#it comes out august 10th in most places

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

omg omg omg we’re at the voyage of the Demeter part when the film Last Voyage of the Demeter is about to be released!!

[blueraineshadows]

One Year Later

To celebrate the first anniversary of the release of Hogwarts Legacy on the 10th February, a group of us on Discord decided to create fan work with the theme of One Year Later.

Sebastian Sallow x F!MC

Tags: NSFW, angst, depression, fluff, smut

7.5k words.

Just before returning to Hogwarts for 6th year, MC decides to pay a visit to the boy who opened her eyes to the darkness and fire of magic.

Darkness had fallen over the Highlands, the faintest strip of colour still clinging to the horizon as MC glided across the countryside on her broom. The late August air still held a lingering warmth, the breeze pleasant against her cheeks as she dipped lower, aiming for the cosy lights of the little hamlet spread out below.

There was a charm to Feldrcroft. Quaint cottages and beautiful scenery combined with the small community of magical folk made for a warm and pleasant feel. However, MC had memories of this place that still made her spine tingle with apprehension. She felt the tightness of anxiety claiming her chest as her booted feet touched down to the ground, the trees and grass that still had their lush, green foliage looked dark and hulking in the swallowing night. 

With her gaze fixed on one cottage in particular, she wondered if the occupant would be pleased to see her. She had not forewarned him, no letter or laid plans to come and see him. She had not thought to arrange it, thinking he wouldn't want her nearby to remind him of events that took place last spring. The time apart over summer break had been the space needed to try and come to terms with it all, but she had come to realise that she had missed him. 

She missed the boy who had urged her feet onto a path that had been dubiously dark but utterly thrilling. She had not looked for such things, and yet they had to come to her. Pain and suffering had come with it, secrets and darkness that still plagued her. But at the end of it all, she had found people who shared magical abilities. Her people. This was where she belonged. 

The pull of Sebastian Sallow had not weakened since parting ways with him at the end of fifth year. Despite everything, she was unable to forget him. His smile, his eyes, the way he would tease her, his intelligence, and yes, his darkness. If anything, it was the troubled streak that split through him that lured her in the most. There was a thrill about it, a curiosity. It kept her on the edge, but it had kept her alive, too. If she was truly honest about it, she had a dark and troubled streak of her own, and it recognised his, called to it even. A kindred spirit as he had once put it.

So, here she was, standing outside of his small, country home with her palm pressed against the aged wood of his door with her heart in her mouth. Thoughts raced through her head, tumbling together to heighten the tension in her chest. Would he shut the door in her face? Would he push her away, hating the reminder that her face would bring to him? Maybe he wasn't alone inside there, and she would be intruding. The thought made her stomach twist with something cold and slippery. 

She didn't turn away, though. It's better now than on September 1st when school was back in. She wanted to see his face. She needed to know how it would be when face to face with him, without the distraction of everyone else. 

Foolish or brave, she lifted her hand from the door, made a fist, and rapped firmly. The knock sounded loud and final in the quiet dark. Her feet twitched in her boots, tingling with the sudden urge to flee. He won't want her here. This was a mistake. 

The seconds stretched as she stared at the door, fixated on the grain in the wood as her ears strained for the sound of movement behind it. She swallowed, clenching and unclenching her hands until the sound of the latch came. The door opened a crack, and the shadow of a figure appeared against a warm, low light. 

Brown eyes peered curiously through the gap, a tumble of wild brunette locks framing a freckled face that had lost its roundness in their two months apart. His cheekbones were more prominent, shadows had darkened under his eyes, and there was a grim set to his jaw that made him look harder, older. 

His hand gripped his wand, aiming it subtly through the gap as his gaze took her in, his mouth parting softly in surprise as his eyebrows lifted. “MC.”

“Hello, Sebastian,” she said, managing a nervous smile. 

His gaze darted behind her, scanning the hamlet quickly before he returned his eyes to her, adjusting his wand slightly. He was on edge, and she was quick to reassure him.

“It's just me,” she said, holding up a hand. “I… I thought I would surprise you. A little visit before school begins again, but I can leave if you would prefer that. I don't want to intrude.” 

He lowered his wand, eyes still a little wary as he opened the door a bit wider. His dark blue shirt was open at the throat, and the sleeves rolled back. He wore no waistcoat, but braces held up his dark trousers, his shoulders broad, and his hips slim. Her eyes devoured the sight of him, catching up on missed time as he pushed a hand through his messy locks and stepped back, pushing the door fully open before gesturing for her to step inside. 

“Not at all, please, come on in,” he said. His gaze also took her in from head to toe, his eyes almost disbelieving as he moved to close the door behind her. “You will have to excuse the mess, I'm afraid. I was not expecting company.” 

She smiled, her eyes taking in the untidy cottage quickly, noting the cosy fire and huge pile of books stacked haphazardly by the chair. 

“I probably should have sent an owl first,” she said, fiddling with the cuffs of her jacket. “I'm sorry. It was an impulsive idea to come.”

“But a welcome one,” he said softly.

Their eyes met, his lips curving softly as warmth slowly entered his eyes. He looked tired, the boyish look of him long gone, torn away by hardships that nobody should have to endure. But, he looked like he had been eating, his clothes were clean. He had not fallen into a pit of darkness as Ominis had feared. 

Sebastian's eyes, now filled with warmth as he looked upon her, were no longer wary, sparkling with that special something that kept her at his side. It was him, still in there, no sign of any eerie glow of forbidden magic, none of the madness or fury that haunted her secret memories. Just Sebastian. 

“It's good to see you,” she whispered. 

His gaze dipped, shadows flitting across his face as pink coloured his cheeks. He fussed with his hair again and cleared his throat. 

“Let me get you something to drink. I have tea if you would like?” He moved towards the kitchen area, looking for clean cups. 

“Tea sounds perfect,” she said. 

….*....

The sound of his own laughter filled his ears, a sound that had become unfamiliar lately, and yet he welcomed it as he gazed across at the girl sitting cross-legged on the rug before his fire. Strands of her hair had slipped from her braid, framing a face that had haunted his thoughts all summer long. 

Fear as chilling as mountain ice had lingered as he imagined her not being able to bear the sight of him. Despite her hug at the end of last term, her goodbye that had stayed with him for days afterwards, he had been convinced that time apart would lead her to abandon him. As the weeks of summer break had passed, he had convinced himself that he had chased her away, that she would glare coldly at him across the classroom when they returned, or worse, she would ignore him completely.

After all, he was a murderer. He had tempted her into darker and more dangerous acts, led her astray, and shamefully coveted her power for his own selfish wants. Who would want to stay near someone like that? 

Even now, sitting here with her in his own home, her laughter warming that ice from the back of his neck, her eyes pulling at him like gravity that kept him grounded on the wooden floorboards. Even now, he could scarcely believe that she had turned up here. Uninvited, but so very welcome. 

They had not mentioned any of the terrible darkness that had torn through them in the spring. She was chatting about lighter things, funny stories, and urging him to smile and laugh with an ease that was stealing his breath. 

He had not realised just how lonely this summer had been until now. How he craved this interaction and connection. He could not stop staring at her, and his cheeks flamed whenever she caught his gaze lingering too long. He could not be inappropriate and chase her away. Not now that she was here and smiling at him. 

A glance at the clock revealed the hours slipping towards lateness. Soon, she would be gone. He counted himself lucky she was still here at all, flicking through the pages of a book as they discussed what might be in store this school year. He didn't want her to go. He had a feeling this new and welcome warmth would leave with her. 

Going back to Hogwarts tugged at the anxiety in his chest. Another year started with no Anne by his side, his friendship with Ominis strained and distant, his heart almost hollow and shadowed at the thought of being always alone. Dare he hope that MC would remain at his side. Was he asking too much of her again? 

Lost in his thoughts, he jumped when he felt her hand on the exposed skin of his forearm, her fingertips grazing softly over the hairs there. He almost shivered under the touch. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt the touch of another person, and he stared at the delicate shape of her hand. 

“Hey, it will be alright, you know,” she said softly. “We will be alright.” 

Slowly, he lifted his eyes to hers, fearing what he would find in their depths as the shadow of memories began to cluster at the edges of his mind. She was trying to hide her own pain, but he could see it. How could he not when he had shared so much of it? Been the cause of some of it?

“I am so sorry,” he said, shaking his head. His throat tightened, and the backs of his eyes burned. “How do you not hate me?” 

Her eyes widened, and she shifted closer towards him on the rug, her hand lifting to grasp his shoulder. “I don't hate you, Sebastian. Not at all.” 

It was hard to hold her gaze. Such beauty and warmth radiated from her face it made him dip his head, his own eyelids closing as staggering memory began to invade. Those lovely eyes had shone with horror, lit with the flash of spells cast to inflict pain and injury. She had watched him bring down his own uncle, murder a member of his own family in a whirlwind of rage and frustration that replayed over and over in his dreams, taunting him. His evil tendencies could have gotten her killed, too. The very thought made him shudder right there beside the fire. 

Shame coloured his cheeks, his flesh burning with it as guilt clawed at his insides. 

She should go. She deserved better. What kind of friend was he to her? The worst kind, that's what. 

“I wouldn't blame you if you did,” he rasped, pushing his hand through his hair, his fingers gripping at the tumbled strands. “I've done some terrible things.”

“As have I,” she said firmly. Her hand cupped his jaw, and he met her gaze, her fingers cool against his flushed skin. He swallowed hard. Her face was so close, so close it made his heart thunder. “We both did awful things, and it's impossible to change that now. But, we also did good things. We helped people, too. And we kept each other alive when it came down to it. You kept me alive with your tutoring and help. I could never regret that, Sebastian. I wouldn't be here if I did.” 

He stared at her, licking his lips and blinking as a tear slipped free from the corner of his eye. “Why did you come?” 

Her eyes, glittering with unshed tears of her own, were deep pools of warmth. He thought he could lose himself and drown in her eyes. He had found them fascinating from day one, felt such a thrill when they would seek him out across the classroom. He couldn't help but stare into them now, wanting to believe with his whole soul that she wasn't going to leave him.

“I missed you,” she whispered, her thumb sliding against the skin of his cheek. She blushed, blinking back her tears. “I wanted to see you before returning to school. Before everything, and everyone became a distraction. Nobody else will ever understand what happened, only you. I just… I needed to see you, I needed to know that you were alright, that we were alright. Does that make sense?” 

He nodded. “I missed you, too.” 

Her arms encased him, and he found himself held against her, his face pressed against her chest as her chin came to rest on the top of his head. Her scent filled his nose, soft floral elements and apples, and he inhaled deeply, his mind spinning as her hands slid through his hair and down his back. He shivered, closing his eyes against the ache of tears. 

“It will be alright,” she whispered again. 

He couldn't stop it. It was like a dam being released. Scalding tears leaked from his eyes and slid wildly down his cheeks, soaking into the softness of her blouse and darkening the fabric. He sucked in a stuttering breath, his fingers clutching at her blouse against her back and wincing as a hoarse sob escaped his mouth. 

“Fuck,” he said, his voice thick and strangled as he thought to pull away, but her arms only held him tighter. 

She was so temptingly soft, so warm, and yet the solidity of her body held against his felt like a life raft in a tossing sea. The fight seeped from him as her warmth began to spread through him. He shamelessly clung to her as sob after sob tore from his throat, and his tears soaked her blouse. She soothed him, held him, her hands gently roaming over him in a touch that he could feel deep in his bones. 

How was he ever going to be able to release his grip on her? To let go would be like being cast adrift. It was terrifying, and he thought he might never be able to breathe properly ever again. He wanted her to stay right here and never leave. No, he needed her to stay. 

“I will, don't worry. I can stay as long as you need,” she said, stroking his hair with gentle fingers. 

Had he said that out loud?

He stilled, fighting to get control of his emotions as her words slowly began to sink through his mind. He swiped a hand over his face and lifted his head to look at her. He saw the flicker of pain, her sadness, and a flash of pity as she stared at him. He must look like an awful sight, red eyed and pathetic, a sad little boy. 

Her fingers ghosted over his face, gently wiping away his tears. His skin craved her touch, and he yearned for it, already missing the warmth of her chest against his face where her heart had thudded so reassuringly near his ear. 

“You'll really stay?” His voice was raw and utterly vulnerable, and he felt so very exposed.

There was no judgement in her eyes as she nodded. “Of course.” 

….*....

It was quiet. So very quiet. The soft sounds of Sebastian's sleeping breaths on the other side of the curtain should have soothed her, but she lay on her back and stared up through the darkness waiting for sleep to come and claim her.

He had made up the bed with clean sheets, his eyes drawn to her constantly as he gave her a shirt to sleep in and tidied up before bed, almost as though he feared she would disappear. Her blouse hung on the dressing screen, the fabric soaked from his tears. Oh, how her heart had broken to hear him like that, the sharp pull of his grip on her clothes revealing the pain he held tight within himself. 

Her own torment had risen up and stuck in her throat as she had comforted him. 

She should have come sooner. She shouldn't have left him alone so long. 

The strange creaks and groans of an unfamiliar house had her wide awake, her thoughts spinning over the last year. She turned her head towards the faded curtain that separated her from Sebastian and realised that in a few days, she would have known him a full year. 

Her life had changed since last September. 

From a well-behaved, decent girl to an ancient magic wielding witch who could deliver death with a flick of her wrist. Here she was, laying in a bed wearing nothing but a man's shirt and her underwear, that same man sleeping in the next bed over with nothing but a flimsy curtain to separate them. Unchaperoned and barely dressed, she thought of the expanse of Sebastian's naked back she had glimpsed when he had readied for bed. He had freckles everywhere, the sight of his shifting muscles bringing a rising heat to her skin as she had skipped her eyes guiltily away. 

The matron of the children's home would have taken the belt to her legs for daring to be so brazen, and yet she stared at the curtain beside her and wished that she could see through it. 

Blushing furiously at the thought of Sebastian's bare skin, she turned in the bed to face the stone wall, her breaths quick and uneven as a fierce ache gathered between her thighs. She squirmed and closed her eyes, trying to think of anything else but him, but his scent was everywhere, and she could still remember the hard heat of his body as she had held him earlier on.

Fighting the fire in her blood and the dark memories in her head, she fell into a fitful sleep, tossing and turning until she was twisted in the sheets. 

Movement woke her, and she blinked against morning sunlight streaming around the thin curtain, taking a moment to remember where she was. Her hair was tumbled about her face, and she reached to brush strands aside, her heart leaping behind her ribs as Sebastian peered around the curtain with a cheeky smile. 

“Good morning, sleepy head,” he said, his eyes drawn to her bare legs that hung out from the twisted sheets. 

Blushing, she tugged the blanket over them, drawing them up closer towards her as that glowing heat in her abdomen nudged awake. 

“Morning,” she mumbled. 

Sebastian held out a steaming cup. “I thought you might like a cup of tea. I'm going to make you breakfast as well. It's the least I can do after you put up with me blubbering all over you last night.”

MC sat up, noting the flush of embarrassment on his cheeks as she arranged the blankets respectfully over her waist. She smiled and held her hand out for the tea. 

“That is very sweet of you, Seb,” she said, taking the cup from him. He was dressed in clean clothes, the fresh scent of soap wafting from his skin. Her gaze lingered over him, and she found herself patting the side of the bed. Fuck propriety. “Sit with me for a moment.” 

His eyes widened slightly, but he sat, turning to face her as she wrapped her hands around her cup. “Everything alright?” 

She smiled. “Let's do something today, something fun. Maybe you could take me exploring around your old childhood haunts. What do you think?” 

A smile twitched his lips, and he fluffed his hair. “There are chores to be done,” he said ruefully. “The wood doesn't chop itself, you know.”

She laughed and gave him a look that suggested she wasn't buying it. They both knew that a simple charm would have the axe swinging all by itself. He grinned at her as she sipped her tea. 

“It doesn't hurt to do things by hand sometimes. It's grounding. It reminds us that we are human after all,” he said. He huffed a laugh and shook his head. “Merlin, I sound like my parents. How very boring.” 

“Then I will help you around the house, we can pack a lunch, and then we can go exploring. Is that grounding enough for you, Mr Sallow?” 

He bit his lower lip, the old sparkle she loved appearing in his eyes. “You've got yourself a deal.” 

….*....

With the fresh sea breeze tugging at his hair and filling his lungs, Sebastian felt the foggy, dull ache around his eyes begin to recede. His eyes still felt scratchy and his throat raw after his emotional outburst yesterday, and he couldn't help but feel rather foolish for doing it in front of MC like that, but looking at her now as she searched for sea shells in the sand, he couldn't help but feel some of the heaviness lift from his shoulders and chest. 

The breeze played with her hair, her blouse rippling with it as she picked up a shell with a smile on her lips. She looked like one of those angels painted in muggle murals, the sun glinting off her hair, her cheeks delicately pink from the late summer warmth of it. 

It was so very hard not to stare at her. His gaze was drawn to her, and his whole body pulled towards her gravity, completely caught in her orbit. It stole his breath a little and made his head spin in a dizzying but delightful way. It was one thing to appreciate a pretty girl, but it was quite another to be utterly smitten with one. And he was becoming surer by the moment that he was smitten with her. 

Like the sun peeking through the darkest storm clouds, she had appeared on his doorstep and thrown back the shadows. She had danced in the same darkness as him, held his painful secrets alongside her own, and yet she had come back to him. It was more than he deserved. 

Spotting the delicate curve of a shell in the sand, he took out his wand and summoned it, letting it hover slowly over towards MC. The shell was perfectly intact, soft pink, and white curling into a graceful shape. MC’s eyes brightened as it appeared before her, those heavenly eyes swinging his way with a smile as she held out her palm. With careful precision, he let the shell sit in the cup of her hand, his gaze soft as her fingers turned it over to examine it. 

“It's beautiful!” She exclaimed as she held it up. 

He smiled, slipping his wand into his pocket as he began to walk closer towards her, his boots sinking into the soft sand. “Very beautiful,” he agreed, but he wasn't looking at the shell.  

Her eyes lifted to meet him as he approached, daring to stand rather close so he could get a closer look at her eyes. The breeze blew strands of hair across her face, and they both lifted their hands to tuck them back, their fingers grazing against each other. 

His heart thundered under his ribs at his boldness, his cheeks warming as she stared up at him, and he made to pull his hand away from her hair, but she caught his wrist to stop him. The rapid fire of his pulse made it hard to breathe as her hand slid up to link her fingers with his, their gazes locked on each other as though there was nothing else in the world to look upon. He realised that, even though he was partly terrified of what this might mean, he could quite happily stand and stare at her all day. Forever, in fact. 

She stood on tiptoes, leaning forward as she held his hand tightly, the soft sigh of her breath ghosting across his cheek before her lips pressed against the skin there in a quick kiss. 

He thought his lungs might burst and burn if he held his breath any longer, her eyes now so close he could definitely drown in them. 

“You should smile like that more often, Sebastian,” she said softly. “You have the most lovely smile, quite handsome, in fact.” 

Before she could even think about pulling away, removing herself from this perfect moment, his other hand caught her face in a gentle grip, his thumb sliding along the divine softness of her skin as he lowered his mouth to hers. It was the merest brush of lips, a soft taste in return for the one she had placed on his cheek, the tingle of it still there, along with the desire to feel more. 

“I shall save those smiles just for you,” he promised. 

He kept hold of her hand. Even when they left the beach and headed along the road back towards Feldcroft, their fingers remained laced together. She was a perfect fit, as though her hand had been made to be held by him, and it kept the shadows at bay. His own little ray of sunlight. 

….*....

After a long day of chores and wandering around in the sun, MC had been tired, her muscles aching pleasantly as she sat and ate a simple dinner with Sebastian. It hadn't taken much persuading for her to stay at the cottage another night. With only one day left until the start of term, she would have to fetch her things for returning to school, and yet here she lingered.

A second night of laying in the bed, staring up at the wooden rafters of Sebastian's house as he lay sleeping on the other side of the curtain. This time, her thoughts were on the way he had kissed her on the beach, his lips soft and warm, the touch of them delicate and tempting. There had been a fire in his gaze that called to her. Unspoken glimmers of something that felt like she was balancing on the edge of a discovery. 

He had not tried to kiss her again, but he had held her hand, his fingers grazing against her waist or her shoulder as they had prepared dinner. How many lingering looks would it take before he kissed her again? Did she dare steal a real kiss for herself? 

The very thought made her heart flutter, and her insides flare with aching flame. 

Burying her face into the soft feather pillow, she inhaled deeply and was reminded that Sebastian's scent was everywhere. He was everywhere, burying deeply into her soul until she wasn't sure where she ended and he began. She had not thought her heart could have been stolen so soon. At sixteen, she was fairly innocent in such matters, but there was something very powerful and almost frightening about the intensity with which she felt attached to Sebastian. 

Perhaps it was the trauma, the darkness of their secrets, and the power of being held in the grip of the fallout of them. Like her, he was alone in the world, and they had gravitated towards each other. His eyes had the power to weave threads around her that drew her in tighter and tighter with each lingering glance, the dark glimmer of such gazes a lure more powerful than magic. 

It's why she was here in the first place, was it not? Despite the real concern of how he had been faring, she had longed to be close to him again. 

Drifting on the tide these thoughts were carrying her on, she didn't hear the whimpers at first, the jerking shuffles of Sebastian shifting around on his bed. The sounds of distress began to filter through to her, and she sat up, tilting her head as she gazed at the thin curtain between them. 

Frowning slightly as a distressed groan sounded through the dark of the cottage, MC slipped from the bed sheets and stepped barefoot across the boards to peer around the curtain. 

Sebastian was indeed shuddering beneath his bed covers, pale moonlight filtering through a high window, illuminating him in a ghostly glow. 

“Sebastian?” She whispered, watching him twitch and whimper. 

He didn't answer. His eyes were closed, but moving rapidly beneath his lids, and as she stepped even closer towards him, she could see beads of sweat gathering on his forehead. He was dreaming, and it wasn't a good dream either by the looks of it. 

She bit her lip, sadness clouding her face as she stared down at him, knowing too well the kind of horrors that pulled you down in your sleep from her own night terrors. Worried about startling him, she hesitated before touching him, her hand trembling a little as it hovered above his shoulder. 

Then, he yelled, a shocking, harsh scream that ripped out of his mouth. MC gasped but didn't move her hand quickly enough. When he sat bolt upright in the bed, her hand hit his face, and he was lightning fast as he grabbed her. One hand clamping about her wrist, the other reaching up to fist into the front of the shirt she wore. 

He was like a cornered cat, hissing and frighteningly strong as he shook her, dragging her bodily forward before flipping her onto her back against the mattress. She yelped, her hair fanning out across the twisted sheets as he loomed above her, pinning her to the bed with an iron grip.

She stared up at his flushed face, his eyes wild and unseeing in the pale moonlight. 

“It's me!” She cried, her hands grasping at his bare arms, his muscles rigid under her touch. “Seb, it's me, please.” 

Breathing hard, he stared, his mouth a harsh grimace, his teeth bared as he gripped her. A sharp flash of fear shot through her, realising that he could hurt her if he wanted to, and her wand was beside her bed behind the curtain. She kept still, her own chest heaving with panicked breaths. 

“Sebastian,” she whispered. 

He became eerily still, his eyes subtly widening as he stared at her, really looking at her pinned beneath him. Her pulse was racing, throbbing in her ears, as he slowly came around to the reality of the situation. 

His gaze travelled over her face, moving down to where his hand had fisted the fabric of her shirt, gathering it tightly just below her collar bone. Her arm was pinned up behind her head, his fingers gripping so tightly at her wrist that she could feel her hand tingling from lack of blood flow. 

As a result of the struggle, her shirt was twisted up around her ribcage, exposing her waist and hips, his lower body pinning her to the bed in a rather compromising position. He wore nothing but a pair of undershorts, their bare legs exposed, his knees anchored against the bed. 

“What… how did you… MC,” he stuttered, confusion creasing his brow. He let go of her immediately, straightening up onto his knees as he pushed both hands through his hair with a groan of distress. “Did I hurt you?” 

His voice was strained, a pained wince on his face as he risked another look at her. He pressed his hands to his cheeks as his gaze roamed over her exposed flesh. “Oh fuck,” he whispered. 

MC hadn't moved, her arm still angled up above her head, her other hand hanging limp off the side of the bed as she fought to calm her breathing. “I'm alright,” she murmured. 

Sebastian shook his head, closing his eyes tightly as he moaned. “Oh gods, I'm so sorry.” 

He shifted his weight off her, sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. MC sat up slowly, rubbing her wrist as her gaze lingered over the moonlight reflecting off the skin of his naked back. Her fear faded, her lungs relaxing as she watched him. He wouldn't hurt her, not on purpose. She held onto that thought.  

“It's alright,” she said quietly, slowly reaching for him. Her fingers trembled as she touched them against his shoulder blade, his muscles tensing slightly as she smoothed her hand along towards the back of his neck. “I'm okay. You're okay. You didn't hurt me.”

“But I could have,” he said, his voice cracking. He turned his head to look at her, his expression so raw and open it stole her breath. “I could have hurt you. I'd never forgive myself if…” He gulped, raking his fingers through his hair again as he shook his head. “What were you doing out of bed?” 

“I came to check on you,” she said, stroking her hand over the flesh of his back in soothing movements. “You were dreaming. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

“I'm not sure I will ever be okay,” he said, his voice so lost and empty as he stared at the floor. “These thoughts in my head, I know I'm not supposed to feel them, but they always find me in the quiet of night. I try to fight them away, but I’m scared that one night they might get the better of me, that I will get what I deserve.” 

Her eyes burned, and she bit her lip, her chest tightening at the sheer depth of sadness in his tone. He looked defeated, shrunken, and nothing like the boy who had faced her in their first ever duel in Defence Against the Dark Arts on her first day at Hogwarts. 

“No,” she said firmly, shuffling closer to wrap her arms around him from behind. “That is not going to be your fate.” 

She pressed her face against the flushed skin of his back, smooth and warm against her nose. Her hands snaked around to press against his chest, a slight smattering of hair there tickling her fingertips. She held him tight, imagining all of her body heat and strength of affection for him flowing into him as she did so. She hoped that he could feel it. 

“You are going to be just fine, Sebastian. I will make sure of it.” 

“I'm not sure I deserve it,” he whispered. 

Her heart clenched, and she shook her head. No. He couldn't give up. If he gave up, then she would struggle to keep her own head above the drowning waters of everything that had happened. Together. Together, they could fight it and win, just like they always did.

Her lips pressed against his heated skin, and once she started, she couldn't stop. She needed to show him. He was wanted. He was loved. He did deserve it.  

She kissed up his spine towards his neck, moving to spread more affection with her mouth along his freckled shoulder. She felt the shift in his breathing, the subtle flex of his muscles as she moved back towards his neck and pressed kisses under his ear. 

Her name whispered through his lips, and his hands slid over hers at his chest, their fingers interlocking as he held them tight and close near his thudding heart. 

“Don't give up on me,” she pleaded. “You've got this. Sebastian Sallow never backs down from a fight, remember? And this is a fight. You have to win. Do it for me, do it for Anne, but most of all, do it for yourself.” 

This time, when he pinned her to the bed, she welcomed it, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss so demanding that it stole her breath in the best possible way. Arching her back in a delicate curve, his hands roamed over her waist, sliding up underneath her back to grasp the back of her neck as his hips rocked achingly against hers. 

It was exhilarating to feel his hands against her bare flesh, the shirt riding up to expose the tender peaks of her breasts. He moaned, his mouth moving from her neck to draw one hardening nipple between his lips, his tongue sliding hotly over it in a teasing swipe. 

She had never been kissed or touched like this before, but she wasn't scared at all, not even a flutter of nerves as his hand skimmed her hip, reaching under to squeeze longingly at the curve of her behind. 

“Stop me,” he panted, his tongue swirling against her breastbone. His hand moulded her backside, his fingers brushing underneath in a devastating caress that made her mouth open in a gasp. Heat flared dangerously. 

“No,” she whined, her hand fisting into the softness of his hair. 

His groan was feral, his mouth starved as he drew her flesh into a sharp suck that left her marked, his fingers swiping deeper under the curve of her backside against damp heat. She moaned in response, her legs widening shamelessly to welcome him. 

“Fuck, you shouldn’t make noises like that. I'm not going to be able to stop,” he said, his hips rocking against her, the nudge of his arousal widening her eyes as a shock of excitement blistered through her blood. 

Heart hammering and her breathing ragged, she tilted her pelvis, her body curious and on fire as she rubbed herself against him. He sucked air through his gritted teeth and released it as a groan, his forehead pressed between her breasts. 

“MC…” He warned, lifting his head to look at her. The blazing heat in his eyes sent another thrill through her. 

Heart in her mouth, but her head determined. She wrapped her legs around him, urging him closer, and he closed his eyes with a soft moan. He caught his lower lip with his teeth, his hips rolling against her in a slow, seductive movement that had her utterly lost. 

“Are you sure about this?” He asked breathlessly. “There's no going back from it. I don't want to take advantage of you.” 

“You're not,” she said, shaking her head. “I choose you.” 

The look in his eyes almost had her in tears, the stunned softness that made him go still, his hand caressing her face before he kissed her, slowly and thoroughly. 

It was more than just answering the burn of lust that fired their blood. Each caress, each press of lips, was an affirmation of their need to feel connected. The heat of skin against skin was soothing and arousing at once, what little clothing that formed barriers was discarded swiftly and without care, their sole focus to answer the plea in each other’s eyes. 

It was new and thrilling, each fumbled touch as they explored and discovered opened up new possibilities. The erotic and intimate nature of Sebastian's fingers delving deep into her core drew low moans from her mouth. Her body opened to receive him, her heart racing and her thoughts eager to learn the feel of being joined completely with him. 

The solemn lectures delivered by her matron at the children's home drifted through her mind, snippets about carnal sin and the proper way to behave. As her hands explored the lines of Sebastian's body, she couldn't fathom why anyone should deny themselves this intimacy. 

How could this be so terrible and wrong? The way Sebastian was looking at her, the worship he gave with hands and mouth, it made her feel alive. The bonds that had formed between them strengthened, sharpening to a burning point in her chest as he finally claimed her for his own. The stinging stretch as he filled her made her bite her lip, her fingers digging into his flesh as he began to move, his own moans of pleasure filling her ears. 

This was where she was meant to be. This was no sin. This was home.

Pressing his forehead to hers, their combined breaths mere heated gasps as their bodies found a rhythm together, MC stared into the deep, dark pools of his eyes. Lost in his shadows, utterly claimed by them as the tendrils of black curled around her essence and sealed their fate. 

“You're mine,” he breathed into her mouth, pushing even deeper into her, his grip tightening. “I'm never going to let you go.” 

“And you're mine,” she said firmly. 

His thrusts stuttered, soft sounds falling from his lips as he suddenly withdrew, the slick heat of his arousal rubbing lazily against the inside of her thigh before he came, spilling thick pools of release against her trembling flesh. She glanced down, curious and flushed as it dripped slowly to the bed sheets, his cock still firm and slick from their lust. 

Their bodies couldn't be any closer, arms and legs entwined as their flesh cooled and their breathing began to regulate. With her face pressed close to his skin, she could breathe him in, every lung full was a soothing comfort enhanced by the soft caresses of his hands. 

He was hers, and she was his. Together, they would dance with their shadows, and together they would defeat them. 

….*....

The soft glow of lamps lit up Central Hall in Hogwarts, a few Prefects were chatting in the corner and not really paying attention to the girl leaning on the balcony above them, her eyes lingering over the fountain before fixing on her destination. The library door. 

MC felt her lips curve upwards in a fond smile as she remembered arriving on this very balcony exactly a year ago, her stomach a bundle of nerves as she met the curious Slytherin boy who had no concerns about breaking school rules. She had been the new girl, desperate to impress, and yet, even then, so soon after meeting Sebastian, he had easily led her astray. 

Footsteps sounded behind her on the stairs and she turned to look over her shoulder, her smile widening at the sight of said Slytherin approaching. His gaze was curious, eyes twinkling with familiar mischief as he came right up close to her and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. 

“There you are,” he said quietly. “And what brings us here at this time of night, sweetheart?” 

MC smoothed her hands down the front of his waistcoat, her eyes playful as she looked up at him. “Do you know it's exactly one year, to the day, that you smuggled me into the library so I could snoop in the Restricted Section? I think it was the first bit of rule breaking you taught me.” 

“Is that so?” He arched an eyebrow and glanced over the balcony rail. “A whole year of teaching you how to break rules. How naughty of me. So, are you up for a little more rule breaking, then? Is that why we are here?” 

She nodded, eyes gleaming. “I thought we could sneak back down there, for old times sake, have a nose around. I have it on good authority that there are even some rather naughty books to be found if we look in the right place.” 

“Naughty books?” His smirk was positively devilish. “Do you even have to ask? Count me in.” 

Tugging her closer and kissing her again, his hand clasped hers. His handsome smile combined with the wicked gleam in his gaze was enough to send her tummy into a riot of butterflies as they pulled out their wands. With a cheeky wink, Sebastian cast his Disillusionment charm and he vanished, his faintly flickering outline tugging her towards the stairs as she cast her own charm. 

This time last year she had been shaking with nerves, her palms sweating as they outwitted old Scribner. This year, her pulse flew with anticipation as they made it through the iron gates and hurried down into the Restricted Section. The element of risk added to the excitement of being alone with Sebastian, and it wasn't long before she found herself pressed into a dark corner, his mouth on her skin and his hand under her blouse. 

Their shadows hung in the background, the darkness always there waiting for them, memories coming out to play when they least expected it. But, they had each other. They chased down the shadows with the warmth of their smiles and the heat of their embraces. 

With Sebastian at her side, she felt unstoppable, truly alive, and ready to face whatever came next. She doubted that life would ever become boring. Not with him. 

After all, they did love dark, restricted places, and they both couldn't back down from a challenge. Even when that challenge was each other. 

[bluecapsicum]

Summer skies illustrations for my daily meteorological fiction project, Reports From Unknown Places About Undescribable Events (Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon).

Keep reading for the companion texts.

June 27th - We report: very hot today, so that at this late hour, the ground radiates heat though the sun is already low. Our expert, too, radiates heat, and we wonder when their skin got darker (today? No, over the course of this month, little by little every day). The sky is so big.

July 10th - We report about watching clouds go by and their shadows running across the fields; about stepping in and out of those shadows as they move, following them, sometimes walking ahead of them. On top of a hill, we are surprised to notice that the clouds are still not within reach.

July 26th - We report: the warm notes of the sun are remaining suspended in the air tonight. It is late, and the sunset is well underway; the streets are quiet, so it feels a little bit solemn, to witness the day going out like this. Counting down the last few moments of light.

August 1st - We report many months when we looked forward to the full moon, but missed it by a few days each time. This time, we found it by chance, felt a pang in our chest when it showed up through the clouds; suddenly emotional about it still being here, even though so much was changing.

August 4th - We report about the sunshine coming through the leaves like stained glass, creating shades of green within the spectrum of light that we did not realise existed. The afternoon is coming to an end at a very slow pace, watching the sun come around the forest in between branches.

August 7th - We report about the clouds that look the most solid in the sky - for how fragile and ever-changing clouds are, that is. There is a landscape there, one that nobody can ever walk, but it exists in this specific time and place. Sometimes, we wish we could freeze them like that.

August 9th - We report that we slept through the storm, but our expert told us all about it in the morning, how it caught the sky and did not let go until long after even thunder had ceased. How the lightning lasted for less than a second when it struck, but it touched every shadow each time.

August 10th - We report: we have lived hard and well every day and night since we were born, and we try hard to remember this in the pit of our heart every morning. That the planet spins, that we live there, that the sky is new every day, and that we have a lot more to do under that sky.

August 13th - We report about specks of dust suspended in smoke, or snowflakes caught in car headlights, or maybe stars in a cloudy sky. The scale is slightly different for all of these options, but in the end, they all look alike. We slowly make our way across the constellations. Goodnight.

September 5th - We report: the clouds are collapsing, over and over again. This kind of rain falls regardless of the seasons, it does not care about summer or autumn nearly as much as we do, about the days crossed out on our calendar. The afternoon goes on, soaked to the bone.

[dorianwolfforest]

Ok apparently some people missed this, and it is my favoritest of star stable lores, so welcome to the most prolific source of star stable dunk jokes, the Ride with us campaign and it's charity.

Ever wonder why we say horsegirl is a slur? Or why we say horsegirls bite? Look no further than the absolute wreck that was star stable trying to do something good with their money.

The day is august 25th. The time? Time for revolution. Star stable online launches its shakiest campaign yet, and they do it on every possible platform. Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, even their website which still has a permanent addition. It's truly taking the world by storm.

Standing on hopes, dreams, and a mildly skewered survey sent out weeks prior, Star stable proudly proclaims that horse girls are crazy, obsessed, and weird, and that they are bullied for this. Well, no longer, they cry. They come bearing a hashtag that only massive social backlash could topple. "Reclaim horse girl".

People were (rightfully) pissed that they were likening horse girl to a slur that could be reclaimed, star stable pushed back, people got even more pissed, and finally they course corrected and changed the hashtag to "yes i'm a horse girl" because, despite our jokes, horse girl is in fact not something that can be likened to slurs people need to reclaim.

Their claims were so hilariously insane that people thought screenshots from the promotional video were photoshopped

On august 25th, they release the code RIDEWITHUS which would give every player an ingame hoodie, and with every redeem, star stable would donate 1 SEK to an unspecified charity. They did not further specify anything about this charity, only that it was meant to be for anti-bullying. As we all know, not all charities are good, so I personally didn't redeem the code until I knew where the money was going, and oh boy did I have to wait.

Over the course of the next 35 days, star stable made several instagram posts describing the results of the survey they sent out that launched this entire ordeal. I could screenshot all the individual posts but that's a lot of work so here you go, here's the source behind the information found in the posts instead.

When I asked on twitter why we weren't allowed to know what charity the money would go toward, I received the response that starstable were very busy trying to figure out a platform to let people vote for one of multiple charities that they had deemed fit (I was not told what the options would be).

A few days after the instagram posts ended, on october 4th, we were told what charities we were going to be voting for. The vote took place in a Google form, a decision a month in the making. The two charities we were allowed to pick between was Friends and Children's helpline. Finally knowing where the money would be going, I felt comfortable redeeming the code with only THREE days left until the code would no longer work and the charity collection would end.

The code stopped working october 7th, on october 10th we were finally told, officially, that 150 286 kr was going to children's helpline and then star stable raised their prices by 10 % immediately afterward and the Ride with us campaign died and wasn't mentioned ever again, kept alive only by people censoring the words horse girl and biting each other.

Truly a fuckfest. A beautiful moment in time.

[hooked-on-elvis]

[Trigger Warning] ELVIS MEETING HIS FANS, WITH A GUN BEHIND HIS BACK: TRUE OR FALSE? (July, 1972)

July, 1972 on Elvis' Beverly Hills home, 1174 Hillcrest Drive.

INTRODUCTION: Some things need to be clear beforehand. Elvis was threatened quite a few times over the years, specially since he began performing live on stage again, in 1969. Death threats were sent his way occasionally. Whether the threats were intentional or just a way of messing up with a famous person, some of those sounded pretty serious, thus not only Presley's personal security men or the local police department, even the FBI worked in investigating some of those incidents. Things got to a point when there were moments the threats warned about bombs being placed at his concert sites at the same day a show about to take place. Nothing came out of any of those threats, fortunately but, once those things happened, naturally Elvis was concerned for his life, therefore he was absolutely entitled to carry a gun, out of precaution, safety, "just in case" situation. It's fair to mention the Manson murders had only taken place a few years earlier (August, 1969) and, as we all know, actress Sharon Tate and her friends were murdered inside her home, tragically, which happened to be at Elvis' Beverly Hills neighborhood, so, yes, Elvis Presley was usually carrying a gun throughout the 70s, often, if not all times.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, where this story on that one specific picture came from? Elvis' stepbrother, Billy Stanley. Billy is standing behind Elvis on the picture above.

Fans discuss Elvis' personal life over and over - and almost nothing can possibly come to conclusion because we weren't there to witness anything and some of the sources the stories come from are not so reliable as they seem to be, but still it's fun to collect different accounts on things that happened in the King' life. On January 10th, 2024, a fan shared the first picture (on top of this post, Elvis walking alone towards his gate with the left hand behind his back) on a Facebook fanpage. The fans passionately discussed the "gun" rumor. Pamela Freiberg, owner and administrator for "Elvis in the 70s" Facebook group, directly asked Billy about this "rumor" that was published in books and articles over the years, and he confirmed the story to her.

Pamela's comment on the group was: "Billy wrote to me ... here are the words .... 'There's actually a series of photos from this day. I was outside and saw a guy that was trying to look like Elvis. When I saw him, I thought Elvis would get a kick out of this. So, I went inside and told him about the guy. Elvis picked up his pistol and we walked to the gate. He didn't want anyone to see the gun, so he put it behind his back. As we were walking toward the gate, he motioned for me to take the gun, which I did and tucked it behind me in my jeans.'"

Some believe him, some not. One can wonder 'why Elvis would have his left hand on the gun, when he was right handed?', for instance.

Sandi Miller, one of the most recognized Elvis fans, who met Elvis in the 60s and today calls herself a "gate girl", — those passionate fans who met Elvis by standing at the gates of his homes, waiting for him to come outside, whenever he was there, to talk to them, something he would do frequently — who even was (to a certain extent) very close to Elvis, a friend even, since she dated Charlie Hodge for a time, was there that day on July, 1972. She commented on the thread in that one Facebook group too, trying to defend Elvis. She said, "He did not have a gun in his hand!! He often carried guns but not always and not usually when he would come out to visit with fans...more likely that he'd have his little derringer In his boot."

Elvis, July, 1972. Sandi Miller: "Same day but after he visited with everyone…then he and the brothers got in the car and left - he stopped again when he came back also."

— Sandi Miller's accounts on this July, 1972, moment. Those pages comes from the book "Elvis - Behind the Image" by Bud Glass. I do not know if it's the Vol. 1 or Vol. 2, tho. Excerpts from Sandi Miller's journals, where she wrote down details of the meetings with Elvis in the 60s and 70s, were used to both volumes of "Behind the Image" publications. Many candid pictures in those books are also hers. By the way, many of the candid pictures of Elvis in his gates we see around the internet were actually taken by Sandi.

Arrived around noon and there was already quite a crowd at the house. In the crowd of fans was a guy that resembled Elvis somewhat in you just glanced at him. He had heard that Elvis sometime came out to visit and had hoped to meet Elvis. One of the girls (fans) pushed the speaker and mentioned that there was an Elvis look-alike standing out there.... whoever answered the speaker apparently knew already because the answer was "We know". Just then a door opens up and there comes Elvis walking up the drive with his stepbrothers right behind him. It was fun watching Elvis' face as he talked to this guy, and add to see them side by side. After visiting for a while, Elvis said he had to get back inside because they had to leave for an appointment shortly. They shook hands and Elvis went back into the house - he drove out not too long after and once again stopped for photos before leaving. The man at the gate commented that Elvis had "made his day".

Personally, I don't see the fuss about this. I believe Billy. I believe Elvis was carrying a gun indeed, but he obviously didn't intend on using it unless he felt threatened, and we know stories about passionate fans who lashed out their idols, some even murdered them in fact (John Lennon was one of the icons, assassinated by a passionate fan). There's plenty of those stories. Let's just imagine ourselves as famous people. We hear there's someone trying to look like you, standing outside your house. Wouldn't you felt at least a little bit uneasy? I know I would never walk out there by myself. Elvis was curious if the guy indeed looked like him or not, maybe even because he had a twin brother who died at birth, Jesse Presley, so if I was him I would've been dying to see this look-alike person, but I would've been careful about meeting him too. You never know.

Elvis and his look-alike fan, Larry Blong. July, 1972, Beverly Hills, CA.

Fortunately, things went smoothly. Elvis saw the guy, shook hands, and the fan had the time of his life meeting his idol. That is all we need to care about. ♥

[starastrologyy]

Astrology Observations 🪶

Hi everyone, this is another compilation of random Astro observations!

I will be closing my chart readings at the end of August for a few weeks, as I do have a full-time job on top of doing Readings but for now they are still open 🤍 The link to my website is in my bio if you are interested in purchasing a reading.

Please do not repost any of my work on other social media platforms🤍

Having a Sagittarius Rising in a composite chart can suggest that the two people met abroad! Alternatively, there could be significant cultural or religious differences between the two. Sometimes it could just mean that these two enjoy traveling together, and other people see them as a very open-minded and free-spirited couple.

People who have Lilith (black moon) In the 3rd house often fear that people are talking about them, or creating false narratives about them.

People who have Uranus Retrograde in their charts might often feel like the “odd one out”. They may struggle to find their community, or place in the world. Alternatively, they may feel as if they don’t have control over the area of life in which their Uranus is situated in. For example, someone with Uranus Retrograde placed in their 10th house, may feel as if they cannot control their reputation, or they experience frequent/uncontrollable changes in their careers or career path. Their relationships with the Authority figures in their lives (bosses, fathers, mentors) are also very unpredictable and constantly changing. Remember that retrogrades in our charts, show us the area of life where we will constantly need to go back and revise/make the necessary changes in order for us to move forward.

TW:Mental Illness:

To be very honest I try shy away from associating astrological placements/aspects with certain illnesses or conditions. For two reasons, one, it can be harmful to people who have that placement, and two, its a very controversial topic in the astrological community, as some people believe that astrology cannot show any kind of illness (I am not one of those people). However, I will say I have seen two aspects in peoples charts that frequently have manifested as certain mental difficulties. A close conjunction between the Moon and Saturn can cause someone to feel melancholic, as it often manifests as Depression . Whereas, Mercury square Neptune is very common in the charts of people who have been diagnosed with BPD (an orb of 2 degrees or less). Please don’t make this apply to you if it doesn’t, and my intention isn’t to offend or upset anybody, I just thought it would be interesting to share this observation.

People who have their Saturn placed in the 5th house often struggle when it comes to “letting loose” and having fun. These people often need to work on healing their inner child, as they fear being judged and ridiculed by others. In some cases, they may have experienced rejection or harsh criticism from others at an early age. There’s also insecurities related to their ability to attract romantic partners with this placement.

Water mercuries often communicate from a place of emotion, and they often take criticism from others very personally. Not EVERY water mercury is going to be sensitive, but they tend to favor emotion/intuition over rationality and logic most of the time.

In synastry, having 2nd, 7th, 8th, or 11th house overlays with someone can be very beneficial to you financially. The 7th house more in a business sense, as you have the potential to enter into a business partnership with this person.

It’s not uncommon to adopt an entirely new aesthetic/make drastic changes to your personality during a 1st house profection year.

I’ve mentioned this in one of my very first posts but, Transit Pluto or Saturn squaring your Sun or Moon is one of the most difficult transits that you will face. I don’t think astrology should be used to fearmonger, but these transits are really difficult (especially if they are occurring simultaneously) . However, once it’s passed you will become an incredibly strong person, and you will find that you more equipped to deal with life’s challenges moving forward.

Major Jupiter transits occurring alongside positive Venus transits are likely to be a very good time in your life. For example, let’s say you have transit Jupiter making a conjunction to your Natal Moon, and it is making a trine to your natal Venus. This is likely to be a very positive time in your life, and you are inclined to be in good spirits. If transit Venus is also making positive aspects to your luminaries or other personal planets the affects of the positive Jupiter transits are likely to be magnified.

Saturn transiting your 1st house is often associated with weight loss, and I can confirm that weight-loss is very likely during this transit. But I will say, that it’s not always the result of a great exercise and diet regimen, some people feel very stressed or isolated during this transit and thus they may lose weight as a result.

In synastry, I’ve noticed that couples who have Hard aspects (squares, oppositions, conjunctions) to each other’s Venus and Mars, often have very steamy/active sex lives. This is especially true with Mars opposite Mars, Venus square Mars, and Mars square Mars.

Sagittarius Venus & Mars individuals are very experimental when it comes to sex. These people are quite open-minded and they bore very easily in relationships. So, they tend to gravitate towards friends with benefits or relationships with people who are also open-minded. This doesn’t mean they can’t be monogamous, because most of them are, contrary to popular belief. They just need adventure and fun in their relationships.

Couples who have significant 3H synastry are usually vocal with each other about sex. They often discuss what they like or don’t like ahead of time. Alternatively, this can also show a couple who enjoy talking DURING sex!

[aedesluminis]

Simonne Évrard's speech of 8 August 1793 in the National Convention

"I am not here to ask you the favors of cupidity that claims and craves for indigence. Marat’s widow just needs a grave. Before I get to the relieving end of my tormented life, I come to ask you for justice towards the new attacks committed against the memory of the most intrepid and outraged of the people’s defenders. These monsters, how much gold did they lavish! How many hypocritical pamphleteers were paid to put his name to shame! With such hateful rage, they tried so hard to give him a colossal political existence and a detestable celebrity, in order to dishonor the people’s cause that he proudly defended. This day, still stained by his blood, they persecute him to his grave; some other day, they still dare to murder his memory. They are even trying to depict the monster, who pierced his chest with the parricide iron, as an intriguing heroine. In this circle we see the vilest of them all, the Carra, the Ducos, the Dulaure, the shameless praises in their periodicals to encourage their peers to slaughter what is left of the defenders of liberty. I do not talk about the vile Pétion who, in Caen, during a meeting with his accomplices, dared to say that the murder was a virtue.

Soon enough the foolish treachery of the conspirators, who pretend to honor the civic virtues, will make the infamous publications grow, where the horrible murder is presented in favorable ways and the martyr of the patrie is disfigured by the most hideous convulsions.

But here it is the most wicked of their schemes: They bribed some foolish writers who shamelessly usurp his name and tarnish his principles to immortalize the empires of lies which he was victim of! Cowards! First, they flatter the people’s pain to get their praise, then they speak the language of patriotism and morality so that the people believe to still be listening to Marat; but all of this is just to slander the most zealous defenders who have protected them. It is to preach, in Marat’s name, the exaggerations that his enemies attributed to him.

I denounce two men in particular, Jacques Roux and Leclerc, who claim to carry on his patriotic papers and make his shadow talk to insult his memory and to betray the people. After spouting revolutionary platitudes, they encourage the people to outlaw the government. It is in those occasions that they use his name to stain in blood the day of the 10th of August, because his sensitive soul, devastated by the sight of the crimes of tyranny and the uneasiness of humanity, sometimes let out some rightful curses towards the people’s oppressors and public leeches. They try to preserve the parricide lie that persecuted him and made him look like a foolish apostle of anarchy and chaos. And who are these men that claim his place? It is a priest, who the day after the faithful deputies triumphed over their cowardly enemies, came to insult the National Convention through a seditious and wicked speech. There is another man, no less perverse, who is associated with the mercenary furors of said impostor. What is important to remark is that these two men are the same who had been denounced by him at the Cordeliers’ club  just a few days before his death as people paid by our enemies to create public disorder and, on the same occasion, they were also formally expelled from this popular society. What is the aim of this perfidious faction that fuels these criminal intrigues? It is to vilify the people who honor the memory of the one who died for their cause. It is to slander all the friends of the patrie, whom it has designated as Maratists; to deceive all the French people across the whole republic, who gather for the reunion of August the 10th, by presenting them their perfidious writings, in which they preach the teaching of the very people’s representative they slaughtered. It is to cause disturbance in these solemn days through some disastrous catastrophe.

God! What will become of the people? If these men can usurp their trust! What is the deplorable condition of their intrepid defenders if death itself cannot avoid them the fury of their murderers! Legislators, for how long would you endure it if crime insulted virtue? Where does this privilege come from, of English and Austrian emissaries to trap public opinion, to give daggers to the defenders of our laws and to know the founding valor of our raising republic? If you let them go unpunished then I denounce them all here to the French people, to the universe. The memory of the martyrs of liberty and the heritage of the people; that of Marat is the only good deed left to me, I devote to his defense the last days of a languid life. Legislators, avenge the patrie, the honesty, the misfortune and the virtue, striking at the most cowardly of all the enemies.”

Original in French

I personally did the translation in English. Let me know if I made some mistakes or if some parts need revision! Last edit: 31/10/23

[tiaramania]

Upcoming Tiaras for 2023

Of course the biggest tiara event of the year will be the British coronation but there are also a trio of Scandinavian celebrations and a bunch of weddings to look forward to.

King Charles III of the United Kingdom's Coronation

King Charles III's coronation will take place on May 6th. There won't be as many tiara events as the last one in 1953 but the coronation itself should still give us plenty of tiaras. There will be the extended British Royal Family of course but there will also be many foreign royals attending. Usually (with a few exceptions like Queen Sālote Tupou III of Tonga) other monarchs do not attend so expect to see the heir or their spouse wearing the biggest and most historical tiara they have access to. I have a lot of posts planned for the lead up to the big day but I'm going to wait until we're a bit closer to start actually posting them.

Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan & Rajwa Al Saif's Wedding

Crown Prince Hussein and the future Crown Princess Rajwa will be married on June 1st. I expect a decent royal turn out more in line with Prince Hamzah and Princess Noor Asem's wedding in 2004 than any of the other more low key weddings in the family. I'm hoping she will wear the Arabic Scroll Tiara but the bride's family is apparently very wealthy so I wouldn't be surprised if they gifted her a new tiara.

Crown Prince Haakon & Crown Princess Mette Marit of Norway's 50th Birthdays

Milestone birthdays in the Norway usually mean a gala event with foreign royals and tiaras but Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette Marit sometimes do things a little differently. In July and August of 2013, their 40th birthdays were celebrated with a music festival at Skaugum where Haakon parachuted in, played with one of the bands, and they all slept in tents so who knows what we're going to see this time around. If they do have a gala event I think this would be the perfect opportunity for Crown Princess Mette Marit to debut Queen Maud's Diamond Tiara.

King Carl Gustav of Sweden's Golden Jubilee

King Carl Gustav is celebrating 50 years since he ascended the throne and there will be a lot of different events celebrating the jubilee throughout the year but the one we're expecting tiaras for is the gala dinner at Stockholm Palace on September 15th with foreign royals in attendance.

Prince Christian of Denmark's 18th Birthday

They haven't announced a date yet for the gala dinner celebrating Prince Christian's coming of age yet but his birthday is on October 15th so it should be around then. I'm especially excited for this event after seeing so many of the younger generation of royals turn out for Princess Ingrid Alexandra's birthday last year. The Danes go big for milestone birthdays so expect a lot of tiaras.

Some other possible tiaras

Wedding of Princess Azemah of Brunei & Prince Bahar Bolkiah

Wedding of Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg & Nicolas Bagory

Wedding of Princess Iman of Jordan & Jameel Thermiotis

Wedding of Princess Theodora of Greece & Matthew Kumar

Wedding of Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal & Duarte de Sousa Araújo Martins

18th birthday of Infanta Leonor of Spain, Princess of Asturias

Tin (10th) Jubilee of King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands

Tin (10th) Jubilee of King Philippe of Belgium

Which tiaras are you most excited about in 2023?

[summmeister]

A Look Over the Art I Made in 2023

2023 has come and gone, with a sizeable improvement on my art skills. Once again, I am VERY proud of the work I managed to accomplish this year. I'll be going over some of the highlights month by month in this post, being sure to point out anything of note.

JANUARY

Starting off the year, I made some new artwork of Skweeb! I consider this fairly outdated now, but it did start a few trends with the character, mainly how I draw shine on him. His eyes bulge outwards, they're not holes! I also drew @akfamilyhome's character, Leddy.

FEBRUARY

This was a BIG month for me! I tried a lot of new things, and most of them worked out! This month also contains what I consider to be one of my best drawings this year, a celebration of Hollow Knight's 6th anniversary. Other highlights include a dashing tribute to Dangeresque and an entirely new reference sheet for Skweeb!

MARCH

March was not a particularly noteworthy month. These are the only two drawings from it! That said, I am quite happy getting any drawings out this month at all! As you'll see later on, this wasn't actually my most dry month.

APRIL

A VERY full month! I can't even fit everything I wanted to! Lots of Skweeb here, some Lucy too! Also a fitting send-off to Courtney (very sad Dead End got cancelled). Tried some big things here, like with the parody Album art, but for the most part I was just doing what I was good at: simple character full-bodies.

MAY

VERY dry month for art. This is the only piece from May! I participated in @some-fool-fp's aRtPG collab this month. Skweeb joins the party!!!!! Made my own custom logo for him, too.

I had a LOT of college work this month. I was working on a game!!! I got the highest grade possible on it, very proud of that. If you would like to play it, you can do so here. Just a warning though, it's very short and VERY jank at times.

JUNE

Another big month!! Some proper reference of Winslow, another Jevil drawing, and my FAVORITE piece of Skweeb art to date!!! The pose and the shading is just so good on it, I love it.

JULY

...Well this is awkward.

Art Fight was this month, and with all of my effort going towards that, I kinda... didn't draw any of my own art this month. Whoops.

Let's press fast forward, shall we?

AUGUST

A NEW OC WAS CREATED THIS MONTH!!!! Meet Chao. He helps out at the circus. He babby. I put a TON of effort into getting his design just right and ensuring he had the proper referencing before working on anything else. I love this 'lil guy.

Also some of my favorite art from this year!!! Inspired by Lemon Demon's "One Weird Tip", I made some art that takes place on a ficticous desktop! Getting the shapes and text right was hard, but I am so glad I put the time and effort in.

SEPTEMBER

Always Watching.

WOW, I am so so proud of what I accomplished with this CoTL piece. Everything from the pose to the composition and the use of colour is just PERFECT. This is up there in my favourite pieces of art from this year.

Skweeb and Jack Frost are here too... wait, it's not December yet!

OCTOBER

A certain someone turned 2 this month! My baby boy, now 2 years old... how time flies...

It was halloween this month too... but Skweeb isn't dressing up this year. It's Lucy in his place! Got some nice Jax art here too, I love that asshole.

NOVEMBER

I was never the most content with my previous Jevil artwork. I never felt like I was giving it my all, which is why I'm happy to say that this month, I did!

I also took a second shot at drawing Jax; this time, featuring Pomni! I used thinner lines and taught myself how to draw hands a whole lot better, I think it helped, haha.

Lastly, (part of) my piece for @hillelart's 10th Anniversary FNAF collab! The full thing is staying secret for now. Keep an eye out for January 15th!

DECEMBER

Finally, we arrive at December.

Funnily enough, I didn't actually draw for half the month. But when I got back into it, I got BACK in. I'm very proud of both of these pieces, and the shading and blending I used in them! This certainly feels like a new era of my art, and I'm looking forward to continuing it!

And that's it. You made it to the end! Most people just together a simple image for their art recap, and while that certainly works just fine, I like to go into the nitty gritty, write down my entire year in art, y'know?

I'm not sure if this year contains as much progress as 2022, but it certainly contains a BOATLOAD of progress! Look back at the start of the post and compare it to the end of the post, the difference is insane!

Lastly, I've got just one more thing to show, once again, redrawing my first ever piece to mark off yet another year. I hope you like it, you'll only have to wait another 365 days for the next one!

Bring on 2024!

[vikenticomeshome]

The Cyberchase Homepage Through the Years: part 2 (January 6, 2005 through February 10, 2007)

I decided to pick up where I left off on my earlier post documenting the Cyberchase homepage over the years. Here is a capture from January 6th, 2005. The page is now back to normal after Starlight Night 2004. We now have an advertisement for "Cyberchase: The Quest".

On January 30th, 2005, we got the Valentines Day design again. Cyberchase had wrapped Season 3 in December of 2004, and they wouldn't start airing Season 4 until April, so I suppose they didn't have anything new to promote just yet. I only just noticed that Matt is holding a flower as part of this artwork. I'm a bit surprised that neither of the girls are holding anything.

They went back to advertising Cyberchase: The Quest by February 20, 2005.

On April 6th, 2005, Digit started advertising "Know Your Dough", which was all about teaching children about money management.

This capture from June 28th, 2005 shows an advertisement for "Quest 2: Race for Radopolis".

On July 21, 2005, we got this promotion for Hacker's secret.

This was referring to the main part of the "Transformatron Story Arc", as it discussed the four episodes where The Hacker was assembling the Transformatron. This was also where Slider was reunited with his dad.

Season 4 Episode 2: "The Icky Factor"

Season 4 Episode 3: "Penguin Tears"

Season 4 Episode 4: "Past Perfect Prediction"

Season 4 Epsiode 5: "Measure for Measure"

I may do a separate post talking about the promotional content, as it is no longer on the PBS Kids website, but I have recovered most of it for the FlashPoint Archive Project. Unfortunately, that video preview was in RealPlayer, and those files are lost now. But, the rest of it is now preserved.

By August 7th, 2005, the "Hacker's Secret" promotion was gone. At that point they didn't have any advertisement in the bottom right corner. Fun fact, the file names refer to this bottom-right-corner advertisement as a "bug", regardless of what was being advertised. This would have been in reference to bottom-right-corner station IDs that you would see on television channels.

I found a capture from September 30th, 2005 where they re-worked the page. The background is the same, but they've added new screens, kicked out Buzz and Delete, and now we get a count-down for new episodes, which are given a more prominent place. There is also a mention of a contest for 2005. It looks like another Intel partnership where winners would get laptop computers, similar to the 2004 contest. I need to dig around and see what can be retrieved from that and make a separate post.

It's October 13th, 2005, and we get a Halloween version of the site. It looks like they just recycled it from last year. It is a bit of a shame, as I liked the new screen arrangement.

And then, when November 2nd, 2005 rolled around, we are back to the advertisement for Cyberchase: The Quest.

Here we see a capture from December 5th, 2005, and its a little bit confusing. The kids are all dressed up in their winter wear, and we have Cybersite Penguia as our backdrop. It looks nice until you start thinking about it.

At first, I thought the kids had lugged the terminals and computer screens out there for this winter photoshoot. But then I saw the whole-ass balcony was also out there. How would they get that all that way to Penguia? Portal? Why would Motherboard agree to that? Was she in a particularly silly mood? And why were Buzz and Delete invited to this photoshoot? I think this is a Star Trek Holodeck type of situation where they haven't left the original room, and they are just simulating Penguia.

And now, we have this capture from December 10th, 2005, where Bianca makes a cameo to announce the winners of the 2005 contest. I don't think the kids have noticed her yet. Otherwise, they would be very surprised.

And now, it is January 18th, 2006, and we get a promotion for Cyberchase Super Science coming in 12 days. I don't remember what this was off the top of my head.

It is now February 2nd, 2006. The winter theme is gone, and the screens have been shifted around again to advertise "Cyberchase: The Quest 3" (the top left Cyber-beast), and "Cyberchase Super Science".

This was an initiative that focused on kids designing, creating, and customizing things. This is something else that I need to make a separate post on at some point, depending on what I am able to recover. I can see that we have a link to "Cyberspace News Issue #3", which is a little confusing. The "Hacker's Secret" promotion gave us an un-numbered issue of "Cyberspace News", which I assume was Issue #1. I don't remember seeing an issue #2 anywhere. I need to look into that.

This capture from April 10th, 2006, shows the "Know Your Dough" advertisement has returned. Maybe the kids spent too much money on the screens and needed a refresher.

An June 15th, 2006, we get a promotion for "My Cyberchase Summer", pushing aside the Cyberchase Super Science promotion. This new promotion does feature The Hacker, and he would do something like that. This section had a list of the different episodes that were going to air during the summer of 2006, and they included activities to go along with them. Maybe I'll make a separate post all about this section later.

It is now September 25, 2006. They finally kicked The Hacker off the screen and replaced him with a promotion for "My Big Idea".

This was an initiative where parents could submit videos of their children working on inventions. This page talks about the invention videos being put up on the website and potentially aired on TV. The TV airing would have been part of "Cyberchase: My Big Idea", which was a two-hour special hosted by Harry and Bianca. The special used four episodes aired in a row, and Harry and Bianca would show up in-between them to talk about inventions and show the clips of the kids. I need to see if this is still around somewhere.

Here we go. It is October 23rd, 2006, and the site has had a major redesign. They had been serving Flash games for years now, but now the homepage interface is all Flash. Additionally, the kids get idle animations. I can post a still image, but that can only show so much when the whole point is that the site is full of animations now. This particular page is advertising the new episodes coming in February, the character gallery where they put artwork submitted by viewers, a Starlight Night theme, and an advertisement for "Cyberchase: The Quest.

Delete shows up if you click on this door.

Uh oh! Buzz and The Hacker have gotten into wherever this place is. If we don't count The Hacker appearing on a screen or advertising bug, I think this is the first time The Hacker has shown up "for real" on the homepage. Maybe the Cybersquad should do something about that.

Hey, I just wanted to point out that it is February 2nd, 2007, and the kids haven't taken down their Starlight decorations yet. https://web.archive.org/web/20070202023432/http://pbskids.org:80/cyberchase/index.html

They did them down sometime between February 2nd and February 8th.

I think this is a fair place to stop for right now, before I hit the image or character limit.

[bekkathyst]

Alright everyone I have a few things I want to talk about, so if you’re interested in supporting us by buying crystals from us during a little bit of a hectic time, please read on 🥰

So as you all most likely know, me, my partner Antonio, and our toddler daughter just moved to Austria. I’m a citizen here (so our daughter is as well), my partner is not. He is allowed to be here for 90 days without a visa, and it was our plan within that time to file the papers we needed to file for him to get residency here. We ran into some bumps when I found out I needed to obtain a criminal background check from the USA in order to establish my business here. I got some bad information that first of all, my past income history from the US would be enough for immigration authorities to approve, and also that I didn’t need a background check to get a business license. It took 2 months to obtain a background check from the US. (Which means I’ve not had an income for 3 months now) So I also found out that since I’m self employed, they want to see that I have a lot of money in my savings and that I can make a sufficient income here. Now that I have my business license I can finally sell again and show them that I do in fact make a living with my business lol.

We just have a slight time crunch problem. Our appointment with immigration authorities is on Monday the 18th. Which means I have time to do exactly one tumblr sale before then. I have one sale to prove to them that I’m capable of supporting my partner so he can stay here. I’m really nervous and I am really questioning if I should even mention this but I’m just worried and I really think it’s important to be transparent with all of you. All of this explanation to basically say… if you’ve bought from us before and want to support us in a time of need or if you have been waiting to buy from us and have wanted to… now is a really, really good time. We could really use the support.

I also want to make sure that it’s also a really good experience for all of you. I’m getting new, nicer packing materials, I have a collection of little gifts to throw into each order, etc. I really want to be able to make this worthwhile for all of you and thank you so much for your support in the first place. I know everything has been chaotic for the last couple of months, and I can’t wait to straighten everything out.

That being said, it takes a couple months for immigration to give their decision and Antonio’s last day of being allowed to be here is August 10th so either way he will have to leave for a while and stay with his family in Mexico. The difference being that if we have everything the immigration authorities require on Monday, we will get his papers approved faster and he won’t have to be gone too long. Facing this reality has been really difficult for us. In the span of our 10 year relationship we’ve barely spent time away from each other, and certainly not this far away. And of course the hardest part for him is that he will have to be away from our daughter for a while. But we are really hopeful that we will have everything immigration requires and things will move quickly. I’m done crying and feeling despair and ready to get everything together.

So basically all of that was to say, if you’d like to support us, please tune into our tumblr sale this Friday (July 15th) and we will be opening our website back up again in the next couple of weeks that will help us with his travel expenses. Of course I wish I could go with him, but I have to stay here and establish our business again and make sure we continue to have a nice stable place for him to come back to.

You’ve all been here through so much and I really deeply appreciate all of you. 🌸

[binkszamsstuff]

I trusted you. Pt2

Part one here

One year later...

We would like to invite you to Mr. Xavier and Miss Y/l/N's wedding. On August 10th 2022

Rvsp here:________

Wanda came running in screaming with joy "y/n's getting married!" She and peter jumping up and down. Wanda held 7 wedding Invitations in her hands tony taking them and handing them out to the people they were addressed too.

Steve's heart stopped he had actually lost you, buckys eyes filled with tears this couldn't be ture. Yeah it had been a year since they lost you but they still sent flowers and tries to call, text anything get you to listen, to come to them. One time did you answered they told you about their love story and the 3 years they cheated on you, all you said was 'at least you can be together now, no more hiding' theirs hearts were filled with joy then they asked if you would come back and the three of you be together. You said no.

A million thoughts were running Steve's head. It could be him. He wanted it to be him marrying you, his name on that stupid invitation. He wanted to grow old with you, have kids with you, have you in all the ways he used to. And he wanted bucky. Steve Rogers could not have everything he wanted.

Everyone knew what they did.

The day after you found out about them steve come to work drunk off thor's asdargain mead, while bucky locked himself in his room. When they asked what was wrong steve gave a slurred statement of what had happened the night before. The team went crazy tony and sam almost cracking steve and buckys ass. Pepper punched him, clint shock his head with a disappointing look walking away with a very pissed off wanda. Natasha went to find you.

It was july 1st now 3 days days till Steve's birthday, it took everyone a little while to get used to steve and buckys relationship most of them hated their relationship not because they hated the LGBTQ+ community but because they hurt y/n.

Bucky again locked himself in his old room not wanting to go into his shared one with steve. In buckys wallet was a poloriad of you and him hugging on the couch, you fast asleep as you laid on his chest snuggled up with him while steve snapped the picture.

That was one week before you left. Bucky questioned himself everyday how he and steve were able to lie straight to your face and say they loved you. The guilt would never go away.

Mean while steve went back to your old apartment the two of you used to share. You left everything with them -starting over completely. Steve had bought the apartment a while before you came into his life and now it was the last part of you he had left. It still smelled like you, your perfume and clothes still in the closet.

The books and Nik-nacs still sat on the book shelf, that apartment held the gosht of you. Steve didnt tell anyone he kept it, telling them he sold it with all your stuff. He would come back to it when he needed you, everything was left the way you had it.

Sometimes he would let himself believe you were coming back to him, that you would come sweeping in the way you did before. A smile on your face as you yelled "stevie love I'm home!" He could still hear your voice calling to him. Your laugh as he chased you around the living room. Your moans and cries of pleasure in the bed that once held the emotions and love of two people till he had to make it three. Dust collecting on your things, he didn't dare move a thing out of place. The bed no longer warm, your clothes sat useless.

He swore he would see your silhouette move around the apartment, he swore some times he could see you, he swore he could feel you with him instead of out there with a your new man. Your gosht still haunted his heart and the walls of home that is no longer one.

A/n: hi!!!! thank you guys so much on the feedback and comments on part one! I love when people interact and share what they think. This chapter is short but the next chapter will be the wedding, also Charles is not the old Charles he is young in this au. But he is still a mutant and a part of the x-men. You can decide whether or not he is in his wheelchair and didnt get shot. I will not specify if he is in one or not etheir way.

Part three

Tags:

@dakotasebastian @supersoilderfan

@coffeebooksandfandom @missvelvetsstuff

@majo240820 @lovely-geek

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Good day knights!

We are here to celebrate a 3 year anniversary of being here. Let us make the very best out of it! Though the anniversary date itself is on August 6th, we welcome you to send in your thoughts and requests as late as August 10th.

However, you know how missions sometimes take away from our ability to complete paper work, and thus the replies might take longer. Nevertheless, we promise to reply to your messages.

We present our most genuine thank you for having us here.

And! And, apologies, didn't mean to barge in like that.

But I would like to remind you that though the last option for this celebration event is one meant to appreciate your under appreciated favourites, they're more than welcomed in other submission types as well! That goes to say that you can send, for example, a headcanon ask about them too. It doesn't need to be only for the third option. However, the so-called fandom favourites submitted for the "unappreciated blorbo" option will, unfortunately, be declined since we don't wish the spotlight to be stolen from those who have had their time in the shadow.

And thank you for having us from me too!

Now! Let's move on to the options, and all regular rules apply during this event as well, as per usual.

Option #1. A oneshot.

"We work hard, and sometimes it's nice to just relax, which is why we ask you to join us for drinks! You may choose if you wish to kick back on your own, or with someone, as well as the type of beverage, the place and a little side order. It's all about treating ourselves a little bit!"

Option #2. Headcanons

"Choose 1 character and up to 3 headcanons per submission. However, there's no limit to submissions per person."

🤔 Are they intro, extro, or ambivert

🌹 Love language

🤫 Unpopular headcanon if any

👀 Interesting AU

🤭 Their silly little secret

😤 Their proudest moment

✨ Secret wish

😔 Secret shame

😆 Funny headcanon

🦄 Free option (any HC you can think of)

Option #3. Under appreciated favourite

"There isn't enough love to some, and we're here to change that with this section of the event. So let's talk about your favorites! What makes them great and interesting! And because sometimes a flaw can give rise to a great success stroy, there are also options to ask about their weaknesses. As said, this is to have a conversation about your fave! What makes them interesting and amazing? You may simply ask for my opinion or send in yours and I'll respond to it. "

🍁What is the most interesting about them?

🍂What is their strength as a person?

🌼What is their strength as a character?

🌻What is their weakness as a person?

🌿What is their weakness as a character?

☘️Thoughts about their magic?

🤝Their friendships? Any thoughts on those?

💎Free option! Ask/request about anything that comes to mind.

-Thoughtfullyrainynightmare 2023

[scotianostra]

On November 15th 1746, James Reid was executed at York for being a part of the Jacobite uprising.

I'll cover the case of James Reid towards the end of this post, but he wasn't the only Jacobite to meet his end at York, so there is a fair bit of background I have to get through first.

After the capture of Carlisle on 30th December 1745, 193 Jacobite prisoners were sent to York. They arrived in York on 27th January 1746. By February 1746, there were 251 Jacobite prisoners held at York,

After transfers, releases and deaths in custody eventually there were 75 prisoners sent for trial in York. The trials were held between 2nd and 8th October 1746. Of the 75 prisoners, 53 pleaded guilty and were not tried but were automatically sentenced to death. Of the remaining 22, five were acquitted and the others sentenced to death.

On 1st November, ten executions were carried out at the Tyburn on York’s Knavesmire. Of these, three had their heads removed. The most prominent of those, Sir George Hamilton’s head was sent to Carlisle for display, while those of William Connolly and James Mayne were placed on Micklegate Bar. In 1754, the latter two heads were removed by a York tailor called William Arundel. He was heavily fined and imprisoned in York Tollbooth.

On the 8th November, eleven of the 53 planned executions were carried out and finally we get to the 15th November when just one man, James Reid, a Piper, was executed. At his trial, James had stated in his defense that he “had not carried arms”.

James Reid was one of several pipers who played at the Battle of Culloden. He was captured along with hundreds of men by Cumberland’s troops and taken to England. There James was put on trial and accused of high treason against the Crown. Piper Reid claimed that he was innocent because he did not have a gun or a sword. He said that the only thing he did that day on the battlefield was play the bagpipe.

After some deliberation the judges had a different opinion on the matter. They said that a highland regiment never marched to war without a piper at its head. Therefore, in the eyes of the law, the bagpipe was an instrument of war. The English jury, itself sympathetic, recommended mercy but it was rejected by a Commission headed by Lord Chief Baron Sir Thomas Parker.

The decision of those judges has echoed down through the generations. It was the first recorded occasion that a musical instrument was officially declared a weapon of war. For hundreds of years and many conflicts to come the bagpipes, when listed among the items captured in combat, was counted among rifles, sabers, and munitions. It is interesting to note that bugles and drums were recorded as musical instruments, where the bagpipe ranked among the lists of weapons. This continued through the Great War. Perhaps a fitting place for the pipes, but a tragic legacy for the piper James Reid who played at the last bloody battle of the Jacobites on Culloden Moor

In 1996, after some disputes with authorities, a man known as Mr Brooks was taken to court for playing the pipes on Hampstead Heath, an act forbidden under a Victorian by-law stating the playing of any musical instrument is banned. Mr Brooks plead not guilty by, claiming the pipes are not a musical instrument, but instead a weapon of war , citing the case of James Reid as a precedent. The unanimous verdict was that the pipes are first and foremost musical instruments returning them form a weapon of war to their rightful place as a musical instrument.

Two prisoners escaped from York Castle during this period; George Mills and William Farrier. Nothing is known of Farrier’s escape, but George Mills escaped on 10th August 1747. He had been given permission to go to the ‘House’ in which debtors were confined ‘to drink with a person discharged from prison.’

Seeing a coach driving out of the prison yard, “he got behind it… and, having a new coat on, passed out unrecognised”. Nothing more was heard of him. Following the King’s Act of Indemnity of 1747, all the remaining prisoners had eventually been released by 1752.

The pipes in the pictures are on display in The National Museum of Scotland, and are said to have been played at Culloden on that faefule day in 1746........

[yuuniee]

“Fight with all your might! And if you fall, pick yourself up and try again!”

Name: Viktor Falkenberg

Japanese: ヴィクトル・ファルケンベルグ

Dorm: Savanaclaw

Birthday: 10th August

Age: 19

Height: 195 cm

Dominant Hand: Right

Homeland: Land of the Legends

Family: Unnamed father (†), unnamed mother, three unnamed older brothers

Voiced by: [TBA]

Nicknames/Aliases: Monsieur ??? (Rook), ??? (Floyd)

Grade: Third

Class: 3-B (no. 27)

Club: Magift Club

Best Subject: Defensive Arts

Hobby: Taking care of animals

Favorite Food: Beef Jerky

Least Favorite Food: Cabbage roll

Pet Peeves: Being forgotten or left out

Talent: Rock Climbing

Appearence: Viktor is a young man with dark skin, disheveled black long hair with a crimson streak on the bangs, grey eyes with eyebags under them and an eyepatch under his left eye. Due to the events in his past, he also has so many scars on both his face and his body.

Personality: Viktor is distant and closed off. He may come off as an intimidating person although he is actually pretty reasonable and understanding. He also happens to have a softer side for those who he deeply cares.

Unique Magic: “Forbidden Hunt”

It basically shows one’s weakest points as little glowing lights. The closer he gets to the person, the more damage they will take. It also heightens his senses and if he overuses it, it may temporarily transform parts of his body to a bear’s.

[x]

Fun Facts:

He has skipped a year due to the war between him, his father and his brothers for the kingdom. In the end, he defeated them all but with the cost of his father’s life.

He knows how to use various weapons like claymore, dual sword, bow and arrow.

He hardly opens up to anyone due to some.. past issues. (trauma) He often mocks those around him to push them away due to this.

In the story, it’s revealed that it takes at least 30 minutes for him to wake up.

Before he goes to somewhere different, not for war but for exploring, he makes sure to learn about that place throughly.

He likes being in the forest the most and says that he finds peace there. He also seems to love the forest animals. Because despite his intimidating nature, the animals seem to approach him more than people do.

He lives in Harveston on a mountain where he chops firewood and stays alone in his little cabin. But hey, at least it’s warm and people and animals there seems to soften him at least a little bit! ^^

Despite what others say about him, his cooking is actually good. He even briefly mentions in his dorm uniform story that he used to make pies for his brothers.

In the first Vargas Camp event, he easily identifies which crystal is which. Later when asked, he says that he was taught about crystals at a young age along with other things like fighting with a lance, defensive arts and even science.

[theofficersacademy]

We’ve survived the month of August (though we can’t say the same for some of your muses)! Here’s to a new month and a new year for The Officers Academy!

Housekeeping:

Current Month in TOA: Great Tree Moon

Our 4th anniversary event, Sabbam Vitatham, has officially concluded! Once again, a reminder that with the plotline in the Officers Academy now deviating so much from canon, the academy will no longer be a one-year institute. Students can stay and study for as long as they wish, as long as they participate in their church-assigned missions every month. Of course, not everyone is expected to remain a student for life, so promotions to faculty are always available to you to continue your muses’ stories.

Please be sure to read the closing information for Sabbam Vitatham! While no new threads can be started using the event setting, you are welcome to create new epilogue threads about your characters returning to their homelands to make sure that everything truly was a dream.

Thank you to everyone who submitted and voted on our anniversary mission tasks! Our new mission board begins today, so check it out here!

If you haven't had a chance to look yet, take a peek at our recently expanded Rank Chart! Details of additions and changes can be found on August's newsletter.

Mentor signups are open! Please sign up if you’re interested in helping a newcomer get acclimated to the group. Of note: it is now a requirement to be 18+ in order to apply to be a mentor.

The feedback following a big event is some of the most important feedback we get. The more detailed you are, the better it helps us adjust and change things for future events and the group as a whole. Please take a moment to fill out this feedback form about Sabbam Vitatham.

Given the sheer number of claims anticipated with this monthly turnover, we’ve created a schedule to help keep them manageable for Rai. Claims that come outside of their allotted timeframe will be deleted, so please pay attention to the dates and groups:

9/1-9/2: Dedicated to regular claims. This is if you are ranking up in a skill after placing your August activity skill point into your stats page, mastering classes, etc. This does not include ranks from the Knowledge Gem, so please wait on those. 9/3-9/4: Team Ilia participation, grand prize, knowledge gem ranks. 9/5-9/6: Team Zofia participation, grand prize, knowledge gem ranks. 9/7-9/8: Team Nabata participation, grand prize, knowledge gem ranks. 9/9-9/10: Team Verdane participation, grand prize, knowledge gem ranks. 9/11-9/12: Team Rigel participation, grand prize, knowledge gem ranks. 9/13-9/14: Team Aed participation, grand prize, knowledge gem ranks. After 9/14: Normal claims resume

Important Updates:

The mod team has swept through our rules page and updated it with information that has become implicit within the group. Please read the page over again and refresh yourself on our rules!

We would like to call attention to the following rule on our rules page: Please stay as faithful to canon as possible. Headcanons and creativity are definitely encouraged, but refrain from too much canon divergence, such as changing or erasing large aspects of what make them who they are. We have had a number of repeat offenders breaking this rule and will begin awarding warnings and possibly strikes for too much canon deviance.

The spoilers ban for Fire Emblem Engage and its DLC has been lifted. You will no longer be required to spoiler tag story-related art or text

Other

September Mun Birthdays: Sekhmet (1st), Pat (15th), Aria (21st)

September Muse Birthdays: Azama (8th), Micaiah (10th), Lugh (10th), Veyle (12th), Phila (13th), Griss (17th), F!Byleth (20th), Nanna (20th), Dorothea (29th)

First-year mun anniversaries this month: Emily (4th), Arianna (4th)

Second-year mun anniversaries this month: Cody (28th)

Fourth-year mun anniversaries this month: Elf (6th), Sam (16th)

First-year muse anniversaries this month: Hilda (4th), Sakura (4th), Colm (4th), Rhea (14th)

Third-year muse anniversaries this month: M!Kris (28th)

Fourth-year muse anniversaries this month: Laslow (16th)

Muses who have been in the group for a solid year will also be granted an Academy Brooch to put in their inventory. It doesn’t do anything. It just lets others know your character has been around the block. These characters are also granted a new opportunity to change houses if they wish to do so.

- The House Leaders