voice whispered loudly.

"Maybe he just has a headache," Eddie's voice whispered back.

Eddie? Eddie was here. Steve sat up and groaned, clutching his head.

"Maybe, but my best friend senses are telling me otherwise," Robin said.

"Didn't they tell you once that Steve was dying and he only had a splinter in his thumb?" Eddie asked.

"Hey! Those can be very deadly if left untreated," Robin said and paused. "They can't be right all of the time."

The door to his room opened, and the lights flipped on. Steve groaned and hid his head under the pillow.

"Get out!" Steve groaned. "Turn off the light!"

He heard the sound of them moving through the room, the sound of them kicking aside beer cans filling his ears.

"Steve? What the hell?" Robin asked.

"Man, what happened to you?" Eddie asked.

Steve sat up, removing the pillow and tossing it aside. He glared at Eddie.

"Do you even care?" Steve asked.

"Of course, I care. Why wouldn't I?" Eddie asked.

"Why haven't you called me?" Steve asked.

"It's what you wanted," Eddie scoffed.

"It's not the fuck what I wanted. Who the hell told you that?" Steve asked.

"Heidi," Eddie said.

"Meddling bitch," Steve muttered. "You should have talked to me, I would have told you differently."

"I'm sorry," Eddie said.

"This all started with you leaving, basically. Couldn't even get out of bed. I loved Heidi, though, and she did pull me out of my funk. She took care of me so I asked her to marry me and she said yes. Of course, it all went downhill from there. I got a call a few days before Christmas from my father. He told me my mother died and to not bother coming to the funeral because apparently, they had already buried her. Can you believe that? All Heidi cared about was making sure that everyone knew, but my mother just died, and I wanted to work through it. She gave me an ultimatum. Tell people or she'll leave me. So, she left me," Steve said. "Everyone is always leaving me. I can't say goodbye to my mom, I won't ever get the chance to tell her how much I forgive her."

Steve collapsed on the bed and let out a deep aching sob.

"Oh, Steve," Robin said softly.

She immediately climbed up onto the bed with him and pulled him into her arms. Eddie climbed up on the bed and held onto his other side. Steve moved his head into Eddie's lap, curling his hand into Eddie's pants as if he was holding on for dear life.

"She said something else," Steve said. "Heidi."

"What?" Eddie asked.

"She said that I was in love with you. At first, I thought that she was crazy. . ." Steve asked.

"But now?" Eddie asked.

"She was right. She was definitely right. I didn't even know that I liked men, or maybe you were just the exception. I don't know, but I do know that I love you. I had this dream cooked up. After the kids left for college, I would buy this RV and leave town to see the world. I wanted you to be the one to come with me, but then you left, and I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure how to fill the hole you left in my life. I'm not sure how I would have gotten by if it hadn't been for Heidi. I loved her. I did, but I also loved you. I love you," Steve said. "I know this is selfish of me, but please, don't leave me again. I know it's a lot to ask. . .to ask you to stay in a town that hates you. . .but please, stay."

"I've been right here, Steve, waiting for you. All you had to do was ask for what you wanted," Eddie said, stroking his hair. "I love you too."

"Eddie," Steve sobbed softly.

"Of course, we're not going to start right away because I think you need to get through this, and I do want to be there for you," Eddie said. "I just want us to start off properly."

"Me too," Steve said. "When the time comes, can I still kiss you at midnight?"

"Of course."

And when the time finally came, when it was just the two of them curled up on Steve’s couch, they sealed the new year with a kiss. It was a new year and the start of a new relationship for Steve. He knew that with Eddie by his side, he could get through anything.

[skylerskyhigh]

Rottmnt AU idea: Generations AU

This was inspired by the mha x rottmnt crossover. Actually, this is for the mha x rottmnt AU

Basically, the Hamato clan is a large family. Stuff of legends, of a clan filled with skilled ninjas and rumoured to have ancient protectors. Every few generations, there will be a set of quadruplets born to the family. Their names are Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. Other than their colors, they are represented by four turtle shells, each color coded with blue, red, purple, and orange.

The other iterations of the turtles (87, 03, 07, 12, and anything else) were all part of the Hamato family. They are the same family, just born at different times.

But their fates are tragic. As every member dies, leaving only a few to tell the tale. "The Last Ronin" is one such tale, a story passed down through generations of the Hamato family, a Michelangelo who was the lone survivor of his brothers.

Hamato Yoshi of the current generation (Rise) despises the tradition where each first born son will be named "Yoshi" and not only were they destined to inherit and lead the clan, they are destined to raise four special children that will later become ninjas of greatness, one that will go down in history, as did the others before him.

Yoshi left the family, left Japan, to become an action star in the city of New York.

But then he found himself with four children. Four turtles.

He tries to run from it. Run from destiny. From fate. He doesn't want his family's curse to catch up to his boys.

But bit by bit, it catches up.

At first, he called them Green. Because he refuses to subject them to the taboo colors that cursed the previous generations of brothers. But the turtles grew up with their favourite colors. Blue, red, purple, and orange.

When they ask for their age, he refused to make them the same age. They are one year apart, with the snapper as the oldest. The blue one will never be the oldest, instead he is the second youngest, far away from the fates of the previous Leonardos. At least that one stuck.

When they ask for names, he named them after their colors. Blue, Red, Purple, and Orange. But they found names for themselves. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo.

They want to fight. Splinter refuses to teach them, instead let them watch and copy moves from his action star days. They take it very well, and he can breathe easy knowing the fighting they're practicing is so far removed from the more traditional ninja fighting.

Then they have powers. Powers that Splinter didn't expect to happen. Maybe it was something else. It can't have been ninpo. He never taught them. Mystic magic, that's what it is. Denial is blinding.

But it was inevitable. And one day, Mikey came up to him and asked about their origins. Their names. Their powers. The ninpo, the Hamato clan, everything.

Splinter, shocked and scared, demands "How did you know all that?!"

Mikey replies calmly. "I see them. The past versions of us. He's cool, but he's so sad. He calls himself Ronin."

The brothers can access the past members of the Hamato family. The past versions of themselves.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

kajaono replied to your post:

i only know the books. Are there movies?

Mind you, I'm pretty new to the fandom, so my responses may be incomplete, perhaps someone else who is more knowledgeable can chime in?

My first introduction (besides mutuals that are fans) was the BBC radio dramas starring Ian Carmichael and produced by Simon Brett (author of the A Charles Paris Mystery saga). Ian Carmichael was a long time fan of the books, and apparently he spent many years insisting on the BBC to make a tv series. Alas, by 73-75, which was when that one was finally produced, he was 53-55, about 20 years too old for the part. He was cast anyways, but the production decided to cut the romance plotline for this reason.

Later on in 1987, the BBC made another series for the romance books starring Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter (who you might know best as Fanny Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility 1995) as Harriet Vane. Petherbridge was also old for the part (51 in '87) but a bit less so (Ironic, I know).

The fun part of the thing is that Carmichael leans on the facade of ridiculousness that Lord Peter puts up, whereas Petherbridge is much more serious, melancholy and snobbish in an attempt to represent what was lying under that facade. While Carmichael looks NOTHING like the character, the love he has lord Peter and the books shines through, man is giving the 800%, and I feel like his voice is on point (but then I'm probably very biased because the radio dramas were my first approach to the stories); Petherbridge, IMO, has the looks and a little more youth, but not much of everything else (my general perception of the little I have seen of fans' opinions is that Petherbridge is a big favorite. As a newbie I'm not here to say they are wrong, these are just my impressions).

There's also a 1950s? movie adaptation of the Busman's Honeymoon play? I have seen it in passing on the Internet Archive but never felt like checking it out.

And those are all I know.

[thebladeblaster]

Pokémon: the Dark Circuit (AKA the Vanguard Descends Season 2)

Hello there…oh it’s been 5000 years. Sorry about that😅.

Chapter 13 Past and Future

I decided to change around some of their moves. It’s okay because they haven’t fought yet.

Aichi’s current team

Level 90 Takuto (Solgealeo) steel/psychic

Moves:

Sunsteel Strike

Flare Blitz

Solar Beam

Psychic Fangs

Level 93 Wingal (Lycanroc (dusk)) rock

Moves:

Stealth rock

Crunch

Stone edge

Play rough

Level 91 Llew (Golisopod) water/bug

Moves:

Sucker punch

Blizzard

Liquidation

First impression

Level 95 Gancelot (Lucario) fighting/steel

Moves:

Focus blast

Stone edge

Meteor mash

Dragon pulse

Level 100 Soul Saver (Haxorus) dragon

Moves:

Outrage

Iron head

Dragon dance

Earthquake

Level 100 Alfred (Aegislash) ghost/steel

Moves:

Sacred sword

King’s shield

Iron head

Shadow Claw

Emi had heard about limit break from Aichi and Shuka talking. She couldn’t help but wonder when he would ever need such a thing. Then she had another dream of Shuka’s world a few days later.

It was the only time she had ever seen 003v struggle. The dream Emi experienced greatly confused her both her dream self and her as a spectator. She was watching a monitor alongside her father. He seemed to be facing Ren, Christopher, and Leon at the same time. She noticed sweat dripping down 003v’s brow. Something was wrong with them, their appearances had become bizarre and they seemed to be compelled by something. He was being assaulted on all sides. He ended up knocking Chris away with a wave on his hand then used absolute lock. However, quickly Ren and Leon were after him.

003v just barely evaded them and was actually scratched.

“003v stop playing around and finish them.”, Gin ordered.

“I’m trying to not kill them. They’re important to Team Asteroid, r—“, 003v replied.

“Not more than you. Exterminate them now.”, Gin answered coldly.

003v froze looking unsure. His eyes were hazy as his programming recognized that as an order.

“But…aren’t Leon, Chris, and Ren 003v’s friends?”, Emi questioned, though Gin waved off her concern.

“Right now they are infected and now a threat to Team Asteroid. Now, what are you waiting for 003v? Destroy them. That’s an order.”, Gin replied.

Any light there was in 003v’s eyes disappeared. It was horrifying and it was about to get worse. In mere moments the other three members of project Psyqualia were torn apart seemingly at once. His power use percentage had suddenly spiked from 50% to 70%.

Emi’s eyes were wide.

003v was covered in blood and his eyes were cold like a robot.

“Good.”, Gin said, not alarmed by this at all.

Emi held in a scream. She couldn’t understand. They could have been saved. 003v was trying to save them. However something clamped its claws onto 003v after the sudden influx in power. The bluenette raised his power to destroy the bizarre alien entity which was black and had massive claws.

The dream shifted to later on. 003v was clashing with the alien entity that had become golden. It now resembled a dragon with six wings. 003v had a barrier around him as they clashed in outer space. His power was steadily rising beyond even how much he was using before. This entity was by far the greatest opponent that 003v had ever fought.

The footage was becoming shaky as their battle continued to intensify.

003v was breathing heavily.

“You cannot lose, son. You must defeat him to save everyone. It is time for you to break your limits.”, Gin said.

003v’s head slowly rose as he glared at the alien entity. His eyes were no lower foggy and he was clearly enraged.

79%…80%…85%…

003v power was rising even higher as he fired an Absolute Break at the alien. The alien fired back with his own blast which exploded with 003v’s attack on contact.

86%…87%…88%…89%…90%.

Emi’s eyes widened as the alien was suddenly sent crashing back to Earth in an instant. Dark blue flames suddenly appeared next to the alien as it almost hit the ground in an instant. The alien was struck again so harshly that it was sent flying out of the planet. It was hit back and sent flying again so fast that if you blinked you would miss it.

The alien was left on the ground severely injured. 003v stood over it menacingly as he pulled out a strange looking poke ball. As the alien twitched trying to get up 003v kicked it harshly.

“So, you think controlling people is funny, huh? Well…now you’re the one who’s going to be taking orders from now on.”, 003v said, before striking the alien with the poke ball.

The ball waddled a few times but then it was caught as it had no fight left in it.

003v collapsed.

“003v!”, Emi called out.

The dream shifted to later on again…

Worry and confusion filled Emi. She needed to know what happened to 003v. How he was feeling after Gin forced him to kill and after that battle. She stopped when she heard shouting behind a door. Emi listened in from behind the door.

“You idiot! How could you hesitate like that? Necrozma almost took over the world because of your feelings of sentimentality!”, Gin yelled.

Emi peeked her eyes through the crack in the door slightly. 003v lowered his head just taking the beratement without arguing. He was shaking. His face was dripping with sweat.

“I’m sorry, father…”, 003v replied, as quietly as a mouse.

“You aren’t supposed to feel anything.”, Gin said as he walked up close to 0003v.

003v was sweating more intensely, clearly mentally panicking. Despite his strength he was completely terrified of one man. Surely he didn’t just have to take this. Surely he could do something about it…right?

Gin puts his hand on 003v’s shoulder. In response 003v nearly flinched.

“You are supposed to be perfect and execute my commands without question. Yet you didn’t. So, what’s wrong, 003v? Why are you malfunctioning?”, Gin questioned.

“Malfunction…? He’s your son, not a robot. Is this how father really thinks of brother…?”, Emi thought, as she felt her heart aching.

“…..I…”, 003v replied, seeming very hesitant again.

“What’s wrong? Can’t you say it? It’s quite obvious.”, Gin questioned.

“Because…I didn’t want to kill Leon, Ren, or Chris…I just thought…they’re a part of Team Asteroid so I was supposed to save them…”, 003v answered.

“003v, why are you using those human names? They’re simply a part of Project Psyqualia like you. Not people.”, Gin replied as 003v flinched.

“Not people…? They were all people! Even if they were made they were people like everyone else!”, Emi thought.

“I’m sorry…”, 003v replied, weakly.

“Would you stop saying that? You sound like a kicked Lilipup. Hit yourself with 70% power.”, Gin replied.

Emi put her hand over her mouth as 003v struck himself in the cheek without question.

“See you can follow orders. Your emotions are the problem.”, Gin said.

“I won’t mess up again…I promise.”, 003v replied.

Gin slammed his hand against the wall next to him.

“Did I say you could speak?! I know very well that you must understand what this means! You have a will of your own when you’re not supposed to! After all, why do you look so damn concerned?! You know we can’t have you doing something so untoward like going against your purpose.”, Gin shouted.

He really was helpless.

He wasn’t capable of doing anything against their father. That’s not how he was made. Unlike Aichi nothing was ever done to help with the brainwashing or training.

Emi sneaked away with tears stinging her cheeks.

“I need to help my brother. I don’t want father doing anything to him.”, Emi thought.

Nearby a familiar shiny mythical flew towards the building.

The present…

Emi felt a chill go down her spine at the memory. She was beyond worried for Aichi. The point still stood that she didn’t want their father to do anything to him.

Gin paid keen attention as Aichi took his place in the arena.

“I’m going to have to deal with Groudon after this so any of my steel types is a horrible choice. Llew would be a good choice but that’s way too predictable. He will definitely have an out for a water type so…”, Aichi thought.

“For our next contestants we have Lee Shenlon of of Team SIT Genius. He’s the #2 top student at SIT having only ever lost to 004a.”, MC Miya said.

Lee looked annoyed at the announcer’s words.

“Not anymore…I’m going to prove it first by defeating 003v. He’s obviously thinking about Chris’ Groudon so he’s going to foolishly use a water type. I’m prepared for that. It’s the obvious choice considering the only two Pokémon he can use against Groundon effectively are his Golisopod or Haxorus. Even if he chooses Haxorus he stands no chance.”, Lee thought.

“For Team Q4 we have 003v, the son of Gin Gaillard who has been rumored to have driven Team Asteroid out of the Kakusa region. This battle has me so excited that I can hardly contain myself. These two are definitely about to show us an amazing battle!”, MC Miya continued.

“Umm…sir, my name is Aichi Sendou.”, Aichi corrected sheepishly.

“Oh um…Aichi and Lee are sure to have a force battle for the ages! Let’s go! 3…2…1!”, MC Miya announced.

The two threw out their Pokémon at the same time. Aichi chose Soul Saver and Lee chose Cyclizar.

“What’s that Pokémon? It looks like a dragon type.”, Aichi thought as Soul Saver roared challengingly.

“So he did choose Haxorus. Not ideal but I can still beat him.”, Lee thought.

Cyclizar responded with its own roar.

“Soul Saver use Dragon Dance.”, Aichi ordered as Soul Saver started dancing as it bolted forward.

“Cyclizar use Shed Tail.”, Lee said.

A substitute appeared around the smaller dragon.

“What is he doing…? Surely he can’t expect that substitute to last long when I have super effective damage. This is a trick.”, Aichi thought.

Haxorus kept dancing, waiting for her moment to strike. Lee smirked as the substitute made his current Pokémon out change. The other’s eyes widened.

“W-what?! Isn’t that cheating?!”, Jonouchi questioned.

“No, that’s Cyclizar’s special move. It can give a substitute to another Pokémon and switch out with the same move.”, Yugi explained.

“This is dangerous…”, Misaki thought as he sweated.

“He’s switching out so…”, Aichi thought as his eyes widened.

Haxorus charged forward ready to ram her head into the substitute which was now as hard as metal.

“Iron Head!”, Aichi ordered.

“He predicted me!”, Lee thought as he snickered.

In Cyclizar’s place was now Tinkaton who got nailed by the Iron Head and destroyed the substitute.

“There’s no time for Swords Dance, Haxorus is way too buffed now!”, Lee thought.

“Use Gigaton Hammer!”, Lee ordered.

Tinkaton slammed her massive steel hammer in Haxorus’ face so hard that some of her teeth came out. Aichi looked stunned and concerned.

“It wasn’t super effective but it did that much damage?!”, Aichi thought.

Haxorus stumbled to her feet with her vision having become blurry after that titanic strike.

“Now, use Swords Dance!”, Lee ordered.

“Is this really all you have, son?”, Gin thought looking very disappointed.

“003v can’t do anything with this match up. Tinkaton resists everything his Pokémon can dish out.”, Sierra commented.

“That hasn’t been decided yet. Types aren’t everything.”, Neve replied as he crossed his arms.

Olivier watched the match intently.

“Earthquake.”, Aichi ordered.

Everyone looked stunned as the battlefield suddenly shook, making Tinkaton stumble. Aichi’s expression looked extremely serious. Tinkaton barely clung onto consciousness as it swung its hammer at Soul Saver.

“Catch it!”, Aichi ordered.

Soul Saver moved her head up and stuck her tusks into the hammer cutting into it. Everyone gaped in disbelief.

“Looks like Aichi has been keeping her tusks extra sharp.”, Shin commented.

Tinkaton gasped looking wide eyed as the dragon continued moving her head and pulled Tinkaton upwards.

“Slam it down!”, Aich ordered as Lee panicked.

Soul Saver jumped backwards and pile drives Tinkaton into the ground. Tinkaton fainted instantly as Lee looked stunned.

“H-how?!”, Lee questioned.

“I win. Umm…you might want someone to check out Tinkaton’s head.”, Aichi said.

Soul Saver removed her tusks from the hammer.

“Haxorus. (Sorry.)”, Soul Saver apologized to Tinkaton but it was passed out cold.

“Heh. It seems you aren’t as good as you thought, Lee.”, Chris said as he walked past Lee.

“Chris…d-damn it!”, Lee growled and punched the wall.

“Well, at least I get to crush 003v myself now.”, Chris said as he smirked.

His aura was completely different from before. His teammates stayed back being able to tell this.

“Woah…that match was over in an instant. 00-Aichi’s power truly is amazing! Now, he has to face his fellow in Psyqualia, Christopher Lo! He’s the #1 genius at SIT with perfect grades and a perfect score in batting! He’s never lost a single game!”, MC Miya announced.

“That’s right. I’ve never truly lost and I definitely won’t lose to you if you were struggling with trash like that.”, Chris said.

“I won’t lose to you, Chris. I CAN’T. I don’t care what you throw at me.”, Aichi replied.

“You know what’s coming don’t you? That pedestrian Pokémon stands no chance against what I’m packing.”, Chris replied.

“Here’s the first real test. If he completes this test then his victory against Ren wasn’t a fluke.”, Gin thought.

Chris brings out the titan of the earth. It easily towers over the arena and the colosseum. Soul Saver looks like a toy in comparison. It entered its primal form as the weather around them shifted to intense sunlight. Many in the stadium were now sweating like pigs in the heat.

Soul Saver looked up at the absolutely massive Pokémon.

“It’s even bigger up close.”, Aichi thought as he sweated.

“That thing is bigger than Kaiba’s ego.”, Jonouchi commented.

“How’s Aichi supposed to beat it alone? I don’t think he can Dynamax, right?”, Anzu questioned.

“I don’t think so. But, he must have some plan.”, Yugi replied.

“Come on, Aichi…”, Misaki thought.

Aichi’s loved ones at home watched with extreme worry. Kai and Kamui looked over to the arena in the distance to see the massive figure of Groundon.

Chris’ Psyqualia activated as a green aura surrounded it powering it up even more and its eyes flashed. Aichi looked up without fear.

“Let’s go, Soul Saver!”, Aichi said as Soul Saver roared.

The others could only pray that the previous timeline wouldn’t be recreated here.

To be continued…

[thequietmanno1]

TheLreads, Vigilantes ch 89, Replies Part 2

1) “RAPPA THERE ARE OTHER CHICKS HERE WHAT WAS THAT COMMENT EVEN ABOUT YOU KNEW THAT NOT ONLY MEN LIKE BEATING EACH OTHER SENSELESS SMH “- I mean, there are spectators and fans in the room as well. It’s not a fighters-only club, she could have just been there to watch the carnage from the sidelines.

2) “Oh yeah Mirko, I sure hope you won’t remember this later on when you become a hero… Although I don’t think you ever got involved with trigger investigations- do you even know that’s part of the job description besides kicking ass and taking names?”- I am 90% sure that Mirko has never done any investigative work as a hero. If she has sidekicks, that’d be almost entirely their job description, along with handling the paperwork whilst she runs around from fight to fight.

3) “Considering how gas behaves, I’m surprised that you two are fine now. You can see it is denser and sinks to the floor, so in theory it should’ve spread far enough to cover this corner. maybe.”- It seems to be concentrated around the actual ring itself, so whilst Mirko’s a little better off at higher elevation, the outside corners of the room are also a temporary safe spot until the gas gets stronger – plus, this is clearly also proto-trigger, so it seems that you need to get several good lungfuls before your Quirks are affected, and they’ve both taken only trace amounts in their current positions.

4) “WAIT

WHAT- IS THAT KUROGIRI? OR IS IT THE PERSON FROM WHICH THEY TOOK KUROGIRI’S POWER?”-  The butler is here to help his master clean up the mess.

5) “is that afo’s hand reaching in through a kurogiri portal to steal quirks out in the open in an event that is being transmitted online and in the presence of a current pro hero and a future pro hero?

it better not be Furuhashi “- Well, it’s very clearly no longer being transmitted online, but yep, AFO’s done with this place, and now it’s time to reap the benefits before the police make everything too hot to handle. Mirko can be forgiven because she’s clearly not much of a thinker at present (plus I don’t think she noticed the Quirk-stealing) but Knuckles….we’ll get to that later.

(Vigilantes ch 86)

6) “Considering they have a pretty nice place and are even advertising it online I don`t think they are too concerned about what might be found there, I doubt this is AfO`s business, like it seems to be trying to point at.”- Well, not one he’s directly connected to, but one that serves as a suitable lure for his actual operations to rake in the necessary materials…

(Vigilantes Ch 87)

7) “So yeah, that`s trigger, but I don`t think that`s AfO`s business yet, I think this is before he took hold of that thing and started his plans.”- Yeah, turns out….we really misjudged how involved AFO was going to be in the events of this prequel. We assumed he’d never lower himself to the street-level crimes that Knuckleduster and Koichi were investigating until Trigger’s worth had been proven and he realised it was worth stealing, but turns out, he’s been directly involved with refining and perfecting the formula under Garaki’s supervision for years.

Bit of a shock honestly, and I do sorta wish it wasn’t the case? Like, I feel Knuckle and Koichi deserved to be faced off with an overarching Villain they actually had a chance of confronting and beating, but I guess it does fit for the symbol of evil’s far-reaching tendrils to create chaos and disaster on multiple levels of society before he got directly involved with Izuku’s plotline.

(vigilantes ch 88)

8) “And apparently this isn’t exactly trigger, but it might be a prototype of it, before AfO got his potato hands into the mix.”-  Or, you know, hadn’t quite refined the formula to be as effective. Needed some time to figure out what worked and what didn’t

(Vigilantes ch 88)

9) “Yeah so this is definitely no AfO’s doing, like he would care for things like asking permission.”-  On the other hand, this isn’t AFO, and likely doesn’t even know his venue is being secretly used as an illegal Quirk-harvesting/testing ground. He probably just accepted the drugs and took what was said about them at face value, and knows he and the fighters ae being monitored by a mysterious backer, but he likely doesn’t realise the depths to which he’s involved with such a dangerous villain.

(Vigilantes ch 88)

10) “Also, the fuck you guys have batons here for? This is an illegal operation, why are you trying to not intimidate with non-lethal weaponry? Bring the goddamn shotgun on his ass your morons”- Well, these guys are supposed to be badly injured, so it theoretically shouldn’t take that much effort to subdue them – not to mention AFO wouldn’t want the merchandise dying before he can suck the Quirks out of them. (Vigilantes ch 88)

11) “…

YOU

FUCKING WHAT NOW

THIS WAS ACTUALLY AFO’S OPERATION ALL ALONG???

THIS MESS???”-  Well, probably not directly, but he likely had a hand in funding it and secretly supplying them with drugs and resources for him to monitor the effects with, whilst keeping far enough away under a veil of secrecy that there’s no direct connection or any hints that he’s anything more than a shady backer who hid in the shadows.

12) “Oh damn Mirko didn’t even saw Knuckle coming, that just goest to show how absurdly fast he can get when he gets serious”- And given how the warping keeps up with him even from an external viewpoint, just how fast is Kurogiri’s mist/ability to distort space? We are lucky his head’s as messed up as it is by present, cause if he could control this power freely, it’d be a gamechanger.

13) “I would be more worried how Kurogiri is opening portals so fast- I mean, if he closed and opened another one he would end up cutting AfO’s hand, which wouldn’t be a problem for us, but it certainly would for the timeline”- AFO’s also pretty fast himself, especially since he likely has a few speed-enhancer quirks on him now, so he’d likely be able to reach out, steal a Quirk and remove his hand before it got chopped off. Remember that he was fast enough in his prime to steal Quirks in the blink of an eye, and he’s still not yet been crippled by All Might at present.

14) “Okay now, I do have a few problems with that, wasn’t AfO already eyeless by then? Because I don’t think he’s just sticking his hand to get quirks without even knowing what they do, he is a collector but not of trash”- Yes, he’s not lost his oculars presently. No, it’s not a good idea to try and fit this event into a concise timeline, you’ll just hurt yourself. Best to let it go and thing of things happening in a vague “ish-years ago” timeframe, rather than hard numbers.

15) “HOW DID THE GAS DIDN’T GOT HERE YET

EVEN MORE CONSIDERING KNUCKLES JUST MADE A VACUUM TUNNEL FUNNELING IT TOWARDS THEM WITH HIS SPEED DAMMIT KNUCKLES”- presumably the proto-gas stuff is incredibly dense and therefore will take a few minutes to completely fill up the room – not to mention it also apparently requires higher doses of exposure to affect somebody’s Quirk

16) “Alright Knuckles, the fact you’re asking for Mirko’s help immediately leads me to believe you were the one that made sure she didn’t got in trouble for this”- Aaaand that’s about all the explanation we’ll get for how this whole event didn’t wind up a black mark on Mirko’s record.

17) “MIRKO I WAS JUST JOKING

Although I can’t think of anything else you in particular would say in that situation.”- Mirko is a simple woman, with simple needs.

18) “Oh god, please say “a manly philosophy” rather than “punches” “- I would actually love to see Crimson Riot interacting with these two.

19) “OH MY GOD RAPPA PLEASE”- Same braincell, different bodies. 

20) “But then what Knuckles? The police is still on their lunch break, they can’t stop it just because you asked them, that’s not what they came here for”- The line at the donut store can be a real killer, let me tell you.

21) “oh- oh no, I think someone already knows who Knuckles is…”- Knuckles has made himself an above-average nuisance, and now, it’s motivating somebody to try and squash that gnat…

22) “and he didn’t thought of telling anyone that there was a crazy fucker that stole his quirk? I know he wasn’t aware of All Might’s beef against him, but I think that’s the sort of thing you want other heroes to be aware of

You’re telling me that everything that followed and lead to the current arc of the main series… was because Knuckles was a dumbass that didn’t told anyone that AfO was still alive? “- Yeah…uh, basically that’s it. Knuckles, just like with Nomura/number 6 in the present, seems to have this whole bizarre honour code of “the only person allowed to stop you” going for him with the animosity he has towards the VF and its mysterious backer. And yes, he’s unaware of the history with All Might and AFO, but for some reason, he genuinely seems to want to be the one who takes down the villains in the end, despite his powerlessness in the present.

It is honestly weird for him, that he’s consistently making such an irrational decision, but he apparently did/does want to take down AFO. Granted, part of it could be that he wants to ID where AFO is and what he’s planning before informing the authorities so they can send All Might after him, but at other times, like him taking on Nomura solo, I get the sense that he still wants to be the hero and stop the villains, even lacking power anymore.

It’s almost like a bizarre inversion of All might’s character arc in MHA, that Knuckles has trained up a stronger protégée than himself in the new line of work he’s found himself in, but he keeps trying to take on the fight with the villains himself and keep said protégée out of it, to the point that Koichi only has direct dealings with Nomura after Knuckles got forcibly removed from the picture.

@thelreads

[mimisempai]

The one who can read me like an open book

Summary

Dream waits for Hob at the end of his classes and remembers all the times when Hob almost made him drop the mask until the day when he really succeeded.

Aka, how Hob is the safe place where Dream is not afraid to feel and show what he feels.

Notes:

Flufftober Day 8 - Laughter

On AO3

Rating T - 1635 words

Dream was leaning against the door at the back of the classroom where Hob had just finished his lecture.

The teacher was putting his things away and his students were waving at him as they passed his desk.

One of the students stopped in front of him and asked with a slightly embarrassed look, "Professor Gadling, I don't think I can finish my essay by tomorrow, could you give me a few more days?"

Hob replied with a little mischievous sparkle in his eye, "To quote Hamlet act 3 scene 2 line 87, No."

He looked up at Dream and winked at him. 

The Lord of Dreams couldn't help but laugh slightly at his lover's antics. 

Hob's face became serious again as he replied in a softer tone to his student, "Do you have the ideas for your essay yet?"

The student nodded and Hob continued, "Then write them all down and do the best you can. The content, the essence, is more important than the form. You may get points off because it's not finished, but as long as I have proof that you've done the work, I'll consider it."

The young student nodded, "Thank you Professor. Have a nice evening."

Hob nodded, then grabbed his bag to join Dream at the back of the classroom.

Dream couldn't help but smile as he watched him walk towards him. Besides, he didn't want to stop himself anymore because he didn't hide anything from Hob for a long time now, his smiles, his laughter, his emotions, he didn't hold anything back anymore.

Because, even if Dream had always tried to hide it, Hob had ended up seeing it.  Seeing beyond what Dream was showing the world.

Hob had from the beginning had this faculty to unleash uncontrollable emotions in Dream. Of any kind.

Dream always felt. Everything. But he never allowed himself to give free rein to his feelings.

Until Hob.

Hob who had made him unable to hide it in front of him and God knows he had tried. 

Since the beginning. 

"Then you must tell me what it's like. Let us meet here again, Robert Gadling,"

The man looked up as soon as Dream said his name and lost his mocking demeanor when Dream continued looking very solemn, "in this tavern of the White Horse in 100 years."

The fellow men laughed and made a few jokes, but Hob stared at him, his eyes squinting, as if he sensed something was up, then he seemed to relax and spoke up, "Don't mind them. A hundred years' time, on this day?"

Dream merely nodded in a serious manner and Hob looked at him in an equally earnest manner as he replied, "I will see you in the year of our Lord 1489, then."

He finished with a smile to which Dream could not resist responding with one of the same kind. However, he quickly put his mask of impassivity back on, ignoring the little voice deep inside him that hoped to see that smile again a hundred years later.

And he had seen it again.

But what he hadn't expected a hundred years later was that it would be even harder to remain impassive.

Although Hob's overly enthusiastic babble about the goodness of chimney, handkerchiefs and other human inventions of the last century deeply annoyed Dream, he couldn't help but be interested in what the man had done in the last hundred years.

"Uh, but now, I've started in a new trade. It's called printing. Don't need to be a guild member, not yet. Uh, never be a real demand for it,

 and it's hard work, but it beats the hell out of rotting to maggots in the ground, eh?"

As the man talked about what he was doing with enthusiasm, Dream felt like smiling as his almost childlike joy was contagious. He couldn't prevent a hint of wonder from coloring his voice when he asked, "So you still want to live?"

Hob replied spontaneously, almost not daring to believe it, "Oh, yes."

Dream felt a sort of joy at the idea of seeing the man again, but once more chose not to show it. He couldn't let him see it.

He stood up abruptly and said in a cold voice, "A hundred years, then?"

Hob repeated in the same voice as before, with a smile that Dream preferred to ignore, "Oh, yes." and the Lord of Dreams turned and left without looking back. 

The smile was there a hundred years later, but Dream had hated it. Because this smile was not for him. 

"It's funny. This is what I always dreamed Heaven would be like, way back. It's safe to walk the streets. Enough food. Good wine."

There was nothing exhilarating, nothing surprising, and Dream, uninterested, had allowed himself to be distracted by an emerging writer, ignoring the unfortunate Hob.

Hob didn't have a dream, he was fulfilled and it was obvious that he would want to continue living.

That's why Dream wasn't prepared to see Hob in this miserable state a century later.

He had listened with sadness to the man who was only a shadow of his former self, telling the horrors he had gone through. His heart had broken with Hob's when he had told him about the death of his son and wife. Dream knew that at that moment he had not been able to hide his emotion. It was impossible. The tears had remained in his eyes but they were there. Yet, while he was sure that Hob was going to tell him that he wanted to die, once again the man had left him completely dumbfounded.

"Are you crazy? Death is a mug's game. I got so much to live for." 

Dream had been overwhelmed by both surprise and relief, and had tried to hide it, but that night he couldn't, the emotions were too strong, too personal. 

What Dream had overlooked was that it was impossible to go back. It was as if Hob had put his foot between the door and the frame and prevented Dream from closing it.

Forcing him to let his strongest feelings escape without him being able to hold them back.

That's why he had not been able to stop himself from showing his admiration a hundred years later when the man had bravely defended him in a fight against two armed thugs.

Worse, he had almost admitted that he cared about Hob, that he was worried about him.

"But you can be hurt or captured. We must be cautious."

At that moment he had realized that he could not bear to see the man in front of him hurt. But once again he had put his mask back on and said his goodbyes without looking back.

Ignoring the disappointment on Hob's face.

For his own sanity.

Even though deep down he felt that it was getting harder and harder to ignore what he was feeling.

That's why, a hundred years later, not only had Dream failed to close the door, but Hob had opened it wide.

Dream hadn't been ready for that.

"I think you're lonely."

He hadn't been able to accept being seen so vulnerable by someone else, and he'd reacted by double-locking the door, trying to keep Hob out.

However, Hob, incredible Hob, had persisted, and had managed to pick the lock.

It was now up to Dream to open it and it had taken him more than a hundred years.

But when he had been able to, he had opened it wide.

At the precise moment when, after all these years of uncertainty, Hob simply smiled at him and said, "You're late." At that moment, Dream had known he would be unable to close the door. Because he didn't want to anymore.

A kind of elation had bubbled up in his chest and throat, and he had not been able to keep the light chuckle from his lips, liberating. The beginning of something greater.

"It seems I owe you an apology. I've always heard it impolite to keep one's friends waiting."

He no longer needed to keep what he felt inside.

There was no point because Hob could read him like an open book.

"Dream? Can we go?"

Hob's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he nodded.

As they headed for the exit, Hob asked him, "Are you okay? You seemed to be far away in your thoughts."

Dream chuckled softly, "My mind took me for a ride in the past."

Hob asked, "And was it interesting?" 

They had just passed the school grounds so Dream caught his hand as they continued to walk and squeezed it gently, "Very interesting indeed, like everything about you."

He watched Hob, who blushed slightly as he realized what Dream's words implied.

Maybe that was why Dream had finally let his guard down with him. Because Hob was unable to hide his emotions. At least not with Dream.

As he was eager to see more, he stopped and, holding Hob's face in his hands, he kissed him gently, then moved back a little to watch the emotions pass over Hob's face, the surprise, the embarrassment, the happiness. Mostly happiness.

Then mischief at the end as Hob smiled and said in a playful tone, "Hm, if the past puts you in this state, you should think about it more often."

Dream chuckled as they went on their way and retorted, "No need to go to the past when the present is perfect."

He looked again with delight at the emotions passing over his lover's face and knew that Hob could read the same on his face and in his eyes.

Because Hob also was able to read Dream like an open book.

And Dream had no intention of closing it.

Never.

_________

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story  🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Dreamling Flufftober here

Dreamling Masterlist here

[nordleuchten]

24 Days of La Fayette: December 4th – Louis-Pierre, Marquis de Vienne

Louis-Pierre, Marquis de Vienne was a French nobleman, born in 1746 and the son of Louis-Henri, Comte de Vienne. He had served twenty-two years with distinction as a Captain of Cavalry and later a Major in the French army before he retired.

There is a letter from the Chevalier de Brus to Benjamin Franklin from May 6, 1777. I have not read the letter in full, but FoundersOnline has a very detailed summary. Parts of it read:

The next day Louis-Ursule, marquis de Vienne, announces from Doullens in Picardy that he is a retired cavalry captain with twenty-two years in the army, and that inaction bores him. He wants to join Lafayette, to whom he will have the best references, and needs free passage for himself and his servant, expenses from their departure until they join the American army, and letters of recommendation to Congress; he must have an immediate reply. None is forthcoming. He writes again on September 1 to repeat his request; this time he specifies a French ship and gives the Paris address of his father, who will vouch for him.

“To Benjamin Franklin from the Chevalier de Brus, 6 May 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 24, May 1 through September 30, 1777, ed. William B. Willcox. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984, pp. 25–37.] (08/01/2022)

By May of 1778, de Vienne had made it to America and by June of the same year he had joined the Army at the Camp at Valley Forge equipped with letters of introductions for La Fayette. He stayed there until July 6, 1778 when he went to Philadelphia to plead his case before the Continental Congress. He left Valley Forge with two letters of introduction, one from La Fayette and one from John Laurens.

Congress passed a resolution on de Vienne’s behalf on July 15, 1778:

The Marquis de Vienne, a major in the service of the King of France, having served with reputation as a volunteer in the American army during the present campaign, and having requested Congress to honor him with the brevet commission of a colonel, without any pay annexed to the said rank:

Resolved, That the request of the Marquis de Vienne be complied with, and that a brevet commission of colonel in the service of the United States be conferred on him

Timothy Pickering wrote to George Washington on July 17, 1778 from his position as a member of the Bord of War:

Congress having been pleased to grant to the Marquis de Vienne (a major in the armies of his most Christian Majesty) the brevet commission of Colonel—we do ourselves the honour to signify it to your Excellency; and to intimate the wishes of the Marquis to be employed in some service of utility to the states, and in which he may have an opportunity to manifest his military talents & zeal for the cause in which he is engaged. We have the honour to be your Excellency’s most obedient servants. By order of the Board

Tim. Pickering.

“To George Washington from the Board of War, 17 July 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 16, 1 July–14 September 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 87–88.] (08/01/2022)

Washington furthermore received a letter from Henry Laurens on the matter from July 30:

the 15th Inst. I signed by order a Brevet to the Marquis de Vienne Certifying his Rank, Colonel in the Army.

“To George Washington from Henry Laurens, 30 July 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 16, 1 July–14 September 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 199–200.] (08/01/2022)

De Vienne worked as an aide-de-camp for La Fayette during his time with the army. He accompanied the Marquis on his travels through America and is often described as delivering messages. On September 15, 1778 he wrote the following letter to George Washington:

your Excellency

having Reciev’d news from France, which oblige Me to go home as soon as possible for domestick Concerns, and unwilling [to] Leave off the american Service, I entreat your Excellency to be pleased to give me a furlough for Eighteen Months; I pray you to send me a Writing Certifying that I serv’d in your armie as volonteer Since the first june till the fifteenth of july Next, that I Was at minmouth’s Battle, that having been Sent to take a View of the Ennemi’s Camp I took Some prisonners, that the Congress gave me the Rang of Colonel the fifteenth of july, that I Landed in Rhode Island With the american troops, and that My Conduct and Behaviour have been Belonging to an officer and gentleman, I Believe it is the General Suffrage: but the Certificate I Require of your Excellency, is too precious and flattering for me that I not Entreat you to grant it to me.

I Require of your Excellency to be pleased to write quick an answer to me, the Vessel I propose to go in being Ready to Sail and Waiting only for my parting your permission and Certificate.

I pray you to give the all to Mr de chouans Who Will have the honour to Deliver you this. it is With the Sentiments of the most profound Respect I have the honour to be of your Excellency the Most humbly and obedient Servant

C[olonel] marquis Devienne

“To George Washington from Colonel Vienne, 15 September 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 17, 15 September–31 October 1778, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, pp. 19–20.] (08/22/2022)

Vienne travelled to Boston after he had written this letter. Washington wrote in a letter to Henry Laurens on September 29, 1778:

The Marquis de Vienne, at present at Boston, has requested a furlough of eighteen Months to enable him to return to France, whither he is called by some domestic Concerns. I do not conceive myself at liberty to grant his request, without the permission of Congress, to whom, I would beg leave to observe, that if agreeable to them, he may be indulged without prejudice to the service, as he is not attached to any particular command.

“From George Washington to Henry Laurens, 29 September 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 17, 15 September–31 October 1778, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, pp. 186–188.] (08/022/2022)

Laurens replied on October 9, 1778:

(…) Congress have no objection to granting leave of absence to the Marquis of Vienne.

“To George Washington from Henry Laurens, 9 October 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 17, 15 September–31 October 1778, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, p. 316.] (08/22/2022)

Washington forwarded the reply from Congress to Vienne along with a letter of recommendation that read:

I certify, that the Marquis De Vienne served, some time, in the army, under my immediate command, in character of Volunteer, during which, his conduct was always such as became an officer and Gentleman, having embraced every occasion, his situation offered, to give proofs of his zeal and bravery—He received an appointment by brevet to the rank of Colonel in the Army of the United States the fifteenth of July last.

“From George Washington to Colonel Vienne, 29 September 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 17, 15 September–31 October 1778, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, pp. 196–197.] (08/22/2022)

Vienne’s leave was officially granted on October 27, 1778 but he only left America in May of 1779. He had fought in the Battle of Monmouth and seen action in Savanna and the West Indies. His names appear on the Muster Rolls of Valley Forge and can be searched in the databank of the project. He survived the French Revolution by emigrating before things got out of hand.

[221bshrlocked]

I posted 868 times in 2022

492 posts created (57%)

376 posts reblogged (43%)

Blogs I reblogged the most (aka, reblogs I love with all my heart and I hope they know how much I adore them and how special of friends they are to me...even though I don't say it nearly enough):

@221bshrlocked (ignore this one please)

@juletheghoul

@starlightmornings

@penfullofwordsaheadfullofstories

@ezrasbirdie

I tagged 838 of my posts in 2022

Only 3% of my posts had no tags

#pedro pascal - 222 posts

#fic rec - 122 posts

#din djarin - 98 posts

#personal - 87 posts

#the mandalorian - 86 posts

#obi wan kenobi - 58 posts

#marcus pike - 54 posts

#star wars - 51 posts

#221bshrlocked replies - 47 posts

#obi wan - 38 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#i get sucked in and regret it a moment later when i realize i'm talking to someone that doesn't have respect for anything or anyone

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Stripped Down to the Bone

Pairing: The Mandalorian (Din Djarin) x Fem!Reader

Words: 12,267

Warnings: Brief description of violence. Loss of a hand. Some angst. Lots of fluff and descriptive smut. Dirty talk (including some degradation). Choking. Hair pulling. Spanking. Fingering. Squirting. Over-stimulation. Penetrative, unprotected sex (wrap the shlong before you king kong people). Fluffy after-care because Mando may be a kinky bastard but he is a giant teddy bear at heart. Love confessions. [Do let me know if I forgot something.]

Summary: “As you watch Mando drag the unconscious body, along with the severed hand, into the carbon-freezer, you can’t help but dwell on that second thought a little bit longer. Mando doesn’t once look away from you as he finally puts the man into the freezer and slams it shut. He doesn’t bother turning his attention elsewhere as he sheathes the Saber down into the handle and pushes it back into his belt. He doesn’t care for how menacing he looks as he steps towards you and eyes your shaking form.”

See the full post

847 notes - Posted June 30, 2022

#4

tell me

Pairing: Din Djarin x Fem!Reader

Words: 3241

Warnings: Literally just porn without plot. So go away if you’re not 18. Shoo. Skedaddle. Beskar Spear kink, Din using the spear to make you cum (you fuck yourself on the spear...not with it), some dirty talk.

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927 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

#3

Good to Know

Pairing: Marcus Pike x Fem!Reader

Words: 6826

Warnings: Making out. Funny sexy times. Awkward conversations. Marcus not realizing he's packing. Two blowjobs/handjobs. Cum swallowing. Dirty/Sweet Talk. Lots of emotions. Some more awkward commentary. Age Gap Kink. Size Difference Kink.

See the full post

998 notes - Posted March 17, 2022

#2

Happy Birthday Steve Rogers! Fuck You America!

Actual footage of Steve if he saw the shit happening right now in this fucking country.

1,800 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

where it wasn’t

Pairing: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Ben x Fem!Reader (post-Kenobi Series era)

Words: 18,763 (can you tell I’m unwell?)

Warnings: 18+ only. Angsty Smut. Mutual Pining/Porn with some plot. Touch-Starved Obi-Wan. Lots of Kissing. Some form of competency kink? Marking Kink (again idk). Dirty/Sweet Talk. Slight Choking. Overstimulation. Penetrative, Unprotected Sex. Slight Breeding Kink. Some tears here and there because Obi-Wan just needs a fucking hug. 

Summary: “I- I am most flattered by your a-admiration but-” Ben grunts when you accidentally graze one of his nipples, his mind instantly going into hyperdrive and making him lose his train of thoughts. “But I highly doubt this is the most impressive form you’ve ever come across.” His voice is strained, that you’re certain of, and you want to see how far you can take it with him before he can no longer hold back. You’re close to thinking against it, but as you continue to knead his tight muscles, you notice a dark blush creeping down his neck to his chest and decide to tease him just a little bit more.

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1,910 notes - Posted June 16, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[lillotte17]

I posted 721 times in 2022

That's 147 more posts than 2021!

92 posts created (13%)

629 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lillotte17

@miss-grey

@keturagh

@hawkeshep

@cl0udb3rry

I tagged 661 of my posts in 2022

Only 8% of my posts had no tags

#pretties! - 231 posts

#solas - 69 posts

#solavellan - 57 posts

#lavellan - 47 posts

#rambles - 45 posts

#dragon age - 23 posts

#artwork - 17 posts

#smooches - 17 posts

#dragon age inquistion - 15 posts

#aili lavellan - 15 posts

Longest Tag: 122 characters

#ace so i wouldn't bang any of them but all my lavellan boys are hot and fun and i might have a tiny crush on juniper arley

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Time for another round of: Lotte Thinks Too Hard About Elvhen!

So, I've been standing around in the Exalted Plains for days trying to get all the dialogue I want to trigger to happen (while working on commission stuff. It's weirdly soothing. Like those background nature sound tapes, except every now and then there's NPCs chatting or a wolf attacking you.)

Anyway, we get to that talk between Solas and Sera where she makes the comment about "who wants to think about stepping on dead elves?"

Solas mutters in reply, sounding extremely angry/upset: Din elvhen emma him?

And I swear I thought I had read a translation for that on the wiki somewhere? But it said the meaning was unknown. So, I was trying to work it out myself.

Din- death or end or ending

Elvhen- elves (duh)

Emma- doesn't have a solid translation anywhere, but seems to be possessive. 'Your' or 'our' depending on context. Possibly even 'my', since I'm pretty sure 'Emma lath' was 'my love'?

Him- make/making

He sounded so upset, I thought he was saying some kind of insult/threat aimed at Sera. I'm pretty sure the translation I read before was like, "I'll make you a dead elf." (which in retrospect is not his MO at all. Even when he's furious with other companions, he never threatens to hurt them physically.)

I'm pretty sure the loose translation is actually more like:

"Dead elves of my own making?"

As in "How could I not think about them every place we go, when it's my fault that all of them died?"

And just...oh buddy. 🥺

95 notes - Posted March 12, 2022

#4

See the full post

100 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

#3

*sits down across the table from you and leans across real far *

You know, I love DAI. It is possibly my fave comfort game. Top tear. Very replayable. Lose myself for hours in the Hinterlands fighting bears and have a grand old time.

But the inconsistency with Lavellan and their understanding of Elvhen drives me bonkers.

Like, I get that Ancient Elvhen and Modern Elvhen have to be different. It's impossible for them not to be. Even the Elvhen spoken in the Dales would be different from Ancient Elvhen, because hundreds of years + slavery. Lavellan admits during Trespasser that Dalish cannot read Ancient Elvhen.

It makes sense that Solas can understand Modern Elvhen, because he apparently took the time to learn Qunlat at some point, so one would assume that a language derived from your native tongue would be easier. But it does not make sense that Lavellan swings back and forth between understanding Elvhen perfectly and not having a single clue what he's saying at all.

Lavellan understands the entire conversation he has with Wisdom before it dies. And one would assume it was not speaking Modern Elvhen for the sake of the other people there besides Solas, because it could have just as easily chosen to speak Common.

But later, Lavellan does not seem to understand what he and the Nightmare are saying to each other at all. Likewise, they don't seem to notice the discrepancies between what Solas tells Abelas and what Solas says he told Abelas. And they don't understand the random bits of Elvhen he throws at Sera either.

Like, I dunno about you, but if we were just walking along and my buddy just randomly said that he was responsible for all of the dead elves in Thedas...I think I'd pull over for a bit of a chat, yeah??

The Dalish honestly get so little credit for what they have managed to preserve from almost nothing, tbh. It makes sense that Lavellan wouldn't understand everything Solas says in Ancient Elvhen, but they should almost definitely understand more than a single conversation. At the very least, they should be able to know when he's switching to Ancient Elvhen instead of the modern form the Dalish use. And that by itself should be suspicious af.

(and they should absolutely know more than fucking Morrigan, but that's a whole other kettle of fish)

126 notes - Posted March 20, 2022

#2

See the full post

261 notes - Posted June 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I am definitely half asleep, which should tell you about the quality level of this post straight out the gate, but i was going through my old saves and watching the romance scenes for my different PTs (as one does) and like...

Everyone else has this slow build up to the Love end of things. Some of them don't even get there until Trespasser (looking @ you Dorian- yes yes he feels it but he doesn't say it.) And that's not a complaint! That's normal! You start with affection and attraction and see where it goes, and lbr all of the DA companions have some...Things to work through before nailing down Big Feelings.

And then we have Solas.

One kiss. One (1) singular kiss, and that man is gone. Lost. Sunk. Out to sea. Lost in the Sauce. Flung into the depths.

And I would argue that he's actually gone before that, but that's when he knows it. And he freaks out because 'oh no oh no this is literally the absolute WORST timing for this to happen holy SHIT.'

And he tries to fight it off, or figure out if there is some like...magical mark-induced reason for why he's absolutely banana-grahams for this mortal woman he has only known the tiniest fraction of his impossibly long life, but there isn't one except that he's lonely as fuck and her genuine awesomeness is just apparently the kryptonite to his rational thinking power.

This man, who is so so careful with the way he says everything always just... Once he caves, it is his first admission. In his native tongue, no less, as though he cannot help himself.

I cannot lose you. I love you. You are my heart. I love you, I love you, I love you.

Back in ye olden fandom days, there was a whole bunch of fights about the sincerity of Solas' affections, since he 'lies' and dumps you, but like...things are a mess because this whole-ass man is a mess and he doesn't do anything that is NOT a mess, but just...fucking hell. He has loved her for so long. He doesn't strike me as love-at-first-sight kinda guy, but like I'm giving him like...a month at Haven tops before he's a goner.

Solas is the one who falls first and hardest out of all of them.

552 notes - Posted July 24, 2022

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[newnoirstories]

The Eye Never Forgets (AI Illustration Version)

(As always, the inclusion of religious or mystical themes in my works does not constitute an endorsement of them. The following story contains violence, death, references to torture, to self-harm, drugs, alcohol, implied sex, and to mental health problems, including depression.)

(The AI art contained in this work is intended only for concept art, hopefully inspiring human artists, such as those on Tumblr.)

"The Eye Never Forgets"

Chapter I

One Summer night in 1975, in Boston's Combat Zone, a woman sat on a littered sidewalk. Torn dress, one shoe on, a grin missing more than one tooth, she smoked something, something strong.

Just out of her line of sight, a lady of the night got in a beat-up old red car with a man, but just as he leaned back, his leg was cut, and off the lady made with his wallet.

Worlds away from this, Caldwell Rome strolled in Franklin Park, one overcast day in 2008, but saw a glum man, about his own age, named Nikólaos Panagos, though more often called "Diogenes" by the locals.

"Did you ever wonder why I am a cynic, alone and miserable? It is because of the woman who is after you." Diogenes said, somewhat cryptically.

"What do you know of someone after me?"

"I know everything about her. For thirty-three years, I have thought of little else. Look at me. Do you believe I was once wealthy?"

"If you say so, yes, I will take your word for it," replied Caldwell.

"It was in 1975. I curse the day. I sinned, but how I have paid for my sin! Her name was Ann Patterson, originally, I am told. Some say she was the daughter of Roger Patterson, the man who made the movie of the Bigfoot, but they say many things about Roger, true or not."

"I am not a priest. You needn't tell me any of this."

"I want to tell someone. I want someone to understand."

"Okay," replied Caldwell, sitting down on the bench next to the forlorn old man.

"She called herself Bella Lovelace, in imitation of some other woman, and she was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. Words cannot do justice to her beauty. She invited me to make, to m-make… a dirty movie with her. Yes, sir, that's what happened. I was paid $500 for my soul. I did it for desire, not the dollars. I later threw the money in the Charles River. But that wasn't the end of it: Back then, blackmail was her game. I was wealthy, but refused to pay, so she disgraced me before my family, who are ashamed of me to this day. I now wash dishes in a fast food place, live in public housing, might as well be homeless."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"What is there any man can do? What is this world? It is not one, but two, it is torn, so that every instinct we possess leads to evil. Whatever we are without, we are chaos within."

"I have felt that way. I find Confession- to a priest, I mean- helps."

"Maybe I will. What do I have to lose? But I have not told the whole story. Imagine my shock one day, 1983, I see this temptress's photo on the news. The British sought her, said she worked for the Irish, the INLA, had fled to America, back to America. Well, this woman now goes by 'Elle Kane', and she is back here in Boston. 'Elle Kane' comes up again and again in deaths in the papers. I hear of your family tragedies, and no one but her could be at the bottom of them."

"Being a private investigator, I have made many enemies, but what makes you think Elle, or whatever her name is, is one of them?"

"The strange feeling of an old man," replied Nikólaos.

Chapter II

Caldwell Rome refused to buy a television. He grew up with a radio, and felt overwhelmed by sight and sound at once.

"Ray Allen makes another three from the corner! Time out, Clippers…" said the old radio.

Caldwell went through old files. Some haunting failures, haunting the whole city. Filed year by year, worst of all, perhaps, was 1987. That year saw the terrible death of Cassandra Mullin.

In the winter of '87, someone deftly disabled the alarm of the library Mullin oversaw. Evidence suggested more than one person was involved. Mullin was found murdered, her eyes gone as if by vultures, the library ransacked.

But for what? Caldwell looked through the notes. The books stolen, which numbered over one hundred, included "Several Jane Austen novels, a copy of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', titles on botany, medicine, American history, Canadian history, some genealogical records, old magazines". Caldwell, with his background in antiques, knew as well as anyone that none of these were of great economic value, so Cassandra's death, which had not been quick, seemed to be for nothing, yet the methodical nature of the crime suggested otherwise.

Boston's definition of mediocrity, Detective Louis Meath, pronounced it, in the papers, as the act of "random psychos", who were "probably high on something". Caldwell knew better, but what could he prove?

The next one, however, hit closer to home: Paul Knudsen, Caldwell's son-in-law, the papers claimed, had, one night in 2001, taken his own life. He had been found dangling from a rope, out his own second story window, yet no one, including Caldwell Rome, who knew Paul believed that he met such a fate of his own accord.

The two cases, Caldwell believed, were connected, through one man in particular, a man reported to have died in a 2002 motorcycle accident, one Birger Pedersen, Norwegian, called "Fenrir" on stage, part of Norway's terrible black metal scene in the nineties. Fenrir had gone after Caldwell one day in 1999, wielding a knife, but as Rome had considerable knowledge of Kyokushin Karate, having completed a 20-man Kumite, Pedersen, though the stronger of the two, had gotten the worst of it, a well-aimed kick to the knee, though Fenrir savagely bit a policeman who took him into custody.

Caldwell Rome's research indicated that Pedersen, a man of evident means whose wealth came mysteriously, who had a home in New York City, as well as another in Norway, but occasionally visited Boston, had been in Boston when both Mullin and Knudsen died, again in '99, of course, and finally, had died in Boston in 2002.

Chapter III

Early in 2002, a grieving Natalie Rome had herself come to the conclusion that Birger Pedersen, still in Boston at the time, was involved in her husband's demise. Teaching herself to throw antique knives, antique per her profession as an appraiser, Natalie was daring enough to venture to one of Fenrir's known haunts, the Handel Bar, which, despite the classical connotations of the name, was a biker bar that barely managed to keep its liquor license, so often were police called over its violence and mayhem.

However, Natalie made a miscalculation, being unfamiliar with such parts of Boston, and instead went to a bar known as The Handlebar. The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye" was playing, and neither that nor the ambiance seemed anything like the Birger Pedersen she knew only by reputation.

"I haven't seen you here before," said an unfamiliar woman, smiling at Natalie.

"No, it's my first time."

"You go both ways?"

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind. I couldn't help but notice you're kinda cute," said the woman, flirtatiously.

"Thanks…" said Natalie, a bit uncomfortable.

"I'm Sally. A handshake? Okay."

"No dice, Sally, this femme's mine," intruded another voice. The new woman eyed Natalie rather audaciously.

"Mind your manners, Katie. It's not like we're men or something," quipped Sally.

Natalie looked around, and realized from even less subtle signs that The Handlebar, unlike the Handel Bar, was a bar for women drawn to other women.

Natalie's mother, Agatha Rome, in a most unlikely way, would have better luck. She approached Thomas Banerjee, Broadway performer and old friend of her son Philip, asking about disguises.

"Angie, this woman I know, could make us look like each other. There is practically no limit to what they can do now," asserted Thomas.

"Can they do what I asked?"

"Well, there's one thing… I love you like a mom, and I don't want to be insensitive, but to play a part like that, you would have to be very limber, and you're not as young…"

Agatha, smiling, responded by doing side splits with ease.

Chapter IV

As of 2010, Clyde Tomasini, producer, dancer and choreographer, was considered Boston musical theatre's most important and acclaimed person, and some would have expanded that to "America's most important" as well. Having explored many themes, it was in this year that Tomasini struck upon the idea of combining Broadway dance with Bollywood dance, though Thomas Banerjee dropped out of the production, considering the core of Tomasini's plot idea too derivative of Bollywood's "My Brother… Nikhil" (2005).

Philip Rome, however, a noted designer of musical theatre sets and costumes, was very active in the production, entitled "Closet to India". Inspecting the set, however, Philip nearly lost his life when a counterweight plunged toward him. The same instant, however, Tomasini, acting quickly, tackled Philip out of the way, both escaping with only minor injuries.

Meanwhile, in a bar across town, a random man recounted a story:

"It's true. This housewife type, Agatha Rome. This horrible man, Fenrir, somebody called him. He's playing 'Cape Fear' with the whole family, you know. He shot their pitbull. Agatha thinks he killed her son-in-law, so she gets this guy to let her disguise herself as this made up version of him, at a bike, you know, motorcycle repair shop, and up shows Fenrir."

"You've been drinking too much, Bobby."

"No, I swear: She's made up like this young man, wild red hair, contact lenses that make it look like she's on something. She fixes his bike, she fixes it so it doesn't work, and he dies in a crash."

Or so went "Bobby's" version of the story.

Chapter V

In 2015, not far from where Bobby told his tale, an abandoned old warehouse was supposed to be the lair of "Salty". Children, mingling fear and curiosity, claimed that a man, a man adults would describe as an occultist, did rituals in the prosaic ruins, rituals involving salt. They often dared each other to go to the warehouse, making bets about who would go there alone.

Philip Rome, veteran of more than one near-death experience, would soon have yet another. Whisked into a limousine against his will, he was taken to a building not unlike the old warehouse, but this one very much occupied.

A dim lamp's flickering light fell on Georg Faust, notorious racketeer and rumored agent of espionage (though for which nation, no one knew), who often introduced himself by adding that he was "no relation" to the Faust of legend. Most eerie of all, he was seated in what appeared to be an old electric chair.

"Philip, excuse the awkwardness of our introduction," said Faust, with a touch of a German accent, "I do wish, however, to let you know about some fine likenesses of yourself."

"Likenesses?"

"Yes. Also in the photograph is your good friend, Elire Dervishi, a rising Broadway star, I understand."

"What about her?"

"You two are 'just friends', as you Americans say?"

"Yes."

"Kindly explain this photograph. Is it customary in Albania [Elire's land of origin] to kiss friends on the lips?"

"Oh, that… it's none of your business, but we played tennis, which her father wanted her to do professionally, but this was just for fun. It was after she defeated me in straight sets, we went to kiss on the cheek, but I forgot she is left-handed, so it went wrong, that's all."

"Oh, Philip, I do believe you, but Sokol, her father, alleged Albanian mobster, feared almost as much as I am, will not. I understand he disapproves of her Broadway career, and considers that you turned her in that direction. Well, what would this hard man say if he saw a copy of this photograph?"

"In other words," asked Philip, "Blackmail?"

"Not precisely," explained Georg, "It is not money we want. I merely want you to tell your father, Caldwell Marion Rome, what you experienced today. It will give him the perspective not to talk too much."

Chapter VI

Little did anyone in this mysterious lair know that outside was a woman, a woman who went by the name Elle Kane, smiling as she manipulated some exterior electrical wiring.

Back inside, Philip asked Georg why he was seated in an electric chair.

"Oh, this, yes. I often forget," laughed Georg, "It is not operational. It was deactivated some three decades ago, but it gives me a flair for the dramatic, don't you think?"

Philip noticed that a wire to the electric chair had been cut. Puzzled, Georg said that he had not cut that wire, nor asked for it to be cut. The wire had been severed by Kitao Takashi, also Caldwell Rome's instructor in Kyokushin, for reasons the reader will later learn.

Georg, resuming the conversation, began to say, "But look me in the eye…"

At this moment, a sudden blast of electricity shook Georg Faust, violently shaking him. With the wire cut, how was this possible?

In the quiet of the Rome residence, Agatha being away visiting relatives, Caldwell Rome slumbered in strange dreams, unaware of his son's predicament.

Following the logic of a dream, Caldwell saw Cassandra Mullin as she had been in 1976, when readers of "Ars Oculus" first knew her. The dream knew her, however, not as Cassandra, but as "Rose Davies", burlesque dancer, by her side ghostly old men, the men with no eyes.

At the song's final lines, "The edge of the big reveal…", per Rose's tease, she revealed not herself, but the genealogy Caldwell had read that fateful day thirty-nine years ago.

Chapter VII

The next day, Caldwell Rome saw in the paper the meaning of his dream: A much lauded and discussed international charitable effort- or so it was promoted- Paint the Heart, touted as a charity to help impoverished children use art to earn money and express themselves, was the brainchild of United States Senator and former corporate mogul Montgomery Cross. Official biographies claimed that Montgomery's father was one "Michael Elliott Cross", in fact nonexistent, but the dream unearthed Caldwell's memory: Even as he looked for the name of the notorious Robert Cross, back in 1976, he had mentally noted that Boston's own Montgomery Cross's father was, in fact, David Cross.

This, then, was the secret for which Cassandra Mullin died, interrogated, no doubt, as to who had looked through these old family records. The assailants then ransacked and stole random books, Caldwell deduced, to disguise the particular importance of the genealogical records stolen.

The reader may understand the context if told a bit more about the late, hated David Cross, a eugenicist known mainly for the African Trepanations, experiments on innocents in Africa that horrified every civilized person, and the mere association with David Cross would end any public career, were it widely known.

More conversations with fellow old-timer Nikólaos Panagos were, for Diogenes, therapy of a sort, but for Caldwell, crucial to piecing together his failed cases, and turning them, even now, in his ninth decade, into successes.

If Nikólaos could still be relied upon for his memory, he told the story that Ann Patterson's crimes did not stop with the INLA dealings, but that she had been in the employ of spymaster Georg Faust, which tied her to the threats Philip relayed, per his instructions, to Caldwell.

"Look up old papers, old records," said Diogenes, "Everywhere Patterson went, death followed. Mr. Rome, she hunted teen campers for sport, for sport! The very Karate academy you used to attend: Well, Elle Kane would maim its students to sharpen her skills [this, if it is to be believed, could explain Kitao Takashi attempting to stop Ann Patterson's crimes]. No conscience, conscience…"

Nikólaos Panagos had fallen asleep on the familiar park bench.

Chapter VIII

Dreams know no time, and in 2002, Agatha Rome drifted off to timeless aeons. As a sleeping Agatha saw it in her mind's eye, a large female bodybuilder, in a red bikini, transformed, in an instant, into a powerful she-wolf. It was this dream, for reasons unclear, that inspired Agatha to discuss disguises with Thomas Banerjee, and if "Bobby" can be believed, take revenge on Birger Pedersen, a man so hated that no one claimed his remains.

Complicating matters, however, was the death of Carl Wozniacki in 2012, dangling, just like Paul Knudsen, from his own second story window. Wozniacki was allegedly a contract killer and MDMA dealer, called the "Love Killer" by the press, and a man with many enemies, though he was also going through a divorce at the time he passed. Among those to whom he allegedly sold ecstasy was Peter Knudsen, troubled son of Paul, trying to forget his father's senseless death.

"It's this way," explained Caldwell to a cop on the beat, "Either Wozniacki took his own life that way as an admission of guilt in Paul's death, or he was murdered by whoever killed Paul, but that could not be Birger Pedersen, who had himself been dead a decade."

As they walked, they approached Kneeland Street, in Boston's Chinatown.

Chapter IX

Boston, Massachusetts, a bleak, rainy day, 2022. Philip Rome, shaking the water off his umbrella, entered his theatrical place of work. Philip, dripping wet, noticed a framed portrait of Sir Alfred Hitchcock, a new addition to the venue.

"Our first scene back [from lockdown] is about birds, so I thought that appropriate," explained producer Clyde Tomasini.

"Speaking of that," began Philip, "I think the set idea is too expensive with our limited cash flow, so I have…"

"Is it difficult?" Clyde interrupted.

"Is what difficult?"

"Dealing with scarcity, the first law of economics?" asked Tomasini.

"It comes with being human."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. Scarcity applies to those who earn, but not those who steal, like me, for instance."

Philip looked at Clyde, stunned.

"You steal? What did you steal?"

Clyde began to laugh oddly, "You must admit I am a genius. The way I 'saved' your life in 2010, but I rigged the counterweight to fall in the first place!"

Rome began to back away from Tomasini.

"Don't worry, Phil, my aim was never to hurt you, only gain your trust."

"Needless to say, now you've lost it."

"But what if I told you, Philip," began Tomasini, halting, as if for a dramatic pause, "That I am the new Shakespeare, and that you will be immortal even for having known me? So, so many playwrights, all in the shadow of the Bard, all broken by scarcity, the need to receive grants, donations, snivelling before patrons and bureaucrats. Well, no more!"

Rome had no response to this grandiosity.

"You, Philip, friend of horses, will be the next Franz Marc, the next Salvador Dalí, master of dreams. Where is this budget, you wonder? Why, from Paint the Heart, with over a trillion, by US dollars, in funding, some on the books, some off them. That was Georg Faust's angle: He was blackmailing Monty Cross over something, and he needed to keep it a secret or lose his percent of the money."

"That was why Faust kidnapped me?"

"Yes, but you should thank me. I killed him," proclaimed Tomasini, his pride evident, grinning.

"Why would you confess this to me?"

"I have the photo negatives of that kiss, accidental or not, as well, Philip, but I would rather we were partners."

"So you murdered Georg Faust?"

"Well," began the grandiloquent master criminal, "Strictly speaking, human law could do nothing about it."

To Clyde, it all seemed a light comedy.

"But I thought you said…" began Philip.

"I said I killed him. I did it by a hex. I, my dear Mr. Rome, am the legendary 'Salty'. It began simply enough. I am a charming man, as you know. Evidently, it seems Georg Faust's sister, Stefanie, lovely, golden-haired tigress, has an unfaithful husband. Rather unsatisfied with this cad, she turned to me, in Maithuna."

"Where?"

"Not where, what? Maithuna is intimacy of the Tantra. I captured her subtle body thereby, and she mine, but I knew it, and she did not. Now, the difficult part: How to transpose her essence with that of her elder brother? Fortunately, I am an Adept. After, I admit, some failed experiments, I found the perfect spell, if you will: A statue of Ardhanarishvara, androgynous Hindu god and goddess, but I wrote Stefanie's name, in Latin, on Shiva, and Georg's name on Parvati, with the Algiz rune between them, for my own safety, salted the ground for the Magnum Opus, and all was prepared."

"Prepared for what? A padded room?" sneered Philip.

"Ah, but Philip, you saw the result. I grounded myself, put an electric shock through my own subtle body, elementary sympathetic magic, and you witnessed the result."

Chapter X

Philip Rome now realized that any show of skepticism or of scruple would weaken his position.

"Why did we need to get Georg out of the way?" asked Philip, changing his manner to that of grasping cynicism.

"Because, my dear Phil, he was a philistine, no art in him. He wanted the money only to reinvest, to make more money, never dreaming what money could make immortal."

The lighting designer, none other than Peter Knudsen, a man of striking palor, was set to join them, but was rather delayed by the harrying of a large flock of greedy pigeons, seeking the free food to which they had become accustomed.

"There is a problem in our plans, however," said Philip, with a look of concern.

"What possible problem could there be?"

"You should pay more attention to the local news. Georg Faust, though in a coma, is expected to survive."

Tomasini showed fear for an instant, then gave Phil an odd smile.

"Marvelous humor, Mr. Rome… you had me for a moment! More of why I need you for comedies," laughed Clyde.

"No, it's true," interjected Peter, who had finally arrived, "This Faust, the racketeer, is expected to come to any day now."

Philip and Peter looked at Clyde, and Tomasini began to believe them, and turned ashen in color. For once, he seemed at a loss for words. Mr. Tomasini stepped on stage, beginning to open the curtains, standing precariously.

"Clyde, don't!" shouted Philip.

For an instant tearful, Clyde Tomasini's last words were from Hamlet, "Conscience doth make cowards of us all."

Philip and Peter winced as a heavy counterweight fell on the mad playwright. How much of his story could be believed? One matter was certain: Georg Faust was dead.

Chapter XI

Jeremiah Rome lacked the intellect or the good sense of his siblings, Philip and Natalie. Appropriately, he moved to the West Coast, and equally fitting, was in middle management in a multinational corporation, and as such, his stumbling ways were scarcely noticed. He occasionally, however, visited his Bostonian family, doing so in the Summer of 2023.

Louis Meath's heir to obliviousness, Jeremiah had not the scarcest notion of the trials his family had endured, but seemed to know every catchphrase and slogan ever used to market trendy technology. Neither, moreover, had the recklessness of his youth abated, but on this day, as he drove, rather over the speed limit, into Boston, it would work for the best.

Ann Patterson, or call her Bella or Elle, by any name, took a deep breath and rolled back her eyes in a parked vehicle, a common enough make and model. Like an addict feeling the fix, Ann would experience her fix of violence today, she believed, putting a silencer on an automatic handgun.

She began tailing Philip Rome through traffic, having timed it perfectly. As Philip did not know her by sight, let alone through a rear-view mirror, all Ann had to do was wait for an opportunity, or so she thought.

In barrelled Jeremiah, not recognizing Philip's vehicle, but fortunately for Phil, his younger brother instead struck Ann Patterson's car, which itself was over the speed limit, as Patterson, to avoid suspicion, would alternately pass and fall behind Philip's car.

In a grisly wreck, which Philip managed to avoid, Ann Elle Patterson (1949-2023) met her end. Jeremiah's corporate connections, meanwhile, prevented any but the lightest legal consequences.

Chapter XII

Indra's net shook: A rich young man in Back Bay met an irresistible woman on the World Wide Web, calling herself "ChinaDoll68U", but this woman did not exist, and when the baited fish went to meet her, he was bound and gagged by agents of Sokol Dervishi, aforementioned Albanian gangster, presumably for ransom.

The next day, splashy headlines read, "Wealthy Heir Missing", while elsewhere in the city, a sleepy old man, Nikólaos Panagos by name, was working a fast food grill, salting the hamburgers, as Agatha Rome did needlepoint meant to depict the Electron Cloud Model of the atom, but to the strictly artistic mind, perhaps abstract expressionism, to keep her mind off her husband's passing, the gravestone of Caldwell Marion Rome reading (January 6, 1933-April 12, 2023), and the same week in April, 2023, headlines glared "Senator Cross Family Horror"- in spite of all, he could not outrun his family.

On a stage, in an electric blue dress, Grace Martel, known to readers of "Jashi", was practicing a trick as a magician. Reaching into a fish tank full of water, she removed her hands from the water, and flames shot from them, then, with a circular motion of her hands, a ring of smoke rose into the air.

The end.

(All above illustrations are not to my credit, nor my work, nor my property, but the work of perchance.org, but this does not constitute an official endorsement of that website, with which I have no official connection.)

[buzz-london]

😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣 **Lie Vs LIAR* *An 83-year-old elderly woman, lying on the bed, said to her 87-year-old elderly husband:* *"Listen.....I just looked out the window and thought the garage light was on. Will you go and turn off the garage light ?"* *The old man got up from the bed with great difficulty, opened a window and saw five or six thieves trying to break into his garage door.* *The elder called the nearest police station from there:* *"Look......write my address. We're the only two elderly husband and wife at home. Right now five or six burglars are breaking into our garage door. Send a police team quickly."* *From the other side came the dispatcher's voice:* *"We've written your address. We don't have any free teams right now. As soon as we get in touch with a team, I'll send them to your home."* *Hearing this, the elders were disappointed but on the other hand, thieves were still engaged in breaking the lock of the garage.* *Two minutes later, the elder again called the police station:* *"Listen.....there's no need to send anyone now. I've shot all five thieves."* *There was panic on the other side of the line.* *Within five minutes, a police team, along with a helicopter, a paramedic, three doctors and two ambulances, reached the old man's house.* *The 5 thieves were soon overpowered and arrested.* *Later the in-charge of the police team reached the elder and said:* *"You said that you shot those five thieves, but we caught them alive ?"* *The old man replied:* *"And you also said that none of your teams were free."* *Don't underestimate Senior Citizens !* *(This story is worth re-visiting for senior citizens like us)* 😝😝😝

[sherwood-cabin]

I posted 3,577 times in 2022

That's 3,429 more posts than 2021!

535 posts created (15%)

3,042 posts reblogged (85%)

I tagged 3,323 of my posts in 2022

Only 7% of my posts had no tags

#sherwood talks - 555 posts

#reblog - 322 posts

#mecore - 183 posts

#faves - 139 posts

#art inspo - 104 posts

#yeah - 88 posts

#<333 - 87 posts

#art faves - 80 posts

#for later - 71 posts

#queer stuff - 68 posts

Longest Tag: 123 characters

#we had to move em inside cause it’s too cold n they got very excited about digging in the mulch n gettin salad the next day

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Headcanon that Bdubs can just. Sink into the ground wiv his little moss cloak. It’s very handy when he wants to get out of trouble, he can just jump into the ground. I think he can kinda treat the ground like a portal n just hop around the world as much as he likes,, gonna build on this idea soon.

[ Image IDs: the first picture has five drawings of Bdoubleo from hemitcraft. In the first, he is standing upright in his moss cloak. In the next drawings, the clam puffs out and he sinks down, until the last drawing where he is just a puff of moss on the ground.

The second picture has 4 drawings of Bdubs in his moss cloak. In the first, he is running very quickly to the right with his right arm up high. In the second, he is slightly crouched but still running, with his left arm up now. In the third, he is jumping with both as up in a diving position. In the last drawing, his legs are sticking out of the ground. End ID] 

89 notes - Posted January 27, 2022

#4

Love how scitties has been a joke here on hermitblr for MONTHS, n it just found its way over to hermittwt yesterday or so. Also love how people are like “Hell yeah scitties!!!” over here, whilst hermittwt is havin a damn war over if they’re “morally correct” or some shit lmao

114 notes - Posted July 10, 2022

#3

Thinkin about the hermitcraft recap still bein written by Zloy n Pixl, just from their respective servers/characters. Pix comes home after a long day makin candles to a message from Zloy wiv a script for the new episode:

Everything went wrong n the moon crashed

Pix writes him back like “dude wtf is goin on over there???” n Zloy replies wiv “like dude I was re-zombified lol”

168 notes - Posted January 11, 2022

#2

Okay but. Mumbo’s new video is so so pretty. Like seriously he’s such a good filmmaker,, that video was dare I say, beautiful,, like seriously you can tell how much work he out into it n his creativity is just. Off the charts,, I love his filming style so much man

194 notes - Posted October 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

welcome to hermitcraft

265 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

YOOOOOO