#avedis tag

[lamaisongaga]

LADY GAGA AT BRADLEY COOPER'S "MAESTRO" PREMIERE IN ALEXANDER MCQUEEN SUIT

Last night, Lady Gaga made a stunning and unexpected appearance at the premiere of Bradley Cooper's latest film, "Maestro," demonstrating not only her support for the acclaimed actor but also her unparalleled sense of style.

Styling by Sandra Amador and Tom Eerebout with assistance by Sébastien Hohl. Makeup by Sarah Tanno-Stewart and Veronica Lake-inspired bob by Frederic Aspiras.

The multi-talented artist chose an Alexander McQueen Fall/Winter 2023 ensemble for the occasion, showcasing her flair for high fashion.

Her choice was a meticulously crafted tailored blazer in black crepe, featuring a sophisticated orchid beaded embroidery on the front and upside-down peak lapels. It comes with a price tag of $7,900.

Complementing the blazer were the Resort 2024 narrow bootcut trousers, crafted from leaf crepe and priced at $990. The trousers not only provided a seamless and elegant coordination with the blazer but also added a touch of modernity to the overall ensemble.

Shop:

Alexander McQueen Beaded Orchid Blazer ($7,900.00)

Alexander McQueen Narrow Bootcut Trousers ($990.00)

One of her rings is her favorite Jackson Hole Jewelry Co. Teton diamond on 14k yellow-gold zig-zag stackable ring. The other one is her Edward Avedis chain link ring with diamonds.

Gaga kept her belongings for the evening inside this meticulously crafted Jimmy Choo Ellipse clutch. The ultimate event sidekick, this clutch is blanketed in sumptuous black velvet and lined with nappe leather. The Italian-made piece is finished with polished silver-tone hardware, rhinestones and an embossed logo.

Lastly, Gaga rocked her signature sky-high Flamingo-1020 black vinyl platform boots from Pleaser.

[whumpfish]

Stabbed

Character: Avedis

Verse: Tideverse (Original)

Summary: Avedis tries to ignore a sharp object in her gut. As one does.

The impact feels like a punch, and she can only assume that someone ahead of her in this trek through the forest had bent an exceptionally green, exceptionally sturdy branch and snapped it back into her path. It hurts, but it’s little more than an irritation to her. Apart from a quiet “confound it,” she doesn’t acknowledge it. 

Something snaps as she moves forward, wooden, medium weight, probably that branch. She keeps moving.

As she presses on, she can feel a bruise forming. The wound starts throbbing, pinching every time she takes a step. The pinching is strange, some detached part of her mind notes, but she’s more interested in reaching the target before their adversaries return to it. 

Another few yards, and a nearby branch catches on her clothes. The pinching gets abruptly, acutely worse. It becomes a piercing, digging sort of pain, and when she looks down, she finds a crude metal blade affixed to a thin, flexible bit of wood embedded in her abdomen, the remains of a trap of some kind. The sounds from earlier start to make more sense.

She knows better than to rip it out, so she breaks the branch it’s caught on and holds the makeshift blade steady, looking toward the target. It’s only some fifty yards away. She’s the second ranking officer on this away mission, and she doesn’t want her team distracted with her predicament. This comms tower is too important to the campaign in this territory.

She tries to evaluate her odds as she takes her next steps. Calculate how much time will be lost if she has to be carried, whether it’s less than the time she’ll lose trying to keep the blade immobile as she walks. But it’s hard. She never can seem to finish the equation. 

Her footsteps begin to drag, and soon she doesn’t have a choice about being carried. Hands appear beneath hers and under her back and shoulders and knees and her surroundings blur, finally darkening altogether as a mask is placed over her mouth and nose.

[psyxko]

Tag Game Part 2

Got tagged by @vitaminbtob (who i absolutely adore, check her blog for btob content!)

Rules: we're snooping on your playlist, put your entire music library on shuffle and list the first ten songs, then choose 10 victims.

MeloMance - I Will Be By Your SIde (Korean Odyssey OST)

Rynx - Engine 

Rynx ft. Ebenezer - Halo 

Chainsmokers ft. Phoebe Ryan - All We Know (my old go-to)

Eric Nam, TImbaland - BODY 

BTOB - Insane (always plays for some reason lol)

HOYA - All Eyes On Me (such a bop tbh) 

BoA - ONE SHOT, TWO SHOT

Exo’s Chanyeol, Punch - Stay With Me (Guardian OST)

XO Cupid ft Maya Avedis - True Colours (remix of the original song yes) 

That’s it from me, I don’t have anyone to tag so whoever that wants to do this feel free :)

[ask-manda-of-the-6]

“High Priority message for you, Commander. Patching it through to your quarters now…”

“Hello Commander.”

Monthly Report for February Shenanigans:

Shove these kids into lockers!

Nothing but ADVENT-ages >w<

Coyote and Blitz being Overwatch Nerds (MOAR SWORDZ!!!)

Manda and Arma being WarCraft Nerds (the Instructor approves)

Anatomy Lessons with Arma Continued >w>

Grumpy Bradford is grumpy (until you feed him some citrus)

Do ADVENTs got da booty!?

Quynh does *not* have the snek thirst XD

Blackwell takes care of sick Manda

Smokey denied more explosive potential

Birthdays: Big Time | Blackwell (prepping his cake thanks to Jack)

Eye of the Platypus Tiger [cont’d]

The many adventures of Sleepy Avengers: 

Manda (GTS | Kitchen)

Quynh in Blackwell’s bed (also words unheard)

Development of Blackwell x Quynh (in water colours!)

Recruit Manda *almost* becomes a spy!

Came for the _____ Stayed for the ______

Ayy LMAO

slides in with a pun

falls in love with EVERYTHING! TT^TT

hidden potential

Here for a good time!

♥ EVENT: Vahlen-tine’s Day Shenanigans ♥ (Resolved)

Planning: JohnaQuynh | Catship

Avedis’s Night Out in Paris with Celia tagging along [1] [2] [3]

Enemies Slain by the POWER OF LOVE! \(♥3♥)/

Triple serving of sappy Pre-Catship one-shots (for heart Memory Meme)

EVENT: Has SCIENCE gone too far?! (Resolved? Maybe...)

Furries... or wandering snek lord...

Never question *why* the Commander’s asking Bradford if something’s a My Little Pony character... for your own safety

Hmm... should we be trusting potentially lethal animatronics?!

Rogue.EXE has stopped responding T^T

Chryssalid-inception 0D0 (The Commander & Tygan disapprove)

Dad-Turtle arrives (and is *still* terrorizing the recruits) XD

More thoughts on voodoo wizardry psionics... 

Omm nom cloned chickens

Dadford and Comomder model the latest in kitchen fashions ;D

Speaking of cooking... does something smell like when Eva caught on fire? (Roasted Snek)

And I do believe there’s a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls as well!

Zomm-nom-nom-bies (AU... hopefully)

RP Shenanigans:

*As per usual, got as much as I could*

♫ Playlists Continued ♫

Avedis & Matthew

Celia & Quynh

Headcanons for Quynh & Friends: 

What they’re ‘bad’ at...

Mun vs. Muses

Skillset Meme

Recruit Manda

Ghosts and Engineering

Captain Manda the Pirate

Luck of the Canadian... and Music!

Uggggghhhh maaaathhh?!

*blares theme music to Mortal Kombat*

get back on the horse bike

Ranger Saihyo

babies and romance and luck, oh mai

Workplace Safety Evaluation (Quynh)

Da Boss | Favourite Co-worker(s) | Least Favourite

Hours of Operations | Paperwork... and there’s not even paper!

If she *wasn’t* on the Avenger

“Send a Ship”

JohnaQuynh

Catship

Commander & Central

Memory ♥ Meme - Recruit Manda

Blacksite Vial Results

South African Haven

Bring out the TRON Warden Armour

Ninja in Training?

The Cast*:

Bartender Alex, Eva, Psi-Op Girugin, SPARK-001/Julian AI - @girugin​ Engineer [Communications]  Erico ‘Shog’ Sousa -  @shog-stuff Engineer [Proving Grounds] Alexander “Kage” Adams - @finalkage​ Psi-Op Engineer Blackwell & Company - @techpirate1​​ Recruit [Armoury] Manda - @ask-manda-of-the-6​​ Scientist Quynh & Companions - @quynh-tessance Soldier Fraser - @sir-fraser​ Soldier Morgan - @thatguyingreyhoodiewithwidesmile Soldier Poptard - @tasty-poptard​ Soldier Saihyo - @saihyo-of-the-frost​ The mighty and powerful turtle Instructor - @ceruleanturtle​

(*if I’ve missed anyone, message me and I’ll add them to the list!)

An army of Anonymous Avengers! (°D°)

Everyone else © @commanderplease​ or © Firaxis Games

(Other Monthly Reports)

[whumpfish]

Ace pride Avedis for asexual awareness week

[whumpfish]

Whumptober2020 #Alt. 1: Punctured

[Character: Avedis (back when her name was still Katherine 857)]

Part Two

1 3 4 5 6

The first cut isn’t a cut at all, but a puncture. The ox-skulled figure raises a smaller skull in its left hand, a snake skull, and sinks the fangs into her temple, the points emerging uncomfortably, terrifyingly close to her eye, first on one side, then the other. The breath she’s taken hovers oppressively inside her ribcage for a few seconds before she recovers and an indignant spark ignites in her again.

“What--”

She doesn’t get past that single word before the figure seizes her throat, squeezing. “No talking,” it says in a rasping, sexless voice.

It’s in her best interest to comply, so she does. The figure releases her, and it and the others disappear, retreating into the woods.

The second cuts come some hours later. She’s not sure how long--long enough for her to lose track. They’re shallow compared to the artificial snake bite of before, made beneath her collarbone with a kind of blade she’s only seen in textbooks, a wavy bladed dagger. The figure takes what seems to be an experimental taste of her blood from it--though it’s difficult to tell under the cover of the ox skull--and retreats without a word.

The next cuts come hours after that, long enough from her initial capture for her to have dozed off, awakened by the scrape of bark against her back through her dress. Two short, stinging slits are opened at each shoulder, and the skull creatures retreat again. A moth settles on the dried blood on her cheek, and she shakes it away.

It comes back.

Every time she shakes it away, it comes back. Gradually she grows helplessly accustomed to the tickling, fluttering sensation of feet and wings against her cheek.

[whumpfish]

Stitches for @badthingshappenbingo

Characters: Avedis and Sasha

Fandom: OC

Summary: Avedis has returned to the crew after some time in the possession of a familiar torturer. As usual, she plays it cooler than Sasha entirely appreciates

---

"When you've a moment, Doctor?"

It was said as casually as always, and Sasha took it as seriously as always.

"I have one now," he said, making an effort not to actively bundle his commanding officer out the door and down to sick bay, forcing his hands to his sides and leading the way, trusting her to follow. Avedis had such old-fashioned ideas about morale, this part of their regrouping routine was all about pretending nothing was wrong. Never mind that the Stormchasers had orchestrated a full prison break while unsure if she was even alive out there…

He began pulling curtains the moment he entered, quickly fencing off an area away from any eyes, prying or otherwise. If it was bad enough to trigger a when-youve-a-moment-doctor, she wouldn't even want Jessica to know about it. 

He watched her check the corners for light, checking her in turn for any previously unnoticed patches of red. He didn't see any, but it was Ave and that wasn't as reassuring as it would be with most people. 

Satisfied that no one could accidentally witness a potential frailty on her part, Avedis sat down on the table and unfastened her jacket, gingerly peeling it off, leaving the rough linen shirt of prison inmates. She pushed one sleeve up around her shoulder, revealing her arm without commentary. 

His stomach dropped. "Gods of my fathers," he wheezed, hoarse and horrified. "Ave, what the hell?"

Her uniform insignia had been embroidered into her skin. Rank, ship, the eight-pointed Novarin star, all of it attached in a border of blood soaked thread. The skin was puckered around the badges, swollen and an angry shade of red that he was liking less by the second.

Avedis snorted. "Ma'am's gotten a bit more creative in the intervening years, it seems."

Who the--

Oh. From its sickly new home somewhere near his shoes, his stomach twisted. The crazy old woman in black on the video. He still felt sick and almost guilty for watching it.

He pulled on gloves and opened a surgical kit, forcing a deep breath as he slipped the scissors out and onto his hand. She hated fussing, and for once in their friendship he felt compelled to hold his back. 

He swallowed and held out his free hand. "Let me see."

She held her arm out, and it went obligingly limp once he'd grasped it, used to and ready for the controlled application of necessary discomfort. Sasha frowned and let the scissors hang from his thumb as he reached up to drag the magnifying lens down from the ceiling. 

"These aren't sutures." 

"No, it's quite ordinary floss. It was as much a torture for our Molly as myself. I… see a lot of myself in that girl. Apparently so did Ma'am."

"No wonder it's inf--wait, Molly? Molly did this?"

"Ma'am did this. She used Molly to do it, that's all. Wanted to teach the poor girl a 'lesson' about trying to run." She snorted. “The irony of it all is that I never actually ran… I did my best to talk her through it, but I’m afraid those three hours will take years to undo in her young mind.”

“Three hours. She made Molly sew these into your skin for three hours?!” 

“Oh, come, it’s not so bad as all that. I doubt you’ll even need an anesthetic.”

“The hell I won’t.” He loaded a vial into an injector, pressed the head to her arm and squeezed the trigger. “You waited this long to tell someone, you’ll wait two minutes for a local.”

She sighed, audibly exasperated despite the hushed voice. “Sasha, you know my tolerance is--”

“I don’t want to hear about your tolerance, Ave. Just--please. I’ve administered the injection, just let it do its work. Please. I know you’re impatient to get back out there, and believe me I’m impatient to get that--that septic garbage out of you! But I’m going to do it right. Mend all; harm none.”

[whumpfish]

Friend A: *putting up Halloween lights with staple gun*

Me: Can I see that for a sec?

Friend A: Sure. *hands it over*

Me: *holds it up to my purse; it fits* FUCKIN YEAH!!

Friend B: What? What is it?

Me: Figured out my next bingo square >:3

[whumpfish]

Traumatic Haircut for @badthingshappenbingo with a side of Shaky Hands for @whumptober2019 (no.1)

Avedis is an OC of mine. An offhand comment while smarting off to Ma’am comes back to bite her... or more accurately, to cut

---

Slowly, careful of her newly reassembled joints, Avedis pulled the last two remaining pins from the chignon at the back of her neck. The braid tumbled out of places, unrolling in a lumpy, misshapen line across her shoulder and off to the side. She pulled the tie from the end, and began disassembling it inches at a time, combing out the smaller knots with her fingers. As she unded the last of it, she shook her head slightly, let her hair fall like a curtain over the fresh bruises and electrical burns that covered her torso.

Her crew was still out there. The blockade wouldn’t last forever, and when Legion reinforcements arrived to break through it they would eventually send ground forces to seize Lawton, and the governor’s complex the warden’s estate was part of.  She had to be ready to be found, had to find some cover before curling up in a corner to sleep. Her hair, nearly to her waist, was a familiar shield, long enough to cover the most potentially distressing souvenirs so far…

The door banged open, and a too-bright light poured in. Avedis groaned, burying her face in one arm, retreating behind the curtain of her hair. Whoever it was, it was too early. Even if the next voice she heard was Maruh’s, hell, even if it was Sasha’s, she’d--

“Bright copper penny, was it?”

Not Maruh’s voice. Not Sasha’s, either. Ma’am’s.

“If you’re angry about being a dull iron pipe, I’ll let you be steel,” she said to the warden’s wife, her own voice still mostly a groan. “I suppose it’s only fair we get you up to code.”

“You will stand up.”

“I should hope so,” Avedis replied. She didn’t move. “I shall expedite your request as soon as it’s feasible. I’ll get my best man on it--”

“Now.”

“As the cause of my present difficulty, it doesn’t strike me that you’ve much room to complain about my pace at anything!” Avedis retorted, pushing herself up with an effort.

Two hands to the floor. Press. Add a knee. Grab the wall. Pull. Push. Pray.

She struggled to her feet, and was still leaning heavily against a wall once she’d made it there. “I’m on my feet. Now what?”

A lump of cloth hit her and she barely caught it before it fell. “You will put that on.”

Avedis’s lips curved upward in a bleak smirk. “Why? Afraid someone would mistake us for consenting adults?”

“Everyone here knows a convict’s body when they see one,” Ma’am snapped. “You’ll wear it because I told you to.”

Avedis leaned back against the wall and shook the garment out. It was a simple shift that would stop above the knee once on.

“Well, this suggests nothing to me.”

“Nor am I obligated to give you suggestions for your itinerary. You will put it on. No blood on the outside, or you may expect the usual penalty.”

Avedis carefully dropped the shift over her head. “Has Papa come home or something?”

There was no response except for the click-and-ratchet of handcuffs being opened. A cold bolt of terror ran up her spine, and she held up one hand, backing up one step along the wall. “No!”

Ma’am looked dangerously interested, and Avedis scoffed, quickly playing down her reaction.

“If this is just prisoner transport, I’ll walk. I know there’s nowhere to go.”

A gloating smile crossed Ma’am’s face. It galled Avedis that she was obliged to hide her peculiarity regarding wrist restraints in apparent surrender, but it was better than the alternative.

“Nowhere to go but Upstairs,” Ma’am clarified tauntingly. “Straight upstairs, Katherine 857. No shuffling, no dawdling--”

“No humming, no whistling,” Avedis mocked. “We are not a squeeze-box. Yes, yes, it’s all coming back now.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Katherine 857.”

Avedis kept up the brisk pace demanded, but still took note of everything around her. Strained to hear every snippet of conversation between anyone in a uniform as she was bustled through a hallway and into a staff elevator. Any nervousness or increase in the number of guards would be a sure sign of the blockade breaking. It was early to expect given the forces Varennes already had in place, but she was alert to the possibility, and more hopeful for it than she was entirely prepared to admit. But there were no signs yet; no promising chatter, no change in the guard staff.

Ma’am opened the door to the room at the end of the fourth floor hall that the Lucky Few knew simply as “Upstairs.” She stepped back, and a rifle barrel between Avedis’s shoulder blades prompted her to enter the room. 

“You will be seated,” Ma’am ordered, following her in. She dismissed the guard and closed the door, locking it.

Avedis hated the part of her that flinched at the sound. Hated the clench of her stomach and the spike in her heart rate. She sat down almost forcefully in the room’s only chair, determined to defy her fear if not Ma’am herself.

“Good girl.” Ma’am placed her ankles in the cuffs behind the front legs of the chair, then straightened and opened the velvet handbag. She pulled out a pair of shears.

Avedis hid the sudden surge of old terror she felt in a contemptuous snort. “I hope you’ve at least reviewed your knowledge of anatomy,” she said. “It’s not that I’m calling you ignorant, I just want to be certain you know how far down the femoral artery is on an adult. I know you’re used to torturing childr--”

The taunt was cut off as Ma’am seized a fistful of her hair, jerking her head back. “You’ve always thought you were clever, haven’t you? Hm? Better? Brighter? Pride--that’s your vice. Mongrels don’t deserve pride, as my misguided husband has never understood. Fortunately for us all, I know just how to relieve you of yours.”

“Odd, that’s what I planned to say to you when I leave.”

Ma’am laughed. “You’re not leaving.”

Avedis opened her mouth to tell her exactly how wrong that was, exactly who was the misguided one and whose pride was raging out of control at the moment, but all the words evaporated with the sound that came next.

Snip.

Ma’am’s hand extended in front of her and dropped a handful of her hair onto the floor. Indignation, shock and terror welled up in her. She wanted it to be anger instead, wanted to grow cold and quiet and deadly, and inform Ma’am that such a move could cost a person their life where she was from, caution her to choose her next move carefully. At the very least she wanted to twist around and slap the woman. But she was so frozen with shock that it was hard to even draw breath. She managed a struggling gasp as Ma’am seized another handful and pulled.

Snip.

At her sides, Avedis’s hands curled into fists, fingers digging into her palms. Ma’am once again extended her arm past Avedis’s shoulder, dropping another bundle of orange-gold hair to the floor. With a snarl, Avedis reached up suddenly, wildly, not sure what she would do if her fingers found Ma’am’s throat but frantically eager to find out.

A familiar sensation followed, albeit in an unfamiliar place: the twin sharp points of scissors, pressing into the back of her neck. “What was that you were asking about anatomy? I feel my knowledge is quite satisfactory… shall we test what I know of the spine?”

Avedis froze.

Ma’am chuckled. “I thought not. You will lower your hands.”

Hands shaking as much with rage and humiliation as with terror, Avedis complied. The point of the scissors left her neck.

Snip.

There was nothing for her outside the trembling of her fists spreading up her arms. No tears, no pain to trigger the mantra of you’re not hurting me that she had so long fallen back on. In fact, that was the entire problem. Ma’am wasn’t hurting her. She was hurting the people who found her, her brothers and sis...ters in arms. The Legion. Her comrades, her crew. (She knew where she was in time. Of course she did. Fort-eight hours wasn’t enough time to fully regress; that was absurd.)

Maruh, who’d come up in the Legion with her, who admired her and took every injury to her personally. Brace, the soul of empathy, an officer of fine feelings who she wouldn’t be surprised to see shed tears over such a devastating indignity. The rank and file of her crew, who relied on her, needed her strong after facing their own captivity. Avedis knew that she had a high threshold of pain, knew she could tolerate more than most. What was done to her was a secondary concern. What truly bothered her was how others reacted to her injuries.

Sasha had often criticized what he called her “antiquated ideas about morale” while stitching her up, but she hadn’t learned them in the Legion. The Legion commander she’d first served under had certainly reinforced them, but it was being one of the eldest in this childhood hell that had taught her that the lowest took courage from those above them, that any visible injury to those in command was also an injury to the collective spirit. She and her older stepsister had always hidden the worst of what was done to them in a curtain of undone hair in their rooms at the end of the day.

Ma'am jerked her head back again, and again the short metallic whisper of the shears sounded more centimetres from her right ear, cutting away her last line of defense. Cutting away her inherent power of reassurance, inspiration and authorities. Cutting away her ability to fulfill one of the simplest and most essential responsibilities as a commander.

Ma’am was wrong. Avedis would leave Upstairs with her pride intact. It hadn’t been destroyed, or even damaged much. It would take more, much more than this to put that in jeopardy.

Ma’am had taken something worse.

[whumpfish]

[Red = Completed; Blue = In Progress]

“Childhood Trauma” for Bad Things Happen Bingo

Avedis Risinger is an OC of mine, and this scene actually immediately precedes my first entry requested by @i-blame-my-love-of-whump-on-ryan

—

“There.” Ma'am stepped back with a sweeping glance of appraisal, smiling in mock admiration at her prisoner, her gaze pausing for emphasis on every familiar scar on her body. “Now you’re much more recognizable as yourself. Katherine 857.”

“That isn’t my name,” Avedis snapped, letting raw anger take the tremor out of her voice. Staring at the last person she’d ever wanted to see. Telling herself that she wasn’t afraid of the warden’s wife anymore. 

That the room itself didn’t terrify her more with every minute she spent in it, restrained in a standing position with a collar anchored to the ceiling. That she didn’t feel exposed, strung up naked in front of the person who’d tortured and terrorized her for much of her young life. That she was over it, and there was nothing behind the creeping dread around the edges of her mind. That she didn’t care about the camera, that the others had probably shut the transmission off by now anyway.

That some part of her hadn’t been afraid of this all along.

“Now, now,” said Ma'am, frowning in mock-parental disapproval. “We’ve been over this. You may have something else printed on that ridiculous uniform, but microchips don’t lie. You are Katherine 857. You know it. I know it. You might as well admit it to the rest of your merry band.”

“My name is Avedis Risinger. Katherine is a middle name, nothing more.”

Ma'am laughed. “Close, I suppose. But we both know Katherine is your first and only name, and there is nothing more beyond that. Only that you were the 857th mongrel whelp named Katherine since the foundation of this institution. Not terribly original of your mother, but what else can you expect from criminal stock?”

“My name is Avedis Katherine Risinger of the Sovereign Legion of the Chosen. Captain of the airship Stormchaser. My identification is—”

“Eight. Five. Seven.” Ma'am cut her off, in an insistent tone and gradually escalating volume that was meant to be a warning. “Katherine is your only name. You were microchipped the day after you were born, like all the scum offspring in this hellhole.”

Avedis glared back at her in defiance. (Her. Not the camera. Not once at the camera, or Ma'am wins.) 

“My name,” she said, matching the older woman’s tone, a vicious, desperate mockery in her eyes, “is. Avedis. Katherin—nngh!" 

The retort was cut off in a barely-swallowed scream, ending in a whimper she couldn’t control as the rod slammed into her stomach for what had to be the tenth time, delivering another charge. Her body jerked forward, the inside of the collar jamming into her throat.

"That’s enough!” Ma'am snapped as Avedis leaned her head back, coughing. The point of the rod trailed from her navel to her chest, then back down. “Scars don’t lie either,” she said with a taunting note that made Avedis’s skin crawl. “We did tell your friends we’d get to that, didn’t we?”

The rod struck her right upper thigh, almost six inches above where her shorts had ended, and Avedis didn’t need to look down to see what it was. A cluster of cigarette burns.

“The warden wouldn’t brand the offspring he brought home for his vanity project, you see,” Ma'am said into the camera. “So it fell to me. I had to make do with what I had. She screamed like a stuck boar. And oh, what I had to do to make her stop.”

Avedis closed her eyes. Ma'am would not get the satisfaction of her pain, rage, fear, desperation. No matter what.

The tip of the rod moved to her other leg. A series of shallow stab wounds. “Katherine 857 was helpful on occasion, I won’t deny. Whenever I got a new letter opener, or scissors, she would break them in for me. It helped build her resilience and self-control, you see.” Avedis could hear the smug smile in her voice. “Yes, you have me to thank for that. By the time she was sixteen, she barely made a sound.”

She dragged the tip to her lower abdomen, just before the waistline of her clothes began. A messy spiderweb of an electrical scar. Ma'am’s souvenirs were always carefully placed to avoid detection by the warden. “Why Katherine 857,” she exclaimed in mock surprise, “whyever would you hide this? Don’t you think it’s lovely? Like a pink lace on that pale skin. Beauty hurts, whelp, you never did learn that." 

There was another on her left side, and one at the small of her back. Ma'am went for the side first. "This was a birthday present. I caught her and two other urchins ogling the tattoos of the builders, so I decided to give them their own… body art, I think they’re calling it these days. I think it turned out well. Wasn’t satisfied with the placement, though. The one in the back turned out better. Centered, you see. Much more balanced to the eye.” She chuckled. “She seems rather determined to have at least one more before I’m done with her.”

Ma'am leaned in close, close enough for Avedis to feel the air expended in the vicious whisper. “If I’m ever done.”

The sensation made her skin crawl. Avedis shoved her away, but Ma'am grabbed her arm, spinning her around and pinning it to her back. Another hand seized her shoulder. Put pressure on it. Avedis bit her lip to keep it from trembling.

“Could it be you don’t remember what happens when mongrels misuse what they’re given?”

Avedis shook her head silently. Much of her childhood was a foggy mystery, but that she remembered. She still had nightmares about joints being partially dislocated by cold hands, brutal but careful and precise. The penalty for lifting a hand–or any part–against Ma'am. 

Ma'am tone shifted. Addressing the camera again. “Ah, now you can see the back. And to think, she’s been hiding it from you all this time… the lines, of course, are belt-strikes. Those she never quite stopped howling at… did you?”

You’re not hurting me, I’m just mad!

The memory hit her like a belt-strike, the sound of her own voice in a hoarse attempt at a defiant roar, ragged from sobs and howls of pain. Her breath hitched in a sympathetic sob, and she felt a burning sensation at the bridge of her nose, an early warning that tears were coming. She closed her eyes tighter and willed it away.

Ma'am let go of her shoulder to run her hand slowly over her back, cold and menacing and still tipped by what the Lucky Few used to call her claws when she wasn’t around. Humiliation, rage and nausea washed over her in alternating waves as Ma'am’s hand dragged searchingly over her back, down to her buttocks.

“No marks here? Well, I suppose hatpins are too small to leave much. Remember why you got those?”

Katherine 857, stop squirming in your seat or I’ll give you something to squirm about!

“No,” Avedis lied, and swallowed back a surge of bile as the fog around her childhood started to dissipate. It used to irritate her, but now she wanted it back. 

“I’ll have her call back sometime and tell you the story herself,” Ma'am told the camera, “when she’s had a chance to remember. You’ll find that all her best qualities are down to my instruction.” The hand curled into a claw and dragged back up to her shoulders, leaving a stinging trail. “I certainly can’t imagine a filthy bunch of brigands teaching you much,” she added into Avedis’s ear. “Your kind have nothing to contribute to the world.”

“I still prefer them,” Avedis growled, then caught her breath and braced for the sharp twist of a partial dislocation when she remembered where Ma'am’s hands were. It didn’t come, but she could taste blood from her lower lip. She’d forgotten she was biting it.

That happened a lot here.

The burn between her eyes intensified, and she took shallow, forced breaths to try to cool it. She was not going to cry. She was not seventeen. She’d come too far, done too well, grown too much to cry like the girl she’d been in here.

“Now,” said Ma'am, “Your name. For the record.”

“Ave–” That was as far as she got before the words were replaced by a choked cry she couldn’t quite silence in time as she felt the familiar push-and-wrench of Ma'am’s favorite punishment. Pain blossomed in her shoulder, running up to her neck.

Pinpricks raced down her arm to concentrate in her index finger. She didn’t need to try to move to know her arm wouldn’t respond right, knew not to try to move. Knew from lectures by the first person to call her by that diminutive that trying was just liable to make it worse. God, she was going to miss his fussing when this was over–not that she planned on admitting it if they ever met again. Ma'am dropped her arm, and she winced.

“Try again,” Ma'am snapped, seizing her other arm and twisting. 

She wanted to give in, and she hated herself for it. She wanted to tell Ma'am whatever she wanted to hear, beg to keep her right arm functioning, even let her put her in manacles. She was almost willing to deal with the panic attack from having her wrists restrained, risk Ma'am finding out about what Sasha called a phobia and she still insisted was a minor peculiarity. It was almost better to endure what was likely the result of her first seventeen years than relive those years like this.

Almost.

She grit her teeth.

“Avedis K–”

Ma'am dug her nails into her skin this time as she shoved her arm up, then yanked it down and backward with practiced precision, kept them sunk in even afterward. Six nails drew blood. “Name!”

“Katherine, damn you! Katherine!” Her voice broke as she practically felt the words ripped from her throat, shoulders hunching in an approximation of her body’s instinct to curl up. Nothing in her tone but ragged desperation, shouting to keep from audibly sobbing. “God in Heaven, I kept it! It’s still there! Damn the numbers! Why do you care?! What does it prove?!”

“It proves that you understand what you are.”

Avedis stood silent for a moment, except for ragged, uneven breaths. Sweat had been beading on her forehead from her efforts at defiance for at least half of the ordeal. She leaned her head back, resting against the heavy collar around her neck, and a few drops ran down, framing her face. 

As long as they weren’t tears.

She straightened. “Katherine 857,” she said slowly, opening her eyes, “is… is my name.”

Ma'am smiled, stepping back to look at her, the embodiment of smug satisfaction. “Good.”

“Avedis Katherine Risinger,” Avedis continued, a note of defiance returning to the rasping voice, “is what I am. And you can strip me down and… do it all to me again… I’m not going back. You–you can’t have me back. You can’t have her back.”

Ma'am’s expression soured. She took a step toward Avedis, then seemed to change her mind. Her gaze flicked to Avedis’s uniform, that she had so gleefully compelled her to shed, and her smile returned.

[whumpfish]

Also Avedis (with bonus of her as a teenager)

[lamaisongaga]

 LADY GAGA IN RODARTE FOR ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Even though the Palm Springs Film Festival had to be cancelled this year, Lady Gaga still got to receive her very much deserved “Icon” award!

“Thank you so much to the #palmspringsfilmawards for the Icon Award.  I dedicate this to all the beautiful communities who have come together for years to support a shared vision for kindness and bravery in the art of life. My icon is a mirror. My icon is you.” she shared via social media before being interviewed for Entertainment News.

The Italian-American beauty looked divine in a Rodarte Spring/Summer 2022 hand-beaded ruched ivory silk satin mini dress with cape.

This dress is inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's cow skull with calico roses painting!

You might remember our girl rocking another look from the very same collection a while ago.

Let’s get to all the jewelry she wore! One of Gaga's mismatched earrings is this 64Facets Claw white-gold and diamond earring ($3,800).

Shop:

64Facets “Claw” Earring ($3,800.00)

Her necklace is the Jeffrey Levin small dog tag necklace in yellow-gold with a rose-gold heart. She purchased it at Poet and/the Bench.

Next, she rocked the 64Facets linear rose-gold and diamond bangle ($34,000)!

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64Facets Linear Bangle ($34,000.00)

One of her rings is the Sara Weinstock  Brut Donna 18k gold with clustered round white diamonds in marquis shape ring ($9,000).

The yellow-gold and diamond swirl ring on her index finger is signed by Le Vian while Edward Avedis created her two stacked Cuban link diamond rings!

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Sara Weinstock “Brut Donna” Ring ($9,000.00)

[lamaisongaga]

INSTAGRAM CHIC: LADY GAGA SENDS SUNDAY GREETINGS IN CUSTOM EDWARD AVEDIS BRACELET

Lady Gaga wished the world a happy Sunday via Instagram with an adorable morning mirror selfie. While her chill-at-home outfit is too basic to ID, we can focus on her accessories instead.

We can’t see much but our girl is repping a custom Edward Avedis 14k yellow-gold and diamond name tag bracelet which bears her initials, gifted to her by her makeup artist and best friend Sarah!

One of her stacked rings is the 14k yellow-gold ring with hand-cut jagged natural Brazilian smoky quartz by Joanne Stone ($2,400)

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Joanne Stone Jagged Smoky Quartz Ring ($2,400.00)

We can also spot her FitBit Charge 5 fitness + health tracker in the swatch “Lunar White” ($149.95).

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FitBit “Charge 5″ Tracker ($149.95)

Lastly, she protected her iPhone 13 Pro Max with this Pela eco-friendly clear case with black ridge ($54.95).

Shop:

Pela Clear Case ($54.95)

[lamaisongaga]

LADY GAGA WEARS SEYIT ARES, VERSACE & MORE IN “THE POWER OF KINDNESS” SHORT FILM

The Born This Way Foundation joined Lady Gaga, Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble and a group of young people in a long chat session about mental health. Watch the short film on Facebook!

Styled by Marta Del Rio and Hunter Clem, our girl looked incredible in an oversized pink satin shirt with flap pockets on the front (€125) by Turkish emerging designer Seyit Ares.

Gaga layered two necklaces. The first one is a chunky Versace gold Medusa medallion necklace embellished with silver crystals. I was only able to find a similar, plain version for you.

The other one is the Jeffrey Levin small dog tag necklace in yellow-gold with a rose-gold heart. She purchased it at Poet and/the Bench.

Next, she wore two name beads stretch bracelets by Cristina V. ($79)! She opted for the “Be Kind” and rainbow hearts ones.

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Cristina V. Ball Name Bracelet ($79.00)

We can spot her three Edward Avedis rings – a Cuban link silver ring, a rose-gold Cuban link ring with diamonds, and the Clara eternity style, shared prong diamond band with 2mm diamonds hand set in 18kt rose-gold ($1,800).

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Edward Avedis “Clara” Ring ($1,800.00)

This look was completed with a brand new pair of Pleaser Flamingo-1020 baby pink vinyl lace-up platform ankle boots ($89.95).

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Pleaser “Flamingo-1020″ Boots ($89.95)

[lamaisongaga]

LADY GAGA STEPS OUT IN CUSTOM CHRISTIAN SIRIANO

Lady Gaga made another epic exit from the Plaza Hotel in NYC earlier today en route to the Angel Orensanz Center to film her MTV Unplugged performance with Tony!

Styled by Tom Eerebout and Sandra Amador, Gagaloo rocked a custom number by NYC-based designer Christian Siriano, whose designs have been featured multiple times on this blog.

The look included a polka-dot print cotton blouse with dramatic bubble sleeves, and a high-waisted black wool midi skirt with pleated back panel.

Her retro-inspired black acetate acentuated cat-eye sunnies are the Pamela by Illesteva ($220).

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Illesteva “Pamela” Sunglasses ($220.00)

Next, jewelry. The charming earrings are the Lulu Frost Pearl Ocean gold-plated brass and lustrous glass pearl button stud earrings ($125).

Lisa says she “designed these earrings based on a concept from Vedic meditation, the idea of stepping into an ocean of consciousness. The earrings manifested as two inverted swirling waves dotted with pearls. Handmade in gold-plated brass and glass pearls, these studs are a favorite of mine. Tagged here.“

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Lulu Frost “Pearl Ocean” Earrings ($125.00)

She also rocked her Edward Avedis Clara eternity style, shared prong diamond band with 2mm diamonds hand set in 18kt rose-gold ($1,800).

Shop:

Edward Avedis “Clara” Ring ($1,800.00)

Gaga has a history in using her fashion as a billboard to promote her projects on them. 

She carried a Mark Cross Grace small leather box bag in black ($2,290) customized with the title of her and Tony's upcoming jazz record 'Love for Sale'.

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Mark Cross “Grace” Box Bag ($2,290.00)

Her Jimmy Choo Abel black satin pointed-toe pumps completed the look.

[whumpfish]

NaNoWriMo 2019

I'm going to do all here. It's going to be an overview of Avedis and Sasha's friendship and how they've traded the whumpee/caretaker role over the years.

I don't have it all planned out, and since it's a string of shorts I'm going to be taking requests if y'all want to send them in. The tag for the series is #nanofish2019