#it’s opening night to one of our biggest shows of the season

[covenofthearticulate]

girl, today is a DAY

[fanfictionismyaddiction]

A Surprise Visitor

Word count: 2.1k

Pairing: Lando Norris x reader

Summary: After two years of watching from afar, Y/n surprises her boyfriend, Lando Norris, at the Monza Grand Prix, creating a buzz in the paddock and revealing their private relationship.

Requests are open

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The hum of the jet engines thrummed through the cabin, but I was too excited to care. This was finally happening. After two years of watching Lando's races from my cramped little apartment, I was on my way to my first Grand Prix. It had taken a miracle—or more precisely, a break in my grueling medical school schedule—to make it happen, and now I was on a plane bound for Monza. Lando had no idea I was coming.

For two years, we had been each other's biggest supporters, but always from afar. With my studies and his relentless racing schedule, we made it work through late-night FaceTime calls, stolen weekends, and text messages sent across different time zones. Lando understood how much becoming a doctor meant to me, and I understood how much racing meant to him. It wasn't always easy, but it was worth it. And now, finally, I was going to surprise him at one of the biggest races of the season.

The plan was simple: get to Monza, navigate through the labyrinth of the paddock area, and find Lando. But of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. After all, Lando had kept our relationship very private—mostly because of my request. I had wanted to avoid any extra scrutiny or attention that could interfere with my studies. So, not many people knew who I was. That anonymity had always been a blessing, but today, it might turn into a curse.

As I approached the entrance to the paddock, the reality of the situation hit me. The security was tight, and without a pass, there was no easy way in. I tried to remain calm and confident as I approached the guard at the gate, a stern-looking man. I put on my most winning smile.

"Hi, I’m here for Lando Norris. I'm his girlfriend," I said, hoping my nerves didn’t show in my voice.

The guard didn’t even flinch. He glanced at me. “Do you have a pass, ma’am?”

“Uh, no, I don’t. I’m surprising him. He doesn’t know I’m here.”

He raised an eyebrow. “If you don’t have a pass, I can’t let you in. Anyone could say they're someone’s girlfriend.”

I felt my face flush. Of course, he was right. I had counted on my story being enough, but without any proof, I was just another face in the crowd. My mind raced, trying to think of something, anything, that would convince him. I pulled out my phone, scrolling frantically through my photos to find one of Lando and me that wasn’t overly intimate but still proved I knew him. Finally, I found one from his last birthday—a picture of us at a quiet dinner, his arm wrapped around my shoulder, both of us smiling like idiots.

“Look, this is us,” I said, holding the phone up to the guard.

He squinted at it, but it still didn’t seem to sway him. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but without clearance, I can’t let you in.”

I bit my lip, starting to panic. Would I really come all this way just to be turned away at the gate? Just then, I heard a familiar voice from behind the guard.

“Hey, is there a problem here?”

It was Charlotte, one of Lando’s closest friends who often accompanied him to races. Relief washed over me. She knew who I was, thank goodness. The guard turned to her, explaining the situation, and Charlotte’s eyes lit up when she saw me.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re here!” she exclaimed, pulling me into a quick hug. “She’s with Lando. She’s legit,” she assured the guard, who seemed to visibly relax.

“Alright, you’re good to go,” he said, opening the gate for me. I breathed out a sigh of relief, thanking Charlotte profusely.

“Lando’s going to flip when he sees you,”

Charlotte led me through the bustling paddock, weaving between crew members, engineers, and the odd driver. My heart pounded with every step. I couldn’t believe I was finally here, in the thick of it, about to see Lando. I’d spent so many weekends watching him on TV, wishing I could be there to support him in person. Now, I was just moments away from making that a reality.

As we rounded a corner, I saw the familiar McLaren colors and a group of people crowded around, busy with last-minute preparations. And there he was, standing near his car, deep in conversation with his race engineer. I paused, taking him in. Lando looked focused, his brow furrowed as he listened intently. He was in his element, and seeing him like this—so determined, so alive—made my heart swell with pride.

Charlotte gave me a nudge and a wink. “Go on.”

Taking a deep breath, I walked toward him, trying to keep my emotions in check. With each step, my excitement grew, and I couldn't help but smile. When I was just a few feet away, Lando turned around, still half-listening to his engineer. His eyes skimmed over me at first, not really registering who I was, but then they widened. His mouth fell open in shock.

“Y/N?” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “What… what are you doing here?”

The smile on my face grew wider. “Surprise!”

For a moment, he just stood there, frozen, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. Then, in a heartbeat, his face broke into the biggest grin I’d ever seen. He closed the distance between us in two strides, wrapping me in a tight hug and lifting me off the ground. I laughed, burying my face in his shoulder, his familiar scent wrapping around me like a comforting blanket.

“I can’t believe this,” he said, his voice muffled against my hair. He set me down gently but kept his arms around me as if afraid I might disappear if he let go. “You’re really here?”

“Yeah, I am,” I said, my own eyes brimming with happy tears. “I finally managed to get a break from school. I wanted to surprise you.”

“You did more than surprise me,” he said, pulling back to look at me. His eyes were bright with joy, his cheeks flushed with excitement. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I felt a warmth spread through my chest, seeing just how much my presence meant to him. “I’m so proud of you, Lando. I’ve been watching every race from my apartment, but I’m finally here to cheer you on in person.”

His face softened, and for a moment, it was just the two of us, standing in the middle of the chaotic paddock, wrapped up in our little world. “I’ve missed you so much,” he said softly, his thumb brushing against my cheek. “I wish you could be here all the time.”

“I wish I could too,” I replied. “But I’m here now. And I’m not going anywhere.”

He chuckled, the sound warm and full of relief. “I have to admit, this is the best surprise ever. But how did you even get in? Did anyone recognize you?”

“Not exactly,” I laughed. “It was a bit of a challenge. Charlotte saved the day.”

He glanced over my shoulder and waved a grateful hand at Charlotte, who gave him a thumbs-up and a knowing smile. “Remind me to thank her later,” he said with a grin before turning his attention back to me. “But seriously, Y/N, you being here… it just makes everything better.”

I felt my heart flutter at his words. “Well, I’m glad I could make your day a little brighter. Now, you better go out there and win, okay? I didn’t come all this way for nothing.”

Lando’s grin widened, and he nodded with determination. “With you here, I feel like I can do anything.”

He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead, and I felt a rush of warmth spread from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. “Stay close, alright? After the race, we’re celebrating. Just you and me.”

“Deal,” I said, squeezing his hand. “Now go be amazing.”

Lando jogged back to his team, but not before throwing a final, beaming smile my way. My heart swelled seeing how happy he was. I lingered by the McLaren garage, watching him fall back into his pre-race routine. As I waited, Charlotte stayed with me, giving me a quick rundown of the paddock scene. The energy was buzzing, filled with engineers shouting, journalists hunting for stories, and drivers moving from garage to garage.

As Lando chatted with his team, I noticed a few heads turning in my direction, whispers circulating among the crew. It wasn’t long before Daniel Ricciardo, Lando’s former teammate, appeared with his trademark grin, clearly having caught wind of the new face in the paddock.

“Oi, Norris!” Daniel called out, his voice cutting through the noise. “You’ve been holding out on us, mate! Who’s this lovely lady?”

Lando looked up, a sheepish yet proud grin spreading across his face. He glanced at me, then back at Daniel. “This is Y/N, my girlfriend. She’s finally here to see me race.”

I felt my cheeks flush as all eyes turned toward me. Daniel's grin widened, his playful nature kicking in immediately. “Girlfriend, huh? And you kept her hidden all this time? Smart move, mate.”

He walked over, extending a hand to me. “Daniel, nice to meet you. I’ve gotta say, we all wondered if Lando had someone special cheering him on from the shadows. Now I see why he’s been driving so fast. Gotta impress the missus, eh?”

I laughed, shaking his hand. “Nice to meet you too, Daniel. And yeah, I’ve been watching all the races from home. I’m finally getting a front-row seat.”

Before I knew it, more drivers began to gather around, curious to meet Lando’s mystery girl. George Russell approached with a friendly smile. “So, you’re the one who’s been keeping Norris in line? Good job,” he said, giving Lando a teasing nudge. “Didn’t know you had it in you, mate.”

Lando rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide his smile. “Oh, shut up. Just because you guys didn’t know doesn’t mean I was keeping secrets.”

Charles Leclerc joined the group, his charming smile lighting up his face. “Y/N, right? I’m Charles. It’s nice to meet you. I have to say, Lando’s been very quiet about you, but now I see why. He was trying to keep you away from us.”

“Not a bad idea,” Lando chimed in, trying to sound casual, but I could sense a slight edge to his tone. “You lot can be a bit much sometimes.”

Charles chuckled, clearly enjoying the opportunity to tease Lando. “Come on, we’re not that bad! Besides, now that she’s here, we can all get to know her better.”

As the group chatted, I could feel Lando's arm subtly wrap around my waist, a gentle but possessive gesture. I couldn’t help but smile to myself; he was clearly proud to show me off but also keen to make sure everyone knew I was his.

Max Verstappen wandered over next, always one to enjoy a bit of friendly banter. “Lando, man, you’ve been hiding her from us because you knew we’d try to steal her away, huh?” he said with a playful smirk.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Lando shot back, his tone light but his grip on my waist tightening ever so slightly.

As we continued to chat, I noticed Carlos Sainz giving me a slightly lingering look. He flashed me a charming smile. “You know, if you ever get tired of this guy, you could always come cheer for Ferrari,” he joked, winking.

I laughed, enjoying the light-hearted teasing, but I felt Lando tense beside me. He tried to play it off with a chuckle, but I could tell the idea of me getting attention from his friends—even if it was in jest—was stirring a little jealousy.

“Alright, alright,” Lando cut in, his voice a mix of amusement and a hint of possessiveness. “I see what you’re all trying to do, and it’s not going to work. Y/N is here with me, and that’s how it’s staying.”

Daniel, always quick to pick up on vibes, grinned broadly. “Look at him getting all protective! I think we’ve found Lando’s kryptonite, boys.”

Lando rolled his eyes, but his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. At least I have someone to protect,” he shot back, which earned a chorus of “ooohs” from the group.

I squeezed his hand reassuringly, leaning in close to whisper, “You know they’re just messing with you, right?”

He nodded, his expression softening as he looked at me. “Yeah, I know. But I still don’t like the idea of anyone hitting on you—even as a joke.”

I smiled, feeling a warmth spread through me at his protectiveness. “Well, you don’t have to worry. I’m exactly where I want to be.”

[pucksandpower]

can i request charles leclerc x singer!reader when reader is basically taylor swift and their relationship is like her and travis kelce 🥹🥹 also charles telling his fellow drivers but they dont believe him until THE taylor swift!reader is in the paddock kissing him

IF ITS NOT TOO MUCH HASSLE OFC

Charles Leclerc x pop star!Reader - Social Media AU

kymillman

Liked by charles_leclerc, y/nupdates, and 492,815 others

kymillman Y/N MAKES HER PADDOCK DEBUT

Miss Americana arrives at the Circuit of the Americas and receives no less fanfare than the drivers themselves. Y/N Y/L/N will be singing The Star-Spangled Banner before the race later today!

View all 1,376 comments

leclercbae this was only posted two minutes ago and charles has already managed to like it? must be a new record even for him

enchantedtifosa the devil works hard but charles “y/n y/l/n’s biggest fan” leclerc works harder 🫡

leclercupdates did anyone else see the video of charles spotting y/n walking into the paddock as he was exiting the ferrari motorhome?

f1girlie he turned around to go back inside so fast that the automatic door didn’t even have time to open and he slammed his forehead into the glass 😭

scuderialeclerc charles is trying (and failing miserably) to hide that he’s fangirling harder than anyone has ever fangirled before

y/nupdates

Liked by f1wagupdates, ferrarinews, and 683,294 others

y/nupdates Y/N Y/L/N attending the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as a guest of Scuderia Ferrari today

View all 3,758 comments

lightsoutleclerc crossover of the freaking year

fearlessferrari decade

tifositwilight century

leclercmidnights millennium

f1wagupdates how crazy would it be if the rumors are true and y/n really is at the race because she’s dating charles?

mirrorballeclerc being delulu is the solulu but even my delulu has limits 😂

f1wagupdates well it seems that my delulu is actually trululu

f1wagupdates

Liked by charles_leclerc, yourusername, and 1,085,793 others

f1wagupdates This week one year ago, Charles Leclerc attended The Eras Tour as a fan just like the rest of us. Today, Charles Leclerc proudly kissed Y/N Y/L/N after winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. King of our hearts and king of manifesting 👑

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charles_leclerc what if i told you i’m a mastermind? and now you’re mine

yourusername what if i told you none of it was accidental? and the first night that you saw me i knew i wanted your body

charles_leclerc once upon a time, the planets and the fates and all the stars aligned

yourusername you and i ended up in the same room at the same time

f1wagupdates i have managed to run this account for five years without getting jealous but this might be my breaking point

tifositears god really saw how much pain ferrari was putting charles through and decided to make his biggest dream come true as an apology

formurrari he deserved it after 2023

charles_leclerc and i would suffer through another season of driving the SF-23 and every single horrible strategy call again if it meant getting to call y/n my own

yourusername i love you 🥹

charles_leclerc i love you more ❤️

yourusername i love you most 🫶

charles_leclerc i love you mostest 😘

landonorris OKAY WE GET IT

charles_leclerc be nice to me or i’ll tell y/n to take away your tickets to her next show

landonorris … carry on

pierregasly also king of never shutting up about his girlfriend

charles_leclerc and proud of it

[skyfallslayer]

Should We Stay or Should We Go? || Prologue

-A ST Rewrite Feat. Steve Harrington x Henderson!OFC-

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

🎲Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas, and soon the exception of the girl’s ex-best friend, Steve, must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins, Indiana.

🎲Chapter Summary: When they interlocked their pinkies none of them ever expected the weirdness that follows the years after. None of them ever expected to start growing apart. None of them ever expected the red string to stay attached. And none of them ever expected that they would be out saving the world with a baseball bat and wings. Yeah... you can’t make this stuff up.

🎲Pairings: Will x Platonic!OFC; Dustin x Sister!OC; Slow burn! Steve x Henderson!OFC (Ex-bestfriends to Lovers); Slow burn! Byler

🎲Rating: Teen-Mature

🎲Word Count: 921 (Small Introduction)

🎲Date: 3/6/24

🎲Warnings: Angst; Swearing; Implied Broken Friendship

🎲A/N: Extremely small chapter, hence why it's just the prologue. I just wanted to show my readers what the big picture is of this story, which is the Steve x OC relationship. However, just like above, this will contained the loving sibling relationship of Dustin, and even Will, between OC. This story also contains Jopper (a personal fav), Jancy, Mileven and the slow burn of Byler (I got to give this boy some love and if you think Will has been a background character for the last few seasons like I have then don't you worry! I'm giving Will a time for him to shine throughout this fic). Anyway, don't want this paragraph to be longer than the actual chapter. Lol. Enjoy!

Pinky Promise.

It’s a bond between two people, a vow that’s taken so it shall not be broken. Childish, you know, but to a small kid it means everything. When they locked their pinkies together, muttering their promises to one another, they both had barely turned five, barely ready to take on the world head first. 

But a promise was a promise— Yet a pinky promise was so much more. It holds so much more weight than crossing your heart or giving a handshake. 

At least it was to these two very best friends…

.

.

.

“Wow.” The blue eyed girl said, genuinely surprised (She can’t even believe their conversation is so calming in a situation like this). “That explains so much. And… you never mentioned that to me before?”

“Well, can you blame me?” He asked, with a small smile and laugh. “I think it kinda does. I think, like, right out of the gate, like, I’m super confident. But I’m also, like, an idiot. Which is just…” He shrugs. “I mean, it’s a brutal combination. But, I mean, the good news is, I get a big enough thump on my head, I can change, you know? I can learn. I can crawl forward.”

She noticed his pace was slowing, and his brown eyes of his were becoming distant. “Steve?”

“Listen–” He stops them both, face looking like a lost puppy now. “I guess what I’m trying to say in a really stupid, roundabout way is, um… is thank you.”

She tilts her head, confused. “Thank you?” She watches him nod, adding fuel to her emotion. “For...?”

His face softens. “For giving my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago.” He chuckles. “Nancy, you know, she gave me the push, but you, Stephanie, gave me the thump I needed. It’s changed my life. And now I’m crawling forward in a way I never thought I could achieve. Slowly.”

And now he’s frowning, looking down at himself, engulfing himself in the glum. “I just wonder sometimes... you know, if... if I had just opened my eyes before I met Nancy, would things have been different? Like… part of me thinks we would’ve made it without our relationship falling apart.”

“Steve–” She croaks, teary eyed and shocked.

“And… you know what the craziest… most messed up part of the story is?”

“What?”

His lips curled up just a bit. “Remember the dream I told you about? About the Winnebago? Seeing the country with my six lil’ nuggets? It’s all true. Every last word. But… the mess up part?” He swallows, also getting emotional. “The mess up part is when I first thought of that dream… is that… you’re there. You’ve always been there.”

“Steve–”

“And that…” He smiles. “That’s my pinky promise to you, Miss Stephanie Henderson.”

.

.

.

The creature shrieked above, its claws waving around frantically –trying to get a nick out of him– as he held it back with some piping. He watched the pupils go all ‘cat-like’, fangs coming out that he swears were growing with each scream. 

He was struggling, he knows this, and he knows he has to buy the kid some time to get a radio signal out to his girlfriend, but he was slipping, fuck it. However, he knows deep in his heart he can’t back down from this.

His jaw clenched and his eyes flash with determination. “I don’t care what you’ve become! I ain’t leaving you, Henderson!” He shouted, hoping his words would get through to her. “That’s a pinky promise.”

.

.

.

“I’m helping you and Dustin out.” He insisted, knowing damn well that she didn’t even want him near her brother, let alone near herself.

She sends him a look, skeptical, on edge. “Why?”

“Look, I know you don’t want to talk–”

“Damn, right.”

“Steph.” He says, stepping in front of her way to get her attention. “We’ll just put this on the backburner. Right now, and I mean it, I just want to help you and Dustin, keep you guys safe. Pinky Promise.”

.

.

.

“Steve–”

“I’m not going anywhere.” He says, while playing with his hands, nervously, worriedly. “Not until I know you’re okay.”

She frowns apologetically. “You know that might be a while.” 

“I know.”

“I have Dustin and my mom, you don’t have to stay here.”

“I know.” He breaks eye contact. “But what if I want to?”

That made her chuckle. “Well… if you want to.” She says, making them both smile. “Fine sleeping in a chair?”

He nods. “If that’s what I’ll have to do.” He replies, making her hum.

She raises an eyebrow. “Is that a pinky promise?”

“Yeah.” His expression grows. “Pinky promise.”

.

.

.

But what if you break it? The promise? What if you don’t follow through? That is the unfortunate part of this story. The promise was to stay together forever, to make their friendship last a lifetime. For them, they were two peas in a pod, polar opposites that still attached themselves to one another… until they couldn’t.

When the boy decided to become a King, the girl became a peasant. The boy was showered with love and affection, and the girl was on a quest of loneliness that became bitter.

This was a story about Steve Harrington and Stephanie Henderson.

A story, where no matter what happens, the red string still stays attached to their pinkies despite their attempts to take it off.

This was story where the two of them decided to save the world–

Their families–

Their friends–

.

.

.

And their friendship.

(TBC)

A/N: I was so surprised when everyone was asking to be added in just a few short days. Makes me really happy :D

.

-Taglist is Open-

@ladygrey03 @poppet05 @tooearlyforthis @lovesfics @lordzzz

[xxvalkyriesxx]

Nessian Week | Day Four | AU

AU - Modern AU

Read on AO3 or below

@nessianweek

Summary: Tonight is the biggest event of year in Velaris - Helions' Halloween Hysteria. It's Nesta's third one and this year she's determined to bring home the best dress award along side her long-term boyfriend, Cassian. Will they woe over the crowd to win?

AN: This was a lot of fun to write! It may not be the best work I've posted, but I wanted to do something fun for this day! This is the fic I made costume poll for (can be found here). Did your favorite costume win? Banner made by me via Canva.

Snippet:

“Nesta! Oh my gosh you’re literally beaming!” A reporter said as Cassian and Nesta reached the doors of the museum. 

“Thank you, you’re very beautiful tonight.” Nesta watched the young woman blush with a sheepish smile.

“So what can you do with a broken heart?” The reporter asked.

Nesta peered over to Cassian who stood off to the side, letting her have this moment.

“Well, believe it or not, that was Cassian and I’s motto in our season. We were both dealing with pretty bad heart breaks that year. Somehow we made it through everything.”

The reporter brightened. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry that you both were going through it. But I guess the universe wanted the two of you together!”

Nesta grabbed Cassian’s hand, kissing his knuckles gently. 

“Babe, are you ready?” Nesta called out from the bedroom she shared with her boyfriend. Adjusting the white coat in the full length mirror, her matching white two-piece set glittering in the light. Rarely had Nesta kept her hair down, but for the sake of her costume, and to be a winner tonight, she did it. 

Reaching over, she held the reference photo in front of her. Her hair wasn’t blonde and it was long, but it would make do. The classic red lipstick looked perfect on her. The afternoon sun shined on the Mirrorball Trophy that was on a nearby shelf. If we could win DWTS, we can do this.

The bathroom door opened. “Well, my lady, I’m here at last.”

Cassian Night walked into their bedroom, his black tailcoat and matching black tophat. He lifted the hat off his head, bowing in a smooth motion. A breath left her as she stared at her old dance partner. They met on Dancing with the Stars three years ago with Cassian being the MVP of the NFL that year. They ended up winning that season, making Nesta’s first win on the show. A few months later they launched their relationship.

Nesta couldn’t fight the grin that appeared on her face. Cassian leant down, kissing the top of her hand.

“Well, Sweetheart. Are you ready?”

“Ready to beat my sisters and finally win this year?” Nesta asked.

“Fuck yeah.” She smirked, answering her own question.

Cassian smirked back. “Let’s win this, Sweetheart.”

**

It was the biggest event of the year in the city. Bigger than the solstices parties and equinoxes holidays combined. Bigger than any Super Bowl or dancing event. 

Tonight was the annual event of the year: Helion’s Halloween Hysteria. 

Helion Day held this event on Halloween every year for the past fifteen years. It was a fabulous party with an insane guest list, rivalering the Met Gala. With social media being at everyone’s fingertips, Helion’s event was not only bigger, but was more anticipated. But unlike the Met Gala, there was an official poll that was made the second the celebrities appeared on the carpet and would be finalized by the time dinner was over.

The winner (or winners if they were a couple) would win the best dressed with receiving a plaque and proceeds from the night’s event would be donated to the winner’s chosen charity.

Nesta’s first HHH (as most of her friends and sisters referred to it as) was two years ago, and each year Nesta and Cassian hadn’t won. Their first couple’s costume, to put it simply, was irrelevant. They dressed as a winged hero and a witch, and unfortunately Nesta found out very quickly how relevant your costume needed to be in order to win. Cassian also had failed to incline that their costumes needed to be more of a pop culture reference even to be voted for.

Then last year they showed up as Barbie and Ken…along with everyone else. Her youngest sister won with her husband being Barbenheimer genderbent. Everyone lost it at Rhysand’s blonde hair. Meanwhile, Nesta lost her appetite having to bear witness to that monstrosity. 

The prize wasn’t the reason why Nesta wanted to win. Donating to her and Cassian’s charity of choice meant a lot, but that wasn’t the sole reason why she wanted to win. Nesta and her younger sisters have always been competitive with one another.

Feyre won last year, but the year before Elain won with Emerie, one of Nesta’s best friends, and her sister’s long term girlfriend. That year they came as Princess Bubblegum and Marciline the Vampire Queen from Adventure Time.

Cassian’s hand held Nesta’s as the car reached the Velaris Museum of Art, the traffic slow from all of the celebrities appearing. This particular event was shared between Helion and Nesta’s brother-in-law, Rhysand as he offered the city’s Museum and was usually on the board. 

Board members typically changed year in and year out. However Rhysand and Helion were the only two that were continuously on. This year however, Nesta received the nomination to be on the board. She contributed to the decorations, guest lists, and overall design of the event. 

From inside, Nesta saw the whole place decorated with classic Halloween decorations like ghosts, ghouls, zombies, and witches. Black bushes lined the blood “soaked” carpet keeping the reporters and paparazzi a good distance from the celebrities.

Cameras flashed, famous people from everywhere lining the steps, posing for pictures, speaking with reporters. From the otherside, Nesta saw the everyday people of the city and fans alike line the streets watching, screaming, probably going live on Tik Tok.

“Ready to win this, Sweetheart?” Cassian asked as the car stopped in the drop-off zone. 

Their driver wrapped out of the front, going to their door. She nodded, her feet kicking slightly from excitement. Cassian gestured to the driver to open the passenger side door. Noise erupted as Cassian came out. He waved at everyone before turning around, offering his hand to Nesta. She took it as she stepped out of the vehicle hearing the crowd collectively gasp and scream.

The two practiced for two weeks how Travis carried Taylor on the stage as Cassian pulled her into his arms. Dramatically she posed herself similar to how Taylor was, her microphone in hand. 

**

She kept her eyes closed as Cassian carried her up the steps. He would jokingly tell her to wake up as he walked the carpet. She heard paparazzi call out her name, begging for her to open her eyes. In spite, she kept them closed. Not once in her career she had listened to what random men wanted her to do, and she wasn’t going to start here. 

As Cassian got to the first landing, he gently put Nesta on her feet. She playfully swayed with tiredness, having Cassian catch her in a dramatic dip. The crowd gasped and screamed. Millions of cameras were clicking now.

Nesta recognized the look in her boyfriend’s eyes. It mirrored her own from earlier. They were equally matched as he too was extremely competitive with his family and friends. Pulling Nesta back on her feet, she started greeting the nearby people around them. She carried her bejeweled microphone with her, as the two posed together. Her gaze drifted up and down the carpet, seeing people from all over the world.

“Nesta!” Familiar voices called out to her. She couldn’t help but drop her jaw at Elain. She was in a pink gown that must have cost millions as the sheer size made her sister look like the most elegant pink cloud. With a high lace necklace embedded with flowers, a corset back, and a chapel train, Nesta ran through her mind what her sister could be. She noticed Elain carried a diamond scepter in hand and a matching giant crown on her head.

Her sister was beautiful. Fuck.

Her sister was a witch. Double fuck.

Of course she’s Glinda the Good. Nesta thought with a mental roll of her eyes.

“Glinda.” Nesta curtseyed to Elain.

“Ms. Swift.” Elain spoke with elegance, curtseying back.

The two broke out into smiles before gently hugging one another.

“Why am I not surprised that my best friend shows up as her favorite person in the world.” Emerie appeared then. Her skin was painted green as she wore a black gown and the most beautiful witch’s hat. She carried a broom that resembled the one from the original movie.

“Don’t be so envious, Em.” Nesta playfully joked.

Emerie rolled her eyes. “Love you too, Nes.”

The two hugged as Cassian turned from the reporters smiling at them.

“Oh why isn’t it Glinda of the South and Elphie from the East.”

Emerie gave Cassian a deadpan glance. He elbowed her gently.

“Take a joke, Em.”

The two smiled before bumping fists. Cassian and Emerie were the only two out of their friend group that were professional athletes. There was some kind of a bro code between them. Nesta and Elain liked to call it the “ball-code” as their partners played in football and soccer.

Emerie pulled back, resting a hand comfortably on Elain’s waist. Elain laid her head on her shoulder. Emerie whispered into her ear, making her sister’s face flush pink, matching her outfit. She made a quiet outburst, but Emerie just grabbed her neck and kissed her softly. Elain and Emerie knew each other for years as Nesta met Emerie during her time at UCLA. Emerie was a part of the national women’s soccer team and Elain was a cooking influencer.

Cassian mumbled something about getting a room, followed by Nesta smacking his arm. Seeing her sister and her best friend made her heart swell. Nesta leaned into Cassian admiring the two. But their moment was short lived when another familiar voice called out to them.

“Oh fuck, you guys are so perfect!”

Nesta and Elain peered down to see their youngest sister, Feyre. She was dressed in all gold with a halo sun crown on her head.

“Are you an angel?” 

“No, I think she’s a star?” Is this the pop culture reference I don’t know about?

“I’m actually the sun.” Feyre said proudly.

Nesta couldn’t hide the wince that flashed from her face. She loved her baby sister dearly, but science was not her best friend. If Nesta thought all of their outfits were beautiful, Feyre’s was not only radiant, but a show stopper too. While Nesta and Elain tend to dress more modestly, Feyre was all about showing much of her body. Her dress was gold, short, and styled to look wet. Her golden heels made her taller than Nesta.

“The sun? Are you trying to attract Helion and his wife?” Nesta questioned.

Feyre laughed. “Who knows what the night will bring.”

“Darling?” Rhysand called out as he climbed the steps to them.

In a similar style, Rhysand’s look also was styled wet, but while Feyre was gold, Rhysand was silver. His shirt was cut low showing his oiled up skin. Nesta would be lying if she denied throwing up in her mouth. She blocked her eyes as nearby camera flashes reflected off the literal diamonds and pearls all over his shirt.

Rhysand Night, the literal archetype for every billionaire romance in the world. He ran one of the biggest corporations known to man. It was somehow bigger than Amazon, although the two were always neck to neck with their numbers.

Feyre met Rhysand at a work conference in a hotel in D.C. Well Rhys was there for work, Feyre was at her gallery. He apparently saw her one time and that’s all it took. Swept her off her feet right there and then.

“My my, little brother what are you, the moon?!” Cassian and Rhysand greeted one another.

“Better than what you’re wearing. Really, Kelce?” Rhysand asked, eyeing the costume up and down.

“Better than the freaking moon! Next you’re gonna tell me that my rising sign is how I’ll die.”

“Cassian, that's not how rising signs work. Both Rhysand and I have explained this to you multiple times.” Nesta sighed.

Rhysand sent her an apologetic look. The two of them hadn’t seen eye to eye for a long time, however there were moments here and there where they did agree. 

“You look beautiful, Nesta.”

“You look…well, Rhysand.”

“It’s Rhys, we’re family.” 

Nesta rolled her eyes. “Rhys.”

Rhysand pulled Feyre into a gentle kiss that regrettably became a bit much. Nesta spun around not wanting to see her baby sister get her soul sucked for the billionth time.

Ushers from the event advise the whole family to keep moving up the steps. Nesta and Cassian greeted other guests and reporters. They posed for several photos including some with a blush brush Nesta made Cassian have in his pocket. Needless to say, if you knew, you knew.

“Nesta! Oh my gosh you’re literally beaming!” A reporter said as Cassian and Nesta reached the doors of the museum. 

“Thank you, you’re very beautiful tonight.” Nesta watched the young woman blush with a sheepish smile.

“So what can you do with a broken heart?” The reporter asked.

Nesta peered over to Cassian who stood off to the side, letting her have this moment.

“Well, believe it or not, that was Cassian and I’s motto in our season. We were both dealing with pretty bad heart breaks that year. Somehow we made it through everything.”

The reporter brightened. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry that you both were going through it. But I guess the universe wanted the two of you together!”

Nesta grabbed Cassian’s hand, kissing his knuckles gently. 

“All along there was an invisible string.” 

Cassian laughed, pulling her into his arms. “You’re ridiculous.”

They kissed quickly before saying goodbye, entering the museum.

**

The whole Archeron and Night family sat at a round table together. The tables were decorated with black and gold table cloths with a black roses, crow feathers, and skulls as the centerpieces. The plates were black and gold with matching silverware. A red menu was placed on each plate regarding mocktails and cocktails. Everyone’s dinner order was placed ahead.

 Almost everyone was there, however there were two seats empty between Nesta and Feyre. Nesta titled her head as her white booties clicked against the marble floor.

“Where’s Azriel and Gwyn?” Nesta asked, turning to her sister.

Feyre pulled out her phone. “Az texted the group a minute ago. They’re arriving now.”

“I wonder what made them so late?” Elain pondered as she drank her glass.

Nesta and Emerie gave each other a knowing look. Gwyn Berdara was their best friend, the final part of their trio. She was always good at arriving on time, however since she started dating Azriel, she’s shown up late a few times. And every time there were a few hickies on both parties.

“Wabbits.”

Nesta and Emerie laughed as they both quoted Elmer Fudd. Cassian walked back over, handing Nesta mocktails for them both. They both had their battles with alcohol, however not long after they got together, they both decided they didn’t want to drink anymore.

She mumbled a thank you as he kissed her head before sitting down.

“They’re still not here?” Cassian asked, gesturing to the empty seats.

“Didn’t you know it’s wabbit season?” Feyre amused with mischief in her smile.

Cassian sighed. “God above those two.”

“Look who decided to join us after all.” Rhys nodded over to the double doors that led into the private room they were in. 

Everyone swung their head around and collectively gasped at the same time. Nesta and Cassian both shared a look and cursed. Standing in the doorway was indeed Azriel and Gwyn, however Gwyn was dressed up as Ladypool and Azriel as Wolverine. Their costumes were accurate to the exact detail as they made their way to the table.

“Hello!” Gwyn sweetly said, a little breathless.

“Sorry, we’re late. Traffic and all.” Azriel said, taking a sip of the nearby water glass.

“Is that what we're calling it now?” Rhys' smile matched Feyre’s looking at the late arrivals.

Azriel gave his brother a hard look. Rhys inclined his head before backing off.

“How long did it take you guys to get into the costumes?” Elain asked.

“Too long. Azriel and I went to the premiere and decided then this is what we should wear. However no one told us how hard it is to take this on and off.” Gwyn adjusted in her seat.

“Well regardless, you look amazing.” Emerie said.

“I’m stealing Rosaline to be my head stylist next.”

“Absolutely not, Nesta Anne.” Gwyn warned.

Nesta made a face at the mention of her middle name.

Gwyn was the other person Nesta met at UCLA. Gwyn, Emerie, and Nesta had been inseparable since they met in an English class. Gwyn worked in musical theater for the longest time, but she ended up switching careers to a solo artist two years ago. Azriel Night was one of the most famous music producers in the world. He also happened to be the eldest brother of the Night brothers. He had more awards in general than anyone else in the family. Gwyn worked with Azriel on her first solo album, and the rest was history.

“Oh good, all of the Nights and Archerons are all finally here.” A smooth voice said behind Nesta.

They swirled around to see Helion dressed as…well actually what the fuck was he wearing?

“I’m a chess piece, Nesta, please catch up.” Helion gestured to her, making Nesta flush.

Helion wore a crown that resembled a king chess piece on his head in black. His suit was unbuttoned, showcasing the golden glitter that decorated his abs. 

“And my queen.” Helion beckoned his wife, Autumn over. Helion was a fashion designer that had several stores located around the world. Autumn was one of his models. She was his inspiration for almost every piece in his shows.

Nesta could tell that the work on their costumes were just divine. Autumn wore a matching chess piece but as a queen piece instead. Her dress was also black with gold accents among the v-line of the dress. She wore a queen chess piece crown on her head. Her ginger hair was neatly done in a bun.

“Good luck to everyone at tonight’s competition. The results will be in shortly after dinner!” Helion said as he and Autumn traveled to the next table, greeting more guests.

The three Archeron sisters instantly looked at one another, a rivaling glare in their eyes.

“Don’t be a sore loser, Nesta.” Feyre said, drinking her wine.

“I didn’t say anything, Feyre.” Nesta sneered.

“You two should bond over losing again, it’s been awhile.” Elain mumbled, sipping her wine.

As the sisters began to bicker with one another, the other half of the table sat and spoke quietly to themselves. They’ve all learned not to get involved in a spat between the Archeron sisters. Fighting a bear would be easier than trying to calm down the situation the siblings were in. Rhysand had tried one time, and all three Archeron sisters had teamed up against him. That was the one and only time she had seen him fluster like that. 

It made her day.

She rolled her eyes as her younger sisters stuck out their tongues while dinner was served. The aroma of wagyu steak, whole lobsters, pastas, salads, quinoa dishes flowed throughout their table. Cassian took pieces of his lobster, placing them on Nesta’s dish. Nesta did the same with her steak. She took a bite out of the lobster and nearly moaned. Helion’s events were simply the best for everything.

Cassian leaned over, whispering in her ear. “Maybe I should dress like a lobster to get you to moan like that.”

Without missing a beat Nesta replied. “I have a big mallet for cracking big ass lobsters, so I’ll be fine.”

“I love it when you’re violent.” He chuckled, kissing her behind her ear sending a shiver down her spine.

Nesta looked around at the nearby tables, seeing Lucien Vanserra with his boyfriend and girlfriend, Juriuan General and Vassa Queen.  The three formed the band Exiles years ago. They’ve even worked with Gwyn and Azriel on a few songs.They were dressed as the popular meme, distracted boyfriend. However it of course had an interesting spin as the meme had two women alongside a man. It seemed that Vassa played the girlfriend while Jurian was the distracted boyfriend, and Lucien was the “other woman”.

Nesta glanced over to a closer table where Eris Vanserra sat between his husband and wife, Kallis and Viviane Winter. From what she heard down the vine from Feyre was that Kallis and Viviane had opened their relationship and somehow Eris fell into their rhythm several years ago. All three of them were college professors at the University of Velaris, however all three came from old money families. They were all disowned the night before their wedding, however they couldn’t be happier at that moment. They were dressed as Barbie, Alan, and Ken. Along their table was Morrigan Night and Vivane’s sister, Liliane. The two were dressed as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. Morrigan was Rhys’ cousin hence why they had the same surname.

Cassian rested his hand on Nesta’s thigh, drawing lazy circles with his thumb. She sighed into his touch, smiling softly.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are?” Cassian asked.

Nesta flushed, resting her face against Cassian’s shoulder so she wasn’t facing the table. Compliments were said and done, but when they came from Cassian, she acted like a teenage girl. She felt him chuckle as he kissed her hair.

The lights flashed signaling that the results were in. Nesta sat up, her hand resting on Cassian’s. Helion walked onto the stage, greeting everyone. “Happy Halloween everyone!” 

“Now I know you’re dying to see the results of this year’s HHH winner, but I wanted to thank everyone who brought this event back for another year. Can we have a moment for our board members please.” 

Nesta and Rhys were the only ones to stand at their table. Eris and Vassa also stood along with several other people scattered across the room. Everyone cheered and applauded them. Cassian kissed Nesta’s knuckles, mirroring her move from earlier. She smiled sheepishly before sitting back down.

The drumroll started as Helion opened the envelope where the results were in.

“Our best dressed goes to…”

Cassian’s hand squeezed her’s. This was it. Their win.

“..The winner is…” Helion laughed. 

“The winner is my wife and I.”

The room gasped collectively as Autumn made her way up the steps laughing. She kissed her husband before speaking into the microphone.

“If you know how this works, then you know even if Helion and I get the most votes we can then pick the winner ourselves. Since this is his event, Helion wanted to be a part of the fun, but he’s already won with this event being a success.” 

“This happened a few years ago so my beautiful Autumn came up with a perfect plan to create an even field in all of this. We’ve already decided the winner before dinner was served. So Autumn, please find our winners.” 

The queen glided down the steps as she made her way through the room. Nesta saw Cassian winced just slightly as her nails dug into his. The anxiety of outcome coursing through her body. 

Autumn made her way through the tables until she ended up at theirs. The whole table was stunned as she made her way around until she stood next to Nesta. The dancer was about to shoot to her feet when Autumn’s hand landed on Gwyn’s shoulder.

“You have to be fucking kidding me.” It was out before she could stop herself. 

Gwyn giggled, hugging Nesta as she hugged her back. “I’m for sure stealing your stylist, Gwyn.” 

“If you’re using her we’re going to HHH together next year.” Gwyn mused.

The entire table laughed as Gwyn and Azriel walked to the stage, hand in hand. 

Nesta pouted, crossing her arms playfully. It sucked to lose, but still seeing one of her best friends happy and in love made Nesta feel so much joy. Nesta clapped for her family that won along with Cassian. He kissed her softly before whispering in her ear. 

“Next year, for sure.”

**

As everyone said good night, Nesta wanted to go home and rest. Events like this drained a lot of her social battery. Cassian was more than happy to agree as he scooped her up into his arms before heading into their car. They shared a small kiss as they buckled into their seats.

“Win or lose, Sweetheart, we never go out of style.” 

Nesta tried not to sing along to the song as it played quietly in the car. She took his hand into her’s.

“I’ve decided that for next year we’re going back to basics, Cassian.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I think you would make an excellent Mr. Darcy.”

[amazable01]

If you will indulge my little English Major brain for a moment:

One of the biggest plot devices both TMA and WTNV use is Chekhov's Gun (if something is shown on screen, it must be used at least once, at some point later in the show). However, the differences in how the idea is used helps to develop the style and themes of the series.

In TMA, there are a lot of recurring elements. However, there are very few recurring props/physical events. Obviously there's the lighter, but that's one of very few items that really has staying power. The Calliope Organ and the Table are really the only two more. People recur more often, but there's still a lot of stuff where there's an entity/character we've never met before, and will not meet again.

The main usage of Chekhov's Gun in TMA is the actually the fears themselves. The types of fear (and the attempt to categorize them) is a recurring element, which leads up to not only the reveal of the fears and what they are in s2, but the entirety of s5 and the horrors of implication that come with it. The powers are the constantly recurring Chekhov's Gun that fires often, but has been set up in the trailers before anything actually started.

This helps a lot towards setting up the themes of helplessness and human fragility that we see in TMA. Humanity is diminished, passing and unrecognizable and unimportant unless they have a connection to the powers, so every person is lesser in comparison to the overarching evil that has existed from the moment Jon opened his mouth in Anglerfish.

Meanwhile, the concept is flipped in WTNV. There are very few overarching plot points (Kevin, the Gods, etc), and generally they are devoted to their own arcs in the podcast, and occasionally pop up at other times to make themselves known. However, these arcs generally only last a certain amount of time, and the evil overarching villain of the season is just that: confined to the season.

Where we see the Chekhov's Gun in WTNV is in the people and places. Everyone knows 'Perfect Carlos' or 'Steve Carlsberg' or 'John Peters, ya'know, the Farmer?', and the usage of the name conventions helps to seal the name into our memory. Other events in the background are mentioned and will most certainly appear again, as well (no, seriously. If you've never watched Night Vale before, or if you just want a pleasant surprise in your most recent watch-through, keep tabs/notes of mysteries or unanswered questions. It's a fun game). There's even a constantly repeating theme of the first episode, changing ever-so-slightly, but still the same exact story with different meanings based on where you are.

This helps to set up the idea that, the world may be insane and dangerous and scary, but humanity has power. Choices matter, people matter, and evil is a passing thing that can be overcome if we just decide to come together. It sets the tone of WTNV from the moment you hear Cecil's voice in the Pilot, but you wouldn't even notice it.

[puckpocketed]

good morning puckpocketed it is @wehaveagathering from my main blog! I was wondering (and if you have already talked about this link me!) what your feelings are on the sharks upcoming offseason, who you're hoping for them to draft, who you're excited to see play either in their nhl or ahl roster, anything! :]

first of all. hello wehaveagathering dot tumblr my sour gummy candy my bespoke watchface my press-on nails....! thank you so much for dropping by <33 hearing from you is like oughh hello microcelebrity who decided i was cool... !!!! ok. deep inhale. I present to you:

puckpocketeds sharks offseason roundup

I am of two minds with Sharks hockey:

Nothing will ever go as I expect/predict because Mike Grier works in mysterious ways (Hertl trade was a wild day) and given I am following the San Jose Sharks ...we are here for a laff first and foremost. At least until we're competitive again. No point in thinking too hard because it ain't that serious and i have 0 control over what happens <3

On the other hand . kljsdalkjsdkl I am reading Elite Prospects' draft guide like the morning paper and absorbing massive amounts of data about my little guys and listening to podcasts and also following juniors games (you may have seen my very regular and hinged Memorial Cup Posting) and, yes, I even watched college hockey . I am unofficially the prospects slide maker for the Sharks Primer that I haven't opened in a week.

You may have asked the one person on tumblr who can give you an unskippable cutscene i hope ur ready for an unskippable cutscene !

General Off-season stuff/contracts

i am being fed off the scraps of Henry Thrun + Devin Cooley interviews in scf post-game shows and stalking all of our beat reporters. i have all of them with notifications ON and they keep doing really funny stuff like suggesting Draisaitl coming to the sharks. also . wekky and keebs are hanging out with Alex Holtz this summer and it is THEE best thing ever. matching slides for you in these trying times? feeling very deprived of sharks hockey but sustaining myself by having little breakdowns about it with friends :3

Couture is the biggest question of the off-season to me. The plan rn is that he will be ready to play by opening night, if all goes well during his rehab. He's our captain, the team looked visibly improved when he was on the ice for the gorgeous 6 game stretch that he played with us last season (Coochie era you will always be famous), and honestly I think his contribution to morale is more valuable than anything else he brings to the ice. There's no chance he gets moved right now given his contract and health, but there's a chance he never plays another NHL game... his health and readiness to play determines who the Sharks target for acquisitions and what our team looks like down the middle (where our two biggest prospects, who are both centers, will end up). so much hinges on whether or not Cooch is healthy!! but at this point I'm just rooting for his long-term health no matter what happens with the team !!

To preface any contract talk; the vibe about Mike Grier is he’s wary of giving out long term stuff in light of his predecessor leaving behind the husk of Marc-Edouard Vlasic (said with deep affection) and several other nearly immovable contracts. pundits don't really see him giving anyone term unless they’re Confirmed Core Players and i agree! other than that... i don't have serious takes or predictions about term/dollar amounts. HOPES and DREAMS and PSYCHEDELIC VISIONS, on the other hand...

We're gonna lose some of our guys to free agency because they're. um. untradeable and not very good </3 (Hoffman, Labanc, Barabanov <- this one is a special case, Barbie's deal fell through because the Hertl trade happened and we're using our last retention slot on him) and whilst I do love the ongoing Bit of uncle Mike and sweet cousin Kevin, this frees us up to go looking for some guys who can mentor our young core!! (I hope Labanc gets a second chance somewhere and shows everyone that the sharks monumentally fumbled the bag on yet another ex wife !!)

The doors are open for free agency acquisitions... Everyone's throwing around big names but I think they're forgetting the fact that we actually gotta convince them to come to San Jose LMAO. cost of living + basement team unlikely to be serious about a cup run for at least another 4-5 years = not the most appealing place to go. We have seen speculation about FAs ranging from Stamkos to Marner lmaoooooo and i'll be honest I don't want to add to all that. I just hope whatever old man we staple to our youth he's fun and NOT a criminal !

For our other UFAs:

I'd like to see us re-sign Justin Bailey because he worked really hard for us down the stretch. we poached him from the cuda early on because all of our forwards were exploding and never gave him back even when everyone started getting healthy again! Maybe he can go help our cuda not flop <333

Jacob MacDonald holds a very special place in my heart because we like making multi-class jokes (he was forced to play forward for a big chunk of his time w the sharks even though hes a d-man LMAO) . I find his work ethic charming <3 he's done everything they've asked of him, and he's honestly done it Not Terribly. I would LIKE for the sharks to offer him a place here due to sentiment and i sort of think he's a sleeper depth pick…. but it seems less and less likely given that we’re going to market for d-men and we’ll have more forwards healthy next season.

Ryan Carpenter is another cuda acquisition we never gave back and is our beautiful returned shark son <33 he was a steady 4th line center throughout the Horrors. however, we were trying out one of our younger guys in that position (hello jack studnicka!!) towards the end of the season and im really wondering if we'll see him up with the sharks again. He's a great AHL player and I see him helping the cuda become competitive if we bring him back!

Devin Cooley my beloved. our junior shark. our silly rabbit. some context: the sharks org is doing something very strange and deeply funny with their goalie situation. we have like 6 of them and i genuinely have no clue where this is going. Optimistically, Cooley gets a something thrown at him because he's shown the ability to grow under the limited tutelage of our Very Good Goalie Coach Thomas Speer + he's a great feel-good story !! less optimistically... he gets traded on the draft floor because we can't have shit in san jose (KNOCKING ON TEN MILLIOB WOOD)

Our RFA sitch is a mixed bag:

Luke Kunin absolutely comes back. barring offer-we-can't-refuse type deals... they love him here. Is he GOOD? well no <3 analytics-wise, he is our worst performing forward and actively makes his lineys worse. but (and i imagine this is whats going on in sharks front office discussions) must a goonwag do silly things like "play hockey"?? can't he just get all snarly when our guys are pushed around? can't he play leg weight to our beloved prized prospects? teach them how to drive a line despite being hamstrung by the sloppiest turnovers ever? cant he just be sophia's less accomplished trophy husband...........???? also in his defence, he should never have been our 2nd line center. but everyone else exploded so !!! anyway I think he would flourish with fewer minutes and easier match ups on the 3rd/4th line. i want to see him hanging out in a depth position next season and goonwagging it up <3

I watched Thomas Bordeleau really work to solidify his place in the lineup towards the end of the season. I love his absolute determination to finish every game fighting. I am SO proud to call him a shark and he's become one of my favourite little guys <3 I knowww everyone knows him from the Narratives but EYE got to know him through his hockey and I am WRETCHEDLY endeared by it. He will stare down a 0-4 scoreline and keep playing hard no matter what, he has sprinted down the ice with seconds on the clock to make a play and ough ough oughhhhhghgh he is SO special to me okay !!!! okay. And I truly think that gmmg has to see that. They're trying to build culture here... something about being hard to play against, having will and size and skill.... Bordy doesn’t fit the Big Boys vision that Grier is open about chasing, but he does bring the attitude and work ethic… I want him to stay forever <3 next year is his breakout year MARK MY WORDS!!!!!

Henry Thrun was a bit up and down but honestly who on this accursed roster wasn't?? Some nights he was unironically our most effective d-man (as much as one can be on the 23-24 sharks) other nights he was competing in a flop contest with Pickles <3 i would like to see him get more pp minutes next season and work on being consistent, which I absolutely believe he can achieve. our beautiful draft dodger + harvard double major <3

Ty Emberson is a complete mystery to me. I've seen him play like 3 games. he's been very injured this season. I liked what I saw when he was on? Making his slides was SO hard ill be honest, there's so little out there about him. but i have a soft spot a mile wide for reliable stay at home d-men, i hope he gets a fair shot. also hes mackblack's bestie and nobody knows that and i need everybody to know that he has a special bond with his goalie like his defensemen forefathers . thats our defensive defenseman and his goalie okay . okau.

Calen Addison is . listen okay I love our little guy. let him say fuck!!! but he hasn't done well this year and this was sort of supposed to be his fresh start. what I want is that he stays on the sharks and turns things around and goes on to blast all his haters. I'm not very sure any of that will happen.

I can't be objective about Filip Zadina. I will not lie. I want him to succeed very badly but also I love our failwife dearly regardless... high draft pick who was touted as a goal scorer... can't let go of that identity... every coach hes ever had psychoanalyses him and is a leeetle obsessed with nursing him back to health like a sickly baby bird <3. gmmg give him 8x8 ! his place on this roster is very uncertain given that this was his 'prove it' year and it didn't go super well. i dread losing him. every day that ticks by where we don't hear about him re-signing leaves me less and less hope

Jack Studnicka compels me so much. We call him Dave . dont ask. He's in the process of shaking off his previous identity as a playmaking center and his anxieties/insecurities about uhhh having to fill the gaping hole in the Bruins' forward core left behind by a bunch of their veterans leaving. He's learning how to drive a checking/energy line and I feel a tenderness for him I can't describe... he's almost almost made it to the show and he will do whatever it takes to stay.

regarding certain trade rumours

There is once again trade buzz around Mario Ferraro.

...i think the rest of the league is under the impression he’s a top 4 calibre d-man. this is very funny and also i’m terrified that gmmg will trade him because of this. You truly don’t get a feel for how little any given team’s media pays attention to other teams - how little the national media pays attention to the western conference good GOD — until you follow the cali polycule.

if any disappointed Leafs fans are reading this after it was suggested they aren't looking to acquire him anymore . my brother in christ. Mario only eats those minutes because he’s got seniority here by default !!!! we simply do not have anyone else because they’re injured or they suck!!! i would go to war for our youtuber ,hes the greatest gamer and d-man in the entire league in my heart BUT i do have eyes and as the kids would say . he has improper crosshair placement and can't mulligan to play on curve </3

And for nuance…. perhaps there IS something to the fact that Mario was like .the only one who survived the 2019-2023 San Jose Rookie Woodchipper/Meatgrinder/Hydraulic press. idk. i wasn't there. He’s had a career high year this year (not that 21 points is that high asdljkasklj but. again. 23-24 sharks) so maybe he’s just waiting for the right conditions to break out, a team where he isn’t solely responsible for gluing the shambles together, and all the chatter about him being a prime trade target is true and this summer will be when his trade value is at its highest. it still doesn’t change his value to this team as a locker room personality and leader. He’s made zero statements about wanting to leave. the current regime does do Personality Hires and Intangibles (see Luke Kunin and i suppose now the Goodrow acquisition??), we can’t have our upcoming d-core thrown into the deep end without some mentorship and it certainly isn’t gonna come from Pickles — not that he can’t, i just believe in Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s right to be a bitch in peace! no one is untouchable but im 90% sure Ferraro stays.

THE DRAFT AND OUR PROSPECT SITUATION

The Sharks currently hold picks 1, 14, and 33. 1OA is spoken for <3 so 14 and 33 are the ones we care about here. (we have a bunch of later picks to play with as well — 42, 85, 116, 138, 143, and 194 if anyone was curious <3) And okay okay so,, Mike Grier was hired 2 days before the draft in 2022, which means 2023 was his first real draft year and this year will be his second. realistically, we simply do not have a lot of data for his drafting tendencies, nor will we know his 'hit' rate until years from now. our current pool, while thin, is looking... good? tentatively? the class of 2023 did very well. more on them later. so accounting for lack of data... i truly have NO idea whats going on except maybe we're leaning towards deepening our defensive prospect pool + throw in a goalie, and a slight preference for physicality and size but like thats every headass GM on the planet right now??? (as i type this out, ozzy weisblatt has been traded away for a someone over 6ft tall!! the mike grier big boy plan strikes again….)

so. i won't speak to who i think the sharks will draft but you will get to hear a very rough essay fragment i don’t think i’ll ever finish:

something i’ve been thinking about lately between reading all of these prospect draft profiles (and to an extent, making prospect slides for the sharks) is how few guys make it to the big show. these 17-18 year olds have dense paragraphs written about their puck handling and skating and hockey IQ — i enjoy the stylish ones that say stuff like “he’s the most creative forward in this year’s draft, he’ll dangle your best over a cliff” the most — but how many of them will pan out in the end? here, i could pull up the numbers. i don’t need to. we all know there are only so many nhl contracts to hand out, and only so many stalls in a locker room.

i’ve grown attached to a few names though their draft profiles. there are little threads of narrative you can catch from reading their game reports in chronological order. some of them visibly gain confidence month to month as they solidify their identity within the system and team they play on, some of them master board battles, some of them find their scoring touch. i am charmed by the interview fragments i’ve seen, their stupid answers to "what animal would you be?", the silly facts livetweeted by scouts at the combine. many of them come highly touted — the 2nd-12th project as almost certain NHLers. i’ve seen them shine in their juniors and ncaa matches. I feel like they must be destined for greatness.

Yet, i go back into the histories — a year ago, two years ago, five years ago, thirty years and beyond — and the histories tell me that no matter what was being said the day they got drafted, anything could happen. 7th overall buried in the press box. 123rd overall breaks a scoring record in his d+1 year. 29th overall carves out a regular spot on the first line and goes on to score 40 goals. 1st overall never scores more than 62 goals in the NHL. it's probably not smart of me to become invested in so many when, statistically, a whole lot of them will fail to live up to their projections. in the back of my heart, right behind all the inadvisable sentiment, lives a scream of frustration. it isn't fair that for the majority of these kids, the draft is as close to the nhl as they'll ever get. i hate that not everyone will get to reach for the stars. my heart will be broken when one or more of my favourites inevitably burns out of the league. and the real horror is knowing all this hasn't stopped me from becoming endeared.

my current draft favourites, no thoughts head empty if i could have any of these guys on the sharks:

Berkly Catton absolutely will fall to 14th overall in my HEART!!! this stupid league and its stupid preoccupation with tallgirls. doesn't matter that some of the best players hockey has ever seen were under 6ft tall <3 doesn't matter that high impact nhl players RIGHT NOW are hanging out around the 5'10 mark. Berkly Catton is elite stock by so many metrics except for his size (5'11, ~163lbs) and THAT will ensure he falls in the draft. and the dream is if he falls to 14th we snap him up and he comes to hang out in cali <3 i love his fish-eyed blank stare. he said he'd be a dolphin because they're slippery <3 and here's the short version of what I've read per his draft profile: he played on a bad team, with heavy minutes, being targeted by every opposing team as the only threat, and still doubled his output during his draft year. all of this while he worked hard in his own zone, dedicating himself to the more 'boring' aspects of the game. like he will hustle for a backcheck god BLESS. i love when skilled guys are defensively responsible SO MUCH. what little i've seen myself of his raw skill is incredible. magical hands maintained with speed. i also like how much he scans. i love being freaked out about a highlight, wondering how he knew where his teammates were, scrubbing the video back and seeing him scan the ice regularly. its beautiful. just like playing league of legends jungle . ahaha <3

if not Catton, then Andrew Basha at 14th, and if not then 33rd. Despite how high some draft boards have him, the reviews are mixed as hell due to the Spectre of Gavin McKenna and Cayden Lindstrom that hangs over him. It did not stop him from having an incredibly strong season in the WHL. fast, skilled, works hard. puck mover. in learning about hockey, I have come to love transition forwards SO much. Troy Terry was my favourite Duck to watch when he wasn't exploding <3 Controlled zone entries are soooo gifable to me. i got no clue if Basha will be available at 33 - a few are predicting he falls to the second round - or if the sharks would want him even then, but I would love to see him on the Sharks! if his speed and skill on breakouts can translate to the NHL it would be bitchin!!!!!! also, I have this idea in my head that he's already used to playing with elite talent and so wont be swallowed up by the huge shadows celebrini and smith will cast. maybe he can manage egos, maybe he's just really good at working around prodigies, maybe he's a prodigy himself, who knows!! I am compelled though!!

for d-men... Zayne Parekh. There are serious concerns scouts have with this guy's game. he is described by some as thee boom-or-bust prospect of this year's draft. dynamic as hell offensive defenseman, does things no other prospect in this draft would even think to do and . um. sometimes that thing is turning over the puck <3!!! or, as a random red wings podcast i was listening to this afternoon said: With Parekh, you might get Erik Karlsson, or you might get Erik Karlsson. and listen if you made it this far down you gotta understand that im a deeply unserious person about these things and this DID convince me that we GOTTA get him somehow. tbqh i wanted the Ducks to draft him because he was tragically separated from his bestie Pavel Mintyukov and i think a reunion would bring about an unprecedented era of world peace. but also. if they were on RIVAL TEAMS in the BATTLE FOR CALIFORNIA!!!!!!! oh that would be delicious <3 There's absolutely no way Parekh falls to 14th but this list isn't about realism its about my silly little dreams <3

Cole Hutson at 33 or 42 purely because i'm a fan of Lane Hutson (so so so jazzed to watch him play next season on either laval or montreal!!!!!) and they are similarly shifty and small. there is NO way mike 'you must be this tall to ride' grier drafts another 5'10 puck mover (<- more on this guy in a min). a fella can dream though <3

prospects who are my special little guys

Luca Cagnoni

ok quick recap. mike grier drafted Luca Cagnoni at 123rd last year. he is 5'10 (generously <3) and he's so special to meeeee <3 He's always been an offensive ROCKET!! so smart. WILL break ankles. great puck mover. great distributor on the pp. he's been working on his defence this year.

NO ONE THINKS HE'LL MAKE IT IN THE NHL BECAUSE HE'S LITTLE BUT EYE DO!!!!!!! If you go and check the Luca Cagnoni tag its literally just me and 1 other person. that 1 other person is now my friend. sometimes, my other sharks compatriots join in. but such is the nature of adopting a special little guy !!!

I get all misty-eyed thinking about how far he's come, from being undrafted in the WHL, falling to the 4th round in the NHL entry draft, and going on to have the strongest season a d-man in the WHL has had in 30 years. and yes he WAS the 123rd overall pick i was referring to earlier. He signed his ELC and it was the event of the offseason (to ME). it was more meaningful to me than the will smith signing i will be so real right now . I am hoping and praying that Luca gets a chance on the Sharks and flourishes.

sorry. sorry. i will NOT shut up about Luca Cagnoni. mike grier took a huge swing at the fences for him, he is so out of the gmmg wheelhouse its hysterical and i am genuinely shocked we drafted him. i wasn't there for it obviously but what was the draft floor like that day?? were people asking him Are You Sure, Sir. I'd have asked. i'd have knocked on his bald ass head to check if it was hollow (i, a bald person, can say this <3)

despite this. Luca Cagnoni WILL make it. ON GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kasper Halttunen

ok you saw me mem cup posting. this one isn't as deep!

i think he's got that dawg in him. him and his nepobaby london knights team were fun to watch!!!

i liked that he was squeezing denver barkey like a chew toy (gifed it, even!!!)

i am genuinely obsessed with the comments he leaves on other prospects' instagram posts. i've only looked around at a couple but yeah he's sure got a sense of humour <3

i would LOVE to see him develop out his 2-way game a little more and refine his beautiful bomb of a shot even further. i am excited to see how he progresses!!

bring him to the AHL as soon as possible gmmg i need to watch him squeeze the life out of his fellow sharks prospects

Macklin Celebrini

Alright this one seems so obvious because he's 1OA and automatically special BUT you guyyyyys. you guyyyyysss.... he's soooo good. I watched a couple of his college matches. I went back and watched some of his worlds matches. i have devoured so much literature on him. remember when I said i love when skilled players are defensively responsible?? Macklin Celebrini is that guy !! he is just so Shaped. the shape is Round. he is well-rounded like the beautiful sphere . the sphere where we will be drafting him. <3 yay !!!

no joke he IS a bit of a goon. finished his checks with a surprising amount of brutality in all the games i watched !! and like he had to be, I imagine he was getting targeted to hell and back in the NCAA. being 17 and playing against grown men. i like that he's got a bit of bite!!

listen, when the scouts and journos and pundits and coaches say he's "got a motor", what they mean is HE IS RELENTLESS. HE WILL NOT GIVE UP ON A PLAY. HE WILL RUN YOU DOWN AND THEN TURN AROUND AND SCORE ON YOU. HIS TEAM FOLLOWS HIS LEAD.

I just... I get the feeling he raises the people around him up to his standards because they can't help but want to match his intensity. I get the feeling that he is, aside from a great player, a great fit for the kind of culture the Sharks are trying to build. the Never Say Die Team. the We Will Eat You Team. i am completely, utterly endeared by his work ethic.

I think his little :^| face is so funny. i have posted about this before but when he smiles it looks like he has a few too many teeth and its GREAT. our shark. OUR SHARK!!!!!!

Honourable mentions:

Danil Gushchin: undersized creative forward with soft hands heloooo i love uou. mwah. unseat one of our girlfailure depth players next season i want to see u in the nhl <33

Shakir Mukhamadullin: Shak my noodleshark . he will absolutely see NHL ice full time next season if we remain bare on defence, so im not sure he counts anymore as a prospect. i believe in him so bad!!!!!!!!!!!

Georgi Romanov: unironically I think hes our only realistic hope for a Goalie of the Future. please survive the sharkuda experience my love <3

Will Smith: ROBBED of the hobey baker by our very own macklin celebrini. doesn't matter because he scored a dicktrick at hockey east finals and that shit was funny as hell. i think of him in terms of his boybestfriends BC Line which is forever shattered by his decision to sign with the sharks which means hes the driver of tragedy which makes him ELITE in my eyes.

honourable mentions 2 (obscure non-sharks edition):

Isaiah George: i fear i will actually have to watch the NY Islanders soon enough when they play him . i was watching the London Knights for Kasper and, as I do sometimes, I was struck by lightning after seeing him do something really interesting. I think I can probably go find the exact tags from when he first caught my eye. anyway! i am invested in him now and there is 0 current coverage on him !! ough my smooth skating defensive defenseman <333

Aatu Jamsen: a high skill/flashy forward the la kings signed to his ELC not too long ago <3 excited to see him play for the Ontario Reign. his lore is incredible. not to shill my own blog but i did a small post about him here and i am BEGGING everyone to go find out about him he moonlights as a RAP MUSICIAN!!!!. lak do not to bury him in the AHL forever im on my KNEES

Xavier Simoneau: les habs and their prospects got me. little guy (5'6) who is a bit fight-y. can and WILL go to battle against huge opponents for a puck and WIN. i look at him and slap my knee and i think. god damn he might actually do it. he might actually make the NHL.

Okay I think I will stop here before i start goin off about all the little guys i have tucked away...!! thank you for your time. thank you for handing me a mic and an excuse to yell about my little fellas. wehaveagathering dot tumblr you are thee flyers source to me. our failteams will soon share a shade of oranmge. I am very excited to fall in love with them!! <3

[brrbrina]

Just want to request prompt #16, maybe where the reader was super busy and tired and wasn’t able to do any of the chores. However Joe also had a long day but he wanted to do the chores for the reader to take off some stress from her. Something like that filled with fluff 😚❤️

warnings: none

You came home extremely tired from work, ever since you were tiny you dreamt of a flower shop. After you went away to college and came back you earned a little money you decided to open it, later on your journey you met Joe, he was there picking lilies for his mom on Mother´s day and he kept showing up every week until he ran out of excuses to give flowers for his mom

"You know I can physically see you thinking of something to say when you order these flowers right?" you said looking at him and you saw his eyes smile for the first time "Well, I love giving my mom flowers is that a bad thing?" "No it isn´t, that´s actually really sweet," you said on the other side of the counter "How can I help you today Joe?" you said smiling "Can I have your number? I would love to take you out on a date?" he said hopping you didn´t had a boyfriend -which you didn't- but to him it was impossible, you were gorgeous and the times you had talked you were as sweet as pie.

It´s safe to say you went on a date with him, and three years later you had your first and only child -until now - a little baby boy with the biggest blue eyes ever, he looked exactly like his dad you were crying tears of joy when you saw him for the first time.

Joe was an excellent father, boyfriend and above all he was an impeccable man, he loved spending his nights in and taking care of you and your little one, even though you didn´t plan on having a kid so soon, it happened and you were sure you were made to be his mom and he was made to be your son. And Joe loved it, he loved the fact that he could teach him the same things his dad reached him, but deep down he was born to be a girl dad, there wasn´t a single day where he didn't wonder about his life having a little girl

"We´ve talked about this before Joe, Jack is still so little and I´m focused on the flower shop, the off-season it´s the only time you are here 24/7 and I don´t blame you it´s your job but you have to understand that I have my dreams as well" you said putting the dishwasher on, as much as you loved being a mom, it wasn´t in your plans soon, "I have told you a hundred times I make enough money for us, you can stay here and watch our children, and, " Joe said but you stopped him, it was getting in your nerves he couldn´t take a no for an answer "This isn´t about me needing your money, you had a dream when you were a kid and you worked hard for it, you got it, and you´re living your dream, this is about me and what I need to do because I owe myself this, and I´m not ready to be a mom again, the last pregnancy was on the season and I hated being alone, I can do this again, you said walking out of the kitchen going upstairs to take a shower, you had been working all day and the last thing you wanted was to take out your anger on him.

When you came out of the shower and made your way to your bed you saw that Joe wasn´t there, he knew he had done wrong so he gave you space, and as much as you would love for him to come back to you you saw him sleeping with Jack on his bed, the bed was so tiny and Joe was so big it made you giggle.

The next morning he left for practice and he dropped Jack off at school, it was a weird feeling because you didn´t want him near you, you just wanted to be alone, you loved your kid, but being a mom can be an exhausting job.

A few hours had passed and the doorbell on the flower shop was ranged "Can I get a big bouquet of peonies?" he was standing there, with your favorite matcha latte and his sorry eyes, "Sure, do you want to write a note?" you said not making eye contact with him "Yes I want to write I´m sorry, I´m the world´s worst boyfriend please" he said trying to make you look at him, "Joe" you said but he interrupted "I´m sorry, I know I went too far, this is your dream and you´re pretty good at it, to be honest" and you punched him on the arm as he laughed "C´mon let´s go pick up Jack" you said telling the girls on the flower shop you were leaving, you rarely did this but there wasn´t any jobe due that day and you needed your family.

Later that day you were on the couch watching Cars with Jack and while you were falling asleep you heard Joe whisper "I forgot to add in the note that you´re the hottest MILF ever" he said kissing your ear but you decided to just close your eyes and go to sleep.

a/n: I know this isn´t exactly what you asked for but i got carried away writing this one and tbh i´m falling asleep writing this lol BUT I loved writing this, hopefully, i´ll get out of my writers block and give you the last chapter of fwd series :)

[changenbirthenstein]

Pranks

(Content Warning: Transformation, Birth, Egg Laying)

“Stop being such a wimp, it’s a harmless prank!”

My friends stood across from me, smirking. This was something we’d been planning for months, and yet now it seemed… wrong, dangerous in a way I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Oh sure, it has been easy, fun to talk about. All a big joke, but in my head I could still tell myself it was all just a big game. I could reassure myself, think it was just a thought exercise, nothing anyone else really wanted to follow through with.

Now though… we were really in front of her farm. The one people talked about in whispers, the one ran by the old ugly woman that was only seen in town around the fall seasons. She never hired any help, never came to the farmer’s markets, never seemed to socialize. All the old farmer would do is glare at everyone she hobbled past, jabbing them with her walking stick when they got in her way, paying for various supplies with money nobody knew how she got.

Of course such strange, hostile behavior would lead to rumors. It didn’t help that nobody had ever seen her working her fields, and yet always had incredible yields come harvest. With becoming a local myth comes a certain degree of people like us wanting to poke the tiger, to discover the truth, certain we’d be ok, find something nobody else had.

The plan was simple. Sneak onto the property, make our way to her barn. Throw some paint over some of her animals as a “costume” for halloween and then get out. And if we looked around for some clues as to how she was managing the farm all on her own, what was the harm of that? And really, what could she do? The cops wouldn’t do much even if she called them, and its not like she would shoot us.

Terra rolled her eyes and walked toward the low fence marking the boundary of the old woman’s farm. “Seriously, you all are so lame sometimes, I don’t get why I hang out with you.” With that, the blonde girl hopped over the barrier with little effort, turning and holding her arms out to show that she was alright. “See? I didn’t evaporate or explode or something. Now come on, lets get this over with.”

Eve was the next one over, a little less gracefully but still without any injury. “Come on, Becca! We don’t have all night, the longer we take the more likely we’ll get caught!” I couldn’t deny the logic of that. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I exhaled slowly, and then hoisted myself over the fence to join my friends. This was it. I was really doing my first real prank. There was no going back.

We crept as quietly as possible with our bag full of paint, wincing at the occasional dull clunk, until we were just outside of the large barn. Quickly, Eve moved to the door and heaved it open enough for us to slip through. She’d always been the biggest of us, sort of the brawn of our trio to my brains and Terra’s beauty. She grinned excitedly as we all entered, and she pulled the door shut behind us.

The bags landed on the ground with a clunk, and Terra clapped with delight. “I can’t believe we’re really doing this!” she whispered, before grabbing a can and carrying it toward some of the sad-looking livestock. One of the cows forlornly moo’d at her, blinking slowly as she approached. “God, look at them. So bloated and gross. Only good for pushing out babies and making milk. Could you imagine having to live as one of them?”

I forced a chuckle, trying not to seem as nervous as I was as I began to look around. “Personally, I think chickens are worse.” I said, only half paying attention as I saw a stall that didn’t have any animals in it and went to investigate. It was right by the front, it’s odd that she’d just keep it completely empty. Maybe supplies? “All they do is lay eggs. Even if it’s not as painful as, like, birth, I can’t imagine how awful it would be. And their cloacas are so gross.”

I drew closer, pulled the stall door open. There was a desk littered with papers, words and pictures jumbled all over. “Pigs.” Terra smirked, grabbing a can of her own. “Nasty, smelly, stupid little hooves. Not strong, not fast, not good looking. The worst of every world, seriously. The only way Pigs aren’t average are all the ways they suck extra hard.”

This was weird. Most of this stuff wasn’t in english, in fact it seemed to be a lot of runes and such. This didn’t make any sense. There was a splash and a distressed bellow from a cow, followed by another gush of liquid and upset squealing from the porcine victims. The paint can for me was left unused as I continued to try to understand what I was looking at. Circles and pentagrams, ingredient lists, strange steps to lengthy rituals. Things labeled “Grant Fertility” and “Animate Plant”. Hand signs, chants…

I stepped back, eyes darting around, my spine tingling with sudden fear. “Uh… girls? I think… something is wrong here.” I turned, walked out of the stall, turning toward my friends. “This isn’t normal. All this stuff… it’s like she’s some kind of sorceress, or enchantress, or…”

“Witch, actually, is what I prefer. Thank you very much.”

I spun around as my friends jumped. There, in front of the door, it hadn’t even moved. She was hunched over, elderly, grinning wide. She made a hand sign, whispered a phrase in a language I didn’t understand, and then… darkness.

) —-------

Everything felt wrong.

My skin was tingling as my eyes slowly opened. I whimpered at the discomfort as I rolled over, finding myself in a large bare patch of the field, nothing but dirt under me. Well… dirt and symbols, coating the ground in a strange dark substance around me. They ended at a wide circle, surrounding me but giving me room to be laid on the ground without touching the edges. To either side of me, making their own pained moans of waking, were Terra and Eve, contained in their own strange circles.

I opened my mouth to answer, but all that came out was a moan as I held my middle. Something was happening, a pressure building inside me. I whimpered, panting, my body feeling overheated as, under my palm, I felt my pubic mound growing firm. Starting to round ever so subtly, barely pressing out before it went away.

Judging from the confused sounds and whimpers of discomfort from nearby, my friends had just gone through similar growth spurts of their own. This didn’t make any sense… my mind was putting pieces together but I refused them, wouldn’t let myself accept what I’d just felt.

“Ah, you’ve woken up. Good, good. I always enjoy it when they’re awake for the good bits.” The tone was filled with malicious mirth, the voice creaky and cold. Looking up, I saw her. The… the witch. God, this was real, wasn’t it? She really was a witch. Could she have done something to us?

“I noticed you seem to have been curious about my livestock. My spells were all shuffled around, thought I wouldn’t notice, did you? I won’t bother asking who you are or who sent you. I’m sure you’ll deny it, lying and insisting you don’t know what I’m talking about. ‘We’re just from the town, we were just exploring, please let us go home!’ Oh yes, I’ve heard it all before. And that suits me just fine, if I’m being honest. You see, I can show you everything you could want to know!”

I opened my mouth to protest, to tell her she had it all wrong. Instead, I grunted, gasping as sweat beaded on my forehead. Once more, the skin of my palm pulled away from the center, and I whimpered as my middle started to push forward, slowly, subtly, once more. “What’s happening to me?!” Terra begged, voice watery with panic.

The witch cackled, eyes gleaming in delight. “Oh darling, you’re to be congratulated! You see, you’re expecting, all three of you! Buns in the oven, such a magical experience!” Eve grunted, gritting her teeth, before saying “I can’t be pregnant. Never had sex. Oh god!” Her rebuttal was stopped by another growth spurt from inside, my own burden seeming to react. My skirt was too tight, digging into my expanding midriff, the pressure of unwanted life developing rapidly within only getting worse.

“We can’t be pregnant… I can’t have a baby!” Terra sobbed, panic taking hold. It was impossible, yet… my chest was aching. My hips were sore. I definitely FELT pregnant. I could only assume, as I looked down at the belly slowly peeking out from under my shirt, and seeing how far along my friends were, that I looked pretty pregnant too. “You really can, dear.” the crone smirked, delighting in our distress. “Just a bit of magic to help your body along, and these little ones took root just fine. You’ll be in labor within the hour, if even that. Can you believe it, girls? You’re going to give birth soon. Oh, I wonder how you’ll scream and cry, especially considering the little surprise that’s going to come with it…”

Heat coursed through me. The growth came in surges. All I could do was try to endure, painting and whimpering in discomfort as I rapidly gestated a child I was nowhere mentally prepared for. I was going to have a baby… Did this make me a mom? Did this count as rape? Nothing made sense. This couldn’t be real, it couldn’t.

My friends endured their own conditions much less quietly than me. Terra was melting down, trying to burst out of her circle, only to find an invisible barrier there. She slammed her fists against it, begging to be let out, even as she hunched forward, groaning as another spurt took her, the moans seeming to slowly get lower, deeper. Eve, meanwhile, kept grunting, the sudden surges of gestation apparently painful for her as they got more guttural and rippling. She just knelt, watching her belly swell in helpless horror. She’d told me years ago that she had been terrified at the idea that someone could just… make her pregnant, if they wanted to, if she was unlucky. Now that nightmare was coming true.

I, meanwhile, watched my little bump continue to grow into a fertile swell. Strechmarks began to form near the back, my navel was nudged into an outie. The others whimpered and gasped, talking about sudden kicks from inside, but I didn’t feel anything. Just ever more pressure. Maybe it was because my belly seemed to be growing slower than the other two? Poor Terra seemed huge, barely able to move as her feccund orb just wouldn’t stop growing, and Eve was noticeably larger than me as well.

“Wonderful. It’s almost time. You are quite the lovely group of mother-to-be’s. You should be proud of yourselves, you’re about to have your very first babies. Isn’t that wonderful?” The witch couldn’t hide the cruel glee in her voice, seeing how her words only upset us further. It’s not like we could do anything about it. We were trapped, as much by our own unwanted fertility as her magic. This was happening, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

Another surge took me, different than the others. My eyes went wide as my womb squeezed, contracting. The pressure spiked horribly, and then released. To my shame, fluid ran out of me, soaking my panties. My first contraction… my waters… I knew what that meant. It was time. I was going to give birth for this horrid woman, no matter how much I hated it.

“Oh God no, no no, I can’t, I can’t do this!” Terra cried, the crotch of her jeans dark and a damp patch of dirt under her. “Please no… I don’t want a baby, please don’t make me have a baby!” Eve in turn whispered, the terror of her impotence, the delivery inevitable washing over her. I wanted to comfort her. To tell her it was going to be ok.

The contraction took me as I opened my mouth to speak, and all that came out was a cry of agony, the need to push slamming through my mind, washing almost everything else away. Just the need to bear down, and… the feeling of wrongness on my skin. No… not on it. In it. And as I parted my legs, leaning back on my hands, feet curled under me as I bore down… I felt something else coming out. Something that was even worse than this burden I’d been forced to carry.

I could feel that this labor, my giving in and pushing, was giving it power. Making it even worse. But I couldn’t resist, couldn’t stop. Whatever this twisted essence was doing to me, it was just as inevitable now as me giving birth for the witch. “Hmmm, here it comes… oh, I wonder who will realize first…” The cruel magician smirked, delighting in our pain and violation.

Something slipped down. Moving inside me. Firm, smaller than I feared, but larger than I could believe. I gave in, pushing with the pain. I was in labor, and every fiber of my being just needed whatever life I had been growing inside me to get out, as fast as possible. Yet, as I pushed… Something else came. My fingers hurt, throbbing, burning, along with my toes. I fell forward, onto my hands and knees.

Tears blurred my vision, but I still saw it. As I pushed, my fingers twitched of their own accord. Pushing together. Pressing into one another unnaturally hard the more I felt whatever was inside me inching down, toward my damp opening. Then, before my eyes… on my right hand. My middle and index fingers. They just… melded. It hurt so much. The flesh searing, feeling like my hand was melting. The skin glistened with sweat, and yet it was impossible to unsee. There were four fingers on my right hand now.

Another contraction came. I screamed with effort, shaking my head in denial, panic rising in my throat as those four fingers painfully became three. MY feet burned, throbbed inside their shoes and socks, and I could feel the bubbling, popping agony of my left foot losing a toe to whatever was happening to me.

“My nails! God it hurts!” Terra moaned from next to me. Looking over, I saw something similar, but different was happening to her. Her fingernails had turned a deep black, and seemed to have thickened. Even as I watched, another contraction came, and as she pushed it seemed that the dark mass almost seemed to be… expanding. Pushing back into her fingers, further than normal.

Eve let out a squeal of horror. “My back! It’s so bad! Make it stop!” I turned, and saw the poor girl’s jeans starting to bulge. Something else was coming, the strain was too high to be her vagina, the magically created baby starting to crown against her will. No, this was somehow more distressing, something impossible. “It’s pushing! This can’t be happening!”

I felt the need to give birth crash over me once more, resisting it for even a second impossible. I pushed, giving my all to getting this thing out of me, and to my horror my right hand screamed in pain as the rest of my fingers melded, nails clacking to the ground, a formless lump of flesh on the end of my arm. My left foot throbbed, my ankle screaming as it felt like the bone had somehow broken, pressing at the skin from inside, threatening to tear out.

There were mere moments to catch my breath, and then I lost myself to the pain and urgency once more. I watched my mutated hand widen, flatten… my elbow starting to ache… the skin itching, burning, until… Something sprouted. Tiny little wisps pushed out of the skin, growing and unfurling into…

“Feathers!” the witch crowed in delight. “Oh my, can you put together the pieces now? You seem like the smartest of the bunch!” I shook my head, not because I couldn’t figure it out. It was all too obvious. No, I shook my head in denial of the horrifying reality. Not wanting to believe this. Not wanting this to be my inescapable fate. I felt a scream bubbling up my throat. It was so big, so much… I couldn’t hold it back, even though I felt like I had to.

The next squeezing cramp it. I threw my head back, pushed with all my might as I felt my vagina bulge, pressing into my soaking wet panties, my firstborn just behind my lips. I had to let it out. I had to let it happen. I opened my mouth to scream.

“Buh-GAWK!”

A shudder ran through my body. That sound… I had just broken some kind of seal. Given into something I had needed to fight. I had just made this inescapable, I could feel it. There was nothing I could do now, and deep down I knew it was my fault.

By leting that bestial sound free, I knew I had made it so I would live the rest of my life as a chicken.

There would be no cure now. No fixing it. No going back. Ever. It was coming out of me, taking over my body, my life, and I would be trapped forever. I let out a choked sob, feeling what I now knew, beyond any doubt, to be an egg, a chicken egg, pressing into my underwear. The first of many.

My vagina burned as I began to crown. Feathers ran down my transformed arm, pushing painfully out of the skin, my bones cracking painfully as they hollowed, began to bend and twist into new shapes. Becoming a wing. A chicken’s wing.

Terra screamed. She held her hands in front of her face, horrified. Her nails. They had grown more, overcoming her fingertips, eating back into her hands. Her fingers had seemingly begun fusing together, and I could hear the crunches and pops of her bones beaking, being crushed and absorbed by this mass.

“No…” the blonde girl panted, placing her hands on the ground. “Noooo…” she groaned, seemingly bearing down with her next contractions. “N-n-noooooo, please…” she managed, as her feet bust out of her shoes, a mangled dark mass of her former toes being warped into their new, permanent shape. “M… M… MOOOOOO!!!”

I saw the soon-to-be cow’s eyes go wide. She knew now, just as I did. That she was about to give birth to an ugly calf. That her body was about to agonizingly mutate into a cow. That she would never escape this life. The one she had mocked before, said sounded like the worst possible thing.

Likewise, grunting and squealing came from Eve. Her curly tail ripped through her pants. Her hands crunched and snapped as they turned into delicate trotters. Her voice began to change as, slowly, her nose began to curl up, nostrils widening, skull starting to elongate.

My own shoes began to bulge, and on the next contraction, they split. A blood-covered toe extended from my mangled ankle, while only three remained on the front. I couldn’t stop pushing, but to my relief, the first egg slipped out of me, bulging into my panties. I felt it slide down, over my sensitive vagina, nudging my clit as I shuddered. I’d just laid an egg. This was my baby. I felt so wrong, so violated, even as my other hand began to meld together.

Another animalistic bellow from Terra drew my attention, and with a smirk the witch twitched a finger, the poor girl’s shirt tearing away. Her breasts were exposed, and it was easy to see they were sinking lower as another pair began to bulge into existence just above her waistband. “That’s right… You’re growing an udder… and a tail… You’re going to be an ugly cow. I do so love ruining the pretty ones…” the vile farmer grinned, loving the misery she’d caused.

The new breasts fused with the old ones as they reached her groin, engorging into a grotesque pink sack, bulging with milk. “Good girls… mmm,none of you need these silly things, do you?” With a wave of her hand, the witch banished our clothing, leaving our warped, twisting bodies utterly vulnerable. “Just let the changes take you… push out your babies so you can join the others in the barn, I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you…”

I wanted to curse her. I wanted to tell her to go to hell. Instead, another shrill “BAWWWK!” escaped as I threw my head back once more, feeling, to my horror, as my girlhood began to move. It pulled back, further and further, directly between my legs, then further still. It burned, throbbed, as I felt it beginning to merge with my rear. The muscle and skin searing as the two openings became one humiliating, disgusting hole.

I could barely pay attention to the others, as my next egg slid out of me and plopped softly onto the ground, my legs starting to turn scaly and crunch their way up into my abdomen. I saw Terra’s increasingly thick, leathery vagina bulging, little hooves starting to peek out from inside her. I saw Eve’s face extend into the snout of a pig, her ears growing floppy even as mine vanished into my skull.

My eyes became small and beady as Terra’s became large and sad. My teeth itched, and I screamed in horror as they fused, a beak bulging out from the inside of my mouth as my nose fused into the rest of my face, glasses falling into the first alongside the eggs that had been sliding out of my foul, sore opening. One piglet slid from inside my porcine friend, tears running down her face as it nuzzled up to her and latched even as its unwanted sibling began to crown.

With a desperate bellow, the now fully cow felt her first calf slide unceremoniously out of her and onto the ground, head hanging low in shame as it came and suckled at her humiliating udder. The others were done as I shrank, my fleshy comb bubbling up from the feathers… I couldn’t stop, the eggs just kept coming. I couldn’t stop pushing, delivering, each one hurting just as much as the first.

This was going to be my life now. All our lives.

[saturniandevil]

April 2024 Important Dates

AKA my notes on The Astrology Podcast's April forecast, hosted by Chris Brennan and Diana Rose Harper (Austin is away on paternity leave). This is one of the most astrologically active months in the year. In addition to planetary movements, there's a comet that will be visible soon in the night sky and a nova.

We're going into the month right off the tail of a Libra lunar eclipse on March 25th. We're in "eclipse season," the time between eclipses, with much activity to report. Starting off, Baltimore's Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship crashed into it, which Austin called last forecast when he said that Mars's entry into Pisces (approaching a conjunction to Saturn) would involve a sudden halt in maritime trade. Astrologically it's quite on the nose, with a Libra (associated with trade/commerce) moon conjunct the South Node (symbolizing lack and decrease). We even have a chart for the opening of this bridge: it was an exact Mars return for this bridge, as well as its Uranus opposition and nodal opposition. Also on the Libra eclipse was the UN Security Council's vote for a ceasefire in Gaza. The April 8th eclipse will show us whether this resolution is successful, and a final Libra eclipse in October will tie these events together.

In celebrity news, we had obviously doctored photos of Kate Middleton prompting increasingly wild speculation on what the British royal family was hiding, culminating in Kate announcing her cancer diagnosis & chemotherapy plans on the March 22nd Venus(women, exalted in Pisces = royalty)-Saturn (slow illnesses) conjunction. She was also born on a lunar eclipse & announced this right before one. Just 3 days after the eclipse, on March 28th, Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX was sentenced to 25 years in prison, the newest development in a story that began on an eclipse when BitCoin crashed and revealed his role in one of the biggest instances of financial fraud in US history.

In smaller news, a nova in the T Coronae Borealis system will be visible as a new star in the night sky this year. This nova is visible every 76 years or so (the last time was 1946), and has been observed as far back as the Middle Ages. Add this to the eclipses and the comet, and Chris hasn't seen such an astrological buildup since forecasting 2020. As the eclipse hit his 3rd house Donald Trump published a book combining the Bible and the US Constitution, while in other news an orca was stranded in British Columbia, another dolphin & orca-related development in the (Mars-)Saturn in Pisces in cycle and Arizona announced Pluto as their state planet.

April Overview: with significant activity in Pisces, Aries, and Taurus simultaneously, we'll be getting hard aspects to every modality (and trines to every element)--everyone will be getting hit with some kind of change (but will have opportunities for growth as well). Chris makes a distinction between the challenging first half of the month, and a second half which will see more clarity.

April 1st - Mercury stations retrograde By time of posting this retrograde is in full swing: disruptions in communication, plans, travel and technology. Diana describes this as especially frustrating in Aries, trying to go one way but some huge miscommunication gets in the way. We may have to walk back on words spoken in anger and renegotiate situations where we identified the wrong target as our enemy. With the eclipse's ruler Mars conjoining Saturn on the 10th, anyone who travels for the eclipse and hangs around for a few days may run into blockages, likely due to rain and floods. Other general Mercury retrograde significations: people come back into your life, unfinished projects become relevant again, and situations from the past resurface. For example, Sagittarius risings often see the "duderang" effect where male lovers come back into their lives, as Mercury rules their Gemini 7th house. Mercury rx also brings delays and slowdowns, and is generally a good time for introspection and "emotional alchemy."

April 3rd - Venus conjoins Neptune This occurs right as she leaves the sign of Pisces. Venus-Neptune keywords: dreamy, fantastical, imaginative (especially with art), compassionate, and opportunities to find new avenues of enjoyment and pleasure. Saturn's copresence in Pisces can bring us some grounding and reality. This can also bring unclear boundaries, uncertain relationships, and idealizing one's lover--like using the soft lens. In events, AI images and videos and toxic synthetic dyes also fall under Venus-Neptune. Is the siren's call too good to be true?

April 4th - Venus enters Aries Chris hopes that Venus's copresence to the eclipse will mitigate some of its effects, but on the flipside this means she's left Mars and Saturn alone with each other in the Pisces chart of our house.

April 8th - Total Solar Eclipse in Aries This eclipse will be visible over much of the (particularly eastern) continental US:

Diana calls it a chiron eclipse, so here's the chart with chiron:

The Moon will eclipse the Sun at 19 Aries, which is where Chiron will be as well. Mythologically, Hercules brings back the head (North Node, Aries) of the hydra to Chiron, whose poison causes him incredible pain because he is immortal and cannot die from it. He eventually trades his immortality for Prometheus and Zeus puts him in the heavens as a constellation. Narratively, eclipses invert what we expect: it becomes dark in the middle of the day! Prominent people fall suddenly from grace and new rulers skyrocket to power during eclipses. Because the eclipse occurs in the sign of the Sun's exaltation, leaders and heads of state/organization/etc will be especially affected. A similar Chiron-influenced Aries solar eclipse occurred in 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Nelson Mandela was sent to jail under an eclipse, but was also freed under another eclipse and elected to office under yet another eclipse.

For individuals, make note of what house this occurs in for you; this will be the end of one chapter and the opening of a new one in this area of life. Anything close to 19° of Aries will definitely feel it, as will any placements at that degree of Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn (hard aspects to the cardinal signs), while 19 Leo and Sagittarius (trine to fire signs) may feel some support. Generally, this series of events in Aries-Libra began a year ago, and will have its final eclipse on this axis in March of 2025.

This eclipse is ruled by a Mars (♓) who's just about conjunct with Saturn (♓), grinding things to a halt. Whatever's happening in the Aries and Pisces place is going to take some extra time. Other keywords: the end of a life cycle, matters of great importance & turning points in world history, major disasters as well as scientific discoveries. Eclipses highlight just how much is out of our control, like being on a teacup ride that's going too fast and being unable to stop unless something hits you. 6 months later, we'll get an eclipse that connects to some of these events:

Diana also points out that there will be an influx of tourists to rural areas of the US, advising travelers to stay courteous and noting that many local municipalities advise residents to stock up on basic supplies so they won't be lacking when a small area is flooded with new people & their needs. Generally, the eclipse will be a very creepy experience, with the Sun going completely dark, colors becoming muted, and stars may even be visible--some cultures have warnings against going outside during eclipses. Back to metaphors, Chris points out that the small seeds of much larger events are often planted during eclipses. Sometimes you don't know until later just how important this obscured implantation is because, like the Sun, our vision is occulted. Take notes, even of subtle things.

April 10th - Mars conjunct Saturn in Pisces We expect the two malefics to bring us challenges: their conjunctions in late Capricorn & early Aquarius heralded the first COVID lockdowns, and other hard aspects brought new variants and similar pandemic news. In 2022 a Mars-Saturn conjunction occurred with an epidemic of ebola. However, note that these are all airborne viruses, and these movements occurred with Saturn in the air sign of Aquarius. What will this look like in Pisces, a water sign? Chris predicts that existing Saturn-Pisces issues with water pollution and maritime trade/travel will have destructive moments as Mars comes in, while Diana thinks about water as a vector of disease, such as cholera & sewage treatment. Now that deep permafrost is melting due to climate change, we may also see new pathogens or substances released, as well as complications from farm water runoff. We'll definitely see the effects of this Baltimore bridge collapse, and, with the outbreak of dengue fever in Latin America, may see developments around diseases borne of insect bites. We may also hear about the ill effects of microplastics, lead, and asbestos as a result of this conjunction. More generally: pollution, ocean, liquids, extremes of hot and cold, feelings of constraint (and literal constraint), and spiritual or emotional burnout. Pisces is a sign of inescapable enmeshment with each other, so we'll likely deal with compassion fatigue and emotional isolation (especially involving social media). Questions of whether or not something is "real" remain relevant as ever.

On the positive side, Mars-Saturn brings discipline and self-control. Sometimes Mars and Saturn can temper each other to give us self-sustaining focus. We can combine hard-won wisdom with the drive we need to achieve it, like a martial arts training montage. Do we have the belief and conviction to achieve mastery? With determination we can reach heights we once only imagined. There's also stamina, resilience, and rigidity. Overlapping with the Mercury retrograde, we can also see delays and obstructions. If there are boundaries you've been meaning to enact, now is the time. We can see potential pitfalls, but beware of pessimism and not believing in yourself. Resentment and pent-up anger can also come into play as Mars's impulse butts up against Saturn's inaction, but incremental progress adds up.

April 11th - Sun conjunct retrograde Mercury (Cazimi) This marks a turning point in the retrograde. Diana uses a spelunking metaphor: during the retrograde we're diving into the cave, and at the cazimi we've found our treasure...but we still have to make our way back out. Our personal eclipse stories may become clearer during this time as well.

April 19th - Sun enters Taurus, Retrograde Mercury conjunct Venus Venus will help sweeten communications during the last week of Mercury's regression.

April 20th - Jupiter conjunct Uranus This brings freedom, liberation, and sudden rapid growth--completely different from the Mars-Saturn activity earlier this month. This may also set us up for the Jupiter-Mars conjunction later this summer. The Uranus in Taurus story has brought labor organizing and unions to prominence, so expect those stories to intensify during this conjunction. General keywords: technological breakthroughs and scientific discoveries, sudden revelations and growth, revolutions, rupture, and unexpected shifts. This conjunction takes place every 14 years, so Chris expects new discoveries, optimism and "quantum leaps" or new precedents in some fields. In Taurus this is related to food and agriculture--in addition to new technologies we'll likely see further developments with the farmer's protests in India and Europe. Finance and money is another Taurus signification, so disruptions in banks & questions about decentralizing currency may arise. Freedom, rebellion, and general eccentricity become important. We'll feel like anything is possible, but in disregarding the rules and refusing to compromise we may make rash decisions.

The comet Pons-Brooks may also start to become visible during this time. It comes by about every 80 years and is named for its 18th century discoverers. Ancient literature on comets is similar to that of eclipse: an ominous phenomenon heralding the deaths of rulers and falls of kingdoms. However, they note the color and appearance as indicating some positive effects when associated with Jupiter, and the planets whose path it crosses are relevant as well. Pons-Brooks passes closely by the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, putting an exclamation point on the planetary significations.

April 23rd - Scorpio Full Moon

We're finally out of eclipse season, so things are starting to calm down. However, this lunation (04♏) squares Pluto (02♒), bringing some conflict in. It'll be stabilizing, but not necessarily comforting. Acceptance is bittersweet medicine. The full moon illuminates the deep transformative experiences Pluto brings to the early degrees of fixed signs in our charts. We're really getting to the bedrock of things. When Venus enters Taurus she'll square Pluto, and Mars will trine Pluto when he enters Aries. With those personal planets in domicile, it'll feel like coming home, but home is a little different. Pluto will retrograde soon and Chris predicts this station will bring major events in AI and related technologies. Mars is also quickly nearing his conjunction with Neptune, bringing the weaponization of these technologies.

April 25th - Mercury stations direct

April 28th - Mars conjunct Neptune (typo in image) Aside from weaponization of AI and social media, Mars-Neptune also connotes the manipulation of reality for political purposes. Revealing that a shocking news story was actually false wont necessarily diffuse the feelings it arose. Even if it didn't happen, you may still hold resentment towards the wrong target. Think the "fog of war" or shadowboxing. Other keywords include conflicts in or about water, idealism & ideologically-charged conflicts, confusion, acid, corrosion, lethargy, sapped vitality, and unnecessary martyrdom.

April 29th - Venus enters Taurus She immediately squares Pluto. Venus in domicile brings us to the election for the month:

April 29th - Selected auspicious election (not pictured)

Set the chart for about 12:55PM local time, which gets you Leo rising with the Ascendant ruler Sun in the 10th whole sign house in Taurus, where it's copresent with Jupiter, Uranus, and Venus. This chart is good for 10th house matters like career, reputation, social standing, overall life direction and accomplishing goals. The Moon is in Capricorn, applying to a trine with Jupiter, bringing support. Mercury has stationed direct, bringing us away from some of the delays and issues we experienced earlier. Even the Mars-Saturn conjunction is about as far away as we can get, and a day chart Jupiter conjunct Uranus brings creativity to our efforts. Diana associates the 10th house with the gestating parent and thus recommends doing something nice for your mom now.

April 30th - Mars enters Aries Entering firey and decisive Aries, Mars is no longer encumbered by slow Saturn and diffuse Neptune. This complete chapter change comes with a sextile to Pluto--the tone shift will feel like getting our oxygen back. This opens us up for a lot of quick movements through Aries and Gemini in May.

[kylieswift31]

Meet me at midnight?

"I'm a mirrorball. I'll show you every version of yourself tonight."

Taylor has been pointing us to her use of clocks in the imagery she uses throughout her work.

We’ve looked at all sorts of connections to time, lunar calendars and astrological charts, but what if the missing piece is actually the wheel of the year?

The wheel of the year

The wheel of the year is the original clock the Pagans used to keep track of time before modern technology. An important element lies within the different patterns being tracked within the wheel and how they all work together.

Day and night

The inner ring of the wheel is the cycle of day turning into night. When we reach midnight it symbolises a new day. The symbolism behind the yin and yang symbol is that you can't have one without the other.

The seasons

The next layer represents the four seasons. When the cycle is completed we return to the new year.

The moon phases

The moon phases show the twenty eight day cycle of the moon travels before reaching the peak again. Each cycle represents a monthly feminine cycle, with 13 cycles that match the seasonal new year.

Solstice and equinoxes

The next layer is the cycle of the seasons. We have the summer and winter solstice as the longest and shortest day of the year. The spring and fall/autumn equinoxes are the time where the day and night reach equilibrium, with an equal amount of day and night.

The spiral

If we look at a cyclone from a birds eye view it becomes a spiral, just like the golden ratio. All of these cycles lead us back to the duality of day and night. Just as there’s balance here, the same occurs between the northern and southern hemispheres. If you put the yin and Yang symbol over any of these charts you can see that both day and night and summer and winter are occurring simultaneously. Begin turning it clockwise and the sun and moon orbit each other.

The bright light and the shadow.

The in between

The pagans follow the four main seasons, but they also mark the midway turning point between each one. The combination of these four major and four minor points of the year form the spokes on the wheel. (And then the star represents the elements of water, fire, earth, air and spirit.) This is the basis of the symbology behind the star with eight points or the wheel with eight quadrants.

The celebrations

A lot of our major holidays were influenced by pagan celebrations. Those of us in the southern hemisphere get the short end of the stick with the seasons lining up with these, especially Christmas and Yule.

The connection

So what does all of this have to do with Taylor Swift?

Everything if we look close enough...

The clock

Taylor has showed us that the Midnight record covers create a clock and that Benji is how we tell the time. But if we're on our way to midnight, what's our destination?

The midnights clock started with four records with each quadrant coming together to form the clock. And just like the in the parent trap where the sisters pictures fit together to reveal their history, the four pieces of the clock will form Taylor's story once it's complete.

Ever since the tortured poets department was released in April, Taylor has become louder with sharing her queerness. This is only going to continue until she is being so loud that everyone can see it.

The journey

The pagan year ends on Samhain, or all hallows eve.

It's a day of reflection as the days become shorter and the veil between the dead and the living is said to be at it's thinnest. This ties into Taylor’s frequent references to ghosts throughout her discography.

So that leads us to consider if this is the right time to bring the old Taylor back from the dead?

The spark

If we look further than her previous partners we can see that the biggest muse of Taylor’s work is herself, but more specifically the light and dark versions of public and private personas. To understand the depth of these connections, we need to do so with an open mind that she's beginning to reveal her queerness to us louder than ever before. And if that's the destination, then this is the process of seeing behind the magician's curtain.

"Move to Florida,

Buy the car you want

But it won't start up

Til I touch, touch, touch you."

Time stood still in Taylor's story and now the yin and yang symbol have started the clock again. The black and white element of the tortured poets department is the feminine and masculine element of the black and white duality.

Which leads us into Alice's story being the key to this occurring.

The sisters

It's been evident since the beginning of her career how much inspiration Taylor has drawn from classic fairy tales. The references to Alice and Wendy help us see connections to where the story begins and ends.

"If you wanna go down the rabbit hole with us come along, the water's great. Jump in! We're all mad here!!"

Both Alice and Wendy's stories explore feeling isolated, unheard and feeling stuck during a time where time has stood still. And also the difficulties of facing the challenges that come with growing up.

Taylor referenced the imagery of Alice and Wendy’s story with her fortnight shorts and music video.

Spring and fall

When Taylor combined the folklore and evermore set on the eras tour, she reunited them for the first time and they became the sisters.

Just like Wendy mended Peter's shadow, Taylor has done the same for herself. The reunion of the sisters and all the setlist changes in Paris was showing us how she has reunited the two sides of herself.

All that's left now is for us to see it too.

They were always meant to be together. The rumoured lost album of woodvale might be a figurative bridge between the two to help join them together.

Each night she performs this set on the eras tour, their bond becomes stronger.

Summer and winter

If the tortured poets department is a duo and folklore and evermore are duos too, is there any more?

Yes, debutation.

She's shown us this is what's to come since the lover era.

The life and death cycle of the snake and the butterfly are represented within the symbology of the reputation and debut albums. Both are light and dark versions that are telling the same story.

The way home

If we look back to the connection between folklore and evermore, the biggest difference between the two is that folklore is a story about wanting others to see and believe in you, and evermore is about learning to see and believe in yourself.

If Alice shows how the story begins, Wendy is showing us how it ends by leading the way home.

And how do we do that?

Just follow the North Star…

The lost boys

The new 1989 outfits have also been hinting at the concept of pairs through the mismatched outfits. Just like a rubiks cube, there are steps to follow to get to the completed colours.

Do we have more pairings to come with the existing albums, or does the secret to that lie with the rubies on the speak now floor?

Stitching together Peter's shadow is an integral chapter of Wendy's story, but arguably the biggest role she plays is with reuniting the lost boys with their families.

“Neverland is home to lost boys like me, And lost boys like me are free.”

The man wall

To get the placements on the wheel above it requires both the connections we've made so far as well as the map on the man wall. Both flipping and mirroring it provides the matching pairs. The looking glass reference shows us that the reflection looks different when you look through it, so just flipping it isn’t going far enough.This means the 1989 matches up with the karma coffee cup. The man version of Taylor forms both halves of TTPD, similar to a playing card with the queen facing both ways. Evermore and debutation match up to the solstices and equinoxes. Fearless and 1989 create pairs on the other sabbats. The 13th sign lines up with the 13 sleepless nights of the midnights album. The lover movie poster lines up with the lover album. Leaving red and fearless to fill in the gaps.

Deflection

Now that we’ve put this map together, it’s worth considering that it was never a map of the future. But as more of a reflection of the past. If we compare the emotional undercurrent of lover album with the poster for Miss Americana we see the light and dark story being told. TTPD compared to the man shows us the inner and outer versions of Taylor. Fearless, speak now and red highlight the pain she felt at the time. The debutation and karma show that they’re one and the same. The number connection between 1989 and the sleepless nights. The deeper we look, the more of the inner Taylor we can see.

During my exploration of the delicate music video for my previous posts I saw many connections to the aesthetic of the reputation era. I found that it was a purposeful contrast and build up to the upcoming aesthetic of the lover era. Taylor had a plan going forward before she left her old label.

But yet again every bait and switch is a work of art. The darkness of the reputation era distracted from the hand she played when everyone least expected it.

This is what we have to look forward to with debutation…

"Isn't it delicate?"

Before you go

To finish off, I’ll leave you with one last pagan philosophy.

“Do no harm,

But take no shit .”

Kylie x

🎃

[jstarr86]

Preview for something I’m working on but it will end up being longer and will end up on Wattpad where all my multiple chapter work is.

I sat in the stands looking out over the arena on one hand I loved this, it had been my dream since I was 6 but on the other it was also my heartache, my dream had cost me the person I’d loved and years later I hadn’t gotten over it. The first time I got an offer I tossed the papers not wanting to leave him but the second he’d been home when they arrived and told me to go and amicably we’d split up.

I first met him when we were in our mid twenties I was 23 he was 27 he’d just came to the dojo and I’d been here a couple years. We crossed paths after a night of partying and he and a few of the other guys who were from America stepped in when I was uncharacteristically being harassed, something uncommon over in Japan. I immediately had been drawn to him the handsome ass face with beautiful brown eyes and I’d quickly fallen for the amazing personality, the funny sense of humor, the sarcasm, the slightly cocky smartass he could be but was the biggest sweetheart. My favorite things was how family oriented he was those fucking eyes and his damn smile and laugh.

We’d been friends for years and worked together as he founded Bullet Club it was Fergal, Karl, Fale, Tama and I. We’d flirt off and on but to us it was just playful but it all changed one night after we got totally wasted we’d made out and after that we realized we were more than friends and had been for awhile. 2018 I was home while he was at the gym with his brother and a envelope showed up at our apartment a huge WWE logo etched on it and I opened it seeing it was a offer but shredded it and took the trash out. I was resigning with New Japan, my life and my love was here

He asked me to marry him in a park during cherry blossom season and I’d said yes with no hesitation everyone surprised it taken so long for him to ask. Fast forward to 2021 and we’d just gotten back to work slowly as Covid was still a pain in the ass but the time off and being back in the states was amazing. We got a house in Florida and I basked in the warm sun pretty much daily enjoying only having to work out to be in shape and having him almost all to myself minus family days. I came home from spending a day with his older sister to see him out back on the lanai with a beer and a big envelope as I went to kiss him he gave me a kiss and told me to sit down. He then handed me the envelope another offer from WWE that he’d opened cause he was home.

“They offered you a contract.”

“Oh.”

“Lex.” He said my middle name. I looked at him my eyes meeting those eyes I feel in love with only now he’d chopped off the long beautiful hair and had shaved I still laughed about that argument when I came home and already upset he’d got a hair cut we got into a fight over him shaving. “Take it.”

“What?”

“Your contract is up soon that’s your dream take it.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not.”

“You know why.”

“What cause of me? I ain’t standing in the way of your life’s dream baby.”

“I’m not taking it.”

“You’re not passing it up.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” I mumbled but he held my face making me meet his eyes

“What you just say?”

“Nothing.”

“Nah that wasn’t nothing what you mean not the first time.” I sighed “Ayasha.” He said sternly

“They sent me an offer three years ago.” I quietly admitted

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I shredded it and took the trash out.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t want to take it that means leaving you.”

“WWE is your dream that’s been your dream your whole life.”

“Sometimes other things are more important.”

“Ayasha you know I love you right.”

“I hope so you asked me to marry you.” He smirked at me “I love you too.”

“You have to go.”

“I can’t.”

“I can’t be what stands in the way of your dreams I won’t.” He sighed rubbing his face looking at me. “This chance don’t come very often especially twice you have to take this.”

“What about us? You’re going back to Japan and I’ll be everywhere but there.”

“I know and that’s why we gotta take a break I’m not holding you back a second time.”

“What?” I asked quietly “I- you’re breaking up with me.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“But that’s what it is.”

“This is your shot your dream you have to take it and I can’t be what stands in your way and in twenty years you hate me for it or think what if I’d actually went. I know you’re my soulmate and I know this isn’t the end of us but for now we have to take a break.”

“What no.”

“I won’t stand in the way of your life’s dream, what kind of man, boyfriend, finance or husband would I be if I didn’t push you and help you reach your dream.”

“But I don’t wanna lose you, what’s my dreams if your not in it.”

“I have no doubt we will be together again I know it with every piece of me but I also love you enough to let you go.”

Tearfully fighting didn’t work and we’d split up after arguing and making love, he left to Japan in the middle of the night leaving me a love letter and a kiss on the head a video on my phone and years of memories. I kept up with him watching his matches talking with his brothers and checking on him but I’d stopped calling him I only got a message in my birthday.

3 YEARS LATER

I still missed him still dreamed of him. Thought of how life would be. I didn’t hate him I was upset and hurt for a while but I understood where he was coming from and I knew the decision to take a break hurt him as much as it hurt me. We didn’t talk aside from telling each other happy birthday. Professionally my life was great I was the current champion I’d cashed in my money in the bank contract at Mania and won. I was on Raw with Josh I had been since I started. But I still missed him personally I felt like my life was missing something and I knew what it was it was him.

Everything changed when I was in my lonely apartment and watching Smackdown. It was fresh off Mania and Solo turned on Jimmy for losing to Jey but that wasn’t what shocked me, it was the man who attacked him, as he took the hoodie off my eyes widened and filled with tears he was here he was in WWE. Two weeks later we were in France and I was freshly drafted to Smackdown, my mind still not wrapped around the thought he was in the same company I was after three long years.

“Ayasha.” I turned hearing my name tears filling my eyes as I laid eyes on the man I’d loved for practically a decade. Seeing his face and hearing his voice in person for the first time in three years

“Alipate.”

[mixingpumpkins]

God forbid there are colors

Literally.

I’m begging y’all celebrating Pride to be as loud and proud as you can, not just because you deserve to celebrate, but because people in churches are full of the most paranoid, self-centered idiocy about it to the point where I got woken up unnecessarily early today for an “emergency” to cater to said idiocy. And if I have to hear paranoid screaming about Pride first thing in the morning, you’re damn right I want everyone to have the biggest, loudest, most joyful Pride month yet.

Context: Among my side gigs, I’m webmaster for a few churches’ websites, because a paycheck’s a paycheck, it’s not too demanding of my time, and my work is the reason they have all their sermons and events live-streamed/archived on their sites every week in case, y’know, they’re ever saying shit that might involve someone looking into their tax-exempt status.

I usually set up all the back-end video streaming stuff on Saturday and try to use a topical picture from our photo subscription as a background for both the video thumbnail and the post thumbnail. As requested, I also try to post the service bulletins along with the videos, but one pastor has a habit of not sending me the bulletin before my midnight-the-night-before deadline, so at that point it’s agreed that I’ll just use a seasonal nature picture as the thumbnail photo and upload the bulletin whenever I get around to it on Sunday. (Most of the photos for that church, consequently, end up being nature photos.)

This morning, Housemate #2 — who is on a million committees in that church with Housemate #1 — comes screaming into my room at ass o’clock, telling me I need to fix the website now, the pastor even contacted her about it, etc. etc. (I don’t believe her because she said she couldn’t show me a text or email because she “deletes them immediately” — and also the pastor emailed me the bulletin/notes to add to the post long after the post was already up yesterday and didn’t say a word about any fixes needed.)

Y’all. She was mad because the image on this week’s post was a “rainbow.” To be clear, it was this: 

So of course, I’m like, “...??? It’s a field of flowers.” Because it’s a field of flowers that’s colorful, but pretty damn clearly not a rainbow. 100% wasn’t even on my radar as rainbow — my search term in our image subscription was “summer.” (Housemate even went to a flower festival a few weeks ago and hinted that I should use a very similar photo that she took the next time I needed a nature pic for this church’s video thumbnail.)

But she’s insisting this picture is basically a rainbow and they can’t have anything that looks like Pride and how could I do this, I clearly did this on purpose, change it now to something that can’t be misconstrued, etc.

Fine. Wake me up, invade my space, scream, be bigoted, falsely accuse me of malicious intent ... Cue malicious compliance.

She’s hovering over me as I open up the church’s image subscription and all the places I need to go change settings and whatever to update the site. I conspicuously type in “summer” so she can see that this pops up among totally inappropriate ones like beach balls and kids playing in sprinklers. I point it out to her and start scrolling through the images to find a different nature pic. She tries to point out other ones.

“Use that one.”

“I’ve already used that one.” (Just a few weeks ago, in fact. They do not want repeat images.)

“What about that one?” She points to a different field of flowers that is actually the lesbian flag. Like, actually, obviously the lesbian flag. Housemate is not up on these things because she is too pure to know such sordid details; she only knows rainbows = gay = bad. As funny as this would be, I guarantee there would actually be screaming from people if I posted a literal lesbian pride flag made of flowers instead of a random colorful field of flowers, so I decide to save myself a little trouble and point out the issue.

“Lesbian pride flag.”

“This one?”

“Too small.” (I pull it up on the canvas and resize, to demonstrate that it turns into unintelligible pixel hell.)

“Here. These are flowers. They’re pink, yellow, and blue.”

“That is literally the pan pride flag.”

“What the hell is that?”

“Pansexual. Pride. Flag.” I pull up a picture of that so she can see.

“Well, it’s Trinity Sunday, search for that instead.”

I do. There’s a few too-small pictures of doves and a bunch of triskele and triquetra knots. She points to one of those. “There. The Trinity symbol. Use that.”

“That’s a pagan symbol. I wouldn’t want that to be misconstrued.” Incidentally, I point out, as I open the middle-of-the-night email with the bulletin boasting a similar picture, someone should probably remind the pastor about that since he’s so worried about people misinterpreting images as something non-Christian.

She’s grinding her teeth at this point. “That’s different. That has words [Father, Son, Holy Spirit] around it.”

“It’s still a very recognizable appropriated pagan symbol. Or would you be fine posting a swastika just because it has different words around it?”

We go back to nature photos.

“Try this one.”

“That’s really close to the bi pride flag, you know.”

“HERE. THIS ONE.”

Very thick pale pink and white flowers ... under a blue sky. Hmm. Looks very much like the trans pride flag, if I’m honest. She’s pissed, and housemates are going to be late for church soon.

“There. Those white daisies.”

“Yeah, we can do that, but you should know this picture does look like the agender pride flag if you’re just glancing at the colors.”

“I don’t care. I don’t know what that is. Nobody normal knows what that is, they’re not going to misconstrue it.”

“Hmm, I don’t know, since apparently that was the issue with the first picture, but I’ll use this one.” I upload it and fix all the things that need to be fixed on various platforms for everything to update. She stomps out and I go back to sleep.

Five minutes later she’s back, waving her phone in my face. “YOU DIDN’T CHANGE THE PICTURE! IT’S STILL THE RAINBOW PICTURE! CHANGE IT NOW!”

This is two times I’ve been given a mini-heart attack this morning by someone barging into my space while I’m trying to sleep, and she’s lucky she hasn’t gotten maced on instinct. “You watched me change the picture. Clear your browser cache.”

“I don’t know how to do that. Change the picture!”

I grab my laptop again, go to the website, and show her the picture is changed. I rattle off an explanation of why she needs to clear her phone’s browser cache, which I have given her several times before, and remind her she’s late. She blanks out at anything tech-talk and leaves. Totally looking forward to getting more screaming about this later. 🙃

You know, that “rainbow” picture was 100% an honest mistake, but I think part of this week’s pay from that church specifically is going to go to an actual rainbow shirt from an LGBT-owned shop. ✌️

[goranvisnjicdaily]

Well, good morning Ladies and Gentlemen! It's 6:08 AM here in Quebec, and even though I had a party last night at work, I still have to wake up early due to work, and this video below woke me up quite pretty fast! It's so GOOD to finally see sight of Goran after so many months ahha!

Of course I can't translate the video for you, I'm only good in English and in French, perhaps one day I will learn Croatian! I would love ahah! (Would you know where I could start learning Croatian?) Thanks to Lidia, she was nice enough to show me the english translation of what Goran is saying in the video ;)

The biggest Croatian acting star in the world, Goran Višnjić , is finally returning to Croatian stages, where he is preparing a role for the Dubrovnik Summer Games. Although it is difficult to confuse him, when asked after how long he returns to the stage, he achieves the effect. "Ufff good question, wait until I remember… The Last Hamlet season seven 2000 or 2001, I'm not sure," he says. The role in the first Hamlet at the Summer Games after the Homeland War launched him into acting stardom. The legendary Joško Juvančić put his trust in him as a student . "The premiere was in '94, so during the war in 2000, this was the last season. There was so much work, from morning to night I had rehearsals, from 10 am to 2 pm, then a lunch break, then fencing rehearsals and then monologues eve so the whole day was full. I look at it like a dream today. It was like it happened to someone else and not me. It's really the first time in my life that I didn't I thought about whether it would be good, but it was just 'let's do it, let's give it a premiere, so be it'. It wasn't until the next season, after we returned to Dubrovnik and after a year of the winter HNK, that I started thinking 'now it should be a bit get older, it should be polished a bit and so on," he admitted. Years in Hollywood followed, after which he moved with his family to Cornwall, England in 2020. "People from this perspective of ours suddenly saw me on Hitna and it was like 'wow here he is now', but there was still a lot of work, small films that no one had ever seen, independent productions and so on. So it worked out for me all in a certain way like now. You have ups and downs, you have breaks where you don't do anything for a long time, then you have some great film that ends up, I don't know, after some kind of festivals, awards and so on. Then you have a series that you think is phenomenal, that it's fantastic and then the studio cancels it after two years because, just like that, someone new came and wants their own project… so from my perspective, everything is going according to plan," he says. Now he returns to the scene in Krešimir Dolenčić's Equinox . Apprehension is present. "It's not a matter of being away from the stage for a long time, it's a matter of it being so exciting. One big reason why we do this work. Before you go on stage, you always ask yourself if I'm ready enough, if I've done enough, if I could this scene is a little different… You always have those questions that actually make it all exciting because the work is never finished. The team is great, Krešo was an assistant to our acting teacher and Koraljka Hrs, so I and Krešo have known each other for a long, long time and when he told me about Equinocija last year, then we started dating and here we are now at HNK," Višnjić revealed. Choosing between acting in Croatian and English is difficult for him. "Who would ask me if I prefer to live in Zagreb or Los Angeles. People usually have two houses, I don't mean physical houses, I have Šibenik and Zagreb, then I have Šibenik, Zagreb and Dubrovnik. I also have Los Angeles. Somehow they are all the little boxes you keep inside you, and then when you open that one, it's great when I act in Croatian, and when I act in English, it's a task. I also like to act in Spanish because it's challenging to speak a language that you don't speak so fluently like English and Croatian, but these challenges are what make things interesting," he says. Do the children speak Croatian? "Yes, of course. How could you not? Croatian is exclusively spoken at home," he said. The family will spend the summer in Croatia, and when it comes to plans for permanent immigration… "We are not in a hurry anywhere. Nothing is closed or open, the kids have all passports - American, European Union, English, so let them live wherever they want. We still have to wait for July, when we will see it for the first time on the stage of the Dubrovnik Summer Games.

Once again, a big thank you to @accio-baqat for the update! She's indeed my set of eyes when I'm asleep ahha! Thank you girl xxx

Source for the video: Dubrovnik Page on Instagram and Showbuzz

[burninlovebutler]

GAH i didn't wanna do this bc im a gemini & i talk a lot if im unsupervised lol BUT YALL WERE POSTIN SOME SAPPY SHIT SO I WANTED TO JOIN (so sorry this is gonna be so long i apologize in advance)

this wasn't initially the road i was gonna take while talking about this but ofc if u read any of my writing or know me in any capacity, it shouldn't surprise you that we're getting sad lol

as i stood next to my partner watching the midnight fireworks last night, i had a fleeting thought -

16 year old me didn't think i'd still be here at 26 -

i didn't expect to still be on this earth in 2023

when i was around that age my home life was really shitty and abusive and lonely and my only saving grace at the time was the family i found within the one direction/5sos fandom. there were so many times then that my fandom friends saved me, literally.

i wouldn't be here today without them.

i stopped being in fandoms around 2016 and while i still have MANY long term close friends from that time, we all have gone our separate ways interest wise.

I didn't realize just how much i missed being a part of a community until i joined tumblr again. the austin/elvis fandom welcomed me with open arms & filled me with that same youthful joy and connection as i had when i was 16. and even BETTER bc this fandom has blown me away with how kind and gentle and loving it is

point is - i’m grateful that i AM still here, that i’ve been here long enough to meet you and experience this amazing fandom.

it's insane to me to think i would've never met some of the brightest stars of my days without walking into that theater that day. my year would've been so empty, lonely and sad without you all, so thank you all from the bottom of my cold lil heart - you all showed up in my life when i needed u the most

(something weird about this 1D -> Elvis/Aus pipeline is that when i went back to see the day i saw the movie the first time it was on July 23, aka the 1D anniversary 👀 lil weird)

i initially made this blog solely for my fanfic but i'm glad i branched out - though i still wanted to take the time to anyone who's interacted w my writings, even if it was just help with plot or moodboards. my heart skips a beat when my writing is a point of conversation.

thank you to the beauties who grace my dash everyday, even if we don't talk often 💖

@feverkitten @p-oolshark @pearlparty @avengen @presleys @mrsniallhoran505 @missmaywemeetagain @marooosa @eliseinmemphis @elvisabutler @lovininapinkcadillac @aconflagrationofmyown @austinsmutler @heartbrake-hotel @dre6ming @flwrs4aust @rosaminny @presleysdarling @woundmetender @rainydayz101 @ggwritesstuff @golden-kiwis @lattedreamer @weak-aesthetic @bcofl0ve

and of course to my almost daily babes, my days would be so empty without you all and my heart would be so deflated - i never thought i'd end up with a group like this

@succsessions @lllsaslll @cryingabtab @elvisfatass @loving-elvis @nora-nexus-34 @lavenderelvis @luluthesandgoose @powerofelvis @bisexualwvtson @samfangirls @lindszeppelin @infatuatedharleys @ab4eva @sagesolsticewrites @slowsweetlove @areacodefan @jelliedonut @steph-speaks @star-shard @foreverdolly @purejasmine @oh-my-front-door

and how could i ever forget the two that really roped me in @karamelcoveredolicity @troubleinapinksuit - even though it was through war, violence & lawsuits (lol) that our love was carved from, it is the most magical. i am so honored and so grateful to call you friends

one of my biggest goals for 2022 was to make new friends - ones who are reliable, kind, like-minded, supportive, generous, loving - because i was feeling so lonely & unloved, and to my surprise this goal was met ABUNDANTLY by you all, i really can not stress how much you all mean to me

extra special shout out to @bisexualwvtson for setting up the christmas card exchange, it was probably my favorite part of this holiday season - those cards made my whole christmas and i will cherish them forever

i love you all so much its DISGUSTING how much i love you - i don’t know how i would’ve made it through this year without you all - and it makes me so fucking sad when i think about all the memories that wouldn’t have happened without austin/elvis/you guys - it is because of you all that i have some of the best and happiest memories of this year, thank you ❤️

i hope that we are together for a long long time - i know that i am, i’m here for the long haul 💗 pls be in the nursing home with me breaking hips to Elvis songs

love, mel xx

(I APOLOGIZE IF IVE MISSED ANYONE I TRIED MY BEST TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING MY BRAIN IS TRASH SO IM SO SORRY PLS DONT BE OFFENDED IF I MISSED U I LOVE U)

[arizonanighthawks]

Nighthawks Weekly’s Projected 24-25 Roster

Jude Hartman, staff writer

AFTER A CRAPSHOOT of a 23-24 season filled with injury, drama, and Simon Dahlvig’s busiest season of his career playing 64 games, it was all but confirmed that the Arizona Nighthawks were going to enact some big changes. 

And yet the team looks largely the same going into the slowest part of the offseason. Sure, there was the trade at the deadline that sent C Phillippe Lemelin to Dallas in a one-for-one for C Hector Morales, the acquisition of RW Michael Yeung during free agency, and the news that winger Hugh Bishop is coming off IR, but all this happened in the bottom half of the lineup. In the end, Walter Bowen is still head coach, Isaiah Chambers is still GM, and why Vezina-winner Simon Dahlvig accepted a trade to Arizona and then signed an extension here is, as always, a mystery.

Of course, the biggest news is that of Anatoly Zikov, the Russian-Kazakh center whose KHL contract ended last season. Though the Nighthawks have been infuriatingly tight-lipped regarding him and no word of an ELC has emerged yet, it’s widely assumed that he’ll be dressing in teal and orange on opening night 2024. So, with all that in mind, Nighthawks Weekly presents our projected roster for the 2024-25 season.

Forwards

Top line: Stanislav Dudek #52 - Lee Bartlett #21 - Mattias Almqvist #27

Look, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Alternate Captain Lee Bartlett’s top line was the Nighthawks’ top producing line in the 23-24 season, by a large margin. The guy’s a play-driving machine, the only moving part on an otherwise stale powerplay, and one of the best penalty killers in the NHL right now. When he’s on the ice, xGA% goes down by over 10%. The chemistry between Dudek and Almqvist can’t be denied either; just over half of Dudek’s 27 goals were assisted on by Almqvist.

2nd line: Michael Yeung #42 - Anatoly Zikov #? - Nicolas Proulx #14

It might be worth it to see if anything can get Nicolas Proulx going like he could in juniors, and if that thing is a Russian phenom, well, why not? We might sympathize with Proulx’s lack of production, but at some point, we hope to see the 2022 5th overall light the lamp like he used to. He topped his record skating speeds this year and if his trainer’s Instagram is to be believed, he’s only going to get faster. Yeung is a great addition to the team, a 26-year-old solid winger who’d already been taking younger players under his wing in New York, and we’d like to see him do the same with Zikov.

3rd line: Nick Torvalds #19 - Ezra Page #98 - Brodie Barnes #43

Page might be young, but he’s been in the league long enough that he’s gonna be able to center these two rookies. Calder winner two years ago and leading goal-scorer last year, Page is only getting better with age. If this is our third line center, then we might be golden. We expect to see Nick Torvalds, the 2023 1st rounder who spent last year lighting up the AHL, make the show this year. And as for Brodie Barnes, the 22-year-old college kid who only came down to Arizona last year to play for the Ringtails, why not give him a shot? He was certainly no Torvalds last year, but he’s a great two-way forward who can play either right or left with ease, and he deserves to get a chance.

4th line: Roger Smith-Sweeney #77 - Hector Morales #68 - Hugh Bishop #61

Put this line on the ice the second you see anyone even think about laying a hand on Zikov.

… I’m only half kidding. But really, this is a solid fourth line. Hector Morales was the return for Phillippe Lemelin to Dallas at last season’s trade deadline, and after racking up 4 goals and 7 assists in 16 games, the FO decided to sign him to a one-year deal, because why not? He’s a great fourth-line center that could certainly move to the third line, and Smith-Sweeney and Bishop are a proven pairing that can do some damage. Hopefully Bishop can stay healthy this year, because we’d love to see more of that combination.

Defensemen

1st pairing: 

Dion Martinez #55 - Michael Houck #90

Martinez might have been labeled a reach when the Nighthawks drafted him in the first round in 2019, but he has simply proven everyone wrong. This pairing was on fire last year, and now with Houck expected to have an increased leadership role on the team after being given the A this offseason, expect to see major production from this pairing.

2nd pairing: 

Howard McLaughlin #62 - Dennis Nadeau #71

The classic vet-rookie twofer. McLaughlin had decent numbers last year in 50 games for the Nighthawks as a rookie (8-17–25) but his immense production in the juniors still looms. Give him a solid defensive defenseman like Nadeau as a partner and you should see a meteoric rise across the board.

3rd pairing: 

Trey O’Brien #15 - Logan Larocque #8

Larocque is another Ringtail that deserves a shot at the big leagues. After putting up a whopping +23 in the AHL last season, his fiery defense and incredible skating earn him our nomination to the show, or at least to a third pair. 

Seventh defenseman: 

Quincy Martineau

Martineau is a curious player. A graduate of Colgate University, Martineau seemingly appeared out of nowhere when the Nighthawks invited him to last year’s development camp and he blew everyone out of the water. He was a fantastic rotating defenseman last year, a shot-blocking machine on the penalty kill, and would be a great guy to keep on the lineup this year.

Goalies

Starting goaltender: Simon Dahlvig

Backup: Parker Wiley

Last season while Parker Wiley was out with an upper body injury, Simon Dahlvig went on an infamous eight-game point streak, starting every game for the Nighthawks during Wiley’s injury and putting up a seven-period shutout. He’s a Vezina winner, a Cup winner, and a future Hall-Of-Famer. He’s the starting goalie.

The backup shouldn’t be in question either: it’s Parker Wiley, who played well last year – at least for the 18 games that he did play. In the Nighthawks’ goalie pipeline, he’s the only one with NHL experience and that should put him head and shoulders above the rest of the group.

Considerations

AHL starting goaltender: Julian Richards #36

While Wiley is the clear backup, Richards might be a difficult player to cut for Bowen and Chambers. At 23, he’s been putting up .900+ save percentages for the Ringtails for the past 4 years and playing over 40 games a season for the past 3. He’ll be in the AHL, but whether they trade him or move Wiley, he won’t be there for much longer.