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blackswaneuroparedux · 3 years

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Vivant, il a manqué le monde ; mort, il le possède.

- François René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), Vie de Napoléon, livres XIX à XXIV des Mémoires d’outre-tombe (posthume)

Of course we don’t have any photograph or film of Napoleon’s death on 5 May 1821 on Saint Hélène. But we do have the next best thing: a painting. Charles de Steuben depiction of Napoleon's deathbed and his faithful entourage that served as witnesses to his dying moments became the one of the most important paintings of the post-Napoleonic era but then faded from modern memory.

I first came across it by accident when I was in my teens at my Swiss boarding school. There were times I found myself with school friends going away on hiking trips around the high Alpine chain of the Allgäu Alps and we would drive through Lake Constance to get there, or we would hike around the Lake itself through the Bodensee-Rundwanderweg.

Perched high above Lake Constance and nestled in large parklands, stood Schloss Arenenberg which overlooks the lower part of Lake Constance. At first, it appears a relatively modest country house. But this was no usual pretty looking house. Arenenberg was owned by well-heeled families before it was sold to Hortense de Beauharnais, the adopted daughter and sister-in-law of the French Emperor himself, Napoleon Bonaparte. She had it rebuilt in the French Empire style and lived there from 1817 with her son Louis Napoleon, later Emperor Napoleon III, who is said to have spoken the Thurgau dialect in addition to French. This elegantly furnished castle then was once the residence of the last emperor of France.

The alterations made first by Queen Hortense and later by Empress Eugénie have been carefully preserved and the house still bears the marks of both women. Queen Hortense's drawing room is perfectly preserved and visitors can still admire her magnificent library (all marked with the Empress' cipher) containing over one thousand books. Likewise, in the room where the queen died, every object has been maintained in its original condition: pieces of furniture and personal belongings are gathered here to evoke her memory in a very touching manner. As for Empress Eugénie's rooms, they too have been very carefully preserved. Her private drawing room is a perfect illustration of the Second Empire style with sculptures by Carpeaux and portraits of the imperial family by Winterhalter.

After 1873, the Empress and the Imperial Prince brought the palace back to life by making regular summer visits, which they continued until 1878. However, on the tragic death of her son in 1879, Eugénie found it difficult to return to a place so full of painful memories. And so in 1906 she donated the estate to the canton of Thurgovie as a testimony of her gratitude for the region's faithful hospitality towards the Napoleon family. And in accordance with the Empress' wishes, the residence was turned into a museum devoted to Napoleon.

In what is now the Napoleonic Museum, the original furnishings have been preserved, and the palace gardens had been fully restored. This in itself might be worth a visit for the view over Lake Constance which is stunning. For Napoleonic era buffs though its the incredible art collection which is its real treasure. It houses an important art collection including works by the First-Empire artists Chinard Canova, Gros, Robert Lefèvre, Gérard, Isabey and Girodet-Trioson, and by the Second-Empire painters and sculptors Alfred de Dreux, Winterhalter, Carpeaux, Meissonier, Hébert, Flandrin, Detaille, Nieuwerkerke and Giraud.

But what caught my eye was this painting, ‘La Mort de Napoléon’ by Charles de Steuben. I didn’t know anything about it or the artist for that matter, but one of my more erudite school friends who, being French, was into Napoleonic stuff in a huge way, and she explained it all to me. Of course I knew a fair bit about Napoleon growing up because my grandfather and father, being military men themselves, were Napoleonic warfare buffs and it rubbed off onto me. I just knew about Napoleon the military genius. I never thought about him once he was beaten at Waterloo in 1815. So I never really engaged with Napoleon the man. And yet here I was staring at his last breath of mortality caught forever in time through art. Not for the first time I had mixed feelings about Napoleon Bonaparte, both the man and the myth (built up around him since his death).

On 5 May, 1821, at 5.49pm in Longwood House on the remote island of St Helena, in the words of the famed French man of letters, François-René de Chateaubriand, ‘the mightiest breath of life which ever animated human clay’ came no more. To the British, Dutch, and Prussian coalition who had exiled Naopleon Bonaparte there in 1815, he was a despot, but to France, he was seen as a devotee of the Enlightenment.

In the decade following his demise, Napoleon’s image underwent a transformation in France. The monarchy had been restored, but by the late 1820s, it was growing unpopular. King Charles X was seen as a threat to the civil liberties established during the Napoleonic era. This mistrust revived Napoleon’s reputation and put him in a more heroic light.

Fascination with the French leader’s death led Charles de Steuben, a German-born Romantic painter living in Paris, to immortalise the momentous event. Steuben’s painting depicts the moment of Napoleon’s death and seeks to capture the sense of awe in the room at the death of a man whose legendary career had begun in the French Revolution. It was this, ultimate moment that Steuben wished to immortalise in a painting which has since become what could almost be described as the official version of the scene.

There is no question that Steuben’s painting became the most famous and most iconic depiction of Napoleon’s death in art history. In another painting, executed during the years 1825-1830, Steuben was to give a realistic view of the emperor dictating his memoirs to general Gourgaud. This same realism also pervades his version of Napoleon’s death, and it is totally unlike Horace Vernet’s, Le songe de Bertrand ou L’Apothéose de Napoléon (Bertrand’s Dream or the apotheosis of Napoleon) which, although painted in the same year, is an allegorical celebration of the emperor’s martyrdom and as such the first stone in the edifice of the Napoleonic legend.

And what a legend Napoleon’s life was turned into for time immemorial. Napoleon declared himself France’s First Consul in 1799 and then emperor in 1804. For the next decade, he led France against a series of European coalitions during the Napoleonic Wars and expanded his empire throughout much of continental Europe before his defeat in 1814. He was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba, but he escaped and briefly reasserted control over France before a crushing final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Napoleon’s military prowess earned him the fear of his enemies, but his civil reforms in France brought him the respect of his people. The Napoleonic Code, introduced in 1804, replaced the existing patchwork of French laws with a unified national system built on the principles of the Enlightenment: universal male suffrage, property rights, equality (for men), and religious freedom. Even in his final exile on St. Helena, Napoleon proved a magnetic presence. Passengers of ships docked to resupply would hurry to meet the great general. He developed strong personal bonds with the coterie who had accompanied him into exile. Although some speculate that he was murdered, most agree that Napoleon’s death in 1821, at the age of 51, was the result of stomach cancer.

By contrast, Charles de Steuben was born in 1788, his youth and artistic training coinciding with Napoleon’s rise to power. He was the son of the Duke of Württemberg officer Carl Hans Ernst von Steuben. At the age of twelve he moved with his father, who entered Russian service as a captain, to Saint Petersburg, where he studied drawing at the Art Academy classes as a guest student. Thanks his father's social contacts in the court of the Tsar, in the summer of 1802 he accompanied the young Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1786–1859) and granddaughter of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, to the Thuringian cultural city of Weimar, where the Tsar's daughter two years later married Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1783–1853). Steuben, then fourteen years old, was a Page at the ducal court, a position for which the career prospects would be in the military or administration. The poet Friedrich Schiller was a family friend who at once recognised De Steuben's artistic talent and instilled in him his political ideal of free self-determination regardless of courtly constraints.

At the behest of Pierre Fontaine in 1828 de Steuben painted La Clémence de Henri IV après la Bataille d'Ivry, depicting a victorious Henry IV of France at the Battle of Ivry. De Steuben's Bataille de Poitiers, en octobre 732, painted between 1834 and 1837, shows the triumphant Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, also known as the Battle of Poitiers. He painted Jeanne la folle around the same time and he was commissioned by Louis Philippe to paint a series of portraits of past Kings of France.

Life in the French capital was a repeated source of internal conflict for Steuben. The allure of bohemian Paris and his military-dominated upbringing made him a wanderer between worlds. As an official commitment to his adopted country he became a French citizen in 1823. However, the irregularity of his income as a freelance artist was in contrast to his sense of duty and social responsibility. To secure his family financially, he took a job as an art teacher at École Polytechnique, where he briefly trained Gustave Courbet. In 1840 he was awarded a gold medal at the Salon de Paris for his highly acclaimed paintings.

The love of classical painting was a lifelong passion of Steuben. He was a close friend to Eugène Delacroix, the leader of the French Romantic school of painting, whom he portrayed several times. Steuben was also part of this artistic movement, which replaced classicism in French painting. "The painter of the Revolution," as Jacques-Louis David was called by his students, joined art with politics in his works. The subjects of his historical paintings supported historical change. He painted mainly in sharp colour contrasts, heavy solid contours and clear outlines. The severity of this style led many contemporary artists - including Prud'hon - to a romanticised counter movement. They preferred the shadowy softness and gentle colour gradations of Italian Renaissance painters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Antonio da Correggio, whose works they studied intensively. Steuben, who had begun his training with David, felt the school was becoming increasingly rigid and dogmatic. Critics praised his deliberate compositions, excellent brush stroke and impressive colour effects. But some of his critics felt that his pursuit of dramatic design of rich people also showed, at times, a pronounced tendency toward the histrionic.

The portrayal of key moments in Napoleon’s dramatic military career would feature among some of Steuben’s best known works. But it is this death scene that Steuben is most remembered for.

Using his high-level contacts among figures in Napoleon’s circle, Steuben interviewed and sketched many of the people who had been present when Napoleon died at Longwood House on St. Helena. He wanted to attempt o give the most accurate representation of the scene possible. Indeed, the painter interviewed the companions of Napoleon’s captivity on their return to France and had them pose for their portraits. Only the Abbé Vignali, captain Crokat and the doctor Arnott were painted from memory. The Grand maréchal Bertrand made sketches of the plan of the room, noting the positions of the different pieces of furniture and people in the room. All the protagonists within the painting brought together some of their souvenirs and in posing for the painter, each person can be seen contributing to a work of collective memory, very much with posterity in mind.

Painstakingly researched, Steuben painted a carefully composed scene of hushed grief. Notable among the figures are Gen. Henri Bertrand, who loyally followed Napoleon into exile; Bertrand’s wife, Fanny; and their children, of whom Napoleon had become very fond.

The best known version of “La Mort de Napoléon” was completed in 1828. French writer Stendhal considered it “a masterpiece of expression.” In 1830 the installation of a more liberal monarchy in France further boosted admiration of Napoleon, who suddenly became a wildly popular figure in theatre, art, and music. This fervour led to the diffusion of Steuben’s deathbed scene in the form of engravings throughout Europe in the 1830s. As Napoleon’s stock arose within French culture and arts, so did Steuben’s depiction of Napoleon’s death. It became a grandeur of vision that permeated Steuben’s masterpiece of historical reconstruction.

Initially forming part of the collection of the Colonel de Chambrure, the painting was put up for auction in Paris, on 9 March 1830, with other Napoleonic works, notably Horace Vernet’s Les Adieux de Fontainebleau (The Fontainebleau adieux) and Steuben’s Retour de l’île d’Elbe (The return from the island of Elba). The catalogue noted that the painting had already been viewed in the colonel’s collection by “three thousand connoisseurs” – which alone would have made it a success -, but its renown was to be further amplified by the production of the famous engraving. The diffusion of this engraving by Jean-Pierre-Marie Jazet (1830-1831, held at the Musée de Malmaison), reprinted and copied countless times throughout the 19th century, made the scene a classic in popular imagery, on a level of popularity with paintings such as Millet’s Angelus.

A / Grand Marshal Henri-Gatien Bertrand. Utterly loyal servant of Napoleon’s to the last. His memoirs of the exile on St Helena were not published until 1849. Only the year 1821 has ever been translated into English.

B / General Charles Tristan de Montholon. Courtier and companion of Napoleon’s exile. Montholon managed to ease Bertrand out and become Napoleon’s closest companion at the end, highly rewarded in Napoleon’s will, which Montholon helped write. Montholon’s untrustworthy memoirs were published in 1846/47.

C / Doctor Francesco Antommarchi. Corsican anatomy specialist. Sent by Napoleon’s mother from Rome to St Helena to be Napoleon’s personal physician on the expulsion of Barry O’Meara. Napoleon disliked and distrusted Antommarchi. Antommarchi’s untrustworthy memoirs were very influential and published in 1825.

D / Angelo Paolo Vignali, Abbé. Corsican assistant-chaplain, sent by Madame Mère from Rome to St Helena in 1819.

E / Countess Françoise Elisabeth “Fanny” Bertrand and her children: Napoléon (F), who carried the censer at Napoleon’s funeral; Hortense (G); Henry (H); and Arthur (I), youngest by six years of all the Bertrand children and born on the island. She was wife of the Grand Marshal, very unwilling participant in the exile on St Helena. Her relations with Napoleon were difficult since she refused to live at Longwood. She spoke fluent English. Was however very loyal to Napoleon.

J / Louis Marchand. Napoleon’s valet from 1814 on and one of his closest servants. As Napoleon noted in his will, “The service he [Marchand] rendered were those of a friend”.

K / “Ali”, Louis Étienne Saint-Denis. Known as “the Mamluk Ali”, one of Napoleon’s longest-serving and intimate servants; He became Librarian at Longwood and was an indefatigable copyist of imperial manuscripts.

L / Ali’s English (Catholic) wife, Mary ‘Betsy’ Hall. She was sent out from England by UK relatives of the Countess Bertrand to be governess/nursemaid to the Bertrand children. Married Ali aged 23 in October 1819.

M / Jean Abra(ha)m Noverraz. From the Vaud region in Switzerland. Very tall and imposing figure that Napoleon called his “Helvetic bear”. He was himself ill during Napoleon’s illness.

N / Noverraz’s wife, Joséphine née Brulé. They married in married in July 1819, and she was the Countess Montholon’s lady’s maid. Noverraz and Saint-Denis had a fist fight for the hand of Joséphine.

O / Jean Baptiste Alexandre Pierron. The cook, dessert specialist, long in Napoleon’s service and who had accompanied Napoleon to Elba.

P /Jacques Chandelier. Iincorrectly identified on the picture as Santini who had left the island in 1817. A cook, from the service of Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister, who arrived on St Helena with the group from Rome in 1819.

Q /Jacques Coursot. Butler, from the service of Madame Mère, Napoleon’s mother, he arrived on St Helena with the group from Rome in 1819.

R / Doctor Francis Burton. Irish surgeon in the 66th regiment who had arrived on St Helena only on 31st March 1821. He is renowned for having made Napoleon’s death mask (with ensign John Ward and Antommarchi).

S/ Doctor Archibald Arnott. Surgeon in the 20th regiment. Brought in to tend to Napoleon in extremis on 1 April 1821.

T/ Captain William Crokat. A Scot, orderly officer at Longwood for less than a month, having replaced Engelbert Lutyens on 15 April. He received the honour of carrying the news of Napoleon’s death back to London and also the reward, namely, a promotion and £500, privileges of which Lutyens was deliberately deprived by the governor.

#charles de steuben #art #painting #napoleon #bonaparte #st helena #life #death #chateaubriand #french #france #emperor #artist #aesthetics #war #politics #society #culture #arts #personal

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vanchlo · 4 years

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Green Eyes

*Thanks so much for reading! c: There are now several parts you can read here: 2 3 4

I’m so happy to share that I won a fiction writing award for this short story through my college’s art journal! c:

Blurb Synopsis: You had been subbing for Mr. Styles for the last couple of months, but you’ve yet to meet him. The notes you leave for each other have sparked a friendship, leading you to want more, and you wonder if he does too.

Genre: Teacher Harry, lots of fluff, friendship, and maybe even some romance? ;)

Warnings: None

Word Count: 5.5k words

Pairing: Harry x Reader

Music Inspo: Green Eyes by Coldplay (click to listen)

His shelves were full of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rumi, and Charles Bukowski. His desk was covered in scribbled Post-It notes, Bit-O-Honey wrappers, and empty mugs of tea.

This is what you noticed the first few times you subbed in his classroom.

These were the only details you knew about the man whose face you’ve never seen. As you gradually began to substitute for his high school English classes more and more, you learned about him more. This was due to his students, and his personal belongings.

What he didn’t and didn’t like: all the way from no fringes on a notebook paper, no red pen ever because that was his grading color, no using the word ‘can’t’ in his class, and students can eat all the snacks they want as long as the trash goes in the bin where it belongs.

The CDs in a stack on the shelf told you which ones he actually listened to because they were the ones that were on top and without dust.

You learned that the pristine book on his desk was never the one he was reading. No, it was the weathered and used copy beside his mug with dog-eared pages and penciled notes.

His drawers told you another story with their contents: boxes of teas ranging from peach to vanilla macaron, journals filled to the brim with words, adult coloring books with tv show themes, and books on Van Gogh and Monet hinting at his artsy background. His students slowly warmed up to you, and through them, so did he.

At this point, you’d only been subbing for Mr. Styles the last five months, racking up around two and a half weeks worth of subbed days. He always left precise and concise lesson plans for you. The books were where he said they’d be. The webpages he mentioned were bookmarked on his desktop. The teacher copy of the textbook and current group book were on his desk. At the beginning, his desk looked like a professional organizer had gotten their hands on it. Slowly, as you came to sub more for him, it grew messier, albeit you kept it tidy during your appearances. As the first few months passed and you became one of the few subs in his room, you started to find notes. They weren’t just any notes. They were more than the straight forward sub notes for the day’s agenda. No, they weren’t that simple. You can still remember the first one you found on a Post-It note - it went like this:

Y/N, peanut butter on your waffles or syrup?

It took you by surprise, but nonetheless, you answered his call. Each time, you’d find a contrasting pen color and scrawl your answer underneath his. Then leaving it somewhere he would find it the next day. They were one-liners at the beginning, and always interesting. Walking to his classroom from your car on those mornings, you’d fill with excitement at the anticipation of finding the next one. Sometimes it took you the entire day to find where he had hidden them.

In the closet.

In a nook in a drawer.

Under the chair.

On the backside of one of his books.

Hidden in plain sight amongst his current choice of notes and lists.

They never failed to spark a smile on your lips, whether it was quirky, confused, astounded or humored.

Guitar or piano?

FRIENDS or The Simpsons?

Vanilla or Chocolate?

Would you rather become a superhero or a wizard?

The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?

Slowly, the questions became more personal, and more than just ‘this or that.’ His questions became longer, and so did your answers.

What was the moment that made you decide to become a teacher?

Is Donny a good student for you, or is he lying to me about that?

What color are your eyes?

What book/film do you believe had the largest impact on you while growing up?

What is the one meal you always order at a restaurant?

Do you have a family?

Should I splurge and buy a new desk chair?

What book should I buy for my classroom you think I need to have? Why?

Why don’t you have a classroom of your own?

When is your birthday?

Star Wars or Lord of the Rings?

They were never a chore for you, or tedious. No, they were fun and you felt as if you saw a little sliver of who he really was with each note. After a while, you started to write and leave your own notes for him to answer. At first, many of them were similar to ones he had left you, because you wanted to hear his responses, too.

The newest one stares back at you, his half-cursive registering in your eyes.

What’s your favorite part about subbing in my classroom? Don’t say the students, that’s what everybody says.

Giggling to yourself, you reach over to his Pink Floyd mug to pull out a green pen. You take a moment to think of your answer. This time you found the note peeking out from behind the smart whiteboard. The sounds of the end of a school day tickle at your ears as you scribble down your answer. Pressing it to an open square of wood on his desk, you turn back to the royal blue pad of Post-Its. Peeling one off, the green pen hovers over the paper, but you can’t get yourself to write the question you’ve been wanting to know all along.

He didn’t have a Facebook, or an Instagram.

The high school doesn’t have a wall of staff pictures like others you’ve subbed at do.

It’s late winter, so yearbooks are still a ways off.

For all you know, you could have seen him here before in the halls when you subbed in another classroom.

Exhaling, you press the pen to the paper before you can convince yourself to stop. Unlike the many times before when your fears got the best of you.

What do you look like?

With a proud but nervous smile you stick it to the desk, layering the first note on top. It sticks to your lips as you bend down to reach your hand into your bag. The glossy bag greets your hand, and you pull it out to set down beside the note.

A small bag of Bit-O-Honeys.

Looking up, your eyes scan the empty classroom. Few footsteps, voices, and lockers slamming trickle in from the halls. You suddenly realize that this is the same view he sees, these are the same sounds he hears, and the same place he sits in every day. Well, when he’s not away on personal days, sick days, on holiday, and at workshops, hence your appearances. The thought knits something together inside of you, making you feel just that bit more closer to him. Something that’s been slowly happening over time since you first stepped foot in his classroom.

One of the first things that did this was the posters scattered across his walls. A poster from the 2013 remake of The Great Gatsby, The Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover, a cartoon of William Shakespeare, a unifying print of Keith Haring’s art, and several posters of quotes from famous books - To Kill A Mockingbird, the Kite Runner, Of Mice and Men, The Life of Pi, and even The Hunger Games. It delighted you watching him add some of them to the walls since your time here, and you’ve been itching to purchase him one as a gift. You’re unsure of what he would like though, and the fear of failure has held you back from doing so.

A bleep! catches your attention. Casting your eyes to the dormant desktop screen, you wiggle the mouse. A red circle has appeared on the title of a tab opened to your professional email. Clicking over to it from a YouTube video he had you show the class, you find you have a new message. At the sight of who sent it, your heart skips a beat: harry.styles@isd . . . . . . .

Hi. I reckon you’re still sitting at my desk this moment, now that’s a funny thought. I wanted to ask you a question while I remembered. I have to go out of town on Friday for a funeral. Believe me, I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to, but these things are a must. I apologize for it being short notice, but I thought I’d ask you if you would like to take it before I posted it to the sub database. Please let me know either way by tonight, so it has a few days to sit on the website to be claimed. Also, I wanted to say thanks for everything you do. My students really love you, and it makes me wonder what I’m missing. Enjoy your night!

Sincerely,

Harry Styles

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. - WW”

A smile warms your cheeks as you finish reading his words, and the familiar poem that ends every email of his. You quickly type up a response to him, agreeing to take the job on Friday, thanking him for thinking of you. A new email appears in your inbox shortly after from another colleague, which occupies you before you lose yourself in your thoughts again.

Perhaps your favorite addition in his classroom is the Fender acoustic sitting on a stand in the corner. Of course, you’ve yet to see it move in the last five months. The stories his students have told you in a way have given it legs of its own in your mind. Much like the little notes you’ve been leaving for each other, something you dread ever ending.

It was a Wednesday. You’re convinced that Mrs. Watson’s Pre-Calc class is surely the bane of your existence. You keep cursing yourself for taking sub assignments for math classes. Seeing that you’re terrible at the subject, you vowed you’d never take one of her assignments again, but you have to pay the bills somehow. You found your respite in the cozy staff lounge. Couches lined two of the walls, along with an arrangement of tables on the other side of the room.

As you walk in, you see that one of the ancient history teachers has nodded off again on the plaid couch. Otherwise, the room is empty, and all to yourself. If that didn’t make you happy before, the assortment of food on the counter definitely does.

Voices float in through the open door as the plastic lid to the cupcakes opens with a pop!

“Ah, looks like ya got tha last chocolate one. I was savin’ that one fer me,” a voice comments from behind you. Turning, you find a tall man in his late 20’s walking towards you.

“Oh, I’m sorry, you can have it,” you volunteer, holding the blue-iced cupcake out for his taking.

His blush lips curl up with an amused smile. Dimples fall neatly into his cheeks covered with thick stubble. Its deep brown color matches that of the short quiffed curls atop his head. Misty green eyes stare back at you in the middle of his round, but sharp face. “‘m only joking. Go ahead and have it. I already had one earlier. They’re quite good actually, but I dunno ‘bout tha vanilla. Never really cared fer tha flavoir when it comes t’ cake and ice cream,” he comments, passing you to stop at the nearby sink.

“Yeah, I like to forget vanilla exists half of the time,” you remark, peeling away the paper liner of the cupcake.

Leaning against the counter, you watch as his ringed hand grabs a red coffee mug from the cabinet. “So do I. ‘s ratha boring, if I do say so meself.”

Nodding to yourself, a silence follows your words. The sweetness of the cupcake is shocking when you take a bite. It makes you wonder how you devoured these sugar bombs as a child. A few beeps and a hum from the microwave echo throughout the room as you check your phone.

“Y’know, I haven’t seen ya here at tha school befo’. Are ya new dis year or a sub?” he asks, bringing your eyes back to his lean figure. He pulls a yellow square packet from his tight-fitting black slats, a blush button-down tucked into its waist.

“I started subbing here this year,” you answer before taking another bite of the cupcake. Half of it consists of the sickeningly sweet frosting that makes your teeth ache.

“Mmmm I see. How d’ya like it so far? Are ya a new teacher, ‘s that why yer subbin’?”

“Yeah, I went back to school kinda late in the game after doing something else. I figure I’d sub for a little bit for some experience, because what’s another year of waiting by this time?” you comment, observing how he fiddles with his black tie while searching in the refrigerator.

“Well, congratulations. ‘s a big step t’ go back t’ school fer sumthin’ ya love. ‘s a good profession, I reckon. I’ve been teaching fer 7 years, and here at dis school fer 5. Sumtimes schools even hire subs they’ve had when a position opens, so keep yer eyes open,” he tells you, turning to you with a smile, a yogurt in his hand.

“Thank you,” you say sincerely, returning the smile. “I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

“Sure thing. I know it helped loads when I was a newbie. ‘ll see ya around, I gotta get back t’ class befo’ me students do first. Have a good one!”

Walking towards you with the steaming cup of tea in his hands, he pats your arm with his other hand on the way out. Nodding at your ‘thank you’, a small ‘you’re welcome’ falls from his lips before the door closes behind him. Eating the last bite you can muster of the cupcake, you toss its remains in the bin. A thought worms its way into your mind as you sit down at the table.

Wow, I wonder who that guy was? And is he married, because shit, he was handsome.

The smell of orange essential oil greets you when you stepped foot into his classroom the next time. The state of his desk made you frown, and made you want to scratch the itch to clean it. You resisted it and didn’t, and that thought was taken away when his students began to find their desks.

Another day of 7 classes came and went. 2 classes of Introduction to Creative Writing. 3 classes of American Literature. 2 classes of World Literature. Amusing YouTube videos broke up the monotony of your day, and those of his students. The lesson notes he left for you had become more concise as the months have passed, and as you learned from each other. The same couldn’t be said for the dish of Bit-O-Honeys on his desk that he’s kept stocked for your appearances. You’re just glad he’s put the bag you left for him to good use. All throughout your day you had been looking for his newest note, but this time it wasn’t in any of his usual spots. After correcting some quizzes from today, you finally found it in the bottom left-hand drawer of his mahogany desk. Stuck to a tall can of Coke, your favorite drink of choice.

I’m sorry it’s warm, although I’m not sure how you like to drink it. I just find warm soda to be rather nasty. The answer to your question is I have green eyes, brown hair, I’m rather tall, and I like to dress up. Is that good enough for you? Now, what do you look like, love?

Your insides melt at the sight of his answer, but then you groan at the vagueness of it. Off the top of your head, you know there are at least 10 male teachers here at this school with brown hair, maybe more. Maybe even with green eyes, too, and you know that because you’ve seen them in the staff lounge or in the halls. The thought only grows worse when you lose count of how many teachers there are here at this school. Let’s just say, there’s a lot. Yeah, that sure helps a whole lot. Annoyed, you pluck a pen from the green mug and answer his question with as little detail as possible. Two can play at this game, you think to yourself as you sigh.

If you could have a jam session with any musician, dead or alive, who would it be?

Sticking the new note where its corner peeks out from under his tabletop calendar, your eyes return to the Coke. It’s undeniable, you feel a little less perturbed at him just at the sight of it. Only a little bit, that is. Sure, you’ve subbed for a countless number of teachers at this school, and more so in this school district. A few of them are even friends or relatives of yours, but you’d never connected with one before like you have with Harry. You just wish more than anything you could find out what he looks like and what he’s really like. Continuing to take his sub jobs doesn’t really help with that. It only drives you crazier wanting to know the other side of this fascinating human being.

There he was, snoring on the couch again, tv remote in hand. The weather channel is playing, surprising you very little. Snickering, you yank open the door to the black refrigerator. After retrieving your striped black and blue lunchbox, you place the container of leftovers in the microwave. A laugh is heard over your shoulder, and when you turn, you find Green Eyes from the other day.

Tittering as the door closes behind him, he says, “No fail, John ‘s always passed out on dat couch, I swear.”

“I know, it’s every time I’m here. Maybe he should just retire already so he can take his naps at home. Then maybe we could watch something on the tv for once,” you comment, shaking your head. Unpacking your lunch box, you take out a clementine, vanilla yogurt, and silverware.

“Nah, he loves it too much. I don’t see him leavin’ anytime soon,” he remarks, walking past you to search the shelves of the fridge. “What’re we having’ t’day? Couldn’t find any cupcakes dis time?”

“No, those ones were too sweet anyways. They gave me a stomachache,” you complain with a grimace. The beeeeep! of the microwave interrupts your thoughts.

“Mmmm, I dunno, I thought they were pretty good.” Rubbing his tummy, he pulls a breathy laugh from your lips.

Your steaming container of leftovers almost burns your hands, and you dread trying to eat it within the next 10 minutes. Setting up for a lesson in Mr. Harrison’s classroom was a pain, making you wonder why you take any sub jobs besides Harry’s anymore.

“No free food fer us t’day,” he pouts beside you, closing the fridge door before venturing to the vending machine in the corner. Your eyes drift to his outfit choice today - a white button-down topped with a buttoned vest the shade of ochre, all tucked into brown slacks.

“That’s why you pack a lunch. I thought you’d know the drill by now, since you said you’ve been teaching for a while.”

“I do, but sumtimes I forget. Yer already ahead o’ me with dat part, love,” he who doesn’t have a name answers with a short laugh. Sliding a leather wallet from his pocket, you see him type in a number before you sit down at the table. “Who are ya subbin’ fer t’day then?”

“I’m on the west side in the Science wing for Harrison. Bloody Bio.”

“Ugh, I neva cared fer science. Where were ya a few weeks ago when I last saw ya?” he questions, sliding out a chair across from you. An assortment of vending machine food hits the table with a slap - peanut M&M’s, a nutrigrain bar, and a bag of Sun Chips.

“Upstairs in Watson’s Maths class. Remind me to never sub for her again, because I can’t understand Pre-Calc for the life of me. I never could in high school so I don’t know why I thought I could know,” you chuckle. A warmth fills your cheeks at the sight of his lips spreading into an amused smile.

“Yeah, I neva cared fer Maths meself eitha. Numbas neva made a bit o’ sense t’ me, words were always betta,” he explains. You nod along with his words, your mouth occupied with a bite of spaghetti and meatballs. “What subject would ya like t’ teach once tha year’s ova an’ ya go searchin’ fer a job o’ yer own?”

“Um, probably something in English since that’s my focus area. Dabbling in History has been fun, though. I enjoy learning about it myself, and I always have a better time subbing in either of those classes,” you reveal.

“I see,” he replies, his head going up and down. The crinkling of the granola bar wrapper fills the silence between you before he takes a bite. Crumbs pepper his chin, but he wipes them away from his thin beard. “How often d’ya sub here then?”

“I’d say probably 3 days a week typically, but some weeks are 4. Otherwise, I sometimes sub for a friend or somebody I know over at the middle school.”

“Ah, so yer license is sumthin’ like 8 - 12, ‘s it?” he inquires, picking up the black mug you hadn’t noticed he had.

“Yeah, I thought that would give me a good range for those grades. With my experience now, I think I’d like to stay at the high school level though,” you continue, twirling you fork around in the noodles covered in tomato sauce. Crossing your legs, the satiny fabric of your black dress pants moves with you.

“We could always use anotha good teacher here. Ya neva know what’ll happen,” he smiles, standing to his feet with his snacks held in his large hand. Returning his smile, he adds his mug to that hand, patting your back once on his way out. “See ya next time, love. Keep yer head up, it’ll get betta.”

“Thanks,” you automatically respond with. When you go to say his name, you’re lost for words, because you suddenly remember you’ve never gotten it. Now, he’s already too far away to ask for it.

Shrugging your shoulders, you stab a meatball with your fork, wondering when the next time will be that you’ll see him again. Because, he sure is nice to look at, and he’s nicer to you than anybody else here.

Stevie Nicks or John Lennon, it’s a tough call. Okay, I’m doing two questions from now on, because you ask such good ones :( Who would you jam with then? Question #2: What was the last concert you went to?

This time, you found the Post-It before the school day even started. It was on the seat of his chair, making you think he wanted you to find it right away. You’re thinking maybe he remembered one of the last times you complained about how hard he had made it. Sometimes you worry about how excited you get to look for these each time you sub in his classroom, but then you remember it’s only once every few weeks.

That can’t hurt, can it?

That day the hallways were louder than they usually were after school. You attributed that to the boys’ semifinals basketball game set to be played tonight in the gymnasium. The school’s home team against a nearby rival school. Students couldn’t stop talking about it all day, and many of them shared they’d be sticking around after school to attend. Checking your watch, you note that you should have enough time to stop at home to eat dinner before coming back for it. Even though you hadn’t even known about it before today.

The Sufjan Stevens song floating from his desktop fills the room as you get out books for tomorrow. Your hands are full with copies of The Kite Runner, making you feel grateful again to Harry- Mr. Styles for picking a decent classic for the class to read. Although you’d only read it a few years ago yourself, and it broke your heart, you’re excited to sub next time to help his World Lit class with it.

“Oh hey, be careful there, yer gonna slip and fall with all o’ those,” somebody says from behind you, distracting you from your mission of bringing the pile of books from the closet to a desk.

Don’t I know that voice? Turning your eyes to the doorway, you find Green Eyes walk in with a coat slung over his arm. Wait a second.

“I-I’m fine,” you stutter, but your actions that follow negate your words. Your eyes run over his familiar features, and slowly the puzzle pieces start to click in your head. Harry? A thought bomb explodes in your head, and the books tumble from your arms. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Yer okay,” he murmurs, stopping in front of you. Kneeling down, you both begin to pick up the books, stacking them on top of each other. “Thanks for gettin’ me set up fer t’morrow though. I appreciate it.”

“Mmmhmm,” is all you can say, because any words that want to come out can’t get past the lump in your throat. One that’s there because of the realization you just had.

Green Eyes and Harry are the same person.

How did I not figure this out sooner?

“So, ya must be Y/N, huh?” he giggles, his head bent down as he helps you pick up the books.

“Y-Yeah, surprise,” you admit, and your laugh soon joins his. Before you know it, the both of you can’t stop laughing.

“Here,” you hear him say. Looking up, you find him standing in front of you holding his hand out for you to take. A cozy looking maroon sweater covers his upper half, and blue jeans don the rest. “Fancy meetin’ you here,” he jokes in between laughs.

“You’re right about that,” you answer, taking his hand. He helps you to your feet where you smooth down the violet skirt of your dress. “I can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots.”

“Yer not tha only one, love,” Harry comments, bending over to grab a stack of books. He begins to set one on each desk as he walks down the aisles of them. “But I s’pose there wasn’t any way t’ know.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t find you on Facebook,” you confess, cursing yourself for the slip up a few seconds later. Lifting your head from the book you just set on a desk, you find his amused eyes on you across the room.

“Ah, so ya were stalkin’ me, were ya?” he smirks, his delightful laugh following his words.

“No, I wasn’t! You’re just one of the only colleagues I’ve subbed for who I’ve never met, or like don’t know what they look like.”

Your small stack soon disappears and when you return to the pile at the back of the room, he does too.

“So, what d’ya think? Are ya disappointed then?”

“No,” you say automatically, lifting your eyes to his green ones that land on you. His cheeks lined with a thick, neat beard crease with dimples as he smiles at you.

“Neither am I . . . . Ms. Vance Joy fan,” he returns, holding your gaze. The sincerity in his words gets under your skin, going straight to your heart. The sarcastic joke inside of them makes you giggle.

Clearing your throat, you look away with what you’re sure are blushing cheeks. Most likely, an entire blushing face. “What are you doing here, anyways, if you were gone for the day?”

“I can’t miss me boys’ big game, a few o’ me students are on tha team. I thought I’d catch up on sum emails and grading befo’hand, but didn’t know ya’d still be here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just leaving, anyways,” you mutter, your movements stilling.

“I didn’t mean it dat way, love. ‘m glad we finally met, it was about time, anyways,” Harry insists, and you nod before continuing to place a book at each desk. “Hey wait, you said you were short and all plain in yer note. No, yer not, ya fibber.”

“Oh like your description was any more accurate,” you scoff lightheartedly, setting down a book before grabbing another from your dwindling stack.

His rich laugh meets your ears, and you can’t resist looking over to him. “Ya didn’t give yerself enough credit, ya know,” he almost coos, and you swear your heart melted into a puddle right then and there. That’s if it hadn’t done so already when you realized he’s Green Eyes. Swoon.

It’s hard to hold back the excitement curling at the edge of your lips. Soon, you run out of books again and when you take a peek at him, so has he.

“Were ya gonna go?” he questions, and you deal him one when you look at him confused. “T’ tha game, I mean.”

Your body feels like jello, and that any move you make would be sloppy. Embarrassing. That’s the last thing you want to look like in front of him. With his dazzling smile, adorably dimpled cheeks, and the cozy vibes he’s giving off. Not to mention, the clean citrus scent wafting off of him. A smell you certainly would be okay with smelling for hours on end. If only.

“Well bloody Rob around tha corner bailed on me, so I have an extra ticket now. Would ya like t’ join me? I was thinkin’ o’ grabbin’ a sub from ‘round tha corner befo’. Concession food ‘s always too expensive, and never worth tha lines at halftime,” Harry suggests, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. One corner of his mouth climbs up his cheek, making you feel like maybe you’re not alone in these jumbled feelings. Or in the fun you’ve had carrying on this blind relationship with him.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun. Maybe we could get to know each other a little better than the few words Post-It notes can hold.”

Slowly, the other corner of his lips curls upwards, making the dimple fall into his cheek once again. Nodding, his lips split into a full-fledged smile, singing with a chuckle. “I’d really like that,” he reveals before venturing to the door and shutting off the light. Extending an arm, he waves a hand towards himself.

“Hold on, let me get my things.”

“No rush. ’s not like ‘ve waited seven months fer dis or anythin’,” he quips. By now, you’re certain your face resembles a tomato. You hope that in the muted light, perhaps he won’t notice.

Hurriedly, you slip on your light coat and drape your bag over your shoulder. Your eyes catch something as you’re tucking your phone in your pocket. Grabbing one last thing, you turn to find him watching you from the lit doorway.

“What?” he wonders aloud, still with that smile etched onto his face. One you’re fairly sure you could get used to seeing.

“Here,” you tell him, placing the Post-It note in his palm. His fingers dotted with dark hairs brush against you, just for a second longer than need be.

“Ah, can’t forget dis now. Important stuff here.”

“Indeed,” you note, stifling a laugh as the sarcasm floats in the air.

You observe his eyes flit across the paper holding your cursive as your steps echo down the empty hallway.

“Hmmm, funny. It says ‘would you like to meet up sometime’ on here,” Harry reads, casting his twinkling eyes to you. Green eyes. “I was jus’ ‘bout t’ ask ya tha same thing on me next note. But I had sumthin’ that woulda took tha cake fer sure.”

“What’s that?” you remark, wondering how that could be. Those thoughts fly out the window when you feel his arm come around your shoulder. A squeal sounds inside of your head, but hey, at least that’s far less embarrassing than doing it out loud.

“I was gonna tell ya dat Tracy across tha hall from me ‘s leavin’ afta dis year, and I may have recommended a certain sumbody t’ tha principal t’ replace her,” Harry hums, a knowing glint dancing in his eyes as they hover over you. “What d’ya say t’ bein’ colleagues instead o’ bein’ me sub?”

“I think I could get used to that,” you answer, letting your smile take over your entire face.

“So could I, love. So could I.”

455 notes · View notes

satsuki2406 · 4 years

Text

OPEN SKY Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

“…And never, ever forget that, your dreams are the wings that’ll help you fly.”

(L/N)(Y/N) has always been forced to live according to others’ expectations. As a member of the powerful and influential (L/N) Family, she has had to live with the heavy weight of seeing others write her destiny with no choice but just obey. But when (Y/N) finally decides to risk it all to take the only opportunity to regain the control of her own life, everything ends up going horribly wrong. Surrendered and disappointed, she receives one last chance to prove to herself and to U.A, along with some unexpected help that this was not a crazy and meaningless waste of time.

Maybe this plan could work after all…

PAIRING: (Bakugou Katsuki x Reader)

GENRE/WARNINGS: Romance, Fluff, Angst, Mentions of sex (nothing explicit tho), dark themes, My poor attempt of comedy, family dysfunctionality, toxic relationships, Strong language (Courtesy of King Lord Explosion Murder 💥), Manga Spoilers.

STATUS: On going

Masterlist \(￣︶￣*\))

6- Have We Got a Deal?

✒A/N:

I rewrote this chapter like three times, and hopefully, now it turned out better. I read my progress again a couple of weeks ago and it was simply, not right. I hated it so much that I decided to delete it and work again on it. The essence is the same of what I planned for this chapter and although it is a bit longer now, I took the chance to get into more detail about certain things and express better about others. The conversation between Reader-chan and Kaguya may have become a bit deeper than it used to be, but I really liked the outcome and gave me more ideas for the future plot. That's all for now.

Hope you enjoy it! q(≧▽≦q)

So, my dear sweet cousin, do you accept or not?

“W-Wait a minute! You can’t be serious, do you- do you understand the implications of what you’re saying?!” You said incredulously.

“Of course I do, why do you think we are here?” Kaguya said while she took another canape and bit it. She chewed slowly while you watched her attentively, the dread in your stomach growing by increments, exasperated for her to continue. She finally swallowed and took a sip of wine.

“So? Would you care to explain what on earth is actually happening, because you don’t expect me to believe that the cause of such an unprecedented change is because of some internet gossip” You said in a demanding tone.

“Of course it’s not, but if you are patient enough I’ll explain it to you with pleasure, so you better watch your tone with me, brat.” She hissed.

You puffed out your cheeks but nodded in cue for her to continue.

“Approximately three days ago grandmother convened a last-minute meeting in her abode to discuss this problem. At first, I thought she was overreacting about this whole ordeal, after all big corporates and companies are attacked and critized all the time, but after a long, long discussion, we all agreed that the situation should not be taken lightly and it needed to be addressed as soon as possible.”

“That bad it is?” You asked slightly concerned.

“Unfortunately,” Kaguya answered. “Walls covered in graffiti in Kyoto, people protesting and messing with the employees at the ER main entrance in Hosu, broken windows in Deika and thousands and thousands of emails and nasty messages in all our social media accounts. We had to hire the services of a whole publicity agency so they could deal with the problem, hardly. It has been difficult to contain, but it paid off because it hasn’t been leaked into any important newscast. Internet, the origin of the problem, has been another story, unfortunately, in these cases, it can be very difficult and unforgiving to work with; once something enters, is nearly impossible to pull it out and if you succeed there’s always a risk it would pop up anywhere when you least expect it.” Kaguya said while she rubbed her temples.

“Internet is a huge source of news and information for thousands of people nowadays, even millions, fake or not, and also the main responsible that this situation slipped out of control faster.”

You contemplated your next words as you soaked in all the information you just were provided with, so you could express your ideas and queries as clear as possible. “Okay…but why is everybody so angry about our current family situation? I get it’s messed up, but why go as far as vandalize privite property and nag about it on social media?” You asked slightly hesitant.

“As an institution, we had always presented and preserved ourselves as a family, working to, and for the Japanese families generation after generation, no matter where we went, we always went together, always radiating the image of a happy, healthy, and unified family. Throughout the time several members of our family had made multiple presentations in public inspiring kindness and charisma, earning the trust and love of the people, which is impressive considering the heavily hero centered world we live in. Now that there are strong rumors putting all of these apparent facts into question, some people feel mocked, disappointed, and cheated… besides other things.” Kaguya mumbled.

“Sorry I could not listen the last part Kaguya.” You said puzzled.

“Don’t worry, I was just talking to myself, the important thing is that the problem is been solved, millions will be invested but is necessary. We have already started a huge ad campaign, a lot of important heroes will be involved so we can reassure and remind people why we have been their number one choice during over a century, that we still the same and will always remain the same, that we do not change, we improve.”

“I see, but you haven’t explained what does this have to do with me going to U.A-”

“As I told you she decided to make exceptions, due to the unusual situation we are going through right now we need unusual solutions as well and as part of our ad campaign and for the sake of our image she decided that two fortunate souls would have the chance to pursue a carrier of their choice, you know to placate the masses.”

“ Of course, a different series of factors would be taken into account when examining the option chosen and its potential benefits for the interests of the company, if these results are not satisfactory, the other alternatives will be analyzed to find a more suitable one and the aforementioned process will be repeated. Once we find satisfactory results, grandmother will proceed to revise everything once more and give her approval or deny it.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that we are doing the same thing but with more options? And they are going to evaluate if we can actually perform well in these new career options?” You asked unimpressed at your grandmas’ unwillingness to let the leash lose a bit even in a situation like this.

“Exactly right, it’s a change but there are still rules nonetheless.” Kaguya affirmed as she refilled her cup again. “Don’t get me wrong, she is really mad, just the thought of sacrifice two pawns in one single move is driving her crazy”

“Which selection system will be used in this case?” You asked.

“Nominations. As you already know there are two potential candidates, besides you of course.”

“Two? But there’s other three-”

“Aya has already been selected by grandmother herself, he’ll be enrolled into U.A next year via recommendation, everything is ready and processed the only thing left is to break the news on him.”

You grimaced, anxious, and preoccupied to see your already thin chances narrow even more. Your cousin, Aya was a famous vlogger and influencer with a strongly settled fanbase in and out of Japan. His videos generally focus on his daily life, trips to cool and exotic destinations, and the typical ‘eat this’, ‘do that’ challenges that always went around the internet.

He also participated in different campaigns to raise funds for different charitable causes and was a fervent advocator of animal rights and the environment, even donating millions from his own pocket. He always did his best to involve the name of the (L/N) Group, allowing them to organize, participate and sponsor some of these events helping bust their image as a caritative, conscious, and woke organization.

The bastard overflew with kindness and charisma and knew how to surround himself with the right people to manage his channel properly, although no relatable for the regular mid-class YouTube user, you had to admit that his videos were fun, entertaining, interesting, and sometimes, informative, that was the reason they were always flooded with millions of views, comments, likes and overall the crushing success he was experiencing every time he uploaded a new one.

He’s rich, famous, handsome, and had an appealing personality, add hero to that list and you’ll get the recipe to success. It wouldn't surprise you at all if he reached the top 10 of the HBC in a year just out of sheer popularity. His quirk is also fitted for a hero, he’ll need some serious training, but nothing that money and elite PT could not manage.

“How am I supposed to compete with that?” You whispered with your head down watching how your knuckles turned whiter as your hands crinkled your uniform skirt.

“Don’t trouble yourself with what you’re not supposed to, Aya is not competition, not anymore, instead try to focus on the actual competition, and may I add that you got a really big chance with my brother out of the picture. Kaguya smirked at you confidently.

“You think so?” You asked doubtfully.

“Believe me (Y/N), my sister is really smart and competent, but has the charm and social skills of a cardboard box, and Himeko, well… we could resume all her virtues, abilities and skills to shopping, makeup, gossip, selfies, social media, being pretty and an absolute headache. Grandmother got big plans for her after she graduates though, so I’ll take her out of the picture as well.”

“Big plans?” You said arching your eyebrow.

“Let’s say that, right now, we have a great, juicy, and very convenient deal that is in negociation right now and she is a vital piece to close it successfully. Don’t worry, your curiosity will be satiated soon enough.”

“What worries me is that I think I got a grasp of what you’re talking about.”

“Aw. Come on, businesses are businesses (Y/N), C’est la vie.” She said as she shrugged uninterested.

“Yeah, because is not you.” You grumbled.

“Excuse me?”

“I said, why don’t you continue.”

“You are right, where we were? Oh, right.”

‘Was she really just dismissing the topic like that?!’

“Tell me (Y/N), do you think that I would have brought you here and propose this plan to you if I didn’t have an ace up my sleeve? Please. There are some important and positive points that can grant us success if we exploit them properly, but we must play our cards wisely, unfortunately, that’ll have to wait until we are completely alone.” Confused your arched your eyebrow, until your ears were met with the sound of the wheels of a certain golden cart rapidly approaching.

“Hello again ladies, let me take this off,” Hiro said while he took the almost empty canape plate along the rest of the dishes. “Is there anything else you would like? Would you like another beverage (L/N)-sama?” Hiro said looking at your semi voided glass.

“Y-Yes please”

“Alright!” With the swift and skill of years of experience, Hiro served your plates, removed the shiny silver food covers, refilled both water cups and Kaguya’s wine cup as well in less than a minute. “Please enjoy, if there’s anything else you would like I’ll be happy to assist you! I’ll be back in a minute with your drink miss.”

You spent the next couple of minutes in total silence waiting for your drink in order to continue your conversation privately and interruption-free. Just as said, Hiro returned instants later with the promised drink and finally left you two to converse calmly.

“Well, now that the coast is clear, let me fill you up with what you have to know and do in order to obtain a favorable outcome for both of us.” Kaguya began as she sliced a bite of quail breast.

“So, this is my plan…”

Now with your dinner night already finished, you were now heading to your house. This ride was as quiet as the one to the restaurant, but without the suffocating weight of uncertainty. Your head was filled now with the echoes of your conversation with Kaguya, debating, analyzing, considering, comprehending every single word of it.

“You seem troubled, you are doubtful, aren’t you?” Said Kaguya interrupting your thoughts.

“I’m more scared than anything if this doesn’t work-”

“It will, you already know what to do, just focus on that. I’ll keep in contact with you anyway, in case of emergencies or any last-minute matter.” She then proceeded to rummage in her purse and took out a brand-new phone, it was one of those not so high-quality flip phones that you can get for a really low price, probably a disposable one.

“I already put my phone number in it, so we can communicate without issue. This phone is a really basic one, so it has no internet access but you have unlimited calls and texts. Just make sure to keep it hidden from your mother or that blabbermouth maid of yours.”

“Yes, I’ll find a place.”

“Perfect, remember, the announce dinner will be this Saturday, surely your mom would tell you, everybody will be there, they must at least.”

Another twenty minutes passed before you were at the main door of your lavish home. Silently, you excited the car after Soichiro opened the door for you and you headed to the front door.

“We’ll keep in contact, until then, (Y/N).” Kaguya said softly, once she finished Soichiro shut the door, bowed his head, and wished you a good evening. He straightened up his posture and proceeded to hop in the car again. Quietly you observed the car get farther and farther until it disappeared. You stayed there in silence, while the nightly wind swayed your hair delicately. The sound of the door opening distracted you, then, you turned around to be met with the gentle smile of Nobu-san.

“Okaerinasai, (Y/N)-sama, how was your dinner with Kaguya-sama?”

“Pretty…unexpected.” You looked everywhere, making sure that nobody else was listening to your conversation. “I’ll fill you out on the details later” You whispered and Nobu-san nodded knowingly. “I see, your bath is ready (Y/N)-sama. Please take your time and relax, it’s been a long night after all,” He got slightly closer to you and cupped his hand around his mouth, and whispered. “I’m pretty sure you’ll make good use of this time to ponder any thought that is troubling your mind.” He distanced from you, crossed his arms behind his back, and gave you a gentle closed-eye smile. “Would you like a cup of tea after your bath?”

You smiled at him fondly.

“(F/T/F), please.”

You’ve been lying if you said that you could actually sleep the night before. Your head could not stop to reproduce in a loop your conversation with Kaguya the night before, like a broken record you couldn’t escape from. Before you noticed, the outrageous melody of your alarm resounded in the spaciousness of your room. You groaned in protest, unwillingly getting up to start your day.

Dressed and ready, you took your bag and went downstairs to have breakfast. Before you could finish hopping down the stairs you caught a glimpse of your mother sitting at the head chair, like always with your father by her side, she was holding her morning coffee while she read some emails on her laptop.

As always she looked stunning in her soft pink and golden outfit, she crossed her legs, put down her cup and started typing in her laptop.

You straighten your posture the best you could and approached the table with delicate steps. “Good morning mother, good morning dad”

“Good morning dear, how did you sleep?” Said your mother without taking her eyes off the screen in a somewhat flat tone as her fingers tapped nimbly over the keyboard. “Pretty well, and yourself?” You said while you took a seat at the innecesarily expansive dinning table.

“Not so well sadly, there’s been some… issues I had to take care of.” She hissed a bit irritated as she rubbed her temples.

“I-I see, hopefully, you’ll have a better day today, mother.”

“I doubt it, unluckily, but thank you for your words, darling. Now hurry up or you’ll be late.”

“Yes, mother.”

“You should have some fresh fruit honey; the mangos are delicious!” Said the cheerful voice of your father. You smiled fondly at him while he reciprocated with a smile of his own. “I’ll do then, thank you for your suggestion dad.” You answered while one of the maids served you a portion of fresh mixed fruit in a bowl and Nobu-san poured tea in your cup.

“(Y/N)” Spoke your mom.

“Yes, mother?”

“Your grandmother had organized a family dinner this Saturday that we must assist, of course, I expect nothing less of you than be on your best behavior, also is imperative that you choose your outfit today so I can determine if it’s appropriate for the occasion. If you need to go shopping just tell Sasaki, I activated your debit card again just this time.” She said authoritatively.

“Yes mother, I’ll do it today after class.” You said as you topped your fruit with some honey, yougurt and granola.

“Splendid, now if you excuse me, I have to go now, Haru, hurry up or we’ll be late”

“Yes, cara mia” Your father beamed. Your mother then rose from her chair took her handbag and draped her coat over her shoulders. Your father then finished his coffee as soon as he could and went behind her. “Have a good day princess!” Exclaimed you dad. “Thank you, you too!” You answered while you saw them get escorted by an army of bodyguards.

Soon enough the door was closed and you were left alone. “(Y/N)-sama I advise you to hurry as well, school starts in thirty minutes” Said the familiar voice of Nobu-san. “What!? Oh, I’m going to be late! Ok, I got this! I’ll brush my teeth and I’ll be ready-please ask Sasaki-san to start the car! I will be there in a minute!” You stuttered while climbing up stairs.

“Sure thing, Ojou-sama,” He said with an amused smile.

“Thank you again for joining me for shopping Momo”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, I’ll also take the chance to buy some new accessories as well,” Beamed your ravenette friend. It was the end of the school day and you had asked Momo to help you choose new accessories to complement a dress you already had.

“But to be honest I never imagine that your mom would lose her grip on you so soon even if it’s temporary, what surprised me more was what Kaguya-san told you yesterday,” She whispered trying to no let your conversation be known by Sasaki-san although the automated partition window was up as a precautionary measure. “Are you sure you can trust her?” She said concerned.

“I still don’t know, suddenly everything became so complicated, I mean her plan is good and has a high probability to work, and right now I don’t have a better option, I don’t even have any options, to begin with!” You groaned, confused.

“What’s still bugging me is why is she helping you in the first place? I can’t help but find it suspicious no matter how much I think about it. Did you ask her something about it?”

“I did, but she went into this mysterious and enigmatic mode and just said something like ‘You’ll know soon enough’ It would be easier to pinch a glass than get something out of her.” You said with a tone of frustration.

“I guess that the only thing we can do now is to wait and see,” Sighed Momo while she shrugged her shoulders. “By the way, what are we going to do first?” She said more animatedly.

“Let’s start with the shoes and then maybe a new jewelry set, a new clutch as well would be good. What you think?”

“I think is a splendid idea!” Momo exclaimed.

🏷Taglist:

@bakasbitch18

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comrade-meow · 3 years

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The market is said to control the price of rent. However, landlords own large chunks of property and will often withhold property in order to artificially inflate the market prices of rented accommodation.

The cost of rent is forecast to rise by 15% in Britain over the next five years and real wages are stagnating. Whilst this is the result of capitalism’s inherent contradictions, there are many ways in which people have fought and continue to fight to effect real change whilst we progress towards revolution. One of the strongest tactics people have employed against unfair rent, is through rent strikes.

The Communist Party played an integral part in the rent strikes. One popular tactic was for party members to go around all the houses in a street and ask the tenants to pay only the regular amount of rent, not the extra that had just been hiked up.

Women played a particularly prominent role in the rent strikes. The women of the Communist Party were lynchpins who helped organise resistance to landlords. Another popular tactic was where women would switch the nameplates on the doors, in order to confuse the bailiffs who were unfamiliar with the area.

Sometimes these tactics were not quite enough and when someone was facing eviction, the tactic of direct action was employed. Entire streets worth of tenants would flood the street to stop the bailiffs passing.

Another form of rent strike is the use of squatting. Squatting is where people occupy an empty piece of private property that has sat dormant and is not being used to house people. The squatters do not pay any rent to the landlord whilst they are squatting there.

The Connolly Youth Movement in Ireland have had great success at implementing squatting within a communist framework. The movement have implemented communism’s rejection of private property by taking over a former house that has been allowed to become derelict through the hoarding of accommodation under capitalist notions of private property.

The stereotypical view of squats is that they are unsanitary places, but the Connolly Youth Movement have implemented cleaning rotas and principles of democratic centralism, that make for an efficient way of occupying capitalist private property.

There is a proud real socialist history of rent strikes in Britain, although this could be the subject of a whole book, we have tried to cover what we found the most relevant and intriguing.

In the summer of 1939 some 45,000 council housed tenants in Birmingham stood up to Tory rent increases via a mass strike. The 30s’ in Brum was ripe with working class resistance, such as prominent trade unionist Jessie Eden leading 10,000 women out to the Joseph Lucas Motors picket line in 31’, in refusal to the new ‘Beaux’ system introduced in which pay depended on a dubiously measured level of productivity. This women’s strike amongst more industrial action defeated the Lucas bosses, heralding the headline of the 29th January 1932 Daily Worker to be ‘VICTORY! BEDAUX SYSTEM SMASHED!’.

Jessie Eden, Communist of Peaky Blinders fame, was a well known industrial and tenants leader in 1930’s Birmingham. You can read more about her as part of the YCL’s International Women’s Day Series in 2019.

In the advent of further successful industrial action and the slight restabilising of the economy, towards the late 30s’, small sections of Birmingham’s proletariat were receiving a few extra crumbs from the table of the bourgeois, this became an excuse for the Tory council to hugely increase rent on municipal homes, although the real reason was simply so they could lower council tax for their core voter base of middle class home owners.

The rent rises were questionably means tested, based on the size of one’s house, hitting hardest families who had bigger homes to facilitate their children. The Tories sent out forms to means test people in the communities. These did not get filled in. They attempted further coercion by offering temporarily rebated increases for lower income tenants. This did not change many perspectives.

Soon enough Birmingham’s Central Tenants Association got involved, headed by Communist party member Ted Smallbone, with previously mentioned Jesse Eden (now also in the CP) as vice secretary.

Close to when the increases were to be introduced, the CTA arranged a vote regarding a rent strike throughout Birmingham’s estates in the April of 39’. Around 92% were in favour. In a fierce battle, tenants withheld rent from the council for ten weeks. Whole communities were in a state of militancy, protecting their communities from the force of bailiffs and rent collectors. The CTAs own paper, ‘The Tenant’ was used to propagate and maintain the strike, with its circulation of 40,000, using this, signs stating ‘’No rent: On strike’’ were given to tenants and put onto thousands of windows.

The high level of organisation in the strike and the frequency of mass street protests struck fear in the hearts of Birmingham’s elite, showcasing the irrefutable power of an organised working class. The establishment paper The Birmingham Post desperately attempted to break the strike by claiming that most tenants were secretly paying their rent and merely pretended to be striking in fear of ostracization. There was little to no evidence to confirm this. The strike continued at full pace. The council was put into a corner they could not escape, and on the 3rd of July 1939, closing in on the outbreak of world war, the council caved in and abolished the rent increases, maintain the rebated rents and even ushered a promise of 50,000 new municipal homes. These huge compromises showed the power and potential of this rent strike movement, perhaps there would have been a lot of revolutionary potential had it not been just before WWII. Albeit, this brought the Communist Party to the forefront of the rent movement.

Despite the positive effect of post-war housing reform, Britain’s bourgeoisie inevitably still had the intention to squeeze as much as they could out of tenants, which was of course met with fierce resistance.

A notable event being the 1959-61 St Pancras rent strikes. Instigated because of the 1957 Rent Act, which stated that the level of rent would be based on rateable value and also because of the Tories taking control of the Borough in 59’, further increasing the rents. The United Tenants Association, comprised of 35 different labour organisations, suggested a strike, this was carried out by 8,000 tenants, all then threatened with eviction by the council.

It all kicked off on the 22nd of September 1960, when the council sent five bailiffs, accompanied by eight hundred police to evict two leaders of the strike; Arthur Rowe and Don Cook. The community was quickly alerted to what had happened and rushed out of bed to help on that climacteric early Thursday morning. Soon enough, there was a full-on battle between tenants and the police. Their batons were matched with whatever could be found; rocks, sticks, milk bottles…

There were dozens of injuries and arrests, all for the sake of working-class solidarity against the systemic exploitation imposed on them by these policies of Rachmanism. The strikes eventually came to nothing due to the brutal repression by the class traitors within the police, despite this, it reaffirmed the revolutionary potential of mass strikes and showed that there’s an alternative to the conventional politics of pleas, polls and petitions.

There were other significant rent strikes post WWII. One was the East London rent strike of 1968-70. The Tory ran Greater London Council (which was the biggest municipal housing authority in the country), proposed a policy to try and match the price of social housing to that of the private market, which would have increased rent by an average of 70% over the next three years, this resulted in thousands striking and 20,000 protesting on Trafalgar square in solidarity.

In July 1970 the GLC wrote to tenants that if they did not pay up in three weeks they would be evicted; this prompted the creation of an anti-eviction committee and further protests outside the city hall. Eventually the government were forced to step in, shook again by the fear of strong popular resistance, and forced the Greater London Council to retract the increases.

Albeit, my research began to dry up when looking for rent strikes in the 80s’ and beyond. This we have put down too many factors, particularly due to the ‘quieting down’ of real left-wing politics and the rise of Neo-Liberalism. This manifested itself with the elections of the likes of Reagan and Thatcher, the imperialistic destruction of Allende’s socialist project in Chile and the rise of reactionary nationalism in Britain, with the Falklands war and the breaking up of the Britain’s Communist party in 88’.

These are among a plethora of grim events. This period can be defined as an age of nihilism as far as the cause of building a better world is concerned. Nevertheless, to borrow from Engels, this period seems to be withering away. In Scotland, the grassroots tenant’s union, Living Rent, with many Party and YCL members involved, are building a strong network of resistance against exploitative private landlords and unifying local authority tenants who have been too long neglected by the council. This can be seen with their outreach programme in the Muirhouse estate of Edinburgh.

There is also ACORN, Living Rent’s sister union, operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their work has liberated thousands of tenants from unfair evictions and unjust money grabbing from previously unchallenged landlords. Only time will tell what the future brings, but the power of British communists and therefore the working class is inevitably on its way up.

#Anglo.txt

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sims4imperialhouseofmarasea · 4 years

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TIRM celebrate Their Ruby Wedding Anniversary & HIRM Empress Sheva celebrates The 35th Year Of Her Reign.

A week after the birth of their first grandchild and the announcement of the imminent arrival of a second, TIRM have released celebratory photos for their Ruby (40th) Wedding Anniversary and the 35th year of HIRM reign.

In their ceremonial attire, our monarchs certainly looked to have reached their golden years. After taking the Imperial Throne at the age of 30, HIRM did ascend uncharacteristically late, but has made great use of her time since then with the help of her husband.

Having already made history before her coronation, by marrying someone out side the aristocracy and with no Imperial Royal blood, our Empress has made many changes to traditions upheld by the Imperial Family for hundreds of years, and opened the door to making the Imperial Family more approachable and connect with Maraseans of all ages.

Through their marriage, the couple immediately connected with all classes, aristocracy or not, of the Unified Kingdoms and saw Imperial Royal popularity saw. Also through their endorsements and creations of charities aimed at making education available to all, only acted to endear the couple to the people even more.

TIRM still visit many of the charities they created in the early years and their children are also patrons to many of them, continuing their work.

Even the couples encouragement of their children to get a public education and progress to University, further installed the couples belief that education should be available to all in the eyes of their subjects,

It is also no secret that the Imperial Royal Family has access to immense wealth and the announcement that the family would cut their intake from the Imperial Tax from 25% to 10% in her 10th year and the creation of Imperial Royal Grant, which pays half of all university fees, in her 15th saw a boom in university attendance and the reduction of the loss of educated Maraseans by migrating to city centres for work. The access to education has allowed typically isolated rural areas and far reaching parts of the Kingdoms to develop become apart and share in the wealth and prosperity previously focused in the Capital Cities. It also closed the gap created by the class divide.

Of course, these drastic changes were not always met with open arms, many members of her extended family and of the aristocracy were against the changes, but children and grandchildren of vast majority of against the developments are staunch supporters and many are also involved with many of the charities.

Now seasoned Rulers, these new photos show Monarchs who are at ease and well suited to their role, when compared to images taken when the couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary and 15th year of HIRM’s reign.

TIRM show no signs of slowing down in their charitable endeavours, but have begun to delegate some of their responsibilities to their children, the next generation of Senior Royals. TIRH The Imperial Grand Duchess and Duke of Marasea have been taking on most of these responsibilities and we expect they will carry on the legacy and precedence set by TIRM

There are sure to be many more prosperous years under TIRM.

Long may they Reign!!!

#ts4monarchy #ts4 monarchy #ts4blacksims #ts4 blacksims #ts4blackroyals #ts4 blackroyals #ts4 royalfamily #ts4royal family #ts4 royal family #ts4royalty #ts4 royalty #ts4 lepacy #ts4 anniversary #ts4 jubilee #sims4blacksims #sims4 blackroyals #sims 4 black sims

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kendrixtermina · 5 years

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The Recruitment Freebies: Thoughts on Sylvain and Felix

Now when it comes to recruiting characters, there are 2 who kind of stand out and are, in their own way, somewhat ‘easier’ to get.

Sylvain joins you automatically if you’re playing fem Byleth, whereas Felix actually requires high stats/abilities that no one else does but since your primary weapon is most likely going to be a sword anyways and he requires sword skill, he’s actually not so hard to collect. Given that they’re both handy units (Felix kicks butt like no tomorrow, Sylvain is pretty customizable and gets a relic early on) you’re sorta encouraged to snatch one or both.

If you’ve seen them in their original environment, you’ll easily notice why: They’re kind of the kingdom’s token cynics.

[Longer Essay Under The Cut]

The Initial Situation

One thing that stands out right away is that the Blue Lions are one of the tightest-knit groups: The Black Eagles have sort of vaguely heard of each other because most the imperial nobility lives in the capital and the one commoner used to be famous, but that’s it, only Linhardt and Dorothea really express any regret over betraying Edelgard if they do, and their fates don’t differ that much by whatever faction they’re in - Ferdinand is certainly sad to see the Empire itself go down (see that amusing line about an ‘Adrestia-shaped hole in [his] heart’) and has a minor existential crisis when his family’s lands are confiscated after he spend his whole life preparing to rule them, but while he gets that line wondering what might have become of him if Byleth had chosen a different path, he pretty much always becomes a statesman no matter who winds up on the throne.

The Golden Deer, meanwhile, are from wildly different backgrounds and even Claude just showed up last year. If they stay together, they eventually become a tight-knit group under Claude’s leadership (except Lorenz, if Byleth’s not with them), and if you recruit em, they will largely pursue their own interests as they were never too unified to begin with, with most of the commoners saying they were never that involved in politics, and most of the nobles acting out of self-preservation or opportunism.

By contrast, most of the Blue Lions know each other personally and will be pretty conflicted about defecting from the Kingdom if you recruit them, and it’s no wonder:

Sylvain, Felix Ingrid and Dimitri were childhood friends and all big weapons enthusiasts, Dedue has followed Dimitri everywhere he went for the last few years, Anette’s father worked for Dimitri’s, Mercedes is Anette’s BFF from magic school and while Ashe didn’t know the others before since he was a poor village kid before Lonato took him in, he becomes fast friends with the rest of them due to their shared admiration of knight stories.

So in this more idealistic and old-fashioned groups, Sylvain and Felix can be thought of as the token cynics or more independently-minded characters. This is most obvious with Felix: He sticks out like a sore thumb, vocally expresses his dislike of the others and their values and basically keeps to himself on the training grounds, and its only through the other’s doormatsey dispositions that they seem determined to ignore his hostilities and continue considering him a friend whether he wants to or not. He doesn’t fit in with the other Blue Lions at all.

Sylvain, meanwhile, doesn’t stand out that much at first glance, he seems like another fairly common character archetype in the silly childhood friends lineup and gives Ingrid plenty of cause to get into Mom Friend mode, but the whole thing with him is that while he pretends to be a hedonistic oaf, he’s actually something of a brooding intellectual type underneath, very ‘byronic’ overall.

Ultimately, both of them are motivated by a desire for, and love of freedom. (which is probably why a lot of ppl think they’d be a compatible and interesting as a romantic couple - for all their outward difference, they have a common ‘core’ there) Sylvain has been treated all his life like his life and power don’t really belong to himself and he desperately strains against those binds by acting out, and Felix finds his countrymen to have a bit of a grostesque lemming mentality and wants no part of that.

At the same time both show their ‘cynism’ in very different ways, and neither of them is a ‘complete’ cynic, but the areas where you find their residual idealism are also different. I would say that Felix’ cynism is more apparent, while Sylvain’s runs much deeper, but more on that later.

Though he cares little about maintaining a reputation and indeed seems to sorta seek out or get a kick out doing what his father would hate, calling himself a ‘good for nothing/scoundrel/ someone who’s going to hell’, to sorta go against that pressure to be a good kid, when it comes down to it he’s actually still pretty honorable and does actually believe in The Power Of Friendship (as noted by both Ashe and Dimitri - it’s probably why they like him) He’s inclined to be a Good Guy, he just doesn’t want the pressure that goes along with it.

It reminds me a bit of that one Fiona Apple song: “Do I wanna do right? Of course./ But Do I really wanna feel I’m forced to/ answer you?/ Hell no!”

Felix meanwhile - well. Some might say he’s tsundere, and I suppose he is, stock phrases wise, but to put it more specifically what he is is counterdependent. Which is a word commonly used to describe that teenage behavior of always doing the exact opposite of what your parents or the mainstream do, thereby being just as influenced as a dependent person. It’s closer to being dependent than indepedent - He wants badly to be independent, but doesn’t really know how. He still very much has attachments to his father and his oldtime childhood friends, he just rejects them fiercely, because between Glenn’s death and his first deployment to Sreng, he came to see that attachment as something that will destroy him, something incompatible with self-preservation. He still dearly loves Rodrigue, Dimitri and the others, but he doesn’t want to be like them. He wants to be free, he’s a reasonable man and sees that they’re all walking off a cliff and he doesn’t wanna jump of of it, but his opposition is so absolute because some part of his kind of wants to.

At the same time he’s not entirely a complainer for complaining’s sake. Though very fighting-focussed he has his own strong code of ethics and standards- Dimitri markedly falls short of them. They’re not that different, Felix too feels the wide open wound of being still bonded and attached to people who aren*t there anymore (”Training for a duel with a corpse”, as he puts it) - But while Dimitri let it eat his life (though there’s more complexity here of course but that would derail this into a whole different essay), Felix kinda errs on the opposite side of pushing down all attachment, but at the same time, he does it because he’s concerned with saving the ones who are still alive. That’s the point he stresses in his paralogue where he argues with his father, “We’re here to protect our subjects”. He wants to protect himself, yes, but he also wants to protect other people. He’s all about that. He wants people to protect themselves not glorify throwing their lives away.

Which is why despite all his vocal complaining he still ultimately hangs out with the others, cannot help but worry about their wellbeing etc. They might be negative bonds now but they’re still very much bonds.

Meanwhile, in Sylvain’s case the cynism comes not from rejection but disillusionment and distrust. He’s a good guy but his ability to form bonds is almost completely destroyed. All his life he got showered with fake conditional love while being presented with an example of what would happen if he didn’t stay in ppl’s good graces: His brother, who’d been dropped like a hot potato. I don’t think he can think of himself as good; He kinda got treated as an unfair existence the moment he came into the world. At least if you get no love, you still have the hope that you might eventually get love. But fake love? Fake love poisons everything. It’s disgusting wrong, it’s not really for you and it just makes you wanna get rid of it by any means neccessary. Speaking from experience here.

Apart from the bonds he got with his childhood friend and those with exceptional people skills like Byleth, Mercedes and Dorothea, he doesn’t really trust anyone beyond a certain level.

But that’s a subtle distinction.

At first the most apparent difference, and the first contrast to come up in their support chain, is focus. Felix responded to the unpleasantness in his past with absolute laser focus, particularly on fighting and becoming stronger, whereas Sylvain avoids ever the appearance of focus like the plague, downplays his capabilities and chases distractions in a way that may be rather relatable to those of us who had the whole weird-ass Gifted Child Experience. Hence, Sylvain might come off as extravagant/frivolous while Felix appears disciplined, even ascetic.

This is also apparent in how its implied that they “jump ship” - Sylvain does it on a whim because of fem Byleth’s ample bosoms, (whereas man Byleth needs to impress him with reason skill which ties more into his hidden dephts) whereas with Felix it would tie into his pursuit of strenght and how he focusses on that more than anything else. Byleth stands out as a badass, so Felix juins his class or that’s his reasoning in the dialogue he gets.

But at the same time what we see here is that both were born with great natural power but don’t want that defining their lives. Sylvain downplays and refuses to use his, while Felix is determined to get straight that he actually “earned” through his harsh discipline and dedication, and vocally disavows conventional wisdom (”Crests, lineagle, knighthood... all trifles. Only strenght and skill matter”)

Post-Timeskip

So while a lot of characters like, say, Dorothea, get alot of the same dialogues in each route, others kind of get different little arcs depending on where they end up - for example if you recruit Lorenz for the empire he will at first join out of pure opportunism (that, and trying to get mercy for his corrupt-ass father), but then towards the last few months, he’ll actually come around to Edelgard’s way of thinking.

Felix is one of the characters whose dialogue differs the most by route - church & Alliance overlap a lot though with a few pointed differences, and his ending narrations are totally different depending on whether you recruited him or left him with the Kingdom. Of course, this would have to differ to an extent as he can’t exactly become Dimitri’s right hand when there’s no Dimitri, but the outcomes are starkly different to the point that even his paired endings with different characters all have two versions.

In the Kingdom route he generally succeeds his father whereas in the other routes, he typically renounces his title and becomes a mercenary unless his partner or BFF convinces him otherwise.

Unlike, say, Ferdinand, who does about the same thing regardless of who he ends up working under, for Felix the decision to ditch his classmates is a big big turning point, a choice

Sylvain by contrast has rather more similar endings wherever he goes and his dialogues are more similar - one highlight being how he has the exact same “history is written by the winners, whoever wins will say they’re right war will probably always exist...” lines regardless of whether he’s fighting for or against Edelgard. Whenever he isn’t commenting on the weather of their next destination or the general suckyness of the war, he remains mildly sceptical of whatever side he’s on, including one memorable instance where he refers to poor Hubert as “Edelgard’s idiot sidekick” and thinks they should try more negotiating, though he’s not blind to Dimitri’s flaws either when they go fight him.

Not really a big joiner or believer, this one, no illusions about how they could always be wrong, which perhaps makes it more touching how he invariably ends up becoming a peacemaker and activist after the war, basically becoming a fulltime do-gooder.

Since the inner mechanics with Felix are quite different, so are his outcomes. Sylvain’s gonna be like “I’m not optimistic but I gotta try doing the right thing”, no atter who he’s following, but you get a whole different Felix depending on what route you’re playing.

Because for him, wether to stick with Team Kingdom or not kinda represents a choice between his lingering attachment and his drive to reject that.

In the Kingdom route, he stays a lot more like he was in his academy days: Complains a lot, but still sticks with everyone to the end. He sort of fills the role of the contrarian number two, the one providing a contrastic viewpoint (while, Sylvain, while not optimistic, is no less stubborn about sticking with a friend in need than the rest of Team Kingdom)

He comes across as the Only Sane Man at times, esp. when he calls Titanic on the whole Revenge Trip to Gronder, “Iceberg ahead? ya’ll seeing the iceberg right?” but of course if you’re just complaining you’re kinda part of the problem - He muses that he must be crazy too, if he’s going along with everybody. Can’t bring himself to leave. Eventually that attachment wins out and he doesn’t even bother hiding it especially once Dimitri gets his act together. At that point he figures that the best he can do is to keep him on-course. Though they don’t go back to the same dynamic they once had, they go back to being BFF and the new dynanic is probably more useful to Dimitri as a counterpoint, they pretty much each succeed their fathers in proper Kingdom Manner and stay an A-team for the rest of their lives just like their das were. Idealism triumphs, though it’s a more matured, well-thought out one that is less about high standards and more about forgiveness/redemption.

It seems like he kinda became what he didn’t want to be early on (in the paired ending with Dimitri he even winds up in one of those chivalric tales he used to hate!), but it also looks like that made him happy. Maybe because it resolved the contradiction and tension within himself, all the energy he expends in rejecting his feelings of attachment, to like, actively not care about Dimitri.

I mean in their B support at one point he almost accidentally lapses back into Nerding Out About Swords Like Old Times - He needs to actively remind himself that he’s supposed to hate Dimitri now, and he does an even worse job at No Longer Liking the others.

Indeed when he gets what he ostensibly wanted, or rather what he wants to want, it doesn’t seem to make him all that happy - This was indeed the realization that prompted me to do this analysis. He goes full lonesome cowboy and marches off and he doesn’t sound all that happy about what he’s done, and his paired ending with Sylvain is one of the ones that makes it very obvious - In the Kingdom route, they stay Together Forever as they were in childhood, like they never got estranged at all. In the other routes it’s a sad, melancholic, darkly romantic thing about how Sylvain inherited his title, Felix came to help him out once and they never saw each other again, and Sylvain eventually gets a keepsake from Felix... and this is if you recruit them both. They get a sad enough dialogue if you grab only one and make them fight each other, but even if they run away together, essentially, they don’t become happy together.

The circumstances aren’t that different, if they still wound up in the same faction - But Felix is different.

Because he doesn’t just leave because of Byleth’s heroic charisma like many of the others - He goes because, in essence, he is putting his pursuit of strength over his lingering attachments for his friends. To leave the kingdom means to actually become what he pretends to be. To actually become a lonewolf warrior who cares only about strenght rather than an ultimately loyal tsundere.

Which is where the above rambles about counter-dependency come to bear: He says he doesn’t care but he does, so much he can’t stop. So to take this step, which at the time seens reasonable and sane and free to him, is to cut off part of himself.

Though even here there are different gradations depending on where you recruit him to.

In the Alliance and church routes he simply jumps ship on the kingdom out of self-preservation. Sanity before Honor, just like he was always talking about. The kingdom’s in horrible shape, it can’t win, or so he sees it, Sylvain’s reasoning is pretty much the same but more resigned/sad (”There was nothing I could do”), after all for all they know, Dimitri is long dead (though Felix, always one with keen insight, suspect him to be alive a bit before he shows up)

Then Dimitri turns up alive, but promptly gets himself killed, and Felix regrets it. Every bit as much as other kingdom characters. He wonders if he could have stopped Dimitri if he’d been with him. He channels this into avenging Dimitri first on the empire and then on TWSITD, and starts using his name at this point.

Tellingly enough, he refers to the local afterlife beliefs that are so prominently featured in the Kingdom route. The ones that Rodrigue taught to both Felix and Dimitri and that likely played a role in the latter’s inability to forgive himself for all that Rodrigue is largely a good man who was a positive influence. He talks about “facing” Dimitri in the afterlife or allowing him to rest in peace much like Dimitri’s own talk about appeasing the dead - As much as he’d like to be Felix was not actually immune to his upbringing. basically he really regrets it.

The church and alliance routes differ somewhat in the dialogue before the last stage in a way that makes the church route seem “milder” - He considers working under Byleth once they become King/Queen, so he doesn’t seem quite as “lost”, whereas in the alliance route he expresses interest in dueling Nemesis. Not that far beyond his usual “must fight worthy opponents/ blood knight attude” but certainly more of an embracement of it and also very reckless, since as far as we knew the zombie horde is blazing an almost unhindered trail through the land and pretty much had Hilda’s renowned invincible brother for breakfast.

The empire route, of course, requires him to go even further - it’s one thing to evacuate a sinking ship, another to go a path where there’s a good chance that he’ll have to go against, and even fight/kill his former comrades. The game sure included tons of unique dialogue for this. You can even have his feud with his father end quite lethally, and Dimitri will even comment on it when you engage him. Ouch!

Right after the holy tomb scene most the recruitees’ dialogues are either some variation of “I’m scared but I trust you sensei” or “Now that she’s actually explained her reasoning, Edelgard’s got a point” - Felix’ is neither.

Though he’d presumably agree that Crests and Status are overrated, that’s not what he talks about. He says he wants to forge his own path, one that isn’t his father’s or Dimitri’s.

He may or may not be doing the right thing but it’s for the wrong reason.

It’s a decision that’s perfectly logical if you feature in all factors except for his own heart - by which I don’t mean some bullshit 19th century “head vs heart” contrast but simply self-knowledge, which is necessary to make choices that you won’t regret, especially when the ‘correct’ path is ambiguous.

He wants to be free, deeply and desperate but, there’s also the counterdependency in play. He’s not going with the Empire because he wants to go with the empire, but because he wants to go against Rodrigue and Dimitri. Rejecting them to prove to himself that he can.

And turns out he can. He can cut em all down, with fairly unfazed Dialogue about how he’s going his own path, will never bow to the likes of Dimitri, will pursue strenght no matter who stands in his way etc.

They all curse him for betraying him, only Sylvain who’s not the sort to have much certainty about being right, gets more of a “sad/tragic” line about their childhood promise.

But that’s on the battlefield. Back at the monastery it’s a different matter. In this route he shows significantly LESS regret about what happens to the kingdom peeps - after all, he knew he’d be fighting them. He’s just completely embraced the ‘living to fight’ thing here and you get the sense that some other parts of his may have been lost in the process.

Ironically he says he killed more ppl than he can count and that he’s practically as bad as Dimitri now (”Your better world better be worth this”, indeed...) and while he’s completely unflinchingly resolute he’s not exactly unphased.

You can certainly understand why he’d end up as a restless sorta wandering mercenary (interesting, too that if you pair him with Byleth they’ll go with him - interesting enough in its own right since that’s the sort of life they use to have before coming to the academy)

So I guess this could all ultimately be seen as a parable on ‘be careful what you wish for’, or, more accurately, ‘know yourself before making wishes’.

#fire emblem three houses #fire emblem: three houses #sylvain jose gautier #felix hugo fraldarius

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woman-loving · 4 years

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(Early feminist and socialist efforts in Japan: excerpt from A History of Japan, 2nd ed., by Conrad Totman, 2005)

On the surface of the land, meanwhile, the burgeoning textile industry was heavily staffed by the teenage daughters of hard-pressed rural families, the girls commonly being lured to mill work by recruiters who misrepresented both wage arrangements and workplace conditions. One angry young silk worker wrote in 1888:

“Silk thread manufacturers, using contracts as a shield, treat us abominably. They think we are like slaves, like dirt. We think the silk-thread bosses are vipers, are our bitter enemies.”[8]

As factory lighting was installed during the eighties, thread mills became notorious for their long hours and use of child labor. One elderly woman, recalling her years as a girl in the silk mills during the nineties, wrote:

“In the lamplit factory we worked from morning darkness to about ten o'clock at night. By the time we had finished work we could hardly stand on our feet.”

Unsurprisingly the workers protested occasionally and absconded frequently, the majority breaking contract and fleeing their jobs within six months of recruitment. They did so, moreover, despite "barbed wire, high walls, guarantee deposits, and company regulations," and despite the hardship that doing so might cause their families, whose ability to repay debts often depended on daughterly income.[9]

ACTIVIST WOMEN

In Japan, as elsewhere, industrialization generated pollution, gave rise to urban labor problems, complicated rural life, and in due course radically diminished village influence on society at large. At the same time, however, it was broadening the general public's intellectual vistas, creating new career alternatives, and to an unprecedented degree institutionalizing the separation of household and work place. These trends affected women as well as men, and as a result questions about their roles and rights began to acquire greater visibility than in the past, foreshadowing an even more heightened presence in later years.

When architects of the Meiji state undertook to define social and political roles in the years around 1890, it will be recalled, they utilized principles and practices of both indigenous and alien provenance to forge a centralized, paternalistic regime that would, they hoped, build a rich and strong Japan, a "modern" society, a Great Power. How best to situate women in this new order was a question that evoked much comment. Some men and women advocated expanded roles for women, especially during the 1870s when everything seemed in flux. Kishida Toshiko, the daughter of an established Kyoto merchant, was well versed in progressive European thought, and she became one of the day's most eloquent proponents of women's rights. She spoke widely and effectively on behalf of education and opportunity for women, declaring in 1883, at age twenty:

“Equality, independence, respect, and a monogamous relationship are the hallmarks of relationships between men and women in a civilized society.”[19]

A handful of men echoed this view, but as national affairs stabilized during the later 1880s, a counter-argument came to prevail, one that reflected the growing separateness of home and work place and that was grounded in both foreign and domestic precedents. It defined woman's proper role as that of responsible operative of the household, dedicated homemaker, "good wife; wise mother" (ryōsai kenbo).

In 1899, when the Education Ministry was prodding prefectural authorities to establish more high schools for women, a Ministry official explained the government's reasoning this way:

“Since the family is the root of the nation, it is the vocation of women who become housewives to be good wives and wise mothers, and girls' high schools are necessary to provide appropriate education enabling girls from middle- and upper-middle-class families to carry out this vocation.”

Viewing the proper role of women in these terms, Meiji leaders encouraged them to pursue appropriate education. They also argued, however, that women should be excluded from politics lest such involvement endanger their morals, conduce to social disorder, and compromise their role as wife and mother. Accordingly Article 5 of the Police Security Regulations of 1890, reaffirmed in 1900, barred women from joining political organizations, participating in political meetings, voting, or standing for office.

This official posture failed to satisfy the growing number of women who wished to pursue other careers or expand their range of life choices.[20] Nor did it address social issues that affected women in general, notably concubinage, prostitution, and male drunkenness, but also harsh conditions of the working poor, such as those in the textile mills. Indeed, the situation of the working poor seems to have been as far beyond the mental horizon of the Meiji elite as of elites elsewhere. Worst of all, perhaps, were the lives of the earlier-mentioned women coal miners. Recalled one observer:

“The life of the female coal-miner was appalling. Returning black and grimy from a day's work in the pits with their husbands, they immediately had to start preparing meals. In those days there were no nursery facilities, so infants were placed in the care of others. Mothers returned from the mines to nurse their babies. Men would return from their work to bathe and sit back and relax, displaying their tattoos and drinking sake. This was the accepted behaviour of these lowly people, and no man would be found helping with what were designated as women's tasks. If a woman so much as protested, she would be beaten.”[21]

Precisely because mining was a dirty and dangerous occupation, however, mine operators had to pay wages that substantially exceeded those of surface jobs as a way to attract and retain workers. For women as well as men, the lure of better pay sufficed. Indeed, a few years later, when government reformers enacted legislation to prohibit women from working in the pits for reasons of public health, some women severely resented their exclusion from jobs that paid much better than what they could earn above ground.[22]

These women miners generally were mature and married. Younger, single rural girls commonly took jobs in the textile mills and as domestic servants, while poor urban women and girls held a wide range of jobs: as "lowgrade factory workers, used paper and junk collectors, . .. peddlers, papermakers, . . . fishmongers, and vegetable-sellers," working as day laborers, and engaging in "cart-pushing and itinerant tea-picking.”23

These working poor were nearly as invisible to activist women as they were to male leaders. Even among the women of privilege, moreover, differing needs, priorities, and interests led to the pursuit of differing agendas. In consequence it was exceedingly difficult for activists to form a united front and promote a shared program for change in women's circumstances.

One of those who confronted most thoughtfully the dilemma of a fragmented female populace was Fukuda Hideko of Okayama samurai ancestry. An admirer of Kishida, she spent some years as radical political activist and prison inmate before settling down to a life devoted to teaching and feminist socialist activism. In 1907 Fukuda established a magazine, Sekai Fujin (Women of the World), as a vehicle of feminist-socialist thought and information. In the editorial that launched her new venture, she declared,

“as far as women are concerned, virtually everything is coercive and oppressive, making it imperative that we women rise up and forcefully develop our own social movement.”[24]

Recognizing with particular clarity the social basis of the divisions that prevented women from developing a united front, she frequently pointed out that women labored under both gender and class discrimination. For that reason, she argued in another essay the same year, women should support socialism:

“While socialism prevents the exploitation of workers by the capitalist class, it also stops the arrogance of the male class against women. It gets rid of the rich and poor classes, and removes sexual discrimination.”[25]

In hopes of appealing to the broadest spectrum of women, Fukuda chose as a major goal of Sekai Fujin the repeal of the above-noted Article 5. But even that focus failed to elicit a unified women's movement. Harassed by authorities and unsympathetic to the sorts of paternalistic governmental measures that many less fortunate women welcomed, Fukuda was unable to build a broad movement. A few years later the women's movement drifted into desuetude in the wake of a plot to assassinate the emperor (noted below), in which the young and angry journalist-turned-anarchist Kanno Suga became deeply involved at the price of her life.

Not all women activists were so firmly opposed to the established order. For some the new influences sweeping across Meiji Japan seemed to offer rich opportunity, even as wife and mother. That view was evident in the journal Jogaku zasshi (Women's Education Magazine), which appeared in 526 issues during 1885-1904, until it failed financially.[26]

A number of women founded girls' schools where they instructed students in values and subjects that could accommodate the "good wife; wise mother" vision even while promoting a broader sense of women's possibilities (see figure 14.1). Most famously, in 1901 Tsuda Ume founded the Women's English School (Joshi Eigaku Juku), which grew into today's Tsuda Women's University. She urged her students not only to be ladylike but also to pursue practical schooling in marketable skills. As she observed in a speech of 1915, "Economic independence is the one thing that can save a woman from an unsuitable or distasteful marriage urged on her by relatives."[27] Educators such as she gave encouragement to the growing number of young women who pursued the study of medicine, training them to be licensed as nurses and after 1912 as doctors. And even larger numbers were trained as school teachers, especially for women's schools.

Among noted women of the day, the one who enjoyed the most success was Okumura Ioko, daughter of a Buddhist priest in Kyushu. An energetic participant in Restoration politics, she became a firm supporter of Meiji continental expansion, traveled about Northeast Asia, and in 1901 established the Patriotic Women's Society. Its main functions were to assist troops departing for war, aid those families of soldiers that were experiencing hardship, and console the bereaved. Because Okumura's organization so clearly contributed to government policy, she quickly won the backing of leaders and her organization grew with striking rapidity, counting 465,000 members by 1905 and a million or more by World War I, with branches in villages throughout the realm.

[...]

SOCIALIST INTELLECTUALS

One factor that spurred officials and pundits to counsel lowered expectations for the young, to favor movements such as Okumura' s Patriotic Women's Society, and to attempt to outflank or suppress the efforts of feminists, labor unionists, and other critics of the newly established Meiji order was their awareness of the growing attention intellectuals were giving to social problems and tensions of the day. During the 1890s some observers began to think about society's problems in terms of the recently articulated Marxist and other socialist analyses that they encountered through study abroad and the discussion of imported texts. In 1901 a group in Tokyo formed the Social Democratic Party, declaring as their goal:

“to abolish the gap between rich and poor and secure a victory for pacificism in the world by means of genuine socialism and democracy.”[31]

The newly formed government of Prime Minister Katsura Tarō responded to the group's manifesto by promptly seizing all copies of the document and ordering the party disbanded. The Minister of the Interior, who ordered the party's dissolution, explained the issue this way:

“Other countries all have their hands full with the socialist party and are doing their best to suppress it. We in Japan must likewise devote all our efforts to suppressing it.”[32]

That response notwithstanding, the handful of intellectuals who comprised this initial socialist movement continued their peaceful proselytizing over the next several years, and in early 1906 the government allowed them to form a new political party. During 1906-7, however, after wartime boom and patriotic zeal had given way to industrial slump and political anger, the country was racked by strikes and labor disputes involving both mine and surface workers. That turmoil, together with socialist editorializing (and especially socialist criticism of government action in suppressing the labor protest at Ashio), led to the new party's disbandment. By then Kōtoku Shūsui, a journalist, socialist party participant, and critic of the Ashio mine operation, was also denouncing the harsh government policy in Korea. He called for more radical revolutionary action at home, even as he and others were having run-ins with the police. Moreover, some of his associates were mounting a rhetorical attack on the imperial institution itself.

These developments led government leaders to see the socialists as a dangerous threat to their new constitutional order. Employing much the same "preventive" logic as in 1901, Prime Minister Katsura argued in 1908:

“Although socialists at the moment are said to constitute little more than a thin thread of smoke, if we overlook this thread of smoke, it will someday develop the force of a wildfire, and then it would be too late for anything but regrets.”[33]

Therefore, he argued, their meetings and publications must be controlled and their growth stymied. The government cracked down, using tight surveillence, jailings, suppression of the socialist press, and severe constraints on speakers.

Nevertheless, underground socialist activity continued. In the spring of 1910 authorities discovered a plot to mount a bomb attack against the emperor, presumably as part of an attempt at violent revolution that was inspired by recent anarchist actions in Russia. Viewed by the government and press as an utterly heinous crime - and as an opportunity to squelch socialism - that incident led to the arrest, trial, and eventual conviction and execution of Kōtoku, along with Kanno and ten others, on the charge of high treason.34

The government took other steps, as well, to forestall dissident activity. It moved to consolidate its control of Korea by replacing the existing Korean administration with a Japanese governor-generalship. At home it established a special police force, the Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu (Tokkō or Special Higher Police), to watch for "dangerous thought." And, as noted above, it gave formal approval to the creation of a locally-based, nationwide army reserve system. That reserve, its leaders hoped, would assure that the army's ideals of imperial loyalism, durable social order, and diligent national service came to pervade community life, thereby eliminating the threats of sedition, selfishness, and sloth.

The government employed carrots as well as sticks, most notably the aforementioned Factory Act of 1911. With those acts of repression and concession the socialist movement became inactive, not reviving until the Russian Revolution brought it a new surge of hope.

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #japan #general history #feminist history #socialist history #asian history

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hms-chill · 4 years

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Today’s @rwrb-social-isolation prompt is to talk about something from history we love, so I did a deep, deep dive into a near-utopian colony headed by a man who was, truly, an icon. A Byronic hero two hundred years before Byron himself. It got rambly, but at this point, who’s surprised. Please enjoy.

All us good little American drones know the story of how white people came to America. They settled at Plymouth, and they struggled and struggled for years, but with the help of friendly natives, they finally succeeded and murdered millions with biowarfare and also guns built the great country we live in today.

Were there other, non-Plymouth colonies? Jamestown, of course, the Macho Dream that men who are really into WWII love to talk about. Boring. Let’s talk about a fun colony.

Let’s talk about Merrymount, a town founded on a distrust of Christian Puritanism, the abolition of slavery, popular revolt, equality with natives, a pagan beliefs. Sound fake? See attached bibliography.

History, huh? Let’s get into it.

To talk about Merrymount, we have to talk about Thomas Morton, the Lord of Misrule. He was born in 1579 in Devon, England, a region despised by the more religious parts of the country for still hanging onto some of England’s traditional pagan practices. It was particularly known for celebrating the land and its guiding principles of neighborliness and quietness (the belief that keeping peace was more important than nearly anything else). We don’t know much about his family, but we’re pretty sure he was the second son to a middle-class family, largely because he went to law school in London (something that wouldn’t have been affordable for lower class folks, but that an older son wouldn’t have had to do under the laws of primogeniture).

The London Morton arrived in was overcrowded, and bouts of plague were not uncommon. The population was booming, and tensions were rising between the deeply Christian Reform movement and the more Pagan Renaissance. In particular, we saw the rise of Puritanism and Separatism, both of which were extreme versions of Christianity (a la those pilgrims we all cosplayed every Thanksgiving in elementary school), and both of which Morton hated. From what we can tell, he was first an observer, and his coursework would have taught him to question what he was told and to argue his own points and beliefs.

Following his time in school and his general disillusionment with established Christian society, he became a traveling lawyer for a time. In his late 30s, Morton began working for Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a major investor in Plymouth, founder of Maine, and “Father of English Colonization in North America”. He first traveled to America in 1622, and in his book, he declared “The more I looked, the more I liked it. And when I had more seriously considered of the beauty of the place, with all her fair endowments, I did not think that in all the known world it could be paralleled”. However, he was back in England in 1623, complaining of Puritan intolerance.

Following a dissolved engagement, Morton once again set sail for America in 1624, aboard the ship Unity under command of his friend Captain Richard Wollaston and accompanied by 30 indentured servants. They eventually were given land by and began trading with the Algonquin tribes, who were native to the region and whom Morton found more civilized than the Puritans in Plymouth. They named their town, which is now Quincy, MA, “Mount Wollaston”.

From Morton’s book, we can see that he got to know native culture relatively well. He attended Algonquin dinners and funerals. He learned at least some of the language, and he celebrated their respect for their elders and general family structure. During this time he also had his first interaction with Plymouth, which went much less well than his interactions with Algonquin tribes. He declared that he “found the Massachusetts Indians more full of humanity than the Christians”, and it is after this meeting that he began to furnish native tribes with powder and shot for their guns, often when English colonists couldn’t get any. Needless to say, he doesn’t come off particularly well in Plymouth’s writing about him.

By 1626, Mount Wollaston was booming. Colonists tired of Plymouth’s harsh rules were flocking to the more liberal town when Morton found out that Wollaston had been selling indentured servants as slaves. Outraged, he encouraged them to rebel, and Wollaston fled, leaving Morton the sole leader (or “host”, the term he prefered) of the newly renamed Merrymount (or “Ma-re Mount, which is a pun on the Latin for “ocean”).

(That’s right, this man got control of a town, declared himself just a host, and then renamed it based on a nerdy pun. an icon.)

Merrymount was, generally, from most sources I can find, a pretty chill place to be. People were declared equal, and there was a pretty high degree of integration with Algonquin tribes. Though Morton did do what he could to encourage the Algonquin peoples to settle into a more English lifestyle, he did so not by force, but by providing them with free salt to use in preserving food, therefore negating the need for a nomadic lifestyle. Which... pressuring people to give up their way of life isn’t great. But doing it this way is a lot better than the way that pretty much every other colonizer was doing it.

The real pinacle of the integration of English and Algonquin peoples was a May Day Celebration. Pretty much everyone celebrated the start of spring, as it meant that you’d survived the winter and life in general would likely start to improve with the warmer weather. May Day was both a celebration of springtime and a unifying holiday, a time when the different cultures came together and often a time when English men would begin to woo Algonquin women. The Puritans of Plymouth called it Bacchic and evil, so I can only assume it was a generally good time.

However, by 1628, it was all too much for Plymouth. Morton’s general chill vibe, his trading with natives (and the threat it posed to Plymouth’s monopoly), Merrymount’s integration with Algonquin tribes, and just generally the disregard for Puritan ways all exploded when, in celebration of May Day, Merrymount erected an eighty-foot maypole.

Now, I know eighty feet is hard to visualize. Especially if you’re from somewhere that uses the metric system. But an average story of a building is about ten feet. So just... think of an eight story building. This thing was MASSIVE. It’s as tall as my freshman year dorm. It was clearly visible from Plymouth, and it was the final straw. Morton was arrested and left to die on a rock that could only generously be called an island.

He was back by fall of 1629, but found Merrymount in ruins and a particularly harsh winter greeted him that year, and he was shipped back to England in 1630, a voyage that almost killed him.

By 1631, he was back in the game suing the Massachusetts Bay Company, the political and financial backers of the Plymouth Puritans. He won in 1635, cutting off much of Plymouth’s English support and causing many to leave it for settlements in Connecticut.

His book, New English Canaan published in 1637, launched him into celebrity. In 1643, he tried to return to Massachusetts, but was turned away upon arrival. He was exiled to Maine, where he passed away at the age of 71.

And that’s Thomas Morton! I first heard about his story in A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski, but I couldn’t remember enough/didn’t find anything in other sources to establish the queer context for Merrymount other than its rejection of Puritanism.

Attached bibliography (not formatted correctly, because fuck the MLA and the APA).

General overview of his life

Morton’s book, New English Canaan

Spunky bio largely focused on Merrymount/the maypole

Spunky bio two: Maypole boogaloo

His wikipedia, which is just nice and readable

#rwrb social isolation #not fic #history huh?#Hannah's History Lessons

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cincinnatusvirtue · 4 years

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Syttende Mai: Swedish-Norwegian War of 1814. Norwegian nationalism and the establishment of Sweden’s current royal house.

Europe in 1814-1815 is a flurry political activity. The War of the Sixth Coalition has supposedly finally defeated Napoleonic France in the spring of 1814. That autumn in Vienna, Austria the major anti-French powers, Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia and the anti-republican/anti-Bonapartist restored Bourbon dynasty of France are attempting to dictate terms for the outlook of Europe’s map. The conservativism of the monarchs from each of these countries sees republicanism and national revolution as the very tenets of ideology that had undid Europe’s delicate balance of power since the French Revolution of 1789. Austrian Foreign Minister and later Chancellor Klemens Von Metternich is the “maestro” for the so called Concert for Europe or Congress of Vienna is leading the charge, hoping to create system whereby the great powers of Europe will consult each other in an early form of shuttle diplomacy to suppress massive changes to Europe’s map. For the immediate several decades of the 19th century following Napoleon’s defeat this so called “Metternich System” to varying degrees will work in suppressing nationalist and revolutionary sentiment. Increasingly this will be difficult to maintain as romantic nationalism and republicanism have been planted as seeds in the collective psyche of Europe’s many peoples. The Congress of Vienna includes the Big Five (Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia & Bourbon France) but it also includes Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, various smaller German and Italian states and the Scandinavian powers of Denmark and Sweden. These latter two nations would have their own roles in the Napoleonic Age and in 1814 romantic nationalism within the third Scandinavian nation, Norway, would give birth briefly to a new nation caught in the dynastic struggles between Denmark and Sweden.

Over the course of Scandinavian history the modern nations of Norway, Denmark and Sweden went through many changes from small petty kingdoms born out of the Viking Age to more unified but separate countries and then countries united under the singular banner of the Kalmar Union (1397-1523). By the 18th and 19th centuries though they were divided between the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway in personal union and the Kingdom of Sweden. All these nations were populated by related Germanic peoples who spoke related languages and had common histories, mythologies and cultures all shared the same official religion of Lutheranism. They were also separated by their own local customs as well and differences in their related languages and somewhat due to historical memory of their overlapping but separate pasts. Geopolitical struggle also wrapped up Scandinavia. In the 17th century Sweden arose to become a great power in Europe, forging the Swedish Empire which ruled Sweden, Finland, parts of Baltic countries, Poland, Russia and Germany. Meanwhile Denmark-Norway had the role of second-tier or middling power in European politics. Denmark-Norway was in personal union with a single king but Denmark was very much the dominant power in the union with Copenhagen dictating it’s northern partner’s fate. Sweden remained its rival and Norway was their battleground more often than not.

During the 18th century, Sweden’s off and on wars with Poland-Lithuania, Russia, Denmark-Norway and other powers weakened its status. By the Napoleonic era, Sweden like Denmark-Norway was a shadow of its former self. Nevertheless it still retained a strong enough influence to help tip the balance in favor of the French Empire or its opponents. Sweden’s ruling family, the Holstein-Gottorp dynasty from Germany had at its head Gustav IV Adolf. Gustav IV was opposed to French republicanism and to Napoleon and sought an alliance with his country’s traditional enemy, Russia. Against advice from his inner council, Gustav joined the War of the Third Coalition against France in support of Britain, Russia, Austria, Naples & Sicily. During this war, Sweden was a non-entity. France won the war with the victory of Austria and Russia at Austerlitz. During the Prussian lead War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806 Sweden saw its possessions in modern Germany and Poland, known as Swedish Pomerania lost to the French advance which had wiped out the Prussians in under a month and bloodied the Russians as well. During this time, Napoleon’s troops and the nationalist spirit they invoked revived a partial Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw. The Duchy was seen by Polish nationalists as a first step towards reviving the conquered Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which had been partitioned in the 18th century by Prussia, Russia and Austria. The French saw it more or less as a client state and vehicle from which it could support its own army in ventures elsewhere in Europe. The defeat of Russia in 1807 and the Treaty of Tilsit now forced Russia to join Napoleon’s economic blockade of his most steadfast enemy, Britain. It also put Russia at odds with Sweden which remained a British ally.

1808 saw the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia, the Russians overwhelmed Swedish garrisons in Finland proper and then in a daring infantry crossing of the ice frozen waters of the Gulf of Bothnia arrived on the eastern Swedish shores where Sweden was forced to surrender. Finland was lost to the Russians ever after, becoming the new Grand Principality/Duchy of Finland with the Tsar as Grand Duke. Sweden’s fall from the heights of power was never more evident. 1809 Gustav IV was arrested and overthrown in a coup and replaced by his uncle and former regent, who was crowned Charles XIII. Charles XIII was old, suffered from heart attacks and had no suitable heir. His role in governance was minimal and more ceremonial for the presentation of stability. The Swedish parliament, the Riksdag needed to find a new heir. It found it initially in a Danish prince, who Charles XIII adopted as he was named Charles August, however the prince died from a stroke while riding a horse, he was only 41, so the search renewed. The ultimate choice was from an unlikely source, Napoleonic France.

Jean Bernadotte was a Frenchman who came from the middle class once hoping to become an attorney. He had no noble connections but eventually made his way into the army and under the French Revolution where men could be promoted on merit and not have to rely on aristocratic connection Bernadotte became an officer. He fought in numerous campaigns in Germany and Italy in particular and earned praise for valor and inspiring his men. By the time Napoleon came to power in France, Bernadotte eventually became one of eighteen of his Marshals of the Empire, a new form of aristocracy based on Napoleon’s need to control the military and to honor his subordinate men of distinction. Bernadotte was also made Prince of Ponte Corvo for his service in the Battle of Austerlitz. However, he also began to fell afoul of his Emperor’s favor gradually. During the 1806 campaign against Prussia while leading his own French Corps, Bernadotte was ordered to support Marshal Davout’s Corps but due to poor roads failed to commit troops to battle. Though his troops nearby presence aided in forcing the Prussians to retreat. Napoleon believed his disobeyed orders and nearly court-martialed Bernadotte. Though no such action was taken and Bernadotte was kept in the campaign. His corps eventually captured the German city of Lubeck which had Prussian, Swedish and Dano-Norwegian soldiers in it. Swedish prisoners were well treated by Bernadotte and returned to Sweden regaling their fair treatment by Bernadotte. Following the Treaty of Tilsit which made peace with Russia and Prussia and made them into reluctant but nominal French allies Bernadotte was made a regional governor in north Germany where he proved an adept administrator. He was tasked with invading Sweden but lack of troop transport ships and the new Spanish campaign in which France turned on its former ally Spain lead to new focus elsewhere. Meanwhile Denmark-Norway became a new ally of the French in 1808 and this lead to a limited war between Britain and Denmark. Bernadotte served as leader of French troops in Denmark. He well treated and respected the Danes, earning good favor with more Scandinavians. During Napoleon’s campaign against Spain he wanted to install a new king on the throne one with Bonapartist connections. Bernadotte was a first choice but he rejected the offer. Napoleon instead went with his own brother Joseph Bonaparte. Joseph was friends with Bernadotte and in fact his brother in law. Since both were married to the Clary sisters with Joseph married to Julie Clary and Bernadotte to Desiree Clary, one time fiancée of Napoleon himself.

Bernadotte continued to serve with the French in the War of the Fifth Coalition against a renewed Austrian Empire and fought in command of a subordinate German (Saxon) corps. that was virtually obliterated at the Battle of Wagram. Napoleon got the victory but relieved Bernadotte of his command and sent him back to France for administrative duties first in Belgium then back to Paris. During his role in preparing an army in Belgium (Army of Antwerp) Bernadotte made criticisms of Napoleon which found their way back to the Emperor. He was to be sent to Spain, he disobeyed the order and was sent to face Napoleon himself was instead given a new role as governor of the Papal States in French occupied Rome, Italy. Unexpectedly the invitation to become heir to the Swedish throne was presented to Bernadotte, in part due to the humane treatment he had shown Swedish prisoners of war years earlier and in part due to his overall diplomatic and administrative prowess. By this time, 1810, Sweden had come to peace terms with France.

Bernadotte had longed to advance to a position of full on royalty and his occasional differences with Napoleon had essentially left him to fulfill an endless cycle of administrative duties that while important were not satisfying to his own desires. Not only was his humane treatment of Swedish troops in the past a consideration, but the Swedes thought a Napoleonic insider might make relations with France more diplomatic in the future as well as give insight into Napoleon’s character whether in opposition or as an ally. Napoleon was sought for advice by the Swedes and initially put forth his own stepson (Eugene de Beauharnais) who served as Viceroy of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy as a candidate but his stepson refused to convert to Lutheranism which was required by the Swedish Riksdag as part of the deal. Napoleon also could not convince any of his brothers who already occupied thrones nor were his nephews old enough, so Bernadotte was accepted by Napoleon to be emancipated from service to France. Initially, he made Bernadotte take an oath never to take up arms against France but Bernadotte refused stating he couldn’t determine the path Sweden might take, Napoleon eventually relented unconditionally. It was later to be a strategic error on his part.

Bernadotte arrived in Stockholm, Sweden on November 5th, 1810. He was adopted by King Charles XIII as a son made heir to the throne officially. He also converted from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism as required. He was well received by the Swedes who popularly believed he would gain some territory for them, namely Finland. With Charles XIII infirm, Bernadotte, rechristened Charles John or Karl Johan, set about governing the country, namely its foreign policy. He was pressured to retake Finland but he realized due to Sweden’s finances, need for military reform, logistical difficulties with Russian troop strength and the Finns lack of desire for reunion with Sweden, the war wouldn’t end in their favor. Furthermore, France was pressuring Sweden to comply with the Continental System and declare war on Britain, lest it face a three way invasion from France, Russia and Denmark. The new Crown Prince Charles John agreed to this, leading to a low level war with Britain which realized it was Napoleonic pressure which lead to Sweden’s nominal declaration of war. Little activity resulted from this and Sweden and Britain’s “war” was virtually in name only which satisfied Napoleon. Both nations steered clear of conflict foreseeing economic disaster and realizing each other’s potential as allies against France at a later date. This opportunity came when Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia in 1812 due to its lack of compliance with the Continental System. Napoleon was lead further and further into Russia facing a few large battles that were tactical victories but not the decisive one he needed. He captured Moscow that was left in burning ruins by the retreating Russians and eventually news of a coup in Paris forced him to abandon his troops to a long drawn out retreat back to friendly territory in Poland. The French and allied army was drained by desertion, disease, battle, starvation, Russian attrition and most famously the Russian winter. By 1813 the failed invasion forced Napoleon to raise new armies back in France and Germany while he once conquered foes Prussia and Austria rejoined a resurgent and advancing Russia. Meanwhile, the British Royal Navy commanded the seas and contributed ground troops to the years long Peninsular War joining Portugal and Spanish guerillas in pushing back the French occupiers and their Spanish Bonapartist collaborators to French border. With France on the retreat, Sweden sensed it was their time to join in an make a difference. The final tipping point for Sweden was the French refusal to accept transferring Norway from their Danish ally to Sweden to compensate for the loss of Finland. Charles John joined the War of the Sixth Coalition now commanding Swedish forces numbering almost 20,000 in the so called Army of the North which reinforced by 30,000 Prussians and a British regiment converged with the main Prussian, Russian and Austrian armies near Leipzig, Germany where the French supported by Polish, Italian and German allies were defeated in the so called Battle of the Nations which lasted for three days in October 1813. Part way through the battle, German vassals of Napoleon from the client Kingdoms of Saxony and Wurttemberg switched sides and joined the Coalition against France. Napoleon was defeated and in a fighting retreat against the advancing Allies. The other powers were fine with Denmark losing Norway to Sweden as compensation and the Swedes quickly turned their attention away from France instead fighting the Danes and beating them in December at the Battle of Bornhoved, the last time in history to the present day that Denmark and Sweden in their long historical rivalry would fight each other.

Following this campaign in January 1814, Britain and Sweden forced Denmark to sign the Treaty of Kiel. It gave the British some small islands off the Danish coast as compensation and the whole of the Kingdom of Norway proper to Sweden. In exchange Sweden gave Denmark, Swedish Pomerania in Northern Germany/Poland. Excluded from this exchange was the Norwegian dependencies of the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland which all remained with the Danish crown. Denmark in turn also joined the anti-French coalition but little came of this since Napoleon abdicated and went into exile on Elba in April 1814 (only to return in 1815 and reign during the 100 Days until the Battle of Waterloo finally defeated him).

Norwegians had no say in the Dano-Swedish negotiations and spurred by feelings of romantic nationalism for their own nationhood with distant memories of a time with Norway was a dominant Scandinavian power free of Danish or Swedish rule. Accordingly events in Scandinavia shifted from France now turned to regional conflict. Norway refused Swedish authority and accepted that Denmark had given up on them, they declared independence and passed a liberal constitution calling for a constitutional monarchy. It was signed by the Norwegian Assembly on May 17, 1814 (Syttende Mai) and they named Danish Crown Prince Christian Frederick its own independent king, separate from Demark. He accepted and quickly showed up in Norway to take control of events. Sweden wouldn’t stand for Norwegian independence and Denmark refused to get involved after the Napoleonic Wars. Determined to make the most of what was promised to them, Sweden under Charles John’s military leadership engaged in the brief Swedish-Norwegian War in the summer of 1814.

Sweden planned a pincer movement across the border to trap Norwegian troops and to take the capital, Christiania (Oslo) . Norway got 30,000 volunteers to make up their army while the Swedes could muster 45,000 troops. The Swedes were experienced and well equipped and with Charles John, a former Napoleonic French general as their leader had sound leadership when compared to their Norwegian enemy. However, the Norwegians did have artillery and great deal of pride and what followed was a three campaign that saw the Norwegians in a fighting retreat. The Norwegians, to the Swedes surprise, put up a more spirited fight than expected. Winning tactical victories in the Battles of Lier and Langes but both only delayed the inevitable as the Norwegian command was hampered by indecisiveness in overall strategy and the Swedes continued to outflank them. Eventually with crucial Norwegian fortresses outgunned and outnumbered, they surrendered and fell back. On August 14, 1814, Norwegian representatives separate from their elected king, Christian Frederick signed the Convention of Moss which agreed to a ceasefire/surrender of Norwegian forces but given the Norwegians early victories and Swedes desire to end things quickly and not hamper long term relations agreed to a more equitable arrangement. Moss decided the following points, Sweden and Norway would agree to a personal union with the Swedish monarch as king of both countries. However, Sweden and Norway would have separate parliaments, the Riksdag in Sweden and the Storting in Norway. Christian Frederick would return to Denmark and abandon all claims to Norway which as a constitutional monarch he accepted the will of his people. Finally, Norway would be allowed to maintain its own separate constitution as was created in May 1814 with minor amendments to accommodate the new union. Charles John, being future king accepted these terms as did the Swedes and the Norwegian Storting.

In the aftermath, the Union of Sweden-Norway was born in 1814 with Charles XIII as its first king, reigning until his death in 1818. Charles John finally took over as King of Sweden & Norway as Charles XIV John. His descendants, the House of Bernadotte rule Sweden as a constitutional monarchy to this day. The Swedish-Norwegian war also notable as the last war between these two nations and the very last war Sweden has fought to the present time, having maintained neutrality in all wars since that time. Sweden-Norway out of the Convention of Moss allowed Norway to not be a conquest but received as a fully equal entity with its own internal parliament and separate constitution while sharing the same monarch, this dynamic was in some ways a precursor to the later dual monarchy model followed by the Austrian Empire when in became the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867.

At times over the next century, the Union would see periods of cooperation, pan-Scandinavian sentiment, including proposed union with Denmark and varying degrees of estrangement. Issues for Sweden-Norway centered around having a common foreign policy dictated from Stockholm which began to fuel recurring resentment among the Norwegians since they couldn’t debate foreign policy themselves and only their Prime Minister could represent their interests while the Swedish Riksdag directed policy. Furthermore, Swedish cultural attitudes tended to view Norway and Norwegians as junior partners in the Union and very much still a subjugated people only added to resentment from Norway. Emigration from both countries but particularly Norway to the United States during the 19th century was commonplace, so much so that Norwegian-American and Swedish-American communities grew to have distinct ethnic enclaves and cultural impacts in the US, mostly centered in the Upper Midwestern states and even on cuisine and the regional American English dialects spoken. In the present day more Norwegian-Americans exist than do Norwegians in Norway. Finally, the continued cultural resentment and practical differences in two separate parliaments and disagreement over foreign policy lead to a renewed desire for separation and dissolution to the Union. Their were attempts to accommodate a separate foreign policy for Norway but Sweden and Norway couldn’t agree on its terms and Sweden threated military intervention anytime Norway brought up independence. Sweden’s parliament began to double down in the early 20th century on Sweden taking more precedence over Norway, increasing tension and fracturing the Union. Finally, in 1905 with impasse being unavoidable Norway’s Storting tried one last attempt to get then King Oscar II to approve a separate foreign service, he exercised his veto and declined. The ministers of Norway tendered their resignation, which he refused to accept since no replacements to form a new government could be found. The ministers turned their government’s fate to the Storting’s hands, unilaterally they declared Oscar II had ceased to be Norway’s king and declared an end to the union with Sweden. Sweden declared this a Norwegian revolt. Sweden’s Riksdag did however agree to consider negotiation for the dissolution if the Norwegian people passed it in a plebiscite. The Storting anticipated this move announced their own plebiscite on August 13th prior to the Swedish demand being made. The plebiscite was not phrased in such a way to ask yes or no in favor but rather did the Norwegian people recognize the union as de-facto dissolved already, 99% of the voters agreed it had. There was a unlikely prospect of war, but both sides had considered it, Norway had asked for a several million dollar loan from France in the event of such a conflict. Following the vote, Norway asked Sweden’s Riksdag to cooperate, both sides agreed to hold talks. That September Swedish troops on the border were placed and in response Norwegian army and naval troops were put on standby. Nevertheless and agreement was reached on September 23rd, 1905. The union would dissolve but a neutral zone to be arbitrated by the international court in the Hague would decide its outcome, also Norway must dismantle its fortifications seen as an act of potential aggression against Sweden. Oscar II then renounced all claims to the Norwegian throne for himself and his descendants. The Storting made one last offer for a descendant of his take the throne separately but Oscar declined seeing it as pointless. The Storting then offered the throne of Norway to yet another Danish prince, as it had 91 years prior, this time Carl of Denmark who accepted and became King of Norway Haakon VII, the first unanimously recognized monarch of an independent Norway since 1387. His descendants in the House of Glucksburg reign as monarchs of Norway to this day with his grandson Harald V as the current king. The 17th of May or Syttende Mai is celebrated in Norway as Constitution Day to this day and in Norwegian- American communities is the most visible public celebration of Norway and Norwegian culture.

#norway #sweden #denmark #sweden-norway #swedish norwegian war #norwegian independence #syttende mai #napoleonic wars #19th century #nationalism

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pinklanedungeon-blog · 4 years

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The Tower of Zenopus: Rumours and Employment

Our tale begins in the small city of Portown, a bustling port that welcomes travellers from the south (and, more begrudgingly, pirates from the Brontes Sea) to its markets. A host of races and classes from all over the world convene here, many of which find comfort in the Green Dragon Inn. Today, seven adventurers find themselves in the Inn hoping to explore the Tower of Zenopus to the north of the city. This diverse group introduces themselves and looked for information about the Tower in the Green Dragon.

First, Navarax Eldrick, a Dragonborn Fighter, makes clear that his initial fearsomeness is easily tamed by his deep desire for true love. Ultimately, this dragonborn only wants his own happily-ever-after, and will mercilessly flirt with any animate being in the hopes of finding it. An early attempt to find out information about the tower lead to little importance (other than the fact that adventurers often enter the tower but never leave). Navarax did, however, secure a bed for the night, for when he returns. Morvull, another dragonborn and a fuckboi if I ever saw one, promised Nav a good time in his lower-level shack near the tower in the north of town.

Next, Valaeris Tellynnan - a rather proper elven archivist from the Great Library of Lenora - introduces himself, with all civil formalities of course. This scholar tells us of the precious tomes that had been stolen from Lenora (of much value to the elven archivists there). Valaeris, whose name is easily forgotten and jumbled by his companions, will do anything to find these tomes and return them to Lenora. He approached a group of orcs in the Inn, who laugh off his feeble attempts at endearing any love of knowledge they might have. With a small offer of gold they suggest he seek out the Wizard in the north of Portown for some employment, although their scornful jeers made him wonder how earnest their recommendation truly was.

And then the druid woodelf, Oberon Nimblereed, makes himself, and his entire backstory, known to the group. After regaling for some time about the various goddesses and tribes that had granted him powers, Oberon hopes to prove his abilities by drawing some information from a large group of halflings sat merrily drinking in the Inn. But, lacking in charisma, Oberon fumbles…”do you know anything of the burrow...I mean barrow…I mean tower, north of here?”. The halflings jeer, one saying “You look like a rabbit, man!” as the rest begin mimicking rabbit ears at him. Oberon slinks away, embarrassed.

A stout and quarrelsome dwarf is happy to interrupt the ramblings of Oberon. Haggdaggs Stormbringer, ever a contradiction as a Dwarven Paladin, comes in like a burst of lightning. He declares his hatred for humans, for murdering his family; his hatred for his brother, his only remaining family member; and a general hatred for all who cross his path. Eager to let out some rage for his bloody background, Haggdaggs is keen to land as many kills as possible; especially against humans. His blunt personality, unfortunately, does not win over the bartender that he hoped to gain information regarding the tower from. Unimpressed by Haggdaggs’ brusk demenour, the bartender refused to even acknowledge the existence of a ruined tower in town, and sent Haggdaggs away with an overpriced craft ale.

The raging against humans certainly perked up the large ears of Promise Umbermoor, whose devil-like features (horns and a sweeping tail) struck all members of the party. Promise is used to this; she was raised amongst humans and has always been an outcast, bullied by many, making her an especially philosophical Tiefling despite the infernal characteristics of her race. Promise hopes to learn more of her ancestry, and has mixed feelings toward the human race who raised her.

Then our cleric, Miri Greycastle, tries her luck with the Inn’s crowd. She had been unsettled by the group’s aversion to humans (particularly Haggdaggs and Promise), so has decided this mission should be spent winning them over to the human race. Miri had always felt a calling by a higher power, so had no need for selfish advancement by winning these beings over. She only hoped they might be redeemed if they understood true goodness; which she embodies. Miri spots a group of human monks sat in the Inn, and decides they would be an easy target for discovering local rumours. The monks are a drunken bunch. Stumbling on their bodies and words, they eventually tell Miri that they are looking for a fine Green Grape Wine. They tell Miri it is for a sacred ritual, and it is not available at the Inn’s bar. The wine was held in the city warehouse, fully guarded by local officials. However, they know that a group of small beings, perhaps street urchins, recently raided the warehouse and stolen much of this wine and been seen taking it into the ruined tower. They offer the adventurers gold in return for any Green Grape Wine they could get from these raiders and return to them after the mission.

The group thinks introductions are over, but a small voice rises and a forehead is spotted poking above the table. Here, Kithri Tealeaf, known as Tealeaf, makes herself known. A halfling bard with a fiddle strung across her chest, Tealeaf declares herself to be a voice of friendship and unity in the group, hoping the racial divides brought up by other party members could be smoothed over through unifying comradeship and, of course, song. From a pleasant and unblemished background herself, Tealeaf aspires for unity and joy, and seems to hold trust in all others. She approaches a couple on a first, though not great, first date. After quickly endearing them to her, she is able to elicit a small piece of information. The man tells her he has heard of pirates who use sea caves beneath the tower to store treasure. But it is told there is a great many-legged creature who guards this treasure. The woman, unimpressed by her date’s boyish imagination, folds her arms and it is clear the date has come to a grinding halt.

Finally, Promise approaches an old man, who turns out to be the most revealing about the tower. He is an old drunk, yes, but the group is trusting of his story. A couple glasses of whiskey easily loosens his lips, and the old man tells us of when he was a servant to a great wizard who lived in the tower and tried to dig beneath it in search of an ancient ruin. Since then many served the wizard, but fifty years ago a green flame engulfed the tower, burning the wizard inside. To this day the tower is deserted, save for the monsters that lurk within. The guards of the nearby warehouse often spoke of blue lights appearing in the tower windows, and even goblins dancing on the tower roof. Terrible stories quickly arose amongst Portown citizens about ghouls and cultists in the adjacent graveyard, alongwith the beautiful Arges Bay to the south-west of the dungeon, which has long been overrun by pirate smugglers.

Having found all the information they could, the party leaves the Green Dragon Inn to head north of Portown and towards the ruined tower. Navarax makes a note of the rundown building where Morvull lives, hoping for a romantic encounter when he leaves the tower. The group also pass a smaller tower, the one they were told of by the orcs where a wizard lives who might hire their services. The group, after some discussion, decide to send in their two more charismatic members, Tealeaf and Promise, along with Miri, their best defense. The three of them enter the tower’s ground floor to see a spiraling staircase to the west leading to a trap door and on this floor a humble kitchen and dining arrangements. Promise, using her large devilish ears, listens to hear the faint cries of an ape-like creature along with footsteps. The group decide to call-out, the trap door opens, and sure-enough a cloaked Wizard descends. The Wizard asks, how can I help? After some discussion in which the Wizard shows an affection for Tealeaf, he then asks that they ‘cleanse’ the dungeon of its evil - specifically: rats, goblins, and ghouls. He can give them gold in return. He even offers to take Tealeaf’s fiddle and return it to her after the mission with a special power for charming the undead. After some persuasion, the Wizard also gives them a small map to the North-Eastern part of the tower, hinting that there is a secret shaft in the graveyard that will lead them to what he describes as, the Ghoul Room. The three tell him that they are a party of 7 with mixed powers, and Tealeaf agrees to hand over her fiddle to be improved as part of their reward.

And so, the party head north of Portown and toward the ruined tower. They hope to clear it of monsters and claim reward from the Wizard, and plan to use his map to enact a surprise attack on the undead in the Ghoul Room he spoke of. The party enter a deserted cemetery, spotting crumbling gravestones, loose bones, and oddly formed stone circles that may have been used for rituals. After some searching, Haggdaggs uses his knowledge of underground formations to uncover a built shute that leads from the cemetery and down into a dark room. The party decide to lower Promise down with a rope tied around her, but upon landing in the room her scaled tale knocks over a dust-filled urn. Her night-vision quickly spots five Ghouls in the room and she is able to tug for help. Miri and Oberon follow down the shute and the three fight the ghouls. Miri’s attempt, as a cleric, to turn the ghouls away in fear is unsuccessful, as is Promise’s attempt to shoot one with her crossbow. The ghouls attack, one seriously injuring Promise as it swipes at her and throws her to the wall, crushing the lower part of her spine. Meanwhile, Navaraz and Haggdaggs head down the shaft to aid them. Navarax yields his deadly axe and quickly decapitates a ghoul, leaving it writhing on the floor as the remaining ghouls make their swings at the party whilst Valaeris and Tealeaf make their way down the shaft. When Promise wakes up after being knocked down, she finds herself unable to move from the waist down. This does not stop Promise, who shortly fires her crossbow at another ghoul and plummets her shot through its head for an instant kill. Navarax and Valaeris both make significant blows on the ghouls, and once the undead are banished from this room, the party loots their urns and, mostly, shares the treasures.

Feeling disheartened from their battle with the ghouls, the party decides not to head west, where the Wizard has said other creatures stir. Instead, they kick down the southern door which leads to a dark corridor. The cracks in the floor appear to writhe, and the party quickly ascertains that something stirs beneath. Valaeris uses his rope and hook to make a swing rope across the corridor that, with some skill, a party member can swing across to the other side avoiding the floor cracks. The party has mixed success, and although many make it almost across, they quickly find there are giant centipedes who dash out between the cracks and attack them. Navarax successfully swings across whilst hoisting Promise in his arms, but drops her at the last minute only for Promise to yank herself away by her arms at the last minute. Despite these falls, the party escapes the centipedes and enters an empty room.

Some peace at last is found as the party make their way through this empty chamber, which has many strange carvings that even the lore-learned bard Tealeaf cannot decipher. They edge down the hallway that follows and find themselves at another door, which a listen at the door by the elves alerts them to a scurrying sound. Perhaps these are the rats they were told of. They place a mirror under the door, hoping to spy on what lies beyond it. But only shadows can be seen. Oberon’s familiar, a gecko, makes use of its power - to detect animals nearby. The spell alerts the group that two giant animals stir behind this door. The party, agreeing that two giant rats are here, burst into the room to surprise them. The listening and spells have helped here, and indeed two giant rats are nestled behind the towers of rubbish that fill this room. With the element of surprise, the group is able to kill the rats quickly, with Haggdaggs finally delivering a killing blow and letting off some of his anger (having tried, unsuccessfully, to knock down several doors so far). Searching through the rubbish, Miri finds a silver dagger of good value and some more gold is found for the group.

Promise is dragged to the top of the southern corridor that leads out of the room, and, using her night-vision is able to spot three figures marching in the distance. The party guesses that these might be skeletons. Not wishing to cross paths with the skeletons, the group decides to go through the western door. Hagggaggs, feeling empowered from his recent kills, smashes through two doors to find himself in an empty, dusty room. The walls have some markings, but nothing of particular interest. It is 10pm. The party decides to risk making camp in this room for the night, with a plan for guarding all doors. A listen at the southern door by elven magic-user Valaeris suggests magic-use beyond it, at the north suggests more crunching, marching figures. The western door offers only silence. After some discussion, Valaeris offers his ‘familiar’, a floating tome, as some protection from the southern door, saying that it will attempt to charm anything that enters. Oberon uses his supplies to barricade the northern door. Haggdaggs and Oberon offer to take the first shift, watching the eastern and western doors until 2am. After this, Tealeaf and Navarax will watch the doors from 2am until 6am, at which point the party will wake to return to their adventure. The members of the party not keeping watch fall asleep, though many are anxious as to what a night spent in this deadly place will lead to.

Tower of Zenopus image and dungeon conversion from: http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-ruined-tower-of-zenopus-5e-on.html

#dungeons and dragons #d&d #rpg #fantasy #whitebox

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calvarycommunitychurch-blog · 5 years

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7 things to look for when reading through the Bible - Focus on the Family

This is a great article from Focus on the Family Canada. Credit for the content goes to Written by Subby Szterszky and the original article can be found here.

This is it – the year you finally read through the entire Bible. Sure, you’ve tried before and gotten bogged down by the spring thaw or the law codes in Leviticus. But this time, you’ve found the ideal Bible reading plan: well-balanced, realistic and tailored to your reading habits. You’ve prayed about it and enlisted an accountability partner to keep you on track.

All of which is fantastic. But in order to see it through to the end – and more important, to benefit from the experience – you need to read with anticipation, with your eyes, your heart and your mind attuned to what the Spirit of God is saying through his Word.

To aid in that process, here are seven things to look for as you embark (or continue) on your scriptural odyssey. There are more than seven, of course, but seven is a nice biblical number and these are a good place to start. They’ll help keep your reading plan from becoming a drudgery and ensure it remains a joyful path of discovery throughout the year.

God

It may appear self-evident that readers of God’s Word should first seek him within its pages. And yet, people typically approach the Bible by asking, “What does this passage say about me, and how does it apply to my life?” Those are valid questions, up to a point, but they’re not the most important ones. In fact, they can be used to distort the meaning of a passage by reading one’s own experiences into it.

That’s because from start to finish, the Bible isn’t primarily about us, but about God. To be sure, Scripture has much to say about human nature and culture and history. But it addresses all those subjects solely with respect to God.

Through human language and the written word, the Creator of the universe has chosen to reveal himself – his character, power and purposes – to his human creatures. He has told us who we are, why we’re here, and how we can be what he created us to be, in a loving relationship with him.

And so, the first questions to ask when reading anything in the Bible are: “What does this say about God? What does it reveal about who he is, what he’s done and continues to do? How does it help me know him and trust him and love him more?”

Grace

There’s a common misconception, even among professing Bible believers, that the Old Testament is all about law, whereas the New Testament is all about grace. In fact, an early heretic named Marcion went so far as to claim that the two Testaments portrayed two different gods: an inferior god of judgment in the Old and a superior god of love in the New.

The Scriptures themselves will have none of that, of course. The Old Testament echoes with a repeated description of God as “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Jesus himself, although full of grace and truth, also spoke at length about judgment and raised the bar of righteousness to include motives of the heart as well as outward actions.

Both Testaments portray God as eternal and unchanging, his law and grace forever intertwined, his love and judgment meeting at the Cross of Christ. To read the Bible is to discover and trace that braid of divine justice and kindness through all its turns, finally displayed perfectly in the person of Jesus.

Challenge

The essence of idolatry is the desire to domesticate God, to make the Creator more like his creation, easier to comprehend and to control. But the God of the universe will not fit into our boxes, whether personal, cultural or theological. In fact, he declares that his ways and his thoughts are as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth.

It’s not surprising, then, that his Word should contain things not only difficult but at times downright disturbing. Such things will vary depending on the assumptions of each culture, but they’ll always be present. For people in the 21st century, the Bible’s sexual ethos, its tolerance of slavery in the ancient world, and its portrayal of genocidal warfare are especially difficult to square with the idea of a just and loving God.

In the eyes of the wider culture, such passages may be deal breakers, but for followers of Jesus, they’re challenges. Strange customs, lengthy genealogies, and even the conquest of Canaan invite readers to think deeply, pray earnestly, embrace mystery and recognize that God is bigger than us. As Tim Keller observes, “If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself.”

Beauty

God is beautiful, and he has designed his cosmos to reflect his beauty. It only follows that his written Word should do likewise. Its accounts brim with grandeur and glory along with moments of quiet intimacy to melt the heart and comfort the soul. It paints word pictures of a world that’s fallen and yet enjoying the kindness and care of its Sovereign Lord.

But beyond their divinely inspired content, the Scriptures are beautiful in themselves as literature, their varied styles equally inspired by God. Contrary to common belief, the Bible isn’t a textbook on science or history or even theology. Nor is it an instruction manual on morals and ethics and successful living. To be sure, it touches on all those subjects and many more besides. But it does so in the form of artful writing.

It’s no accident that God chose to record a significant chunk of his Word as historical narrative and poetry, rather than as didactic instruction. He designed it to appeal to the whole person, the heart and the imagination as well as the mind. To read it any other way is to miss at least part of its message.

Diversity

In the natural world, beauty expresses itself through diversity, and once again it’s the same with Scripture. The Bible is a library of 66 documents, written on three continents over some 1,500 years. Its human authors represent a wide range of temperaments and social classes, each writing to address the issues of their day.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, these authors wrote in an eclectic variety of genres: war stories, pastoral romances, songs of love, songs of lament, prayers, letters, biographies, travelogues, memoirs and apocalyptic visions, among others.

Such a diverse array of genres cannot be read with a one-size-fits-all approach, and it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to do so. Like the many flavours at a fine feast, they’re meant to be savoured, both for their own qualities and for how they blend with one another. Each one speaks with its own voice, and yet contributes its own unique facet to the overall message of Scripture. Discovering that unity, expressed through diversity, is one of the genuine pleasures of reading through the Bible.

Unity

Every great story worth following has a central plot line, a unifying narrative that frames it and gives it structure. There may be subplots and asides, but that main storyline winds throughout, by turns hidden and exposed, and it pulls the reader toward its conclusion.

The central narrative of the Bible can be summarized as a drama in four acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration. From a human perspective, it began in the Garden, reached its climax at the Cross, and will conclude in the New Jerusalem, in the New Heaven and New Earth. From a divine perspective, it was written in the mind of God before he made the cosmos, and will resonate into eternity, to his glory.

Because of the wonderful diversity in Scripture, it’s tempting to think of its many parts as vignettes in an anthology, at best only loosely related to each other. But in truth, they combine to form a unified mosaic from their various literary shades and colours. The main storyline winds through them all, at times clear and at other times subtle, but always there. And thus, when reading the Bible, it’s always crucial to ask, “What does this passage bring to the central narrative of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration?”

Gospel

It’s fitting to conclude this list where it began, by looking for God in the Scriptures. And that means looking for Christ and the Gospel. Such a search is by no means limited to the New Testament, nor is it an exercise in speculative interpretation.

There are, of course, the overt Messianic prophecies that are quoted as such in the New Testament. But it goes deeper than that. After Jesus rose from the dead, he began to teach his disciples everything that was written about him in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. For 1st-century Jews, this threefold description was shorthand for the entire scope of the Old Testament. In other words, Jesus was claiming that all of Scripture was about him, in one sense or another.

We need to be careful here. Jesus was not inviting his followers to dig for Gospel metaphors behind every horse and sword and city wall and loaf of bread in the Old Testament. But he was directing them to recognize that all the Scriptures – every narrative account, genealogy and poetic image – in some way points to him and anticipates his coming.

It could hardly be otherwise, given that Jesus is the protagonist as well as the fulfillment of the grand narrative of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration.

Depending on our tastes, temperament and cultural background, different parts of the Bible will strike us in different ways. Some passages will captivate and inspire, while others will perplex and challenge. But viewed through the lens of the Gospel, all of it will open new vistas on the goodness, wisdom and beauty of God. And therein lies the point – as well as the pleasure – of reading through the Bible.

Sources and further reading

Haven’t yet found that perfect Bible reading plan? Here are links to a few reading plans, devotionals and other resources to help you on your journey through the Scriptures.

Bible Gateway

Bible Project

Biblica: The International Bible Society

English Standard Version (ESV)

Focus on the Family Canada

Read Scripture App

She Reads Truth

YouVersion Bible App

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chicagonews-parabellum-archive · 5 years

Photo

Event: Paisley Sinclair and Luca Costello’s Wedding Date: 09/07/19

A wedding that was supposed to unify two families ended up causing further division. After a mysterious figure shot and killed Paisley Sinclair, both families are struggling to cope. People have already started pointing fingers - it’s only a matter of time before someone else ends up dead.

Citizens of Chicago, prepare for war.

Attached below is the Chatzy from 09/07.

Cici followed a waiter around eagerly, stealing tiny sandwiches off his platter and stuffing them in her purse.

Paityn couldn’t fucking believe it; after she was the one consistently getting reamed out by mommy and daddy for figuratively sleeping with the enemy not one, but two of her siblings showed up to Paisley’s wedding with Costellos as their dates. Priya with Ezra and Bash with Mia. Fucking hypocrites. Of course, when it’s the good kids no one bat an eye. She couldn’t deal. Not sober. The joints in her bag was meant for the reception, but she couldn’t wait. Paityn walked through the wedding hall and found the men’s bathroom. This will have to do. She locked herself alone in a stall and lit up, inhaling the smoke, hoping her heart rate would slow.

Ezra: walked into the venue, along side Priya, only just now starting to get a tad nervous - was it too much to bring one of the brides sister's as your date especially when the bride just happens to be marrying your brother? Well fuck it if it was, Ezra was beyond caring at this point. He grabbed a drink from the try, taking a sip of the champagne.

Sofia: Sofia emerged from her brother's room, now wearing her barely-there dress. It was too late for anyone to tell her to change. The Sinclairs were going to see, the media was going to see, and goddammit, if she couldn't stop this wedding, she could at least make everyone who'd organized it regret the experience. Strutting into a sunbeam, so that you could see through the blush fabric (close to white, but not quite close enough for her mother to actually murder her), she went looking for a bar. Time to find something appropriately sugary to throw in Leon's face when he finally showed up.

Violet arrived from the back rooms, popping into the main hall long enough to snatch up a glass of champagne as the waiter passed. The guests were trickling in and Violet spotted some familiar faces. Most of the Costello men were gathered in the back with Luca, except, probably Leon, of course, given recent circumstances.

Mia scanned the room, eying everything from the servers, to the food and the stunning decorations. Twisting on the bracelet around her wrist, she turned her gaze back to her date. Were they supposed to sit? Find a place to stand? The sight of Ezra and Priya entering was the best excuse to strike up a conversation though. "We all had the same idea, huh?" she half jokingly offered to the stunning redhead and her older brother. When had all of this happened?

Kai was in Luca's room, helping the groom get himself together, and possibly preventing him from jumping out the nearest window. "You need anything? A drink? A puke bag?"

Chanel fixed her hair in the bathroom mirror, making sure her makeup was perfect just like everything else for this event was going to be. Finally approving of the overall look, she walked out and looked around at everyone who was already in attendance. If she had anything to do with it, this day was going to go perfectly

Ezra: laughed, "you know what they say Mia, great minds." Seriously when did these two become a thing? Ezra's feels completely out of the loop. "How long's this been a thing" he asked, eyes travelling from his sister to Sebastian.

Chanel went to eat some cocktail weenies

Priya was glad to be walking into this with Ezra. It was going to be a long night by the looks of it. She smiled when she saw her brother with Mia. She had known the two would be coming together since the engagement party. "We did," she laughs.

Abel Costello surveyed the room, tugging at his collar even though he already skipped wearing a tie, he then spotted Kai from across the room and gave him a nod before making his way towards his cousin who looked handsome in blue (ily chris lol).

Luca was trying not to freak himself out. He'd tuned everyone out. The wedding was minutes away now, and the nerves he felt didn't seem to be letting up - regardless of the joint he'd smoked. He finally looked up at Kai. "We should take shots."

Sofia: Sugary drink acquired, Sofia snagged Abel as he was going past. "C'mon, Kai and Luca are in his room. Let's go do shots with them or something."

Kai flashed his cousin a smile, reaching into his jacket pocket for the flask he brought with. You know, just in case. "Bottoms up," he said, taking a drink for himself before offering it to Luca. "Don't worry. I'll steal more from the bartenders if need be."

Kieran was in no particular mood for a wedding. He couldn't even imagine the amount of drama that was bound to happen tonight. Kieran had already told himself that he was doing this shit sober, so he sipped on a glass of water, eyes scanning the room for a familiar face.

Mia smiled, finding that while both pairs might be unexpected, she was glad to see her brother smile, joke and laugh. Some of that had to be in part of Priya. "Great minds indeed." Glancing over at Sebastian she did not exactly know how to answer her brothers question. A thing. Was it? Were he and Priya a thing? "Not long. I asked Sebastian if he wanted to go with me." she lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. "How about the two of you?"

Cici stood in the back of the room, sipping a class of champagne and staring at a vase holding flowers. She couldn't tell if they were plastic or not and reached out to touch it, looking around to make sure no one saw her.

Paityn continued to smoke her joint in the men's room; her heels resting on the toilet seat in case anyone entered. Paityn wanted to hide.

Jack: Jack was looking for Paityn, who was MIA, and Shiloh, who was AWOL. Corralling them all was like herding cats. He saw Cici and waved, moving towards her, before stopping when he saw Kieran. Well, boo fucking hoo. He continued over and smiled, kissing her on the cheek. "You clean up nice."

Abel Costello was intercepted by Sofia, and promptly dragged away from the main room to meet up with the rest of the family. Inside, Luca looked like he was about to be beheaded and Kai was, well, calm as always. Abel glanced at Sofia and pressed his lips together, knowing full well that Cassandra was going to have a fit when she sees her. "Everything alright?" he asked.

Violet spotted Mia and Ezra with their dates? Whatever. She headed in their direction, lifting her dress so her hem didn't drag. "Interesting choice in companions for the night. You all look gorgeous, as usual." She offered them all a smooth smile, giving a nod to Priya and Sebastian.

Priya reached for Ezra's hand at Mia's question. How long had it been? A day since the kiss but them interacting? She wasn't sure. There was no concept of time when she was with him. "I am not actually sure." She turns to Ezra and smiles at him.

Luca wasn't about to pass up on a drink. He grabbed Kai's flask and downed a swig. "You cannot let me do this shit sober. You hear me? If I start acting sober, put some more liquor in me." He glanced over at Abel and Sofia. "Family reunion. Perfect time for a family reunion."

Juliet grabbed a glass of champagne and sipped at it as her eyes scanned the room.

Leon was late, which was both unlike him but also because he really didn't feel like being anywhere near the rest of his family. He'd had enough for the year, let along the entire week. Sunglasses still on to try and hide his black eye, stood by one of the walls, hands in his pocket as he watched the crowd.

Ezra squeezed Priya's hand tightly, giving her a warm smile. "We're taking things slow, we're not going to rush into anything. I think we've had enough shotgun relationships to last a lifetime." He turned to Violet then, "well you know, I'm always keen to liven things up, you look beautiful," he said complimenting his ex-sister in law.

Cici smiled as Jack approached her and she laughed slightly as he kissed her cheek. "Well, there's a friendly face. I thought for a minute there, this was almost an exclusive Costello event." Taking a sip from her drink, she looked him over. "Not as nice as you, Jack. I'll let you in on a little secret...my dress is from Target. Don't tell anyone."

Kai twirled his wrist in a gesture toward Abel, "C'mon. You know you want a drink," he smirked.

Kai added, drawing an X across his heart, "I promise not to let you do this shit sober. I also promise not to let you fall on your ass."

Sofia: Sofia snagged the flask from Abel and downed a hefty amount. "I'll get more. You're all a bunch of pussies anyway. I can drink you all under the table." She hugged Luca. "Be right back, promise."

Penelope stood at one of the tables, drink in hand as she watched everyone interacting. It was a matter of time before someone ended up fighting.

Abel Costello shrugged at Kai, realizing that he'll have no chance to even do security when Sofia was going to be a handful. He then turned to Luca and tilted his head. "It's a wedding, not your beheading." Not the best pep talk, but totally on-brand. "We're here for you, Lu."

Chanel looks for a flute of champagne to sip on and wonders who she should go socialize with. She spotted the mother of the bride at a table by herself and walked over to her, picking up a glass to drink on her way. Stopping at the table she offered a smiled and looked out at all the people. "It looks beautiful so far. I'm sure the ceremony will be stunning."

Kai sighed wistfully as he watched Sofia run out of the room, "She truly lights up a room, doesn't she?"

Jack: "Well, Target looks better on you than Louis Vuitton does on half the people here, so who the fuck cares anyway." Jack glanced back at Kieran. "You want me to tell him to check the perimeter or something? Go oil a gun?" He wanted Cici to have a good time, and if that involved shooing Kieran away like one of his cats, he was happy to do so.

Mia couldn't entirely believe what she was seeing. Oh yeah, Ezra and Priya were definitely a thing. Trying to hide just how surprised she was, Mia found Violet to come over at just the right moment. Thank god. "Thats great. And probably wise." She noted with a nod. Smiling at Vi she playfully nudged her with her hip. "You look absolutely stunning." She agreed.

Penelope smiled back at the blonde. Chanel was probably the most competent of the Costello’s. “Yes, everything has turned out beautifully.” She raised a glass to the blonde. “You deserve a drink with the way the last two weeks have gone.”

Ezra watched Leon walk in from the corner of his eye, "anyone ever tell our brother wearing sunglasses inside was terribly ruined?" He smirked, knowing exactly why his brother had made that fashion choice.

Elijah walks into the cocktail hour with his flask in hand. There may have already been drinks being served but none better than the moonshine he'd managed to concoct in his free time. Taking a deep swig he looked for Shiloh but couldn't see him right away. Instead he saw Jackson and walked over to him, giving him a pat on the back. "What's up motherfuckers." Seeing Cici, he cleared his throat and nodded at her very gentelmany. "And lady."

Violet gave Ezra and Mia a genuine smile, her features soft and relaxed as they usually were, especially in spite of the circumstances. "Thank you. I scored a super hot date, you know. Sofia. Whom I haven't been able to find for a bit now but... I'm sure she's got her halo on tight."

Violet followed Ezra's line of sight to spot Leon and his... sunglasses. "It's probably worse today," she replied absently.

Priya gave Violet a polite smile when she approached the four of them. "Mia," managed to look away from Ezra and to his sister, "I still cannot believe you managed to get my brother to have a date to this. Please let me know you did it. I have been trying to get him out with someone for years."

Luca nodded. "I know. I'm just fucking nervous." Luca anxiously stared at his phone, checking the time. He watched as Sofia wandered off. Luca stood from his chair, stretched out a little awkwardly. "Thank you guys for not fuckin' killing my buzz."

Chanel laughed and raised the drink she had just retrieved for herself. "I'm sure we all deserve a drink for the last two weeks. But the day is finally here, can you believe it?"

Cici followed Jack's eyes to Kieran, and she frowned a little. "Eh, he looks uncomfortable enough standing alone. Who knows, maybe you being here makes him jealous." Laughing, Cici threw her drink back and finished it. She hadn't meant what she said, but she suddenly found herself actually wondering it it was true. Glancing over at Kieran again, she hadn't noticed him look over. "So, where's the lucky girl who arrived as your date?"

Kai gave Luca a pat on the shoulder and a smile, "Of course not. That's Paisley's job now."

Sofia: Sofia saw a boy over with a couple of what she assumed were Sinclairs. They could've been relatives for all she knew. The important thing was, it was a boy, and he looked appropriately heteroflexible at least. Swinging near him, she bumped into him, giggled, and took his flask fast as lightning. "See ya, cutie." She tripped away, flask in one hand, sugary cocktail in the other. Just as she spotted Violet and was headed over to say hi, she saw what Violet was looking at, and made a beeline for Leon. "Your outfit needs ... something." She threw the drink in his face. "There we go!"

Penelope laughed, placing her own glass back on the table. “ That’s very true. Just a few more hours and we can put this whole thing behind us.”

Abel Costello couldn't help but smirk, not really wanting to voice out his agreement. "I'm still your date, but I think we should split up to look after the twins." He glanced at Luca then at Kai. "Guess I'm taking the hellspawn." (he says that lovingly okay?)

Mia narrowed her eyes a little as she saw her little sister fly across the room, clearly on the search for something. "Oh she's here alright." she noted to Violet. At Ezra's mention of Leon, she raised an eyebrow to her brother, silently asking 'Where?' to figure out which corner to scan in order to find Leon and these infamous sunglasses. Of course it was no darn surprise he'd opted for them. Anything to hide that well deserved shiner. Right then Priya said her name though, and for the time being her search of Leon would have to wait. "Really? Ahm.. not sure there's much to tell? We just had a nice conversation and I was lucky enough to get him to agree to go with me. Years huh?" Her question was directed more at Sebastian than Priya, curiosity dancing in her eyes.

Cici surprised at Elijah's sudden appearance, although not really, she rolled her eyes. "You actually are wearing a suit, Elijah. I'm shocked."

Violet 's eyes widened as she watched Sofia throw a drink in Leon's face, unable to curb the laugh that leaped from her lips. "Oh my god."

Chanel smiled and nodded, taking small sips from her glass. They could put this all behind them. Hopefully. Looking around the room some more, she wondered if either of the lucky couple had made an appearance yet. Was that bad luck? She couldn't really remember. "Have Luca or Paisley been out at all?"

Leon "What the fuck Sofia?" Leon yelled, knowing this was probably the last place that he should be yelling. "You know if you have an issue with everything or with me do it on your own fucking time," he stated, his voice getting quieter as he glared at his sister, taking off his sunglasses, "because if you really want to start a fight today, I'm sure that Dad's going to love that."

Jack: Jack glanced down at Cici, amused at the idea that he was making Kieran jealous, when he was mildly jealous of Kieran to begin with. That was the way things went, he supposed. Before he could say anything else, Elijah approached and Jack smacked him upside the head just from reflex, but then patted him for the nice save with Cici. Luca's twin came over but Jack was already paying more attention to Cici again. "I came stag. Don't think anyone wanted to put up with my grumbling."

Ezra laughed, "really Mi? You guys just talked?" Colour him not entirely convinced. He turned then, just in time to see drama play out between Sophie and Leon. "Jesus Leon's really mister popular right now with the twins uh?"

Penny let her eyes run the room again before settling on the blonde. "Not that I've seen but for Paisley that doesn't surprise me. Flair for the dramatic practically runs in the family."

Benjamin wasn't technically working, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to stop shit from going down. He stood near the door, watching as Sofia tossed a drink in Leon's face. He tried not to laugh, considering Leon would technically be his boss someday. Instead, Ben clenched his jaw and stared at something else.

Elijah reacted to the slap on the back of his head but recovered smoothly. He adjusted his suit and smiled wickedly at Cici. "Of course I am. I clean up very nicely when the occasion calls for it." And then suddenly his flask was out of hand and some girl, the Costello Twin? Was gone with it, throwing drinks around like they were toys. "Hey now, I'm going to need that back!"

Salma was fashionably late, but she walked into the event without a care. She made her way over towards the bar, grabbing a flute of champagne, she turned to scan the room, looking for a familiar face.

Priya "Years." Priya gave a smile to her brother before continuing, "I have been a thorn in his side over it." Out of the corner of her eye she caught the final moments of the interaction between Leon and his sister. It looks like the other Costello twin was competing for who could ruin the night first.

Luca finally decided it was time to go out and socialize with people. The wedding was only minutes away. He buried down whatever nerves that he'd felt. Luca headed out towards the main area, where everyone was socializing, and decided to make an entrance. He swiped a bottle of open champagne and downed quite a bit of it before making his presence known. "Welcome to my wedding, fu-" Luca cut himself off whenever he saw Penny. Maybe he shouldn't address the guests as fuckers.

Sofia: Sofia felt elated, too excited to regret anything, and squared up for a shouting match. She was going to offend every goddamn person in the church if possible. "An issue? I don't have an issue, Lee. I have a problem, which is YOU. Of all the times to fuck with your own brother, you pick right before he gets sold off like a cow at an auction? Why don't you just kick him in the balls and steal his fucking wallet too?" The shiner surprised her momentarily, but she was pettily glad someone had gotten there first. "You couldn't just fuck your own goddamn wife or something, you had to fuck that social-climbing sociopath with the fetish for royal purple? Fuck, I'd be ashamed to have been your wife if that's how bad your taste in women is these days."

Mia raised both her brows at her brother this time. She was tempted to call him out, but it wouldn't be prudent with everyone else around. "Really." she said with a note of finality in her tone. This time she did manage to pick Leon out, his angry face saying it all.. wow, Sofia was not holding back tonight. Trying to ignore the sibling drama she had no intention of getting in the middle of, for once, Mia smiled at Priya and Sebastian. "Well then I am glad I could help break the cycle."

Cici laughing at Elijah's shenanigans, Cici shook her head as he went looking for his flask. Grabbing another glass of champagne from a waiter passing by, she took a sip. "Grumbles? Jack, you need to stop thinking so poorly about yourself-" Cut off by Luca Costello yelling as he entered the room, Cici sighed. "Do we really have to combine the families? There's still time to back out. That little fuck is already on my nerves."

Chanel "Sounds about right. The bride should be able to make the biggest entrance anyway. I'm sure the gown is absolutely stunning." She looked around some more and then spotted Luca making his appearance. And of course, a champagne bottle was clutched in his hands.

Violet noticed the siblings seemed off in their own world with the Sinclair's, talking about their new... partnerships? She gave them another polite smile, "I'm sure I'll see you guys later on." She made it over to Sofia and Leon just as Sofia finished her speech, leaving Violet, well, speechless. "Ah, fuck." A forced smile spread across her features as she nodded at Leon and Sofia, then promptly made a B-line for the front door. Someone had to have a smoke or something, right?

Abel Costello Abel arrived just in time to catch Sofia all the way across the room throwing a drink at Leon. He rubbed his face in exasperation before deciding to go the other way. He's going to let the siblings duke it out a little, let Sofia get it out of her system before dragging her away. Maybe lock her in a closet for good measure. No. No. This was his darling <s>hellspawn</s> cousin we're talking about. Someone should really stop them. Someone not him.

Penny "She looks flawless, as any bride should on their wedding day." She paused at the loud entrance of the groom himself, mouth pursing. "And there he is. Loud as always. How do you keep a handle on that boy?"

Leon "Shut the fuck up Sofia, you really don't know what you're talking about," Leon glared at her, especially when it came to the wedding. He'd given Luca a chance to get out, he was sure all the siblings had, and it was Luca's choice. Whether or not Sofia believe it or not. "And I'm really not interested in being in all of your fucked up dramatics because you're not getting your way. So act your fucking age and not like the two-year-old you've decided to present yourself as," he said, starting to walk off towards the bathroom so that he could as least try to wash off the stickiness.

Jack: Jack winced when he saw Luca. This was just ... such a problem. "Do you think I should go over there and do something? I could, I dunno, hit him with the bottle, maybe it'll fix his personality." He finally processed that Cici had been complimenting him before and brightened visibly. "You think I'm worth a damn? Golly gosh gee, Miss Jansen, you're gonna make me blush."

Kai burst out in laughter at Sofia's antics, but quickly righted himself, running his hands down the front of his jacket before striding over to Sofia. "Heya dollface. Keepin' shit as interesting as ever, huh?"

A Wedding Guy cleared his throat, terrified to even raise his voice in this specific crowd of people. "Excuse me..." He tried, gaining no traction and zero attention. "EXCUSE ME." He tried again, this time hearing his own voice echo back at him really loudly and he felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment. "WE ASK THAT THE GUESTS MAKE THEIR WAY TO THEIR SEATS PLEASE, THE CEREMONY IS ABOUT TO BEGIN."

Ezra sighed, turning to Priya for a moment "excuse me for one moment," he said walking over his brother - literally the last thing he felt like doing but someone had to, and it seemed everyone else had taken the night off. He entered the bathroom, standing by the door, "you okay?"

Elijah huffed as he realized Sofia wasn't coming back any time soon with his flask and decided to do damage control himself. He walked over there only to catch some type of fight with what he assumed was the eldest Costello. He laughed at the insults and reassessed the girl, amused by her fire. But while she was distracted he figured it would be a good enough time to steal what was his. "I'm just going to take this little thing and prevent it from adding to the fire. Go about your business."

Violet eventually makes her way back inside since the ceremony, taking her seat with the family.

Chanel "Usually in small doses, honestly." She laughed and raised her glass before drinking some more of it. "And also a lot of this."

Juliet inserted herself into the crowd making their way to the ceremony, praying for the first time in her life that the Costellos did not see her.

Penny sighed and squared her shoulders before finishing off her drink. "Well, time to do this." She nodded to Chanel before making her way to the seats reserved for family of the bride.

Jack: Sofia bristled at Leon talking to her like a child and opened her mouth to inform him of what exactly he was, which was going to involve terms that would probably get her excommunicated, or at least thrown out of church, when Kai came up to her. "Yeah, well, you know me. Fucking hell, I have to go be the goddamn best man." Storming up the aisle, she practically left holes she stomped so hard as she stood at the front. "Last chance to bail, people. We can still make happy hour!"

Mia looked from Priya to Sebastian. "Guess we should find somewhere to sit then. You guys wanna sit together?" She mildly suggested.

Luca heard the announcement and froze. He chugged a few gulps of the champagne in his hand. He clenched his fist in order to steady himself. Luca made his way to the altar through the back, hiding behind the scenes until it was time.

Chanel realized what the wedding guy had said and gives a nod to Penny and then made her way over to her own section, on the grooms side of the aisle.

Leon was honestly surprised that Ezra was the one that decided to check up on him. Rinsing off his face he was glad taht he'd chosen to only wear black because at least he wasn't going to have too ridiculous of a stain the rest of the day. "Been better," he honestly answered, sounding as exhausted as he actually felt, "I honestly think that I ran the sibling gauntlet and managed to get all of you to not talk to me at once."

Priya looked over at Mia after Ezra left. "Yes. I think safety in numbers is the way to go tonight. Which side though?" She asked Mia.

Cici laughing at Jack's response to her compliment, Cici couldn't contain her giggle and covered her mouth with her free hand. An employee's voice echoing to the crowd to move to the pews caught her attention and cut off their conversation. Snaking her arm through Jack's she smiled. "Care to escort me in, Mr. Sinclair?"

Elijah happily sipped on the flask he had successfully stolen back as he made his way to the brides side of the wedding. Would it be inappropriate to laugh during the actual nuptials? Probably, but he also had a feeling that was what was about to happen. "Cheers to the good couple."

Jack: Jack took her arm and beamed at her. "I'd like nothing better. Wanna take bets on which one of the Costellos fucks things up the most? I got my money on the groom, but the little spitfire might beat me to it."

Ezra smiled sadly, "dude even on your worst day, you'll never screw up as badly as I have." He sighed, "look I'm sorry about before, I was blaming the wrong person, and so is Sophie, she'll realise that soon enough I promise." He threw his brother a wink. "Come on, why don't you sit with me and Priya, fair warning I think we're sitting on the Sinclair's side, but to be honest, right now I think that's the safest place to be."

Abel Costello decided to follow after Leon and Ezra, mostly just to make sure that there won't be a second altercation. He then walked in on the two having a tender moment so he cleared his throat. "Ceremony's about to start. Luca needs us."

Leon "I'm sorry too, I know I lost it on you too and you really didn't deserve that," Leon admitted before nodding over to his cousin. "But agreed, I'd rather say away from Sofia, I wouldn't be surprised if she decides to make a scene in the middle and I don't want any part of that."

Mia debated for a moment. The way her family were behaving, sitting with the brides family did not seem like a bad idea. At all. "We'll sit with you." she offered.

Ezra turned to face Abel. He sighed, "I guess it's show time then, shall we boys?"

Luca 's heart felt like it was going to leap out of his fucking chest. There was no backing out. Luca walked up to the altar, stood at the end as he waited for Paisley. As scary as this shit was, Luca was fully committed to spending the rest of his life with Paisley.

Cici walked in with Jack and searched for an open pew. "I think Luca's gonna barf." Sitting down she laughed, watching him walk up, pale as a ghost. "Or pass out. Paisley's gonna be pissed."

Leon "Guess so," Leon said as he started walking towards the ceremony.

Sofia: Sofia found Luca, who'd been sneaking around the back, and grabbed his hand, squeezing it. "Say the word, I shove the priest at Paisley and we run down the altar like in Wedding Crashers or something."

Priya extended her hand to Mia, "Come on then," she smiled at her brother before saying, "I am going to borrow your date since mine is dealing with his brother."

Ezra Ezra walked inside the hall along side Leon and Abel just in time to see Luca walking in. He took his seat beside Priya.

Violet sits with the family? Yeah.

Leon Leon sits next to ezra

Chanel realized she still held her champagne glass in her hand and decided to finish it before putting it on the floor. She'd probably remember to pick it up later.

Elijah huffed as he sat in his chair, bummed that he didn't get a seat with Shiloh. "Alright let's rock this bitch. Bring out the ginger!"

Sofia: Sofia waved at Violet and pointed at the spot she normally would be occupying. She wanted it to be as awkward as possible for Leon. She even gave Violet a big thumbs up from the altar.

Priya once seat she takes a hold of Ezra's hand.

Penny watched as her children joined her on the bride's side with their dates. She chose not to comment on their choice of dates though.

Ezra squeezed Priya's hand tightly, shaking his head at Sophie's actions, "well we know which one of my siblings is trying to make this as painful as possible" he muttered to Priya.

Leon glances over and sees Ezra and Priya's hands, but decides that it's better not to say anything (at the moment)

Kai is sitting next to Abel and probably Violet, being a good Costello boy and keeping his mouth shut.

Abel Costello made his way to the ceremony with his cousins and on his way to the pew he caught Mia standing beside Sebastian and Ezra making his way beside Priya. This shouldn't be unusual, given that everyone had been ordered to play nice, but knowing how Mia had been vocal about her disdain for this entire event, his cousin seemed to be all smiles besides the Sinclair heir. He decided to ignore it for now and stand beside Kai.

Priya leaned over to Ezra and whispered, "Better yours than mine."

Ezra sighed, "why is it always mine?" he grumbled.

Priya joked, "Genetics."

Ezra laughed, "ounch, who knew you could be so cold," he joked.

Mia noticed Abel sitting down at the other side of the aisle, but not before eying her. Yeah, he had to think she were insane where she sat not only on the Sinclair side, but with the Sinclair heir as well. She felt bad about not giving him a heads up, just like she could not help but stare at her little brother up there in the aisle looking like he was going to topple over and wishing she could stand next to him and just.. hold his hand. Which might be mighty embarrassing for him in front of such a crowd though but at least he would feel the support she was trying to convey with her eyes. She hadn't even gotten a moment to speak with him beforehand. Too wrapped up in small talk.. Shitty sister.

Luca was still waiting on Paisley's slow ass.

Sofia: Sofia was waiting on Sofia's slow ass and made an obscene gesture at the boy whose flask she'd stolen.

Nadine hadn't meant to show up late, in fact the thought of entering the chapel at such an hour made her stomach twist into knots and her mouth go dry that she almost decided to turn around and get right back into the cab that had just dropped her off. But she had flown across the Atlantic to see Penny's daughter get married and by God if she turned around now it would be rather pathetic. So, after smoothing her hands down the front of her dress and fixing her hair, Nadine straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, and entered the church. To her horror the entirety of the room was standing, seemingly waiting for the bride, and with a face flushed red as a rose, Nadine hurried to the closest open seat among the pews.

Paisley let out a shaky sigh as she heard all of the voices echoing through the doorway. She suddenly felt incredibly nervous and began to shred the tissue she had balled into her hands. Was this the right thing to be doing? Her heart continued to race as her father walked up behind her and put an encouraging hand on her shoulder. Not saying a word, although not needing to, Paisley smiled at him. Thankful for his support. "Ready?" Morgan asked and Paisley nodded, taking his arm he held out to her. Taking one more deep breath, she held it in as the doors swung open and the music began to play.

Chanel stands in her seat as the music starts playing, turning to watch Paisley and Morgan come down the aisle.

Elijah stands and sees a hot blond across the way, winks at her and then also looks at the two coming down the aisle

Luca held his breath. The doors opened, and there was Paisley being escorted in by her father. Luca felt his heart racing. It was going to be okay. Paisley looked gorgeous and he knew, despite the circumstances, that they would make this marriage work. For the first time that evening, Luca didn't feel unsure about the future. This was good. For both sides. He smiled at Paisley, knowing that this marriage would work. It had to.

Paisley couldn't contain the smile on her face as she made eye contact with Luca and continued down the aisle, all eyes on her. It suddenly all felt...perfect. They reached the alter and Morgan whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek, and leaving her side. She held her hands out to Luca, ready for him to take them-

Unknown sat patiently, perched on the upper level loft that only housed the ancient church organ the family decided to veto out of the wedding, steadying the sniper rifle on the beam in front of him. None of the guests had even looked in his direction and he almost had to hold back a laugh. So much for top security. The cue to wait for was the girl reaching the end of the aisle, the right moment between her father being out of the way and before the boy could grab her hands. The music began to fade away as Morgan kissed his daughter's cheek and turned away. Holding his breath, he steadied his weapon, and squeezed the trigger.

Paisley falls forward.

Unknown pushed the button on the remote in his pocket, setting off the small explosions at the alter, causing the wall to immediately go up in flames. With his job done, he stood up and fled the scene.

Chanel screams, looking at all that had just happened, not knowing what to do or where to go. Something had to happen, someone had to do something

Cici jumped at the sound of the bullet and watched Paisley fall, all as explosions began to go off. Immediately she turned and searched for Kieran.

Penny stood in shock, not moving except to raise a hand do her chest. Her daughter falling. An explosion. Her body went numb.

Sofia: Sofia screams and can't move, she needs to get to Luca and shield him. Nothing else matters anymore, but she can't make her feet move.

Elijah jumps as he hears a pop and the suddenly Paisley is on the ground. He's confused, not quite connecting what had just happened. Did she trip? Did a balloon pop? How much alcohol was in this moonshine.

Juliet reached over to take Camila's hand, shock freezing the rest of her body in place.

Ezra: grabbed hold of priya's hand again, leaning forward to check that Mia and Leon were also alright, still in shock from what just happened.

Kai grabs Chanel's hand when she screams, tugging her toward him and Abel. "Hey, it's okay. We got ya."

Chanel decided to duck down, holding her hands over her head. She wasn't supposed to be a part of this part of the business. This was not her expertise.

Luca suddenly heard the sound of a gunshot. Paisley fell forward, into his arms, blood splattering his suit. She went limp and, not long after, a small explosion went off. With Paisley still in his arms, Luca fell to the ground. He held onto her tightly, shaking her stubbornly. "Pais- Paisley, wake up." He looked out in to the crowd, just as panic had begun to ensue. "Someone fucking help her!" Luca's voice broke.

Mia felt like an electro shock was going trough her, startling in her seat where she sat and unconsciously grabbing for both Priya's and Sebastian's hand, staring open mouthed as the aisle seemed to go up in a sea of flames and smoke.

Camila blinks, dazedly, brain struggling to connect the sound to the action. She grips Juliet's hand back, starts in her seat.

Chanel realizes Kai is tugging her and follows him, hoping they know what to do

Leon it took Leon a couple of second to realize what had happened, and a couple more to look around and try and figure out who the shooter even was. It was instinct to try and figure it out biut with the explosion he knew they needed to get out. Fast. "Okay we need to go. Now." he told the other people in his row.

Sebastian was frozen in place, he had no idea what had just happened. He felt his entire being go numb, he couldn't comprehend what was going on.

Priya is in shock. Her brain was screaming at her but her body was not responding. Her sister. Her little sister. Priya looks back and forth between Mia and Ezra. If the two weren't holding onto her hands her legs would have give out.

Sofia: Jack is out of his seat immediately, yelling at his crew to get outside and make sure there's not an ambush waiting before everyone streams out. He practically bodily pulls Cici with him and shoves her into a corner next to the door. "Stay here, I'll be back for you right away, I just need to make sure there's not more guys outside." He pulled several guns out of his jacket and hollered for Kieran to get people out safely.

Ezra tried to make out Luca's form through the smoke, hoping by some grace of god his brother was alright.

Kieran immediately looked for Cici at the sound of a gunshot. With a fire breaking out, he lunged across the church. He wasn't leaving here without her. Once he reached Cici, Kieran grabbed her by the arm, shielded her out of fear that there was still a threat. "Gotta go. Now."

Ezra "what about Luca?" he asked in response to Leon's command.

Abel Costello saw Paisley fall and he turned his head to try anf find the shooter. But the explosives were set off and people started panicking, leaving the rest of the security details scrambling. Someone needed to secure the family and he began pushing past the crowd to get to Luca.

Mia felt panic course trough her veins. Leon was yelling something about having to go, but Mia doesn't give it a second thought, getting to her feet and shooting down the aisle like a bat out of hell. "LUCA!" Was he hit too? Was Paisly dead? No, this could not be happening.

Sofia: Sofia grabbed Luca's shoulders, trying to get him away, but her twin wouldn't move. "Lu-lu, we've gotta go!" Since he wasn't moving, she kicked her shoes off and grabbed Paisley by the shoulders. "Carry her damn legs then!"

Nadine had tears in her eyes as she watched Morgan walk his daughter to the alter. She was reminded of her own wedding day and for a moment the woman was lost in memory before the sound of a bullet ripping through the air jolted her back to the present. Insticually she fell to the ground and covered her head, waiting for the sound of more bullets. But when an explosion rocked the foundation of the church instead, she began to pray, not having done so in years. She should have stayed in France.

Benjamin immediately looked for the Costellos. Those were his responsibility. He pulled out his weapon and immediately began looking for a way to get people out.

Penny the building was on fire and while she was worried about her daughter she needed to get the others out to safety. She looked to where her children sat with their dates. "We need to get out. Get moving. NOW."

Leon "I'll get Luca, you get everyone else," he said to his brother as he started going towards the font of the church.

Violet immediately leapt from her seat as soon as the commotion began, following Kai and Abel as they rushed to the altar. "Sof! Are you okay? Luca!"

Elijah finally registered what was happening and also started panicking like everyone else around him. He didn't know where the shot had come from or if there were others still out there. Immediately he started looking for the other Sinclair's hoping they were okay and if there was anything he could do to.

Cici did as Jack told her and then immediately was grabbed by Kieran. Feeling slightly relieved at his appearance, she clinged to him, completely shell shocked. "What do we do...the fire..."

Priya turns to her brother, worry and dread on her face. "Paisley-" she manages to get out before Ezra's and her mother's voice pull her out. "I'm-" she stutters, "i'm fine." her grip tightens on ezra's hand as she begins to make her way out the pew.

Kai rushed over to where Mia and the others were, "Who's missing? Anyone?"

Salma froze at the sound of the gunshot. For a moment, she was reminded of the day of her father's death, but was immediately brought back to the present by the smell of smoke as she sat there, dazed.

Leon quickly makes his way to the front of the church, and sees Sofia. Now wasn't the time to be petty about it. "Sof, get out of here, I'll get Luca and Paisley?"

Chanel watched as nobody knew what to do, looking to Kai as he moved to another place. She tried to follow behind him, wanting to throw up but holding back. "We- we need to get out of here. We need to hide."

Mia threw herself down on the ground beside her little brother, ignoring the blood that seemed to be oozing out on the floor. "Luca! Are you hurt? We need to leave."

Sebastian steeled his emotions and stood, he needed to do something. How was he supposed to be a second-in-command when it felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest. He moved up towards the alter not caring about the smoke or flames.

Ezra steadied his voice, "she'll be fine, but we can't do anything to help them if we end up trapped in here too," he said pulling her towards the exist.

Benjamin spotted Juliet and Camila near the back of the church. He immediately sprinted towards them. The fire was getting out of hand now - they needed to get out. Quickly. Adrenaline pumping, Ben didn't even think before he grabbed Juliet and Camila by the arm. "We need to get out of here."

Kai spots Benjamin near the back, handling some of the other girls, "C'mon," he spoke softly to Chanel, "We're gonna get to Ben and get you out."

Juliet didn't fight Ben as he pulled her up and out of his seat. "Shit, shit shit."

Sofia: Sofia wiped her face, not realizing Sofia's blood was on her hands. "I'm not leaving unless we ALL go. Now help me get her out of here or Luca's never gonna leave!"

Abel Costello found Sofia trying to drag Luca while Leon was telling her to leave. "I'll get Paisley," he offered to Leon, "you take care of Luca."

Violet wrapped an arm around Sofia, "C'mon. They got it. Come with me. We won't leave Luca."

Ezra shouted to Leon, "we need to get the girls out," refereeing the fact that Mia and Sophie were still inside.

Priya let Ezra pull her towards and exit. Her eyes kept searching for her family. For her siblings. For Paisley. "Please let her not be dead," she says softly to herself

Paisley felt her body beginning to get cold and she could no longer move her legs or arms. Explosions went off and her ears could only hear a high pitch ring. Vision blurry, she still was able to make out Luca's face. Attempting to make words, a choking sound came from her throat instead. She felt tears falling down her cheeks and she did all she could, offering Luca the biggest smile she could muster, she mouthed to him. "It's okay." She kept her eyes on him for as long as she could, unable to truly understand what as going on around her. Eventually her eye lids just got too heavy and she couldn't fight it anymore, so they closed.

Leon nodded at Abel, not surprised to see him there. "Good," he nodded at his cousin before turning to both of his sisters, "Now both of you get out and I will get Luca," he said before kneeling next to his brother. "We don't need all of us here."

Chanel nodded to Kai, looking to see Ben with some of the other girls. She began making her way to it, jumping when she heard little pops from the fire as it expanded. She'd left her purse at her chair, it had her phone in it. She had to go back. Pushing through the chaos of the other guests she tried to find where she had been sitting, crawling on her hands and knees until she finally found it.

Violet glanced at Leon momentarily as they all crowded around to help Luca, then looked at Mia, "C'mon, let's get Sof and get out of here."

Sofia: Sofia clutched Violet but still instinctively reached out for Luca. "Luca, please! Please don't leave me!"

Kai lead Chanel through the madness to Benjamin, "Can you get her out? I wanna make sure everything is good here." He gave Chanel's shoulder a comforting squeeze, keeping his arm around her.

Ezra swallowed hard, "hey don't don't think like that," he said to Priya, waiting until they were outside to pull her into his arms, "its going to be okay."

Mia couldn't breathe. Had Paisley's eyes just closed? How could this be happening? Staring blankly at her brothers that kept swimming in and out of vision. Violet was in front of her speaking, but Mia couldn't hear her, standing as if glued to the ground.

Luca could hear the chaos all around him. He was shaking now, trying to smile back at Paisley. His eyes were blurred with tears and it wasn't long before Luca was in hysterics all together. The woman that he was supposed to marry was cold, limp in his arms. She wasn't supposed to be a victim. This wedding was supposed to prevent shit like this happening. Luca rocked Paisley in his arms, shaking his head, repeating the words 'no' over and over again. "Pais. Paisley. Paisley. Please don't- fuck."

Violet wraps her other arm around Sofia, "Abel and Leon got him. Promise. C'mon," she spoke softly, eyes narrowing a bit when she noticed Mia didn't respond, "Mia? Mia? We have to go!"

Elijah decided that most people were being taken care of by others. He'd only be making things worse if he stuck around and got in the way. He quickly made his way to an exit and ran until he was sure there was nobody running after him.

Priya collapses against Ezra her entire body shaking. She holds onto him as if her life depending on it, which it did. "This wasn't suppose to happen" her voice is muffled against his chest. For once in her life Priya did not know what to do.

Abel Costello picked up the unconscious bride, not bothering to check if she was truly dead or alive; the whole church was on fire and people were running towards the door, and if the Sinclair child was dead then so be it. The family will deal with the consequence afterward. For now, they all had to make it out alive.

Mia blinked at the sight of Violet's face, lips opening and closing. "What?" she mumbles.

Leon knew that Luca wasn't going to be okay, not by a long shot. Not with everything happening this way. "Luca," Leon said, "We have to get out of here so are you walking or am I carrying you?"

Ezra hushed her, keeping his grip tight, "breath, I've got you."

Sebastian couldn't handle what was going on. He had just seen his little sisters eyes close. What the fuck was happening? Whoever did this was going to pay and they were going to pay with blood. He stood near Luca and Paisley and he couldn't figure out what to do.

Jack: Jack had cleared the entranceway and was shoving people into cars, getting them away from the conflagration and a potential ambush as quickly as possible, not even really focusing on what had happened yet. He headed back in for his family, scooping Paisley's body into his arms. It didn't even register at first that she was heavier than she should be.

Nadine got to her feet before being shoved to the side by a guest that was desperate to get outside. Chaos ensued and though nearly every bone in her body screamed at the woman to escape, she instead made her way towards the alter where Paisley's beautiful white dress could be seen on the floor, marred by crimson. She needed find Penny. She needed to find Piper. She needed help in any way she could. "I'm a doctor, move out of the way, move!"

Jack: Jack heard Nadine calling and headed for her. "She got hit, she's hurt. I can't - you can help her, right?"

Violet untangled one arm from Sofia to take Mia by the hand, "We're leaving." With that, she led the two women from the building.

Sebastian stood next to his uncle and his mother's cousin. His sister was hurt. How did this happen? He had not uttered a word since it had happened, he couldn't believe it.

Chanel had found her purse and then was ushered by Kai back to Benjamin. She didn't know what else to do as she watched the chaos erupt around her. Who would do this?

Nadine "I'll do what I can, but I need to get to her." She said, pulling up the skirt of her dress, and covering her mouth as smoke began to fill the chapel. "Where is she?"

Kieran glanced up at the roof. The fire was getting more and more out of control. He heard the roof start to crack. He grabbed Cici's hand and tugged her rather roughly out of the danger zone. He sprinted towards the door, not letting go of Cici's hand no matter what.

Leon sighed when it became clear that Luca was too far in shock - which was fair. Sighing he picked up his brother and dragged him out of the building until they were in a safe spot away from everything. He wasn't going to move away from him, instead he kneeled in front of his brother and just said, "I'm not going anywhere, okay? Don't need to talk, I'm just here."

Priya let out a shaky breath at Ezra's words. Her what ifs became a reality she could not deal with. The abyss was here.

Jack: Jack realized Nadine couldn't see more than half a foot in front of her and came closer, cradling Paisley's body. "Here, here ... she's ... fuck, she's not moving. I don't know what to do."

Mia felt Vi's hand close around hers before she was pulled forward. Stumbling along with her sister and sister-in-law she could hardly think, this ringing noise still filling her ears. The cold air hit her like a ton of bricks, and suddenly the sounds came rushing back. "Who has Luca?" she asked Violet, ice filling her veins.

Paityn walks in and is like "wtf"

Ezra looked around while still holding onto Priya, sighing in relief when he saw that all his siblings had made it out. He knew something like would happen, why didn't his father listen to him?

Salma gathered her thoughts together and finally rushed out of the church.

Chanel screamed again as more fire began popping around her. She searched for an exit and started following the people that seemed to be making their way somewhere.

Luca struggled against Leon, not wanting to leave Paisley behind. He was still crying, frustrated tears streaming down his face. Before he knew it, they were outside and safe. The fresh air didn't help any - it still felt like he couldn't breathe.

Camila follows after Juliet and Benjamin, eyes blinking in irritation at the building. Her voice is flat, rising slightly with disbelief as they navigate the chaos to the outside of the church. "Was she dead. Like. Was she fucking dead?""

Mia eyes scanned the crowd, her heart slowing a little as one by one she could count heads of her siblings, cousins and friends as well as Priya. But where was her date? Biting down on her bottom lip Mia debated going back in. "Do you see Sebastian anywhere Vi? He got out right?"

Paityn is stoned in the bathroom and knows nothing. Waiting for Uncle Jack to find her.

Violet let go of Sofia and Mia once they were outside, exhaling deeply as she took a moment to slow her nerves. In her line of work, it took a lot to shake her, but explosions erupting around her family sure as hell was enough to do it. "Leon's got him. Or had him. He has him somewhere." She began scanning the area, finally spotting Leon and Luca across the way, "Over there."

Jack: Jack held back as sob and just led Nadine out of the church, still holding Paisley. He took them both to his car. "Just - just take care of her, okay? I have to go back for the others. Please." Before he could second-guess abandoning his niece, he took off running back to the church.

Juliet shrugged, her breathing coming in short bursts. "I don't know. I-I don't know."

Violet blinked when Mia brought up Sebastian, her brow furrowing as she shrugged, "I... wasn't paying attention to the Sinclairs, honestly. I was just worried about you guys."

Camila studies the way Juliet's eyes seem to be roaming the exterior of the church, clearly searching. "Are you looking for—"

Leon wasn't going to try and make his brother talk, all that mattered at the moment was that he was alright. Looking up and scanning, he looked for the rest of his siblings, hoping that they all got out as he noticed Mia and Violet across the way.

Juliet nodded slowly. "Yeah I am. Sue me."

Priya manages to gain back some self control. "Where are they?" She pulls her body away from his but her hands still firmly holding onto him. "Where is Seb, Paityn, Shiloh, Pais-" her sister's name catches in her throat. "Shit. Where is everyone? Where the hell are they?!"

Chanel finally makes it out and then finally takes her phone out, dialing 911. Who knows if someone else had already done it, but if they had they definitely weren't here yet. And they needed them ASAP

Ezra hushed Priya, "stay here" he told her firmly I'm going to go see what's going on. He walked over to Mia, "hey where's Sebastian?"

Penny finds herself standing near the door of the church, watching everything happen but unable to function much more than breathing at this point.

Camila 's mouth twists in understanding. "I'm sure he's getting the rest of his family out. I'm sure he's alright."

Jack kicked in doors, screaming and coughing from the smoke. His head swam and he had to crouch low. He swore he'd seen everyone out except Paityn and Sebastian. Checking the mens room in case Sebastian was getting water to try and stop the blaze, he found Paityn in a stall. "Jesus fucking Christ!" Scooping her up he threw her over his shoulder and booked it, trying not to pass out from the smoke."

Juliet took Camila's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I know. I'll just feel better when I see him."

Mia chewed harder on her bottom lip. "Fuck.. he might still be in there.." Noticing Ezra coming over, Mia's guilt intensifies. "I.. I think he's still in there.." she scrambles with a certain anguish on her face.

Miles got the calls as they began to come rolling in from the public. Guests. The church. All of it. He had never rushed to a scene faster. Running up, Miles immediately froze seeing the scene unfolding in front of him. His eyes immediately fell on Penelope and he ran up to her, as other police officers began to run around. "Pen...what happened...?"

Chanel started explaining the situation to the emergency operator and then steps far away from the burning building, trying to make sure she wasn't too close, but also that whoever killed Paisley wasn't still around. And then the sirens started wailing.

Ezra eyes widened, "fuck, who else is still in there?" he asked, looking around to identify all the faces around them.

Violet took Mia by the arm again, doing her best to offer the most reassuring smile she could muster, "I'm sure his family made sure he got out alright. Look, let's go see Leon and Luca, okay? I'm sure Luca wants to know you're okay too."

Paityn was shocked getting carried by her uncle, but before she could question anything she was by her sister's side. "What the hell is going on?" she asked, completely confused.

Mia doesn't have to think it over, not really. Go back in for Sebastian or get over to Luca? Honestly, the choice was easy, branded into her very soul the day the twins had been born. "Come on." she murmurs to Violet and Sofia, holding onto Violet the best she could as they weave their way trough the crowd over to Luca and Leon.

Priya grabs hold of her sister and envelops her in a hug. "Thank god you are alright," she is holding on tight to her sister. "I-I" her voice is breaking, "Paisley has been shot. I think she's dead."

Chanel saw the police show up and ran to one of the available cop cars that started parking outside and decided she'd felt safest if she was by them.

Penny blinked at the man, barely registering who he was. "Someone- they shot her. My baby." Forget the explosions and fire. Her baby was laying in the back of someone's car unmoving.

Camila gives a ready squeeze back, eyes still smarting from the smoke. "We should— shit. Maybe move back. I still have no clue what's fucking going on." She shakes her head frantically, teeth clicking together in stress. "Maybe if we're away from the crowd you'll be able to see him come out easier."

Violet hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath while Mia decided what to do, and Violet waiting to see if she'd have to drag her away from the building. When Mia agreed to go to the boys, Violet let out her breath, leading the two over to Luca and Leon. Her eyes met Leon's when they reached each other, "He okay?"

Ezra excused himself, seeing that Priya was having a moment with her sister, he walked over to where his family had conjugated, "we're all good on our side right? Family, employees, friends the lot?" he asked Leon.

Paityn couldn't believe her ears. "What?" she asked. "Dead?" Paityn was too stoned for this. "I--" She didn't have any words. She the collapsed into Priya, unable to hold her own weight anymore. "What happened? How did it happen? Oh...my God...it was supposed to be--"

Juliet tugged at Camila's hand as she backed up slowly, eyes still scanning the crowd

Sofia was crumpled on the pavement when she saw the asian guy who was a sinclair or something at the door, looking dazed. "Fucking FUCK! This is ALL YOUR FAULT!" She wasn't sure why she was screaming at him, but she ran over, her feet burning as they touched the hot floor of the church, and pulled him out of the building back to her family. Violet looked at her and Sofia just sank back down next to Luca, now clutching the asian guy. "He's Mia's guy, okay? I had to go back for him."

Leon "He's in shock," Leon answered Violet, which was fair, glad to see everyone seemed to be there, "And I think we're good," he answered Ezra, "But my first priority was Luca."

Chanel starts flirting with one of the police officers

Violet gave Leon a nod, sinking down beside Luca to place a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Hey dude. You feeling okay? Breathing alright?"

Priya cradles her sister in her arms. Her hand is smoothing down her sister's hair, trying to offer her comfort. "Shhh. Pay, shhh." In this moment she forgot all about how she was feeling and focused entirely on her baby sister...her only sister. Priya wouldn't lie to her, she needed to know. They all needed to know what happened"There was a shot," she manages to steady her voice. "It hit her, Pay. It hit Paisley and then an explosion went off."

Nadine followed Jack out of the building, lungs screaming for fresh air. Her eyes watered from the smoke, running her make-up down her cheeks, and when they reached outside, Nadine sucked in the oxygen. Jack led them to his car before taking off back towards the church, and Nadine concentrated on the unconscious body of her cousin's daughter. There was blood, so much blood that it was clear to the woman that if she wasn't already dead, she would be in minutes. But when she placed her hand on the girl's neck, and there was no jump of a pulse, Nadine sighed. Paisley Sinclair was dead.

Luca felt a hand on his shoulder. Tears streaming down his face, he looked over at Violet. He winced a little. "She's fucking- she's fucking dead."

Miles 's face dropped as Penny mumbled out someone was dead. He turned quickly and scanned the chaotic crowd. Could he make out any of the girls? Finally he caught a glimpse of red hair, Priya. Paityn. He didn't see Paisley. Turning his attention back to Penny, he wrapped one of his arms around and shoulders and began to escort her away from the building, towards where her daughters were. "Penny, you gotta get away from the building in case debris starts flying...come stay by your girls. I'll find Morgan."

Kai found his way over to Leon, Ezra, Mia, and the lot of them, clamping a hand down on Leon and Ezra's shoulders when he reached them, "Holyyyy fuck, right?"

Sebastian looked around for his sisters, he had been yelled at by Sofia and managed to get out of the building. He couldn't handle himself but he needed to make sure the rest of his family was safe.

Benjamin looked over Camila and Juliet. "Are you both okay?" He glanced around, ensuring that no one else had fallen behind.

Mia drew close to Luca the second they came over, holding on tightly to her hand. In the meantime she hadn't noticed Sofia taking off, until she was back with Sebastian in tow. Its probably selfish, but she can't find it in her to give him more than a glance before her eyes returns to her little brother. "Just breathe." she murmurs, not sure if its helpful at all.

Violet nodded somberly, her expression twisting into one wrought with empathy. She gave him a small smile, shifting her weight to sit down next to him and pulling him into her side, "I know, sweetie." She planted a light kiss on his temple, running a hand through his hair.

Juliet shook her head. "No, not really."

Paityn was crying now; the tears didn't stop. All she could do was sob into her sister's shoulder. There wasn't anything else she could do.

Ezra Ezra stood there watching the chaos around him, he turned to Kai. "This was a hit, so who did." He said, clenching his fists.

Chanel decides to go home and walks the whole way because she is very confused and needs the air to clear her head.

Abel Costello looked at the bloodstan on his dress shirt, looking just a little annoyed that it had been ruined by the Sinclair girl's blood-- that prick Jasckson should've gotten there faster if he wanted to play hero to his dead niece. The consigliere looked around as he walked past the panicked guests and attendees, doing a headcount of the people that really mattered-- his family. The rest of Morgan's brood could burn for all he cared.

Leon "That's one way of putting it," he sighed as he turned toward Ezra and Kai, "And I really wish I knew. I know none of us liked this wedding, I don't know of anyone who was planning on doing this."

Jack lay on the pavement near Priya and Paityn. His skin screamed and his lungs burned and all he wanted to do was fall asleep, but he kept trying to get up. He had to find Piper. Finally an EMT put a mask on him and made a note that he needed to get to a hospital. "Possible lung damage. Idiot ran back into the building instead of waiting for the fire crew."

Ezra "i think it's safe to say, peace isn't coming to Chicago anytime soon," he said turning to face his brother.

Priya just held Paityn and soothed her. There wasn't else to be said. Nothing else she could say to bring her sister comfort except be her support. Even with her world crumbling around her she would hold it together for her sister. Paityn needed her. Her own collapse could wait.

Kai glances over at Luca, but sees the others have it handled, and gives them space for now. "Yeah, and it doesn't seem like they wanted anyone other than Paisley dead. The explosions weren't set up to kill. They were to distract... or... lead? Fuck if I know. They were just placed really shitty if they were going for death."

Penny let the man, who she was now aware of being Miles, lead her away from the building. There was a disconnect between her thoughts and her feet. Was this all just an awful dream? "Morgan. Find him. I can't lose him too." She looked up to see her remaining daughters holding each other up, ashamed that she wouldn't be able to help them.

Mia crouched down by Luca's side, holding onto him tightly. There is no words that can make up for what he's just gone trough, the shocking loss none of them can really comprehend.

Leon "And it sounds like they wanted the war," Leon added, "Which if that's what they want, then they can have it, I just want to know who the fuck did it."

Juliet felt her body relax as she finally caught sight of Leon with his siblings.

Sebastian managed to get over by Paityn and Priya. He was so far gone but he still wrapped an arm around both of his sisters.

Sofia: Everyone crouched around Luca but Sofia felt weirdly numb. She could hear Leon and Kai talking as if from miles away, but turned around. "Don't you dare start some bullshit war. Don't you - don't you -" she broke down sobbing and hugged Leon. "No one else can die, okay? Nobody."

Ezra "yeah that's the problem isn't? Both sides wanted this wedding called off. Both sides were unhappy with us cosing up to each other. It could have been anyone...unless we're seriously considering a third party getting involved."

Paityn was numb; she could feel her brother's presence next to her, but she didn't acknowledge it. She just opened her clutch and took out a cigarette. She couldn't light it, though. Her hands were too shaky. "Fuck," she whispered under her breath.

Priya Priya removed one of her arms from around Paityn and wrapped it around Sebastian's waist. She had them here. Seb and Paityn were okay, she could breathe but she couldn't. Her family was no longer whole.

Kai raised an eyebrow at Leon, "If anything, they wanted a war with the Sinclairs. Or to make them think we had a hand in it, so we're at war with each other."

Mia can hear the boys talking, already mentioning words like 'war' and 'third party'. Lifting her eyes to Ezra her brows are furrowed. "What do you mean 'third party?"

Kieran looked around, heart racing. With Cici safe outside, the severity of it all was starting to set in. The fucking Costellos had done this. He looked around, heart racing. "They fucking did this," he mumbled, voice low at first, laced with venom. He raised his voice this time. "They fucking did this! The Costellos fucking had her murdered." It was an emotional time and there was no stopping Kieran. He wanted to go after the first Costello that he saw.

Ezra "I mean someone's trying really hard to make it look like one of us did this. I mean we're all suspects right? We all wanted this NOT to happen. If someone was going to try and take the city from under us, now would be the perfect time while we're all too busy tearing each other apart."

Leon hugged Sofia, wishing that he was able to comfort her a little more as he held her tight, "My guess is someone's trying to frame us for this. Someone who hates the Sinclairs as much as we do or maybe just hates Paisley. But my guess is they want us to take the blame, because I don't think it was any of us."

Kai laid a hand gently on Sofia's back, "Hey, no one is gonna just rush into war for a Sinclair getting killed. Not unless we have to, right?" He turned his gaze toward Leon, then Ezra.

Abel Costello found Kieran O'Connell screaming his lungs out, putting the blame on the Costellos, without saying anything, he marched over and punched the man square in the face to shut him up.

Luca leaned in to Violet. It felt like he was a fucking little kid again. Weak, scared, helpless. Both families were divided - again. The damage done was beyond repair. A life had been taken. He was having a hard time focusing on anyone or anything. He was in fucking shot. He heard Kieran screaming. Luca sniffled, stood up from the ground. He heard Kieran yelling and the anger built in his chest. "We didn't fucking do this!" Luca yelled, practically hysterical.

Ezra turned to Leon, "it's already starting, we need to find who did this and fast before we have a blood bath on our hands."

Cici grabbed Kieran's arm, trying to shush him. "Kieran, stop. You don't...you don't know that..." Suddenly feeling like he was right, she felt an uncomfortable turn in her stomach. Suddenly Abel appeared and punched Kieran and Cici glared, shoving Abel with all her strength. "FUCK OFF!"

Kai became distracted by the shouting lunatic on the Sinclair side, turning just in time to see Abel running over and punching him in the face. "Well, shit." He rushed over to them, making sure one of the Sinclairs didn't try to sneak up and sucker punch his cousin.

Priya while holding onto both of her siblings she searched the crowd for any sign of the rest of her family. She caught sight of Jack on the ground, an oxygen mask over his face. He was alive, that is 3 out 9 accounted for.

Leon "I know. So find out who's not here, who didn't show, who's been more vocal against this, so we can rule our people out. And then we'll have to go from there. Got it?"

Violet was about to address Ezra when Luca stood up, yelling in the direction of the screaming Sinclair. She leapt to her feet, frowning at the scene, "Luca..." She turned her gaze to Leon and Ezra, "We need to get him out of here. We need to make sure this doesn't turn into more bloodshed. And now."

Camila clenches her jaw a little tighter, her free hand smoothing anxiously at the fabric of her dress. Juliet's eyes seem to track something— Leon. Safe. As much as any of them are. She knocks her shoulder gently into the other girl's. "See?" At Benjamin's question, she can only shake her head in a show of built-up tension. "I have no fucking idea." A beat, the sound of shouting, bedlam. "Is anyone else ... dead?"

Ezra nodded, "noted, I'll start putting out feelers among our inner circle, we'll smoke out who did this."

Sofia: Sofia heard Luca shouting and was immediately back at his side. Her feet were raw by now, but she couldn't even feel it. Her dress was ripped and torn, though there really wasn't much that was showing now that hadn't been before. She put his arm around her shoulders and her arm around his waist, so they looked like the world's oddest siamese twins, and prepared to hit anyone who tried to turn this around and come for her twin.

Priya Priya realized in that moment that Paisley was accounted for. She would be counted amongst the dead.

Abel Costello Abel raised his fist instinctively, ready to hit whoever had shoved him but when he saw that it was Cecila, he stopped. He lowered his hand and glared. "He needs to shut up."

Paityn finally got her cigarette lit. Seemed out of place, given the smoke and the flames. She stood and stepped away to smoke, ignoring all the yelling and fighting. All she wanted was to forget. Mute the world and forget that her sister was shot standing in her place.

Mia tightened her grip on Luca's hand, getting to her feet and cursing under her breath. "We all know we didn't do shit. Besides, we were all there in the pews.." She argued, with no one in particular. Looking from Violet, to Luca, to her brothers and back. "Do you have your car Vi?"

Nadine With nothing more she could do, Nadine draped the skirt of Paisley's wedding dress over her face and closed the car door. She needed to find Penny. The woman wandered through the crowd of attendees and first responders looking for that familiar shock of red hair, and when she finally found the mother of the bride, Nadine made her way towards her, stealing herself as she had so many times before, when she had to tell a parent their child was dead. "Penny," she called softly as she drew near, and though she hadn't seen her cousin in years, Nadine opened her arms and wrapped the woman in a hug.

Cici glared at Abel, lowering her voice. "We're the ones with one dead, not you. That's Sinclair blood on everyone's hands. You need to shut up and fuck off."

Kieran barely had any time to register what Cici was saying before he felt a fist against his face. Kieran stumbled backward just as he saw Cici shove Abel back. "There's no trusting you fucking people," Kieran spat, lunging towards Abel. "This was supposed to be a good thing - I'm going to fucking kill every last one of you!" Kieran didn't do things without orders, but he was sure that the Costellos played a part in this. Kieran shoved Abel with great force before Kieran's own fist met the side of Abel's jaw.

Leon nodded back at Ezra before he started looking around at the crowd, "Good. I'm going to check and make sure the rest of our people are okay, and see if there's anything else that I can do."

Violet nodded at Mia, "Yeah. You wanna get your brother? And Sof?" Violet approached Ezra and Leon, instinctively taking Leon by the arm to turn him toward her, "You. You okay?" She shut her eyes, shaking her head as the realization that he might snap on her came to mind, "Humor me? There was bullets and explosions and your one eye kinda looks like shit."

Penny blinked back tears as her cousin suddenly appeared, pulling her into her embrace. "Who would- That is my baby. Why would someone do this?" Her brain was racing, unable to focus on any one thing at a time. "She can't be gone. This can't happen again."

Ezra turned to Mia, "you going to be okay if I go check on Priya and meet you guys at your place?" he asked his sister.

Abel Costello shoved Cecilia aside, not wasting his breath on the girl, but it was while she had been admonishing him that Kieran decided to hit him back. He stumbled backward, fist colliding with the side of his face and Abel steadied his footing before lunging at the Kieran and sending them both falling to the ground. He began to pummel the Sinclair scum.

Priya was no longer holding onto both of her siblings anymore. Her head turned at the sound of shouts not that far off. She let go of her brother, heading straight towards the commotion. Everyone was fighting. FIGHTING. "Stop it!" She yelled at everyone who was in attendance. She was sure none of them had ever heard or seen her temper flare. "MY SISTER IS DEAD!" She bellowed. "WILL ALL OF YOU STOP ACTING LIKE CHILDREN AND PULL YOURSELVES TOGETHER."

Paityn hated seeing her mother break down and Priya explode. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temple. She texted Julius. I want to leave. Now. Paityn just hoped her driver would be quick.

Nadine Nadine didn't say anything, there was nothing to say. She didn't have answers, and she didn't think anything she would say would be more than just noise to Penny. So she held her instead, smoothing a hand over her hair as hot tears stung her eyes before falling down her cheeks.

Violet 's head shook in mild shock as Leon brushed her off and headed toward... of course. The escort girl. The escort girl who was embracing him, right in front of her, and everyone else. Violet's clamped her teeth together, jaw throbbing in anger. She almost didn't notice Mia back at her side, and with Sofia, "Where the fuck is Luca?" She snapped, squeezing her eyes shut again as she forced forward a smile, "Sorry."

Miles heard the commotion going on between Cici, Kieran, and Abel and he sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'm too fucking old for this..." He mumbled as he marched over to the three.

Priya looked over at Ezra, her hands balled into fists over the sight of Kieran and Abel beating the shit out of each other. "I need them to stop fighting," Priya says to him before turnign her attention back to the boys, "Kieran," she snapped at him with more bite than she had thought possible. "Stop this now. Or so help me I will get in there myself and ALL of you can explain why another Sinclair daughter got hurt."

Leon wrapped his arms tightly around Juliet, relieved that she seemed to be alright. Instinctively he kissed the top of her head, before looking her over, slowly leading her towards where Benjamin and Camila were both standing. "Are you all alright?" he asked the three of them.

Ezra sighed, "for god sake Abel, we have bigger fish to fry get a hold of your fucking self," he shouted, holding Priya closed to him.

Mia reached out to sqqueze Violets arm. "Luca is right here. Sof has him." she cautioned, contributing Violets burts of anger to the fact that Juliet had just made an appearance. "You okay Sof? Do you need help?" she asked her sister. "We're going to mine and Leon's apartment, okay? Luca, can you hear me? We have to go now."

Paityn rolled her eyes at her phone. Julius responded. Stuck in traffic, Pait. Might be a bit. Paityn put out her cigarette and walked up to Priya and Ezra. Tears were still falling down her cheeks, but her voice was monotone as she spoke. "Julius is stuck in traffic. I want to go home."

Juliet held on to Leon, blinking back tears as her body started to shake. This was supposed to fix things, not make them worse. Why couldn't the scandal of their relationship have continued to be the biggest problem they had to face?

Kieran was on the floor with Abel before he knew it. The blows that he delivered didn't hurt - mainly because of all the adrenaline pumping through his body. He knew that, as soon as the fight ended, he would be hurting miserably. All of the hatred that Kieran had felt for the Costellos had resurfaced the minute that he saw Paisley's body fall in to Luca's arms. They had done this and, Kieran being so enraged - felt like it was only appropriate to take one of their own. He managed to squirm his way out of Abel's grip and, within seconds, had his weapon upholstered. He aimed it at Abel's head.

Priya shouted at Kieran, "Kieran! Don't do it! Put that away. NOW."

Violet took Luca by the hand, ignoring Mia's squeeze and the whole Leon and Juliet scene. "Luca. Sweetie," she cooed, trying to get his attention without aggravating him further, "We need to leave. Get you checked out, okay?"

Sofia just held onto Luca. Everything would be okay as long as she and Luca were together. She was shivering uncontrollably, her hair was covered in soot, and her dress and face had her brother's dead wife's blood all over it. She didn't let go of her brother, and didn't even notice that people were talking to her. She said nothing to him. There weren't really words anyway. He was there, her fingers pressed into his side in a death grip that would probably leave bruises. "I lost my shoes." Looking at her now cut-up feet, she giggled and shoved a hand in her mouth. Following Vi without saying anything else.

Priya turned towards her sister and wrapped her arms around her. As quickly as her voice took on rage it softened when she held her sister close. "I'll get you home, Paityn."

Camila watches as the two embrace, exchange assurances. There's more yelling. Screaming. She can't be sure what, exactly, is fucking happening. But something is escalated. "Oh. We're fine." She glances up at Benjamin, who seems, at least, to be alright. "But I have like, no fucking clue what's going on over there. It sounds like someone else is gonna get it."

Abel Costello had done his share of waiting but he was no saint and to have Kieran O'Connell in his reach made him short-sighted. That first punch was a result, the consigliere losing his cool as the two began to fight amidst the death of a Sinclair child and a burning church. His father would be ashamed of him, letting some piece of shit errand boy get to him like that. And then Kieran managed to wrestle free, hand reached inside his coat pocket; Abel then staggered backwards and reached for his own gun and pointed it at the other man. Fuck patience. He was going to kill Kieran O'Connell right now.

Leon "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise," Leon said to Juliet, nodding at Camila, "My cousins should have it under control, but you should probably get out of here, I can't promise that it's going to be safe."

Paityn 's eyes were dead, looking between Abel and Kieran. She turned to Priya, "I guess we should make sure no one else get's shot before we go."

Juliet sniffled and wiped at her eyes before looking up at Leon. "Can I crash at your place tonight? I really don'r want to be alone right now."

Priya looked to Ezra her hand reaching out to take his'. Now she understood while her mother got migraines.

Leon "Yeah of course," he nodded at her, "it's going to be okay," he said, wishing that he could promise that his words were true.

Benjamin followed Camila's gaze, watching as Kieran and Abel had their guns drawn on each other. He had a sick feeling in his stomach. He didn't understand why people were still around. "It's probably best if we all get out of here," Ben said to Camila. He eyed Juliet, who seemed to be safe with the Costello family. "I don't have a good feeling about any of this."

Ezra "you going to take your sister home?" he asked, still reeling from the events that had just happened.

Penny stood holding her cousin who was able to cry but all she could do was sob. Who could have done something like this? Penny knew one thing. Whoever did this was going to pay in blood.

Miles cringed as both men pulled their guns out. "You two idiots aren't even LISTENING!" Losing his temper, Miles let out a whistle as another officer ran over. "You two should fucking know better than this, now, c'mon." Grabbing Kieran's arm that was holding the gun, he grabbed the gun out of his hand and tossed it away from them. Pulling out the cuffs on his belt, he started to place them on his wrists. "We'll get ya bailed out in the morning, kid." Miles mumbled to Kieran. As the other officer followed the same protocol with Abel, Miles looked around at everyone staring waiting for something to happen. "A girl is dead!" He yelled, his voice cracking slightly. "Go the fuck home, no one else needs to die today."

Paityn flinched when Miles said a girl is dead. That girl was her sister. Her sister was dead. It's my fault. It should've been me.

Priya "Yes," Priya replies to him. Her sister needed to be as far away from here as possible. Where the fuck was Sebastian. Where was her dad? Where was anyone who could stop what was about to happen because she surely could not. "I need to get her out of here. I came with you-" No, she would not be letting that pain sink in. Not now. "Can you get us out of here?" she ask Ezra

Ezra nodded, "get your sister, and brother and let's get the fuck out of here before we're caught in the middle of this toxic masculinity bullshit."

Camila taps a nail idly against her leg, trying to expel her nervous energy somehow. Juliet would be leaving with Leon, it would seem. Well. At least that would be safe. She shrugs. "Yeah. Me fucking neither." She glances down at her phone, taps busily at the screen. "You think uber picks up here?"

Kai goes to bail out Abel and take care of his bro bro.

Violet leaves with Luca, Sofia, and Mia, drops them off at home, and goes to do some other shit.

Ezra could tell things were about to get bad with the cops. He went, got his car, and pulled up out front where he'd agreed to meet Priya with presumably her siblings.

Priya grabbed Paityn by the hand and made their way over to Sebastian. "Seb, we need to get out of here. Now." she shakes his shoulder with her free hand before grabbing hold of his hand. One way or another she was dragging them all out of her.

Benjamin wasn't about to let anyone Uber home after the shit storm that had happened. "I'll get you home, Cam." He sighed, glancing around. Ben knew that he wouldn't be able to rest that night until he knew that everyone was safe.

#event: the wedding #parabellumevent #recap #09/07

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