#m/use: olga

[substantial-gains]

Which Olga is more likely to ask for/reach for food in the middle of sex?

The answer is obviously both, duh~

[human-antithesis]

Woe Unto Me - Along the Meandering Ordeals, Reshape the Pivot of Harmony (March 24th, 2023) Country: Belarus Genre: Funeral Doom Metal Format: FLAC

Lineup: Igor Kovalev - Clean Vocals, Keyboards Artem Serdyuk - Harsh Vocals, Guitars Dzmitry Shchyhlinski - Rhythm Guitar Ivan Skrundevskiy - Bass Pavel Shmyga - Drums Olga Apisheva - Keyboards

Miscellaneous Staff: Arkadiusz “Aro” Jablonski - Producer, Engineering, Mixing, Mastering Artem Serdyuk - Producer, Songwriting Igor Kovalev - Producer, Lyrics Lenore Ani - Artwork, Layout, Design

Label: M-Theory Audio

Tracklist:

Mired Down in the Innermost Thicket - 12:09

Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck - 12:25

Deep Beneath The Burden - 12:02

Blood-Black Nothingness Stops Spinning - 12:16

The Great Waste of Withered Pipedreams - 14:36

[nrdmssgs]

Darker matters (part 9. final)

Masterlist Previous part

Angst with fluff finally Pairing: Nikolai x Olga 'Zhar' Samoilova Summary: When coming home becomes the hardest part Warnings: Swearing AN: This is the end of the story. However, there will be an epilogue for those of you, who wants fluff.

Thanks: This chapter is my tribute to a few very important people. I know, nobody reads this part, but it's important for me. @pale-elysium thank for supporting me this much and telling me these beautiful words. @sofasoap and @homicidal-slvt thank you for gifting me Nikolai. @gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot you actually inspired me for this story. @preciouslittlecreature I see you, I love you. @siilvan I owe you Niks last story. This is my attempt to hug each of you through the screen.

If there is anything that helped keeping soldiers away from an improvised interrogation room more efficiently than Sedmis blood-curdling shrieks, it is Ghost's figure towering next to the door. Chimeras, who are careless enough to pass him by, look away hastily and don't risk slowing down, even though everybody wants to know what exactly their commander is doing to her enemy. Maybe it is Ghosts mask, maybe it's the way he stood absolutely still, but something cold and inhuman drives everyone away from him and the room he guards.

When Zhar exits the room - she wipes a completely clean knife mechanically. She hears Ghosts voice, but can't make out what exactly he says, so she answers the first thing that comes to her mind, hoping that it would make sense.

“He's ok. Vocal fucker, but I made sure, he's surviving it.”

With each next step, the buzzing in her ears becomes more potent, and the light coming through open doors feels almost too bright. Olga still smiles, and hopes that it looks more or less convincing. When they step out of the main base building, she hides her eyes under the shadow of her hand and leans against the wall.

“Ok, Lieutenant, it's high time you go home - I'll take it from here.” Her throat is soaring, so the last words are being coughed out instead of spoken properly.

“Like that's going to happen,” mutters Ghost and commands Zhar to follow him, but she doesn't move.

“Go, Ghost. Please. I need a break. Getting embarrassingly old.” She tries to play it off, but Ghost turns back and reaches out to her side.

“You're bleeding out. Wait here, I'll get us a transport.”

Olga touches the area, where she felt his palm just a second ago, and winces - her gear is slowly soaking in blood. Her legs beg her to give up and sit, but she remains standing. Minutes drag painfully slow, but a mere thought of what would Price have thought, should Simon ever tell him about her current state, keeps Zhar on her two.

She doesn't bother asking, where is Ghost taking her - just lets her mind slip down the delirious slumber. He also prefers to remain silent, and Olga fights the urge to say out loud all the things her conscience is screaming deep inside her head.

“I`m sorry, you had to witness that.”

“I never wanted you to become a part of this mess.”

“I would never do that to you.”

“I would never harm Christine.*”

Zhar eats up every phrase, not letting them escape her lips, when suddenly Ghost does something almost unnoticeable, but loud enough to outvoice the raging swarm of her thoughts.

Music starts playing quietly and gently. Just as it used every time, when they ended up in the same car, back when she was in the TF. The Sergeants were usually sent to the back seats, so that they wouldn't fight for the power over the radio. Lieutenants slowly came back to normal to the sounds of their ‘lame elderly lullabies’ as Soap called almost everything they could catch on a classical radio station. It was soothing. Like in the good old days.

Olga watched indifferently as the landscape outside the window was changing. By the time Ghost parks the car near the hospital, she is barely awake. By this point there is only one desire left for her - to close her eyes and sleep so long, that the events of the last few weeks feel like one long dream. She almost gives in to the weariness, but medical personnel gathering around, helping her out of her gear and settling her on the operating table, keeps distracting her. 

Zhar doesn't recognize how much time passes before the bright light above her goes out and the buzzing of voices fades away. Could be a few minutes, could be hours as well.

The next time she opens her eyes - Olga finds herself on a hospital bed in a dark room. The only source of light is a soft light of a smartphone display lighting Simon's face, as he types something hastily.

“Tell her, I say ‘hi’.” Zhars voice is sleepy and wooly.

Ghost raises eyes on her and stands from his chair. 

“‘Her’? I'm writing Nik, you're ok.” Simon steps to the window and slides the curtains, letting warm sunlight in the room.

Zhar frowns: she became so used to the thought, that Nikolai is nowhere around, that for the whole day she thought of anything but him. Every smallest detail of the operation, alternative timings for every step of every her soldier, names, paths, numbers of supplies - her mind was flooded with so many things, that she almost forgot, what was it all for. Olga thought of how they usually orchestrate the reunion scenes in films: characters run into each other's arms, hug, cry, hold each other as if the world around just stops. She gave Nikolai nothing, not even a simple ‘hello’. No matter, how many Sedmis cries of pain still echoed in her mind - they were not loud enough for her to not remember his last words.

“...not a human anymore, not even a creature - this one is just a mold.”

Maybe he is right and there is nothing human left in her - only soulless numbers, plans, names swarming her head, making her body move, imitating a life. 

“Docs want to keep you till morning. But I know, you're sneaking out as soon as I leave you. So I suggested Nik to send someone here for you. Let's hope he doesn't trust all vital issues to a talking tablecloth, unlike somebody…” Ghost's voice drags her back to reality.

“Looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” Olga chuckles, “Come on, I owe Sebastian big time.”

“That bandage, he tinkered, was holding just on his ego and your power of will, Commander.” Ghost puts the phone in his pocket. “Ok, show me your wallet.”

Surprised by a rather unexpected request, Zhar reaches out for the jacket, hanging next to the bed and doesn't even manage to squeak, when Ghost takes it and puts it in the same pocket, where his phone is. 

“Said, you are going to sneak out, never said, I'd let you rent a car and drive back home on your own in this state…” Simon claps his pocket and looks around.

“And what if I get hungry?”

“Want me to bring you a Happy Meal, soldier?” If Olga could bet money on how vide Ghosts smile under the mask was - she would bet on ‘a shit eating grin’.

“Lieutenant, with all due respect: go fuck yourself.”

“Glad, you're ok.” Ghost turns to the door. 

Zhar barely manages to throw him her last ‘thank you’ before he disappears, as swiftly and unexpectedly, as he came this morning to her comms station. 

***

She can't fall asleep on the way back: it's high time, all the sedatives and analgesics kick in, but something keeps her wide awake. At the first hours of the ride it just irritates her, but with every next fruitless attempt to relax and let herself rest, the anger grows stronger. It makes her miss her driver's questions and remarks, it speeds up her heart, it awakes some animalistic feeling - a fear.

It is not fueled by anything going on. The feeling just appears somewhere deep in her guts. By the time, they are approaching Nikolai's house in the darkness of the deep forest - it eats her alive. 

Zhar gives up and commands the driver, Nik sent to pick her up, to stop the car and let her walk the last kilometer.

“You're sure?” The driver hesitates, because he still remembers how persistent Nikolai was when he explained where exactly this woman should be delivered. 

“I know this road as a beggar knows his bag, darling.” Olga exits the car and steps out of the headlights.

Each next step towards Nikolais' house is harder than the last one. The most obvious reason for that is the fact that Olga walked this road a thousand times in her dreams, while Nik was captured. Each dream ended the same way: she entered a cold, abandoned house. Each little detail of its interior brought her nothing but pain and terror: the kitchen sink, where Nikolai once cleaned her hand, after she accidentally cut herself, the sofa, where he lulled her to sleep, the fireplace, he lit in the evenings so she could sit on the floor for hours, peering out of the panoramic windows. All these details felt orphaned, dead without him. Although she knows, these were just dreams - her mind slowly erases a phantom border between nightmares and reality.

By the time his house appears from behind the trees, Olga is sure she won't be able to force herself to just cross his threshold. And that is when she feels someone's gaze on her back. She stops on her tracks, freezes, a wave of shiver runs down her spine.

Suddenly, her mind goes blank: Zhar forgets everything besides two bright pictures. The first one is the heavy blizzard, a greyish snow cloud chasing her back in Russia many months ago, when she just started working for Nikolai. The other one is silver-blue eyes, cold as that blizzard, piercing right through her, and a knife pressed against her neck. 

“For fuck's sake,” she mutters and takes out the gun, stepping on a wooden patio in front of Niks house.

She turns back and points her gun at the deep darkness. As much as she doesn't want to admit it - she doesn't see her enemy, doesn't actually see anything in the middle of the night in the heart of the forest. 

Zhar takes a step backwards, then another and another one, until her back is pressed against the wall.

“You want him - you will have to go through me!” Her voice is weak, her hands are trembling. 

Olga slowly sinks to the ground, tears run down her cheeks, but she doesn't let herself get loud, sobbing as quietly as she can. She can't see a thing in a dense depth of forest, but she is certain that the man she once made a pact with, is now back to claim whatever she hasn't paid him. 

She doesn't notice a thin line of light running over the wooden floor and becoming thicker, doesn't hear Nikolais approaching steps - just keeps muttering ‘me, not him’ over and over, searching for the enemy.

The first moment he sees her, Nik feels relieved: there she is, finally close enough to reach out and touch her. But then he notices a gun in her hands, shiny traces on her cheekbones, and his heart shrinks. Throughout many years of service, both official and private, he saw the same things happening to others. The terror in their eyes, the inexplicable desire to keep fighting, although the battle unravels only in their heads. 

He tries to not think about all the times, when such soldiers were left alone and found too late, when he slowly descends on his knees next to her.

“I… I'm coming in soon, Nik. I just need a minute.” Olga whispers, not even looking at him.

“You see anyone there?” Nikolai leans closer, partly to be able to react fast enough, should things go south, partly because he missed everything about her and would give anything just to feel her proximity.

“Go back inside, Nikolai, please.” She sniffles and fights the shiver growing stronger and taking over her whole body.

“Nebo, posmotri na menya*. Nobody will dare to come here today. Not after you brought them hell.” Slowly, and very softly, he reaches for the gun in her hands and takes it away, trying not to make sudden movements. Although it's obvious, Zhar doesn't like what he is doing, she forces herself to sit still and not fight him. 

They remain silent for the next few long minutes, Niks forehead pressed against her temple, his warm breath tingling her face. If she wasn't obviously freezing, Nikolai could easily spend the whole night there: sitting close, breathing in her scent, watching the heartbeat pulsing on her neck. So he reaches out to take her in his arms.

“Let's go home, love.”

That's the second time, when something stings Nik painfully from the inside. When he picks her up - he feels how unnaturally, unhealthy lightweight she became. She doesn't answer him or react, when he carries her inside. It is only when he sits on the couch with her in his hands - Zhar snaps back to reality. Her gaze grows focused, she looks around, and her eyes freeze, meeting his - she grabs onto his shirt as if she's afraid of losing him then and there.

Olga tries to say something, anything, really, but fails. Her lips part, but no words escape. Instead, she inspects him: her fingertips slowly brush down Nikolais ribcage and pause over every bruise and stitch that wasn't there before.

“Just a scratch,” calms her down Nik every time, but her face only darkens, and he decides to change the topic.

“Khoroshaya moya*, you're too far away, still out there, at Sedmis base. What can I do to make you come back to me? How can I help?”

Zhar doesn't move, sitting perfectly still in his hands, as the tight knot in her chest slowly unravels with each beat of her heart. She looks somewhere through him, and when she finally answers - Nikolai feels as if all the oxygen was suddenly deflated out of his lungs.

“Cast me out, Nik.”

He would have felt better, had she hit him, or shouted and blown his house to bits. It takes Nik a lot of self-control to remain visibly calm.

“You… don't want to be in Chimera? Love, we will think of some-”

“No, you didn't get me. Cast me out. Banish me from your life. I can't do this on my own - need your help. Please, before it becomes too hard. You'll be better without me.”

Nikolai feels completely lost: somehow each clarification only confuses him more. He hears his own heart racing as he tries to muster the right answer.

“Before it becomes too hard? Let me tell you something. Share my perspective, so to say, ok?” He brings her head to rest on his chest and continues talking.

“For a long time I was ok with that little furious treasure not letting me anywhere near her. After all, we can't be everybody's favorite, yeah? So when Price called me and said ‘I need a fixer for her’ - I awaited not more than just a boring mission, where the most entertaining part would be staying alive under all her death glares.

“But she turned out to be ok - buried the hatchet for the sake of her Cap. We even made quite a team, it was fun to run around together, shaking off the tail, fighting back. But I forgot all the fun the very next moment after they set her on fire. She looked so helpless in my hands, as I tried to put it out. A once tough and strong soldier, lying before me as a lifeless puppet - my blood still runs cold every time I remember that view.

“Then she fought the pain. The medic, I found for her emergently, kept repeating, she needed general anesthesia, but we didn't have time to transport her to the hospital. I remember telling him, ‘this girl is a die-hard - she is going to make it’. And she did. Cried so loud, it must have hurt like hell, but she did it. I was proud, when it all was over, and I carried her to her bed - I felt euphoric, as if I was high. All because she made it through.

“Later that night, she got delirious and forgot for a few hours that she never spoke Russian to me. She was telling me the most beautiful words, I have ever heard. Said ‘Ne ostavlyai menya*’ and ‘ty mne nuzhen*’. Nothing special, maybe, but these words got stuck in my head so deep, I kept replaying them in her voice over and over for months. And then I decided, I was willing to risk it all just to hear more.

“The rest is history: the second operation, the success, her return to the base, our chats, occasional phonecalls, me showing her every smallest detail of my iron bird, her sharing little stories and memories… When I took her with me for a little vacation - I knew that I would either return from it as hers, or with a broken face. I couldn't believe my luck, when she let me into her life, not as just a friend. 

“Still remember our first night together, when she drifted to dreams in my hands and I just couldn't bring myself to sleep. That was when I asked myself, what was the exact moment, she really got me all to her mercy.”

All the time, Nikolai was talking, his hands kept stroking Olgas head and back, but now he stops doing that.

“It was long before that night, before our little escape, even before all these months of her healing. She got me on my knees a long time ago… Her ‘I need you’ mesmerized me, won me fully. It may have been too hard to deny her back then. But now? Nebo, now it's not too hard - it is impossible.”

Olga listens carefully to every word and even to the silence, following his story. It would be so easy if she could let herself just shut her mouth and call it a night. But if there is one person, she really owes a confession - it's Nikolai.

“I failed you.” 

She doesn't wait until he starts protesting and admits everything. She tells Nik, how lost and useless she felt on the first days after his capture, how she couldn't manage many conflicts boiling up in the Chimera, how she lost people, how she sacrificed her own home. Not long before the rescue mission she almost wished she could go alone, just to end everything at once - and Olga confesses even that. 

“... I did unspeakable things, Nik. I was ready to sacrifice the whole Chimera, I risked Ghosts life, I turned lives of an innocent woman and her child into a forever nightmare. And the worst part is that I would do this all again without a second thought, should it be for you. I'm not a soldier after that - just some sick twisted mind.”

Nikolai touches his lips to Zhars forehead and frowns - she's running hot, must be the fever after everything, she put her body through. 

“What did they do?...”

Olga doesn't understand, what exactly Nikolai means by that and starts recounting losses incurred by the Chimera, but he cuts her off with a more specific question.

“What did they do to my girl? My beautiful treasure, my sky and my heaven. Tormented, worn out, blinded by this shitshow.” His hands snake up her back, shoulders and neck, and lift her face, so that she can't escape his gaze.

“They did nothing.” She shakes her head and smiles ruefully. “There was no girl, sky or heaven from the very start - I was the shitshow, the problem itself. And when you were gone - I caused nothing but damage. I just needed time to realize that.”

Nikolai understands that this is not her speaking now - this is the enormous stress she's been living in since his capture, this is her fever, weariness after all. PTSD hits hard, especially, when it comes to those, who never unwind after the missions, never let out the steam. 

“You did this all to get me back. Crossed so many lines not for your egoistic interest, but for a living breathing human being, you care about. And you still weigh the morality of everything you`ve done.” He cradles her gently, fingers stroking her hair as he whispers. If he has to repeat it for a million times this night to fight her doubts off - Nik is ready to tell her again and again, that she did nothing wrong.

“I'm no better than Sedmi, or Makarov or any other fucked up mind - didn't even need much time to commit the same sins as them.”

Nik notices how her breathing becomes deeper, and her pulse slows down a little. He begins to speak very quietly so that she listens and calms down with his voice.

“I'll tell you a little story, put you to sleep and then in the morning you decide, if you want to stay here, ok?”

She nods, and Nikolai goes on.

“Many years before you joined Prices group, a soldier came to me with a question. I'm not sure if he was thinking about joining the Chimera, but nevertheless, he asked me what can I tell him about the specifics of working for… a private military company.

“I advised him to not step in that direction ever. Because that world is full of darker matters. Disgusting characters and deeds that you suddenly have to tolerate. But the worst part is that you yourself have to become a darker matter. You do things you never would have done before… Cross all the lines, even those, you specifically drew yourself earlier. At the end of the day you can't even say, you fought the evil - you are trapped with it.

“That guy already burned the candle at both ends - I'd hate seeing him gone because of the metamorphosis, one has to live through in our line of work. Not saying, he wasn't fit for work. I just wasn't sure, he had this personality, that would let him see the ugly truth in the mirror and still keep going.”

Olga chuckles to herself, but it doesn't go unnoticed.

“You don't believe me?”

“I do.” She relaxes, letting herself put a bit more weight on his chest. “I do, it's just funny how your words haven't scared that soldier altogether. He chose the right path, yet never turned away from his friends, who-”

“And what if you chose right too, luybimaya*?”

Zhar holds her breath. It's a sucker punch to call her like that, when she just asked him to let her go. Nikolai knows it, but he's ready to call her anything, to confess and give her anything to keep Olga by his side. And it works. Because the next thing Nik hears finally brings him peace, it brings her back in his life.

“I chose you, don't care if it's right or wrong. Ty mne nuzhen.”

I would never harm Christine. - Here Olga refers to Christine Riot Vega, the OC of @gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot and Ghosts partner

Nebo, posmotri na menya. - Look at me, heaven

Khoroshaya moya. - My dear

Ne ostavlyai menya. - Dont leave me

ty mne nuzhen - I need you

luybimaya*- My love

[nangel]

Paparazzi, part thirteen

✍︎ word count | 3656 words

✈︎ missing out parts? | series , part 1 , part2 , part 3 , part 4 , part 5 , part 6 , part 7 , part 8 , part 9 , part 10 , part 11 , part 12

Tension

Maureen was talking a lot with Charle’s friend Steve who is a professional footballer and they met each other a long time ago cause Charles plays football too but besides his racing for example for charity events but only for fun mostly, which he tolerated me last night. We dragged our suitcase along with Steve and Charles. “I can’t…wait…to be…in England…” Olga panted, dragging her suitcase. “Me neither…I’ve never been there” i said casually. “Is it possible that Maureen fell in love?” Annabelle asked me and I chuckled. “I don’t think so to be honest” i said in a whisper and Annabelle laughed. Charles turned back to look at me snd immediately gripped hold on the suitcase to roll it for me. “How sweet” i said smiling and he gave me a wink. When I looked at him I saw the perfect man in him. I could imagine really good that he was that type of man every girl wishes for he probably would be the perfect boyfriend and the sweetest. I could already tell that he was good in his actions and that he was boyfriend material as Olga said. He was already really romantic and good with touch. “Why are we even outside?” i asked him confused. “Private Jet” Charles said casually and my eyes widened. “What?” i asked quietly before adding. “Are we…are we flying with a…?”. “Yes” he said in a whisper almost mockingly. “Holy shit” i shouted excited. “Okay no matter how much I disliked Charles at first now I like him” Olga said smirking. “Oh god” i said rolling my eyes.

We kept walking a little more and as soon as we saw the private jet our jaws dropped. “Get used to it” Charles whispered and I chuckled. As we arrived at the private jet our suitcases were loaded and a woman that stood next to the stairs which led into the jet. “Mister Leclerc, a pleasure to see you again” she said smiling at him and I watched him and her. “For me too” he said looking at me while I was standing between Annabelle and Olga. “Flying alone?” she asked flirtatiously and I narrowed my eyes at her question. It was a pretty dumb question, I mean yes, I also ask dumb questions sometimes but that was absolutely ridiculous. Olga turned to me and me m, her snd Annabelle gave each other knowing looks before turning to the private jet again. “As you can see not, no…”he said as he quickly grabbed my arm pulling me to him to put his arm around my shoulder which made me look at him amused. “I see…” she said trying to laugh before adding “Don’t worry…the jet’s ready” she said stepping to the side. He smirked at me. “Are you coming with me?” he asked me whispering into my ear. “I’ll stay with Olga, Annabelle and Maureen” i said softly and he nodded. “I’ll get Steve” he said giving me a knowing look and I whispered a thanks which made him smile snd laugh. He took Steve with him getting inside with him, giving me a smile before disappearing into the jet. I walked to my three girls” I think I need a glass of champagne” I said and Olga nodded. “Me too” she said and Annabelle cut us off. “Let’s just talk about this bitch first a moment” she said and i looked at her. “That was crazy cute…she was flirty, he pulled you close” Annabelle said stunned and Maureen nodded. “It really was” maureen said smirking and I looked on the floor before scratching the back of my head. “Oh no…I know that look” Olga said patting my shoulder. “Tell us, Maddy” Maureen commanded and I sighed. “Charles broke up with Alexandra” i whispered looking out for the blonde standing 5 meters away from us. “You’re joking” Maureen said shocked and I shook my head. “Like…breakup-breakup?” she asked and I rolled my eyes. “Thank God! God must be a woman…and she’s on my side” Annabelle said and I calmed her down. “Alexandra was a stupid bitch…a barrier…now she’s gone…problem solved” Olga said casually and we looked at her confused. “Really” Annabelle asked annoyed and Olga raised her hands. The blonde woman interrupted us. “Are you coming too?” she asked almost impatiently and Olga and Maureen gave her a bitch-stare. “We really should” i said and they nodded.

We made our way inside and Charles waved at me to come over. I came over and looked around. It looked pretty luxurious in here, like in a movie. There also were huge seats and enough for us six. “Are you impressed?” he asked softly looking up at me from his seat. “Yeah” i said amused. “I can’t wait to see you at practice today” i said smiling. “I can’t wait to see you cheering for me tomorrow” he said giving me a wink. “We’ll see about that” i said laughing devilish and he pulled me down onto the seat next to him. “Hey” i said amused. “Is everything okay” he asked and I knew that he was referring to me and my friends. “Of course” i said with a smile. “Good” he said and I smiled at him. I was sitting here and there always changing between Charles and my friends. I was siting next to Charles again and while everyone was either sleeping or talking I found my hand searching for his. He took my hand in his and brushed with his thumb over it. I rested my head on his shoulders. “You know what I was thinking?” he asked me and I looked at him with a smile. “No, tell me” i said interested. “After my practice today we could try our second date” he said smirking and I chuckled. “Yeah we can do that” i said softly and he squeezed my hand that he was still holding. “Great” he said softly and I chuckled. “I should keep you away from my friends tho” he said smirking and I laughed. “Why that?” i asked amused. “Because they are head over heels for you…they’ve bern trying to get informations about you from the start…they are pretty curious” he said rubbing his eyes. “That’s cool” i said softly and he chuckled. “Trust me you wouldn’t want that” he said amused, rubbing his eyes. “I would like them i guess” i said smiling and he smiled at me, heavily. “Really?” he asked softly and I nodded, nudging his arm. “Yeah” i said before adding. “Really” which made him squeeze my hand. “You know what I was thinking?” he asked smirking and I knew that he had planned something. “No, what?” i asked interested. “Nope…that’s gonna be a surprise”he said smirking and I rolled my eyes.

We landed and immediately got into the hotel. The hotel really was beautiful. I was standing on the balcony as Maureen came outside putting on her earrings. “Are you coming with us?” she asked softly. “Hm?” i mumbled and she tilted her head with s smile. “We are going for a drink before going to Charles’s practice race” she said softly. “Sure…never saying no to a drink” i said smiling and she throw my black bag to me. “I thought so” she said smirking and I walked inside with her.

We had our drinks and afterwards we immediately made our way to the Silverstone Circuit because we were already running late a little. We were running to the entrance and searching for Charles. “Oh no” i groaned. “We should’ve visited England a little” Olga said panting. “No time” Annabelle said smirking. Meanwhile I texted Charles that we arrived. “We can do that later too” Maureen said softly to Olga. Charles came up to us with a smile and told the security guys to let us in. “I really need to give you all access cards soon” he said his eyebrows raising as he gave me an exhausted look. “Are we too late?” i asked him and he shook his head laughing. “No” he said with a laugh. “Yeah…we were held up a little” i said giving Olga a death stare. “I thought fries before guys” she said and I rolled my eyes. “Yeah…I’m sorry for this thing here” he said to us. “Don’t worry” Olga said patting his shoulder. “Yeah…no worries” Annabelle said and Charles immediately took my hand to lead us inside. “You’ll love this…they already set up everything” he said to us. “I already love it” Olga said walking right behind us, not able to take her eyes off the location, same as me, Maureen and Annabelle. “Unbelievable” Annabelle said shocked. “This is soo cool, thanks, Charles” Maureen said and he gave her a smile. “Of course” he said snd squeezed my hand leading us around. While leading us around he gave us the informations about the circuit so we were prepared for everything. “At least we’re not gonna look stupid here” Olga said fist bumping Annabelle who agreed. “The race tracks are pretty interesting, you’ll see…practice race is good especially for new race tracks…so we get to know everything” he said and I listened looking around.

“Man, you won’t believe me…they changed my car” a guy said a approaching us and patting Charle’s shoulder. “As I said…practice race is a good thing” Charles said and I nodded. The guy looked at me immediately and actually way longer than necessary. “Wait…I know you” he said and my eyes widened. “From the club…that was a long time ago…you probably don’t remember” he said in thoughts and I chuckled. “I do” i said looking up at Charles who squeezed my hand. His gaze immediately dropped down to our hands and he smirked at us. “Ah, now I understand” he said smirking and I looked at Charles who looked at me too. “You are…” he started but Charles cut him off. “Madlen, this is Lando, Lando…Madlen” he introduced us and Lando smiled at me. “Madlen, huh?” he asked Charles, grinning at him which made Charles roll his eyes. I just smiled at Charles. “I’ve heard a lot of you, Madlen” he said and I chuckled. “I hope only good things” i said and he laughed. “Of course…well I haven’t heard a lot of you, Charles doesn’t talk about you, no matter how much we try…he just doesn’t want to tell us” he said boxing Charles’s arm. “Nice to meet you, Lando” i said holding my hand out. “Nice to meet you too, finally” he said shaking my hand too. I laughed and Charles smiled at me. “It’s great to finally have a name and a face to the pictures” he said and I grimaced. “As I said you won’t like it” he whispered and I whispered back. “I already like him” which made him smile. “She’s so sweet…why haven’t you told us” Lando said before adding. “We already discussed who the mysterious girl could be but in real life you look even more beautiful” Lando said amused and I already could tell that he was in high spirits, same as me. “Thank you” i said smiling. “Also good that you’re here to support us” he said and I nodded. “Of course” i said amused and he laughed. “I like her” Lando said nudging Charles’s arm. “You’ll love it here” he assured and I chuckled. “No doubts…” i said and he laughed. Charles squeezed my hand and Lando admired us. “I have a lot of questions but my practice begins” he said in a rush. “Good luck” i shouted and he pointed at me motivated before leaving. “See ya, man” Lando said to Charles and they waved at each other in a special way which made me laugh. “He rubbed hus forehead and I laughed. “He is not a rival” i said amused. “Well at race we are but besides the racing thing we all have a friendly relationship” he said casually and I nodded smiling. “I thought it would be worse” i said chuckling. “Worse? No” he said and I shrugged my shoulders. “I thought that everyone would see me as a bad person” i said casually and he shook his head. “No, it’s true…they tried to get informations about you but I didn’t give in” he said smirking and I laughed. “They are all excited to meet you, I already know” he said and I laughed again. “I find it sweet” i said smiling and he squeezed my hand again before letting go. “Who was that sweet guy?” Maureen asked me putting one arm around my shoulder. “Lando” i said smiling at her. “Lando Norris?” she asked gasping and I nodded carefully with Charles nodding. “Wow” he said stunned and I turned to smirk at her. “Are you crushing on him?” i asked smirking. “No…but he was handsome” she said and I laughed. “Definitely crushing” Annabelle shouted and we laughed. “Well…I don’t like saying this but he has a girlfriend” Olga said and we all looked at her. “I just did some research” she said defensively. “Why?” Annabelle asked her and she looked at me and then at Annabelle. “I don’t want to say that here” she said looking down at the floor and Annabelle groaned with me smirking to myself.

“When is your practice race?” i asked Charles softly. “In an hour” he said smiling and I smirked up at him. “And what are we gonna do in that hour?” i asked him and he spanned turned me around. “I could introduce you” he offered and I chuckled. “Yes please” i said and he smiled at me. I told my friends and they told me to go while they inspect everything. “Love you” i said to them. “Love you more” they shouted back before Charles led me somewhere. He introduced me to Carlos, his race partner and best friend. While we walked to him he told me more about him. I already knew him cause Charles talked a lot about him before. “Carlos” he called him snd he instantly turned around searching for us. “Oh no…is that her?” he asked smirking. “That’s her” Charles said proudly. “Wow…you didn’t lie…she is stunning” Carlos said running up to us. “So nice to meet you, Madlen” he said hugging me instantly. “I hope you’re a person first hugs” he added and I hugged him back laughing. “Nice to meet you too” i said to him and he looked at me before looking at Charles proudly. “How does it come that this little sucker gets attention from a woman like you” he said patting Charles’s shoulder which made Charles roll his eyes. “Cheeky” Charles said and I chuckled. “It was my fault too” i said looking up at Charles who protectively put his arm around my neck. “Wow, you’re so sweet together…you’d make a great couple” Carlos said winking at us and we both chuckled. “Not so fast” Charles warned him playfully. “That’s sweet of you” i said to him and he waved it off. “She’s gorgeous, man” Carlos said and Charles pulled me closer. “She really is” Charles said and I chuckled. “I hope you came to support Ferrari” Carlos said and I smirked. “I need to support my favourite team” i said smirking confidently and Carlos gave me a fist bump. “Don’t fuck up” he warned Charles and Charles sighed. We somehow got into some more introducing but only with his friends and it seemed as if they all were on our side and pretty discreet with us two. “Do you want to see my car?” he asked me and I looked at him. “Are you joking? Hell yes!” i said excited. “Come with me” he said taking my hand as he led me to the paddock. A lot of people were walking around and working there especially the engineers. Every time we passed by someone I kinda greeted them or gave them a smile. “There it is” he said and I saw the red race car. I was stunned even tho I normally was not into cars but now as I saw it, it aas pretty interesting. I would probably get claustrophobia in there. “That’s insane” i said looking at it. “A hard thing to ride” he said teasingly and I turned around shaking my head with a smirk. “Do you never get scared while driving?” i asked looking at the car a little more accurate. “You would be surprised how often that happens” he said leaning against it as much as he could. “God…I would be so scared” i said and he brushed up and down my arm. “Nothing will ever happen to me” he said smirking. “I mean everything could happen but I’m doing my job pretty good” he said proudly. “I fell like I am in fast and furious” i said chuckling and hd laughed. “Do you want to sit inside?” he asked smirking. “Is that allowed?” i asked and he came closer to whisper in my ear “I don’t care, Maddy” with his charming but still deep voice. I chuckled and nodded. He took my bag and helped me inside. “That’s really low” i said as I got inside. “That’s the best” he said snd I laughed. “Mario Kart” i shouted laughing and he laughed with me. “Oh god…I would not want that” i said carefully turning the wheel. “Wait until you see me” he said smirking and I chuckled. “VIP ticket to Mario Kart” i said smirking and didn’t even notice that he took a picture.

He helped me outside again and gave me my bag. “You would be a perfect model for such cars…I’d like to get you into a Ferrari shooting” he said admiring me leaning against the car. “What represents a hot car better than a hot woman” he added smirking snd I playfully posed against his racing car. He took pictures with my phone and I had pretty much fun. “I would never sit in a car with you…” i said suspicious. “You will…” he assured with his deep, rich voice that made me bite my lip. “Nuh-uh. What are you gonna do about it?” i asked amused and he came closer trapping me against the car. “I’ll find a way…to put you into that car…” he said smirking and I chuckled. “You won’t” i said laughing. “Wanna bet?” he asked looking into my eyes. We stared into each other’s eyes for about ten seconds as Carlos came to us again. “I don’t like crashing into something here but practice race starts in five minutes” Carlos said patting Charles shoulders. “We just took pictures” i said in a happy mood. “Really? I must see them” Carlos said and Charles I showed him the pictures. “Adorable…She should model for Ferrari” he said and I grinned. “Are you getting along here?” Charles asked me taking my hand. “Yeah…I’ll go and find my friends” i said holding my hand in front of my face because of the sun. “Are your friends three girls that are pretty loud?” Carlos asked and I slammed my hand onto my forehead. “Yeah” i said and he laughed. “They are over there…I heard them” Carlos said and I looked back before nodding. “Thanks” i said with a smile. “Have fun” Charles said still holding my hand. “You too” i said with a smile as he let go of my hand.

After finding my group I brought them to the paddock just as Charles told me. “You guys won’t believe this…it’s so great” i said as we were in the paddock. “Can we see the race from here?” Olga asked next to me. I nodded and Olga gasped impressed. “Holy fuck” she said I smirked telling her everything our paddock access includes.

“You and Charles” Annabelle started and I laughed shaking my head. “Is this how we start our conversations now? You and Charles?” i asked amused. “I’m a curious person, you know that” she said smirking and I laughed. “Are you…” she started and I cut her off. “No” i said and she smirked. “You two would be great as a couple” she said nudging my arm. “I know…and I can imagine it” i said smiling. “Wow…I’ve never heard that of you” she said smirking. “You know…it’s not enough to crush on him but it’s enough to date him” i said and she looked at me suspicious. “I guess…that we’re dating” i said and she nodded. “Of course you are…first date already happened and it was good you said…we’ll wait for the second date” she said and I chuckled. “Just imagine what a f1 wag you would be” she said and I laughed. “Sounds as if I’m completely insane” i said as we watched the race from the paddock. We watched the practice race and while we watched it I couldn’t prevent some gasps, hisses or groans. Watching him race made me sweat because it seemed unreal, he knew what he was doing and when he raced I had the feeling that it was the one thing where he had complete control and since it was his hobby too he was not afraid to show off. “Ouch…that one was tight” Olga hissed and I nodded. “He drives like a criminal” Maureen said and I grimaced. “If he crashes I’m gonna kill him” i said fidgeting with my new acrylics which had a french design with some rhinestones. “He won’t” Maureen said laughing. “Oh god…look how he’s driving…” i criticised cause he hit the curve on the track really sharp. “Maddy” Annabelle said amused and Olga laughed.

Next part

[dolceaspidenera]

OC meme

Thank you for the tag @senualothbrok, sorry it took me a while to do this!

Tagging @cleric4vampire @phasebun @astarionposting @hartsvale @wyrmtongued @vspin (as usual, no pressure and sorry if you were already tagged)

B A S I C S

Full name: Sameira of the Ironfang (she abandoned her former surname in favor of her adoptive father's clan) Gender: Female Sexuality: Bi, demi Pronouns: she/her

O T H E R

Family: Beregorn (adoptive father), Olga (a barista and brothel owner in the Gate who eventually became found family), the tadfools Birthplace: High Forest Job: is stealing a profession? She also worked as a bounty hunter (for reasons), and as a sort of healer for the poor in Baldur's Gate. Phobias: F̵̣͈͙̗͗̉̊̊̉ͅȃ̵̢̝̘̟̗̂̐̉͛ț̶̯̙̯̣̉̌͌͗͊h̸̖͈͎͎̗̍̒̈́̉̕ë̴̛͙̞̝̦̹́̇̅̒r̴̹͖͖̻̰͗͑̐̊̚, loosing control of her powers Guilty pleasures: lying in bed until late (having lived for many years among the lowlifes of Baldur's Gate, she is used to little sleep, when she can finally feel safe she likes to indulge and oversleep), eating sweets Hobbies: carving animal bones, reading and learning about weird animals and creatures, she's picked up a new interest in the mushrooms of the underdark and Blurg's research

M O R A L S

Alignment: Neutral Good Sins: Wrath Virtues: Insightful and empathetic

T H I S  O R  T H A T

Introvert / Extrovert Organized / Disorganized Close-minded / Open-minded Calm / Anxious / Restless Disagreeable / Agreeable / In between Cautious / Reckless / In between Patient / Impatient / In between Outspoken / Reserved / In between Leader / Follower / Flexible Empathetic / Unempathetic / In between Optimist / Pessimist / Realist Traditional / Modern / In between Hard-working / Lazy

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

OTP: Astarion Acceptable Ships: never thought about it OT3: None Brotp: Karlach, Jaheira, Halsin (can I put everyone in here?) Notp: I don't really ship her with anyone else but as long as it isn't offensive/harmful I don't care

Credits: dividers

[cherrylng]

100 Albums To Understand Muse - Part 5 [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

GONG Flying Teapot (1973) French progressive band led by David Allen. The trippy sound developed on a grand scale is often described as ‘space rock’. This album also features Steve Hillage's skillful guitar playing. A sound attraction aptly described as ‘music to be experienced’. -M

INTERPOL Our Love To Admire (2007) Pioneers of the post-punk revival of the 00s, hailing from New York but strongly influenced by UK new wave (Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, etc.). This third album is based around a conventional sharp sound that blends dark wave and neo-psychedelic music, but with Rich Costey as producer, the overall grandeur and glamour of the band is amplified. -I

JANE'S ADDICTION Nothing's Shocking (1988) The style of Jane's Addiction, which is based on heavy rock and sprinkled with extreme colour psychedelia, is similar to Matthew's, including Perry Farrell's outlandish metamorphosis. The music, the staging, every part of the band is just sparkling and flashy. No wonder Matthew used their eccentricity as a reference. -J

JEFF BUCKLEY Grace (1994) A New York singer/songwriter who disappeared into the Mississippi tributaries at the young age of 30 with only one album to his name. His father was singer Tim Buckley. Matthew cites him as the one who removed his resistance to singing in falsetto, and even played the intro to the title track on a French radio programme. -H

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN Psychocandy (1985) A fusion of sweet pop melodies and distorted, eardrum-pounding, violent guitar noise. The debut album from the Glaswegian band led by the Reid brothers, who caused a stir at the time with their innovative approach. A historic work that influenced many later bands and movements such as shoegaze and grunge. -I

JIMI HENDRIX Axis: Bold As Love (1967) As a guitarist, Jimi was a tremendous influence on Matthew. A ‘genius’ who has never existed before or since in rock history. Of Jimi, Matthew says: "He was a genius, but he wasn't afraid to fail. I think that sincerity is a lot better than just playing perfectly". This is his second album as part of the trilogy of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. -K

JIMMY EAT WORLD Bleed American (2001) Arizona four-piece who have supported Muse on tour. Although the band is often introduced as emo, it should be pointed out again that, along with the Foo Fighters, they became the template for rock in the 2000s. Their third album is one of their best-known works, and is packed with great songs such as ‘Sweetness’ and others that are both fast-paced and poignant! -T

JOSE CURA, OLGA BORODINA, COLIN DAVIS & LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Saint-Saens: Samson Et Dalila (1998) Inserted in ‘I Belong to You’ is the famous aria from the opera Samson et Dalila, ‘Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix / My heart opens at the sound of your voice’. Matthew, a romanticist, has a typical sense of humour. Delilah is a hit role for Olga Borodina, and Samson is a profound listening experience with Jose Cura, who is very popular in Japan. Highly recommended. -M

[outsideratheart]

10 Mistletoe with olga carmona

A/N: Day eleven of the Christmas advent calendar. Sorry it’s late.

You may be a professional football player but first and foremost you were a fan. Whilst you couldn't watch the El Classico due to playing for Barcelona, you could watch the El Derbi. It's how you found yourself in the Spanish capital, in the stands watching two of your rivals and supporting your girlfriend, only the rest of the world didn't know about the latter.

Thankfully, the drop in temperature allowed your visit to Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano to remain under the radar. The first half comes and goes and you are yet to be spotted. It allows your plans to surprise Olga after the game that much easier.

When Athenea scores in the 85th minute, winning the game, she runs towards the bench to celebrate with the entire team. It is then when she sees you. The confusion on her face in obvious but it only lasts a few seconds as she is needed back in her position.

Not knowing your intentions, the goal scorer makes her way over to you at full time.

"What are you doing here? Come down onto the pitch" She shouts a security guard over so that they can give you access.

Deep down you know it isn’t m a good idea. A Barcelona player seen on the pitch after a El Derbi, the optics wouldn’t be good and it would only cause you problems.

"It's better if I don't I -"

"I hope there is a Olga shirt under that jacket?" your girlfriend jokes knowing full well that you would rather die than be seen in a Madrid shirt.

"Not a chance. I'm a culer born and bred, you know that"

"I know" Olga tells you.

It was a conversation you have had before. She had lost count the amount of times she tried and failed to get you in white and gold.

"Meet me by the changing rooms" She tells you.

This wasn't the first time you had come to Madrid to watch her play, nor was it the first time you’d be meeting her near the changing rooms but it would be the first time anybody would know about it.

"First you come to our game, now you are coming to our changing room. What, are dating one of my team mates?" Athenea asks.

You choke on air at the question having felt like you have been caught.

"A Barcelona player and Real Madrid player dating. It would be like football's Romeo and Juliet" Olga shoves her team mate towards the tunnel as a way to end the questioning.

"I'll meet you down there" Olga shouts as she leaves the field.

Spotting a familiar security guard, you ask her to let through the restricted access door.

"Have a lovely Christmas Y/N" the guard shouts to you whilst you make your way down the hallway.

"You too" you shout back.

When you get to the home team’s locker room you wait outside for Olga. You cannot help but look through social media to see if any fans spotted you at the game, luckily they didn't.

You look up just in time to see Olga walk out.

"Hello you" you pull her into your arms.

The hug lasts a little longer than it normal would in this setting but you hadn’t seen her in a few weeks and although you hated to admit it, distance does make the heart grow fonder.

"People could see us" Olga whispers into your shoulder.

"We are just hugging. Now if I were to do this" you cup her cheeks, quickly stealing a kiss "this could cause questions"

"Well then it's a good job we are just hugging" Olga pulls away.

As luck would have it several Madrid players choose this moment to leave their locker rooms.

You say hi to some of your national team mates who play for Atletico, congratulating them on a good game despite the scoreline.

"You're still here?" Athenea asks you.

"Of course she is, Olga is still here" Esther says as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

Olga and yourself are joined by a few others as you leave the stadium.

As you walk, your hand finds its way to the small of Olga's back. With each step you hand gets lower and lower.

"Y/N" Olga subtly warns you.

You loved moments like this. The adrenaline that ran though your body at the thought of someone seeing you. There were several close calls at national camp but you never got caught. It almost became a game between the two of you. How far can you go without one of your team mates catching you.

"Tell me to stop and I will" you taunt your girlfriend.

Much to your surprise she stops in her tracks making you walk straight in the back of her. When she turns to face you, you very close.

Olga is about to say something but she is cut of by her team mates giggling and mumbling amongst themselves.

"Look up" Misa tells you.

When you do you you see a bunch of mistletoe hanging from the doorframe.

"Kiss" Athenea says rather giddily.

This could be the ultimate act. You could kiss your girlfriend with everyone watching. You knew what you wanted to do but you didn't know if Olga was thinking the same thing but then you see Olga cautiously nodding her head.

You lean down, your lips touch her in a still kiss. You are hungry for more but you know now isn't the time nor the place. Olga hands sit comfortably on your waist and she uses them to pull you close only you pull away slightly.

"What are you doing?"

"Having fun" it is now Olga who closes the gap and initiates the second kiss. This one is much more passionate than the first.

When you pull apart all eyes are on you and in a very rare occasion, you are at a loss for words.

“What was that?” Athenea asks knowing that kiss wasn’t one between friends now matter how Spanish you are.

“There is mistletoe” Olga nonchalantly says.

Questions get thrown at you from every direction and it feels line you are getting interrogated.

This isn’t how you planned on spending your night and clearly Olga is thinking the same thing because she grabs your hands and pulls you out of the door.

“Merry Christmas everyone” you sing as you all but run out of the stadium.

[ac-liveblogs]

UM UM UM OKAY.

NA anniversary is just around the corner, so I have started wondering (early) who’s potentially on the ticket for JP this year. Mostly bc I am terrified Tokyo Ordeal Call will be a Prototype storyline, Hot British Summer is on the horizon, and I am still refusing to separate from my nest egg of SQ in case My Guy ever drops.

8th anniversary Servant predictions, let’s go.

Nero Draco has opened the possibility for BEAST Servants to get added to the roster. While it’d be amazing for Camazotz or Goetia to get added to the cast, I think this was primarily in anticipation of The Alien God dropping as a summonable unit. I'm unsure if U-Olga will drop so soon though. It’d be nice and it wouldn’t be a bad time given story developments and that we’ve already seen large chunks of her kit, but I wonder if she’s not being saved for later.

We still don’t have our alleged Kazuradrop unit that has supposedly existed for some time. Wouldn’t she be better saved for some other Moon Cell-based storyline, though...

We might get another FGO/Melty Blood crossover of some kind, which could give us original flavour Sion or Ciel. Wouldn’t love that, being honest. We could also get someone from another Type-Moon property entirely, like Aoko Aozaki.

We still have the Greek gods (Aphrodite, Demeter, Zeus), though I have my doubts on those.

Another Rinface, to balance out the deluge of Sabers and Sakuras we’ve had lately. ...or Medea, haha.

A new Grand Servant. We still need to fill the Grand Berserker gap since Tezcatlipoca is Grand Assassin II, apparently. Taigong and Castoria also subbed in as Grand Rider and Saber respectively, but we don’t have official Grand units for those sections.

M... Mash has Lord Camelot back now.... is it time? Are we almost there? Will Gala- [no]

We do have a lot of Servants still waiting in the wings to be added to FGO from other properties, but no-one big name enough for an anniversary event. We might get a Fate Strange Fake servant like Richard III to tie into the OVA, but I really doubt that given the author’s previous stance on characters only getting added once the work is concluded.

Assuming we don’t just get someone new entirely, my current bet is maaaaaybe U-Olga, but this year I’m really not sure. I wouldn’t be shocked at a BEAST, anyway.

I also think that there’s a chance we’ll get a new 3star added to the roster, Xu Fu style, and if we do, it’s going to be her:

[msweebyness]

Class of Heroes AU: Out of the Waves, Into Your Arms

Behold!!! My first short for this AU! It’s probably bad, but if you guys like it, maybe I’ll do some more. Probably cute stuff, since I can’t do tense stuff to save my life, but who knows, maybe I’ll try! As always, credit to @imsparky2002 and @artzychic27! Without further ado…

Ondine’s sparkling teal eyes grew to the size of saucers as she took in her surroundings. She stood in the grand entry hall of her new school, and was absolutely stunned by the gorgeous palace that lay before her. Her first day on land was already so exciting! She had seen a forest(with actual TREES!), rode in a car, and actually seen the SUN! (It hurt a bit to look at, to be honest.)

Hearing voices behind her, she began to move forward through the high-ceilinged corridor, enjoying the sound of her mint green sandals clapping on the floor. (She still couldn’t believe she had LEGS!) She had found that feet weren’t the easiest things things to operate, however, at least for a novice. As she hurried up the grand set of stairs to the next floor of the school, she suddenly lost her footing and felt her body slip backwards through the air.

Shutting her eyes tight and grimacing, Ondine prepared herself for a painful and sudden collision with the floor. But to her surprise, it never came. Something seemed to be holding her up, something warm and strong. So she opened her eyes… and found herself in the arms of a handsome and VERY muscular boy her age. His stormy grey eyes held concern and his smile was adorably awkward.

“Uh, ar-are you okay, miss?”, he asked, his voice was deep and just as warm as his eyes. She found herself blushing as a small smile crossed her own lips.

“Yes, thank you.”, she said softly, “You really saved me just now.”

His cheeks flushed bright pink as he let out a nervous chuckle. “A-Ah, it was nothing, really. Uh, I’m Kim, what’s your name?”

“Ondine. It’s very nice to meet you.”, she said with a soft giggle of her own, her smile widening. He then gently set her on her feet, rubbing the back of his neck as he kept smiling in that goofy way that was so cute.

“Thank you again for catching me, Kim. I’m still getting used to having these.”, Ondine said bashfully as she gestured downward.

“Legs?”, the boy asked, looking a mite confused as he looked where she had indicated. The red-haired princess giggled again with a nod.

“Up until about a day ago, I had a tail.”

“Oh! You’re a mermaid?”

“Yes, a spell gave me legs and let me breathe air on the surface so I could come to school here.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

After that, when Ondine told him she had been assigned to the homeroom class of Mme. Mendeliev, a world-renowned sorcerer, Kim had told her:

“Oh, that’s the class right next to mine! I could walk you there if you want…”

She had accepted, finding herself enjoying the boy’s company quite a bit. As they walked through the hallways, they exchanged stories about their lives. It turned out that Kim had actually been born a GOD, but someone had stolen him from his parents, and turned him into a mortal. They hadn’t succeeded in doing so completely, however, which was why he was still so strong, which he had demonstrated for her by lifting two large statues over his head and juggling them, making her laugh.

“Yeah, it was pretty much always just me and my dads.”

“I couldn’t imagine that. I have SIX older sisters!”

“Woah, really?!”

“Mm-hm. Olivia, Ophelia, Octavia, Olga, Oona, and Olympia!”

“Your parents must really like names that start with ‘O’.”

“Ha, yeah. Mermaid kings and queens always name their daughters with the same letter. It’s a weird tradition but we still do it. My parents just chose ‘O’.”

When they arrived at the two neighboring classrooms, Kim turned to face Ondine. His smile really was SO cute, and he still had that soft blush on his cheeks.

“Well, these are the classrooms! Yours is the one on the left.”, he told her, pointing to the room in question.

“Thanks. It was really nice meeting you, Kim.”, she said, smiling warmly as she moved to enter the room, only for her flip flop to catch on her heel and send her sprawling again. Thankfully, her companion had moved quickly, catching her yet again, her hands pressed against his chest and his on her waist, both of their cheeks warm.

“A-and, thank you for c-catching me.”, she stammered out, “Both times.” He nodded with another sweetly nervous laugh.

“N-no problem.”

As she stared into those intense, but kind grey eyes, Ondine started thinking that maybe he could be the one to…No, it was WAY too early to be thinking like that! But, with her new environment and how she managed to make it here in the first place, she felt a bit bolder than usual…

“It was really nice of you to walk me to class. I hope we see each other again soon, Kim. And thank you again for saving me, twice.”, she said before she leaned up to quickly peck him on the cheek, giggling as she moved into her classroom, leaving the boy bright red with a huge grin, staring after her with what you might call ‘googoo eyes’.

———

“Max, I think I’m in love!”, a young demigod announced as he entered the dorm he shared with the boy he’d pretty much already claimed as his best friend. In response to this, the young inventor quirked an eyebrow with an amused grin.

“Oh?”

[substantial-gains]

Ryuji, panic-waddling out the door with a shirt barely halfway closed over his stomach, rips already being made as he bustles to the van with Olga, likely breaking at least one traffic law to get her to a fast food place where he can feed her apology nuggets and tenders and sandwiches and sauces in the parking lot, rubbing her tummy under her (formerly his) hoodie while she sips at her favorite milkshakes.

Trying to convey how sorry he is through their mutual love language of food and touch as best he can with how much his own stomach is pushing against the steering wheel, even with his seat pushed so far back his fingertips can barely graze the wheel in the first place.

Watching Olga groan around lips filled with food, hiccups making the whole van creak and squeal, her tummy peeking out from her clothes and turning red with tautness, eventually setting the seat into a full lean backwards that lets her nap all the way back home...

Even if he might have pulled something carrying her up the stairs, he really feels like she might still be mad at him.

"Crisis aver-urppppp....averted...Felt like a tantrum was coming on there-"

Olga's gut is stretching that hoodie to the limit, she might need her future hubby's new one when they get home, but that's for later. Right now Ryuji gets a few forehead kisses for making sure she was treated right. Those smooches make sure he knows she appreciates him, because with her passing out in full-lean mode in the passenger chair after a few minutes after finishing her last fry, both of them know it's a bitch of a chore to wake her up from a nap and force her teary-eyed, sweaty fat ass to walk up some stairs at the apartment complex proper.

...And since blondie boy neglected that and messed up his previously injured leg, the magus's going to verbally chew him out to kingdom come for not just roughly slapping her pale gut and butt to get her moving, BECAUSE SHE SAID IT WAS OKAY YOU PIGHEADED IDIOT, GOSH-

[human-antithesis]

Woe Unto Me - Along the Meandering Ordeals, Reshape the Pivot of Harmony (March 24th, 2023)

Lineup: Igor Kovalev - Clean Vocals, Keyboards Artem Serdyuk - Harsh Vocals, Guitars Dzmitry Shchyhlinski - Rhythm Guitar Ivan Skrundevskiy - Bass Pavel Shmyga - Drums Olga Apisheva - Keyboards

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

We Were Something, Don’t You Think So? [Chapter 12: The Atlantic Ocean] [Series Finale]

You are a Russian grand duchess in a time of revolution. Ben Hardy is a British government official tasked with smuggling you across Europe. You live happily ever after.

This is a work of fiction loosely inspired by the events of the Russian Revolution and the downfall of the Romanov family. Many creative liberties were taken. No offense is meant to any actual people. Thank you for reading! :)

Song inspiration: “the 1” by Taylor Swift.

Chapter warnings: Mentions of historical war and violence.

Word count: 3.6k.

Link to chapter list (and all my writing): HERE.

Taglist: @imtheinvisiblequeen​ @okilover02​ @adrenaline-roulette​ @youngpastafanmug​ @m-1234​ @tensecondvacation​ @haileymorelikestupid​ @rogerfuckintaylor​ @yourlocalmusicalprostitute​ @im-an-adult-ish​ @someforeigntragedy​ @mo-whore​ @mellowfellowyellow​ @peculiareunoia​ @mischiefmanaged71​ @fancybenjamin​ @anne-white-star​ @theonlyone-meeeee​ @witchlyboo​ @demo-wise​ 

There are rumors that a grand duchess survived, of course—they are whispered into life almost immediately after the murders at Yekaterinburg and never quite disappear—although no one can seem to decide which one. Sometimes it’s Maria, sometimes Olga, sometimes me, most often Anastasia; and for years, decades afterwards there are women who periodically surface and claim to be my most undomesticated sister, and each time I know they’re not just by seeing their photograph in the newspapers. The only consensus that can be found is that surely the survivor is not Tatiana, as she never could have vanished into the anonymous ether of humanity, not with that striking, elegant, gem-rare sort of face. No, everyone agrees that the most beautiful Romanov daughter died in Russia; everyone, that is, but Ben.

It is the last day of the October of 1918 when we board a ship bound for the New World. Ben, Joe, and I ascend the steps as Ben’s family—our family, now—waves us off from the dock: August, Kathryn, Opal, Leo, Luther, Ben’s mother…and Frankie, too. He arrived in London six days after our audience with the king, honorable discharge papers in hand and a perplexed yet grateful expression on his face. I don’t know if it was guilt, or a bribe, or one last favor to my father, or simple pure-hearted mercy once his shock and rage bled away, but King George V kept his word about bringing Frankie home. I never ask my uncle about it. I never ask him anything. I never speak to a member of any royal family again.

As we cross the Atlantic—the days shortening, the nights bitterly cold, bobbing dolphins chasing our iron walls, right whales breaching in the distance—Ben and I walk the decks like we did on that bleak journey from Saint Petersburg to London, but this time we do it as Benjamin and Lana Hardy. We married in a brief, uncomplicated ceremony in a tiny Russian Orthodox cathedral we found tucked away in North London; as a wedded couple, we will have a smoother passage through Ellis Island. We have also thought of a way to keep the Romanov jewels safe and undiscovered, as our luggage will almost certainly be searched upon our arrival: we’ve sewn them into our clothes.

Joe, predictably, makes many new friends onboard—Italians, Greeks, Turks, Spaniards, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, Jews—but he grows closest to an Egyptian named Rami. Rami, a Coptic Christian, fled Egypt to escape religious persecution…but not before falling in love with the daughter of a British archaeologist based there. He and Lucy are newlyweds too, always entwining their fingers and gazing into each other’s clear eyes and bubbling over with anticipation for their very own fabled American Dream to begin. Lucy is expecting their first child already, and as we chat away her hand often settles—unthinkingly, instinctively—on the modest swell of her belly.

At Ellis Island, we are pried at and interrogated and examined for any signs of defects, whether mental or physical or of the spirit. And as we are granted entry and rush down the staircase with our hands gliding over flaking metal railings—the same railings gripped by millions seeking new lives here—I remember my dream from the night before we were summoned to Buckingham Palace: water, metal, crowds, cobblestone streets, unfamiliar plants, a cold prickling drink that I will one day recognize as Coca-Cola, innumerable transparent bulbs of light. Perhaps that was more than a dash of intuition. Perhaps it was my parents letting me know it was alright to choose another path.

We find an apartment in Brighton Beach; between the five of us, we can afford to keep it to ourselves without squeezing in any additional boarders. That first night—after Kroshka has been placed in a rented stable stall down the street, after the luggage is unpacked, after we have eaten chebureki purchased from a street vendor, as the cracked and bare walls stare silently back at us—Ben sits down on the scuffed floor and covers his face with his hands, too exhausted to weep but drained and petrified down to the bones. “It’s the responsibility,” he says, and I know exactly what he means: it’s the weight of having to look after his family, Joe, our new friends, me.

The very next day, I get a job at a settlement house three blocks from our apartment. The pay isn’t much, but then again it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever been paid for anything, and so that in itself gives me a great deal of satisfaction. I excel there; I am a proficient typist, I can read and write and speak a myriad of languages, and educated women fluent in Russian are hard to come by in Brooklyn. I teach new arrivals to speak English, I teach children to hold pencils, I teach adults how to find work, I teach women how to escape violent husbands and to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I clean faces and braid hair and look into eyes—shining, hopeful, thankful eyes—that remind me so much of my parents and brother and sisters that my heart aches, and then calms, and then opens wide to swallow up and engulf the abandoned people of this city, of this world. Little do I know that I will work at this same settlement house for fifty-one years, over half a century, longer than either of my parents lived.

Ben starts out at an afternoon daily newspaper company called the Brooklyn Eagle. In his spare time, he writes his own articles and shops around for publications that will take them. When we are in desperate need—when a storm shatters our windows, when the radiator breaks in the middle of January, when I catch pneumonia and need medicine and weeks of bedrest—Ben takes a few of the smallest jewels or a rope of precious metal to a pawn shop on the other side of Brooklyn and returns with a thick stack of bills with Alexander Hamilton’s face on them. Joe gets a job at a pizzeria in Little Italy so he can learn the tricks of the trade before striking out on his own. Rami works there too for a while before finding a position at a tailor shop owned by a Coptic Christian from Luxor.

Once they save up enough money, Rami and Lucy move into their own apartment in Astoria—where many Egyptian families are settling—and promptly fill it with fervently desired children. Joe marries a Sicilian woman named Christabella and moves with her to Little Italy. We see each other several times per week and I am present at each of Lucy’s births. Rami teaches me Arabic. I teach him Italian. Ben teaches me Old English songs from his childhood. Joe teaches us all to make pizza.

Sometimes—as I lay awake at night long after Ben has fallen into sleep, his breathing slow and serene—I wonder what became of the items I left at Buckingham Palace: the books, the scarf, the pillowcase. I wonder if they were lost, or thrown out with the rubbish, or kept by the Prince of Wales as some sort of strange memento. Sometimes I wish I still had them. More often, I am glad that I don’t.

I was a different person then. Perhaps it is better to make a truly clean start.

Within a year, and with the help of a sizeable contribution from me and Ben, Joe has opened up his own pizza shop in Little Italy called Signore Mazzello’s Pizzeria. It frequently has a line wrapped around the block during the lunch rush.

~~~~~~~~~~

It is 1925, and the nation is booming, racing, roaring. I am promoted to Assistant Director of the settlement house. Ben writes an article about his childhood in London and the New York Times buys it. When he sells them another—an anthology of the stories of the other immigrants who share our apartment building, many of them Russian by birth—they offer him a position as a full-time columnist. We stay in Brighton Beach but move to a townhouse on a quiet street with several bedrooms, a stable for Kroshka, and a small, fenced backyard. Ben sends word to his family in London that the time has finally come for them to join us across the Atlantic. They arrive on our doorstep one month later: Ben’s hushed mother, Frankie with his wife Althea, Luther with his fiancé Ethel, Leo with his poems, Opal with her paintings, Kathryn doting on the very slow and very grey basset hounds, August having grown into a singularly joyful and charismatic young man. The original plan was that they would stay with us only until they found their footing in Brooklyn, but as it turns out our home is always full; someone moves out, someone else moves back, it is a carousel of weddings and children and holidays and farewells and reunions. It is an undying warmth and fullness that I never believed I would experience again. It is heaven on earth.

Ben and I have two children, both explicitly planned. Each time he insists that I labor in a hospital, and each time he is in the room with me from start to end. We name them and we love them and we watch them grow like the flora of Central Park: eastern redbuds, blue mistflowers, scarlet beebalms, Carolina springbeauties, cinnamon ferns, calla lilies. Ben’s mother treasures our children and spends hours with them each day. They bring her a new purpose; they bring her peace. She says it is like being able to hold her own lost children again.

We make generous donations to settlement houses throughout New York City. When the aging owner retires, Rami takes over the tailor shop. Joe opens up three additional locations of Signore Mazzello’s Pizzeria throughout Brooklyn.

~~~~~~~~~~

It is 1936, and our adopted country is in the depths of the Great Depression. We help others float through the storm as best we can. At the New York Times, Ben takes on and funds several apprentices from working-class families. We volunteer at soup kitchens. We stock the pantry shelves at the settlement house. We teach our children about egalitarianism and democracy and compassion. We raise them to know nothing of my bloodline. They believe that I am British just as Ben is, and that we met as coworkers in London; we never mention that either of us ever set foot on Russian soil. This is a necessity: however unlikely, I am unwilling to risk the possibility of detection. Every once in a great while someone will give me a second glance, or narrow their eyes, or blink thoughtfully at me as if they have met me once in a dream…but it amounts to nothing. Even the Russian immigrants I work with rarely suspect anything. My accent and dialect are so far removed from theirs—so formal, so educated—that they can believe I learned it from a book. The last Romanov daughter is gone, buried like the rest of them. What is left is only Lana.

At Christmastime—a lean, humble Christmas—I read in the newspaper that David Windsor has abdicated the British throne and passed it on to his dull, dutiful younger brother. David left so he could marry the woman he loved, a woman forbidden to him, a divorced American named Wallis Simpson. As I sit at the kitchen table studying the lines of his face in the black-and-white photograph published on the front page, I wonder if any part of him was thinking of me when he announced his abdication to millions of British subjects via a BBC radio broadcast. I wonder if somewhere in the back of his skull lurked my shadow, my vanishing, my willingness to cut through the ties of royalty to embrace a life of my own choosing.

Rami and Lucy welcome their sixth child, a daughter they call Lana. Ben writes articles imploring the United States to accept refugees fleeing the rise of fascism in Europe. Joe has to close three of his pizzerias, but with a little help from Ben and me (and our stock of clandestine jewels), he is able to hold onto the original location through the worst years the American economy will ever see.

Some people sink, of course; there are always those who will sink. But we pull as many into the life rafts as we can.

~~~~~~~~~~

It is 1958, and Ben and I celebrate our 40 year anniversary with a trip to Australia. We see the kangaroos and koala bears and beaches and the vast, red wildness of the Outback, and while we think of Gwilym and Hazel Lee quite a lot we don’t spend any time at all contemplating the merits or failings of the British Empire. I have learned that it is futile, maddening even, to battle against things so far above my control; it’s like trying to fight the sea or the stars. I cannot set all things right across the globe, but I can improve the circumstances of thousands of souls. Surely there is no better way to repay the debt the Romanovs owed to the world. Surely my parents and siblings would understand if they could see me now…and sometimes, when I dream of them, I like to believe they can.

As I am leafing through a magazine one afternoon, I come across a photograph of David Windsor and his wife Wallis. They are at a polo match or a garden party or something like that—something frivolous, something regal, waving to the paparazzi—and before I can turn the page one detail catches my eye. Looped loosely around Wallis’ thin neck is the green scarf I bought in Moscow. The silver-thread bears are as bright and shimmering as I remember them. Wallis is flashing a wide, triumphant smile to the same reporters who had once maligned her as a conniving, lowborn whore.

He kept my things after all. Why would he do that?

I close the magazine, thinking of the strings that tie people together and then unravel and then come back together again in new designs. I think of how little each of us truly knows. Sometimes that’s a blessing, and sometimes that’s a curse, and sometimes we’ll never know which it is.

I am made Director of the settlement house. Ben is promoted to Deputy Editor of the New York Times. Signore Mazzello’s Pizzeria now has ten locations: four in New York City, one in Baltimore, two in Philadelphia, and three in Chicago. Joe has his sights set on Los Angeles next.

~~~~~~~~~~

It is 1963, and I watch as Walter Cronkite announces that President John F. Kennedy has been assassinated. His wife was right there in the limousine. The new president is sworn in as she stands beside him, shellshocked, embittered, her pink suit stained with her husband’s blood and brains.

Everyone is horrified, and everyone is sad, but my children don’t understand why I cannot stop crying, why I cannot sleep, why I cannot get the vision of a nation’s leader senselessly murdered in front of his family out of my mind. I sit in front of the television with tears leaking ceaselessly from my scarlet eyes, thinking of Papa, Mother, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei. It’s like I’m back in Saint Petersburg. It’s like I’m learning they were slaughtered all over again.

Only Ben understands. He bundles me into his arms and presses his lips to my temple and whispers that I am safe, that our children are safe, that my family would be proud of me. It is the same way when Malcolm X is killed, and then Martin Luther King Jr., and then Bobby Kennedy. I am torn apart by the thought of their wives and children left bereft, left forever scarred by their murders. It guts me and leaves me bleeding for weeks.

We anonymously donate the last of the Romanov jewels to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There is fierce public debate for years concerning who came to possess them and how. Each time there is a newspaper article or a television broadcast about the jewels, Ben and I share a small surreptitious smile. Signore Mazzello’s Pizzeria restaurants stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific and boast over fifty locations. Joe leaves the business to his children to manage and retires with his wife to Atlantic City, New Jersey. He spends his days sunbathing on the beach, playing blackjack, eating cannoli, and gossiping with other Italians.

~~~~~~~~~~

It is July 13th, 1985. There are photographs of the loved ones we’ve lost on the mantle above the fireplace: Willis, Cecil, Louise, Ben’s mother…and there are even a few of Kroshka. The house is full of my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Ben’s siblings, our nieces and nephews and their children and their children, too. It is my great-grandson’s tenth birthday. His name—by pure coincidence—is Alexei.

There are children giggling and running through sprinklers in the backyard and basset hounds sniffing after crumbs of hors d'oeuvres and balloons everywhere. The living room is packed with people watching Queen’s performance at Live Aid on our single television, clapping along to Radio Ga Ga. Rami and Lucy arrive with the gift of a handmade sky-blue velvet suit. Joe and Christabella arrive with about twenty boxes of pizza. Ben and I and our two daughters are in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on Alexei’s birthday cake. It’s quite a challenge; Alexei loves dinosaurs, and the stegosaurus made of green icing has plenty of ragged edges to smooth out. Later, when Ben lights the candles, he will use a tarnished steel lighter with a bear carved into one side.

“Papa, Mum, have you seen this?” Tatiana, our eldest, asks. She holds open the pages of Time Magazine. “Some reporter based out of L.A. did a story on the Winter Palace. You know, where the Romanovs lived before they were deposed. He posed as a tourist and took a bunch of photos and smuggled them out of the Soviet Union, and now the Soviets are pissed. They don’t allow photography in the museum. And they definitely don’t want Americans capitalizing on their national historic sites. Anyway, check it out.” She turns the pages. Ben glances over at me. The butterknife has fallen out of my hand and onto the kitchen counter.

“Here, Mum, let me do that,” Louise offers. She plucks a clean knife out of the silverware drawer and resumes the meticulous sculpting of the stegosaurus.

“Amazing, huh?” Tati says, still flipping pages. They’re vivid, bright, in full color; they bring back memories I had forgotten I have. “There’s the Throne Room…the Malachite Room…the ballroom…the gardens…even the—”

“The private family rooms,” I murmur, dazed. “The bedrooms. The study. The dining room.”

“Yeah,” Tati replies. She’s still grinning, but her brow furrows. “Mum…are you okay?”

“She’s fine,” Ben says quickly. “She’s just tired. That stegosaurus has been giving us hell. I love the technique the reporter used here, opening with a vignette…”

Throughout the years, throughout the decades, as the century slips away from me, I have tried to avoid witnessing the calamities of my homeland: famines, purges, dictators, wars, censorship, rivalry, bloodshed and turmoil and insurmountable suffering. I barely recognize it at all; what was once Imperial Russia is now the Soviet Union, what was once Saint Petersburg is now Leningrad, what was once hope and the promise of a better future is now grim authoritarianism. I can still see my family in the Russian immigrants I helped settle here in New York City, but I don’t see them in the modern-day iteration of my birthplace.  

But these pictures Tati is showing me, these memories…they are not from some failed, foreign land. They are the places where Papa puffed on his pipe and told us ancient folktales, where Mother read in her wheelchair, where Alexei played with his tiny toy soldiers on the rug in front of the fireplace, where my sisters and I stayed awake laughing and whispering until morning sunrays shone through our bedroom windows.

I reach out to touch the pictures with my fingertips. My hands are wrinkled, knobby, arthritic, just like Mother’s once were. Tati is still watching me, concerned.

“I know, it’s so beautiful, but so sad,” she says. “Knowing that the people who once lived there were murdered so brutally. Those poor kids. To have all this, and then to have nothing. It must have been a miserable last year for them.”

“They didn’t have nothing,” Ben tells Tati gently. “They had their family.”

“Yeah, but I mean…do royal families even really know each other? Don’t they just get together for polo games and tea parties and…I don’t know…arranged marriages?”

“The Romanovs knew each other.” Ben smooths my silver hair fondly. His hands shake a bit now, but they’re still strong, still perfect. His scars have faded with time; they are nearly invisible. It’s almost as if our pasts never happened. It’s almost as if we’ve always been the people we are now, here in the New World surrounded by friends and family and golden possibilities. “They were…a bit of an anomaly among royal families. Nicholas was very attentive to the children, very loving. And Alexandra was too, to the extent that she could be with her poor health. They did everything together. They went sledding and horseback riding and swimming, they told stories, they played games, they shared meals, they took care of each other. They hoped and they worked and they prayed. They tried to shield each other from the burdens the world placed on their backs. In a lot of ways…the Romanovs weren’t all that different from us.”

“Oh, wow,” Tati says, fascinated, awed. “I didn’t know that. They really must have been something.”

Ben looks over at me, smiling. “They were.”

[nrdmssgs]

Darker matters (part 1)

Masterlist Next part

Comfort Pairing: Nikolai x Olga 'Zhar' Samoilova Summary: Saying goodbyes to her old life and finally getting a name. This happens a few days after A heart (part 4) Author's note: This is a sequel to A heart full of pity. Thanks: My eternal muses: @homicidal-slvt, @sofasoap and @gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot. These people started something beautiful and very important deep inside me. Thank you for a voice, i`m slowly getting.

“How did you even manage…” Price smirks, but his voice is soft.

“Let’s just say, I have a better insurance program.” Nikolai's hand lies down on her shoulder, as she signs one paper after another. Then his fingers brush her back in the most soft and caring gesture. 

Captain's gaze is louder than any words. You cunning scoundrel. And against all his habits, his old friend doesn’t turn everything into a joke this time. 

When the last signed document falls on his desk, Price sighs and sits down beside her. “A word alone, ok?” Nikolai immediately turns to exit the office, but Price adds, this time talking to him: “And you don’t try to sneak away, I still have something to say.”

Nikolai smiles ominously, leaving them two alone. 

Price looks back at her, lightly tapping his fingers on the desk. When he speaks again - he sounds different: uneasy, concerned. “How are you doing? What are medics saying?” 

“I’m gonna be fine, I promise,” she brushes Price off, but then sees her Captain's eyes and understands, she owns him much more than subterfuges. “Running or moving around fast in general is still not as easy as it was before. There is still much work ahead. But I won't let this throw me off the track. And Nik found an absolute genius of a doctor, that has been working with injuries like mine for more than 30 years. So, I guess, I have a solid support team.”

“Right.” John is relieved to hear it: no more problem denial, only willingness to work with whatever life threw at her. “Right, it's high time this man runs around for someone. Good for both of you. Now, listen to me: all these papers, you signed, to resign… I don't give a flying fuck about that. You are one of us, no matter where you are or what happens.”

She freezes for a moment, caging emotions. But John Price, the man, she idolized, looked up to, telling her, they are one team for life was too much. She jumps up and hugs him. And just before she is ready to let go - her Captain answers on that gesture. 

“One more thing. I may trust Nikolai with my life, but if he ever brings you down - don't hesitate to remind him, you have friends in the military.” 

She doesn't even step out - she flies out of Price's office. Never before has Nik seen such a wide smile on her face. He instinctively reaches out to her, but someone's hand falls down on his back and squeezed his shoulder tightly. “Now to you, comrade.” Price's grumbling didn't scare Nikolai, he just turned back to his friend and leaned against the wall. “You know, how much time I've spent on training this soldier?” Nik nods, still looking after her. “And you know, that this is one of the best urban combat strategists out there?” Once again, only a silent nod instead of an answer. “So you come marching into my office claiming, you'll get my lieutenant back in the game, then you take her ‘for a ride’ for a few weeks, just to return her for a day to sign resignation papers.” Price keeps his voice down, so that nobody hears them.

“And… she is back in the game, isn't she?” Nikolai looks back at Price with the most innocent eyes.

“She's in your game now. And I'll let this slip only this time. So remember, this is the first and the last time, you steal me of a soldier. A damn good one, Nikolai…” John straightens his shoulders and stands next to him, arms crossed on his chest. But Niks eyes are once again glued to a doorway, where she just disappeared. 

“I don't play this time. Anything, I tell her, anything I do - I mean it. Had enough games.” He finally looks back at Price and notices happy wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

***

The first time, she tells him, Gaz doesn't believe her.

“Nikolai? Of all people out there…” He dodges a pillow thrown at his head and chuckles, helping her to pack her stuff. 

When they are done and finally sit on the edge of her bed - Gaz reaches out and hugs her with one hand. “Kyle? You think, I'm crazy?” It's only around him, when she allows herself to be soft, joking, silly even.

“For working for him? Na-a-ah, you'll do just fine anywhere. Sleeping with the guy on the other hand…” If she could grab her pillow - this time, it would definitely hit the target. But Gaz was prepared, so he pushes her potential weapon so far, it's out of her reach. “Relax, Lt, I just mess with you goodbye. Besides… I, too, may or may not have started to grow a soft spot for pilots.”

Her mouth falls open, and she hugs him back with a mischievous grin. “Next time i'm back, you are telling me everything! And if that guy manages to bring you down somehow - you just call me.” “Same goes to you.” Kyle thought for a bit and then added. “Just… make sure, Nikolai is away from his transport, and then call me.”

*** She awaited, that parting ways with Ghost would be most reserved and dry. When she came to his office to fetch some additional papers, he already had everything prepared and handed her tightly stuffed file. “Thank you, Simon.” She pulled the file from his hand, but he didn't let go, and she immediately tensed. Something was wrong? It must be his name, never before she called him like that. She slowly rose her gaze to his face. “Sorry, Lieutenant, won't ha-”

“Do you remember how to contact me in case of an emergency?” He looked confused, as this was the last thing, she thought, she'd hear. It caught her off guard, and she mumbled something incoherently, so Ghost repeated his question. 

The thing with Ghosts phone emergency numbers was that they were not to be written down anywhere. And it didn't help, that there were a few, and he made her learn by heart every last one of them. She thought, that at least now, when she's out of the TF - she may as well forget this information, but Simon had another opinion on this: he made her recite every single one for a few times and only then loosened my grip on the folder.

“Ghost? I heard this joke about reaching out to each one of you guys, in case Nikolai doesn't behave, at least for three times today. You don't find your version a bit over the top?” She flipped through the papers in a file.

“I'm not joking, Olga.” First time. It was the first time, he called her by her name. “I know, that man would never deliberately hurt you. But the business, he takes you to, this organization… Let's just say, that world, you're about to step in, is full of darker matters.”

***

Nikolai never thought, the hardest part would be to keep himself in hand after bringing her to his secluded house in the middle of nowhere. The way this woman, always reserved, weighing her every reaction, froze on the steps before his door. The way she stepped into this spacious house, sheltered from prying eyes by dense forest, reached an enormous panoramic window and just sank on the floor, made him weak. 

“You know, there is… a whole house to explore back there?” He sinks to the floor behind her and rests his chin on her shoulder, watching as she peers into the forest outside the window.

“Wait. Wait just a bit, please. This is so beautiful.” She does not take her eyes off the view. Nikolai looks at her face: from under the mask of a calm hardened soldier emerges a childish delight, long forgotten by her. 

Stay. 

He bites his tongue to not say it out loud: Nikolai knows, that this woman is not that easy to domesticate. A nice house wouldn't do the trick. But a sudden need to keep her right there, cover her from prying eyes, surround her with care, do anything just to make sure, shed be right there every morning and evening, is pressing down on him, squeezing his throat with a force that Nik had never felt before. For now a smile slowly blooming on her lips, as she watches wind high up in the crones, is enough for him.

He has to leave her for a few days to make final arrangements before their very first mission together in Chimera. And while this is not too hard - coming back to his house and finding her there, sitting in a hall on a first floor, surrounded by maps and files feels tough. Everything in the way, he finds her, reminds Nikolai of that time, they plotted an operation after the incident. Only this time he has a formal power to end it and keep her safe.

Throw away these plans, forget the maps, and just stay here. You don't need to go back to that battle. Stay with me.

He presses his face to her hair, drowns in her scents, and only that helps Nik to swallow his unspoken plea.

***

“So… still haven't changed your mind about sketchy call signs?” Despite the fact that Nikolai's voice is slightly distorted by the quality of the radio, she clearly hears the notes of a playful mischief. She shakes her head and points forward, trying to make him pay at least a slightest attention to what is about to start happening. 

“Aw, what a pity. And here I am, hoping for a little show.” Helicopter froze in one place, as they both needed a solid point for observation. Nik turned to the radio, but didn’t stop talking. “You know, there are mythical birds besides phoenix? Even in Russian fairy tales there is Sirin, Alkonost, Zhar-Ptitza, which is, by the way, a personification of eternal golden fire of sun itself.” 

Her eyebrows rose in surprise and disbelief. “Nikolai, we are about to start a full-blown armed conflict, and you have fairy tales on your mind?” “We are about to have some fun, Lieutenant, I just want you to enjoy it as much as possible.”

He switches on outer radio-chanel and addresses his subordinates.”Morning, this is your Captain speaking. This operation was planned and will be led by my second in command, Lieutenant Samoilova. Now, our rules were always simple: want to make money - make me happy. Today, we will give a test drive to a new rule: want to make me happy - make her happy. Her commands are my commands. Have fun, Chimeras, leaving you with your commander. Over.”

She is about to activate her own connection, when Nikolai catches her hand, and leans closer, as if they didn't speak through an inner radio. “Edgy names make everything more fun, i'm telling you. Last chance to come up with!”

She looks from him to a village underneath them. More fun, he says? She sighs and connects to an outer channel.

“Good morning, Chimeras, this is Lieutenant Samoilova speaking.” She stammers in mid-sentence, takes a last look at Nikolai and takes a deep breath.

“Call sign Zhar.”

Next part

[heythereolga]

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Olga Sulayao

Blk BQ Lot 1C Phase 2, Sta. Lucia Resettlement

Magalang, Pampanga

Philippines

(+63)992-3404-084

olgasolayao@gmail.com

A MEMORABE DAY

Cast of Characters

Leighne M. (Teacher):            Support Character. Adviser of the students.

Olie (Student 1):                     Lead Character.

Mikay (Student 2):                 Support Character. Friend and classmate of Olie

Raine (Student 3):                  Support Character. Friend and classmate of Olie

Princess (Student 4):              Support Character. Friend and classmate of Olie

Guy (Student from other section): Guest Character.

Announcer:                             Guest Character.

Time

February 2024

Synopsis

The students in Tinajero National High School Annex had an Educational Trip where they watched a shadow play performed by the Pilipinas Got Talent Champion the El Gamma Penumbra. They performed a variety of inspirable shows. Suddenly, a guy sat in front of Yanna, so she had to tell him that he’s blocking the view in less harsh way. After the show, the El Gamma Penumbra received a lot of compliments both by the students and teachers. (Please note: All the characters, place, and events are based on true story but the names of the characters were changed).

SETTING:      Laus Group Event Centre

AT RISE:        The show has been started so the students and teachers started to cheer the performers.

MA’AM LEIGHNE:  Everyone get your tickets here. Remember, you only have one ticket per

                                     student. So, if you lose your ticket, you won’t be able to come inside.

                                     Understood?

STUDENTS: Yes ma’am.

MA’AM LEIGHNE: Okay. Let’s go!

OLIE: Wait guys. Let’s take a photo of our tickets first.

MIKAY: Oh yeah.

(The friends gathered around and started to take photos of their tickets)

RAINE: Send it to me later.

OLIE: Sure.

PRINCESS: Send it to us too.

OLIE: Okay.

(And the friends continued to go to the event centre.)

MIKAY: Let’s sit over there.

(Michaela said while pointing to the seats near the aircon and the speaker)

MIKAY: I’m hungry.

RAINE: Me too. Do you guys have food?

OLIE: I have Cracklings here. Do you like it?

MIKAY: Sure. Let’s open that.

OLIE: I bet Princess don’t like it. She’s not eating sour foods.

PRINCESS: Indeed. But I will eat that since I’m hungry too.

(And the friends are happily eating the snacks while chatting with each other.)

ANONYMOUS MAN: Attention. The show is about start in a moment. I am asking for your

                                        understanding. Please do not take any videos and audio recording to

                                        to keep our performers’ privacy. A simple photo of them will do.

RAINE: Ouch! That’s so loud.

PRINCESS: It’s because we’re near the speaker. It’s also cold here because we’re in front of the

                      aircon.

(The show started and the students begun to cheer them. The students brought the cellphones out and opened their flashlights and wave them in the air.)

OLIE: 우와! 진짜 너무 좋아

(Olie said which means they’re so good)

PRINCESS: I can’t see.

RAINE: Me too. It’s so hard to be small.

MIKAY: Should we stand up?

OLIE: Let’s stand on the chair.

(They stood up on the chair and starting to enjoy the view because finally they can see the show.)

OLIE: Princess. Could you get a photo of me with El Gamma Penumbra?

PRINCESS: But I’m shy.

OLIE: Oh come on. What’s there to be shy.

             Mikay, could you get me a photo with the El Gamma Penumbra?

MIKAY: Sure. Give me your phone.

(Olie her phone to Mikay and Mikay starts capturing the best photo.)

OLIE: Thanks.

MIKAY: You’re welcome.

(She replied with a smile.)

(While watching the show, a guy suddenly appeared and sat I front of Olie and blocked the view.)

OLIE: Excuse me. Would you mind moving one seat? you’re too close to me so I can’t watch

             show.

(Olie told the guy which she meant the is big compared to her so he’s blocking the view. But she wants to make it less harsh so she didn’t said it in direct.)

GUY: Oh, sorry.

(When the show ended, they come out immediately and start talking about the show.)

OLIE: Wow! They are so good to hurt my hands!

MIKAY: Indeed. They are a worldwide superstar!

OLIE: But I think I hurt my throat because I overdo the cheering. I need a fluid, Let’s buy water.

PRINCESS: Let’s go. I’m thirsty too.

RAINE: Olie, are you alright?

OLIE: Yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing. Let’s buy water and go back to the jeep.

(Al the students go back in the jeep to continue in the next destination.)

[romanovsonelastdance]

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia with his sons, Alexander and Nicholas.

Paul was the son-in-law of Elena Vladimirovna and Prince Nicholas of Greece, the husband of their eldest daughter, Olga. Greek Nicky wrote to his wife about how much he admired Paul:

He knows, of course, that I am particularly fond of him and never miss the chance to say so right and left. Wherever I am I sing his praises, his intelligence, erudition, artistic sense and knowledge–above all my gratitude that he has given so much happiness to our Olga. I suppose he knows all that. What a blessing it is that Providence sent us a man like that at a time when all young men of the present generation are so lacking in every way the essential qualities that make life bearable. If only we could find two others like him for E and M [their other daughters, Elizabeth and Marina].

[bbygirlky18]

Ships Updated!!!!

Here are the ships for my fanfic Mami's Breakthrough. You'll meet the main character in the ship list so be prepared. I'll use the wrestler's real name. You'll see repeated names so don't get spooked. Let's get into it.

Demi (Rhea) & Gretchen (Eliora)

Stephanie (Stephanie) & Paul (Hunter)

Jonathan (Jimmy) & Trinity ( Naomi)

Fergal (Finn) & Masami (Iyo)

Dominik (Dominik) & Gionna (Liv)

Luis (Damian) & Elizabeth (Beth)

Bianca (Bianca) & Carlisle (Luigi)

Joseph (Erick) & Victoria (Lilou)

Rebecca (Becky) & Ulysses (Ron)

Natalya (Natalya) & Jeremy (Elijah)

Maryse (Maryse) & Richard (Jules/m)

Cheree (Dakota) & James (Jackson)

Theresa (Zoey) & Leon (Brett)

Brianna (Cora) & Dexter (Mustafa)

Logan (Logan) & Donna (Stephanie)

Randall (Randy) & Conner (Brian)

Keith (Keith) & Lucas “Luke” (Mick)

Sydney (Maxxine) & Jessica (Gilda)

Brittany (Britt) & Carmen (Lola)

Milena (Rosa) & Taylor (Lilou)

Ashley (Shotzi) & Gisele (Rhonda)

Allyssa (Kayden) & Spencer (Gabriel)

Aoife (Lyra) & Dominic “Dom” (Roddy)

William (Christian) & Emilio (Kevin)

Trevor (Ricochet) & Rosalie (Anastasia)

Macey (Lacey) & Sebastian (Grayson)

Sarah (Valhalla) & Jasper (Riley/ m)

Elizabeth (Scarlett) & Luke (Vince)

Stephanie (Mia) & Enrique (Dash)

Ron (R-Truth) & Angela (Asahi)

Shayna (Shayna) & Kate (Mia)

Simone (Ava/Ava Raine) & Sammy (Itsuki)

Layla (Layla) & Dion (Gabriel)

Catherine (Cathy) & Titus (Aiden)

Michael (Shawn) & Mick (Nathan)

Kira (Taya) & Suki (Hawk)

Victoria (Raquel) & Velvet (Asahi)

Mark (The Undertaker) & Clarissa (Paige)

Taylor (Jacy) & Theodora (Lilou) 

Windham (Bray) & Austin (Tyler)

Priscilla (Gigi) & Elizabeth (Kanna)

Patricia (Trish) & Eric (Terry)

Eduardo (Eddie) & Renesmée (Riley/ f)

Jeffrey (Jeff) & Edward (Ted)

Kiera (Kiera) & D.J. (Mustafa)

Mercedes (Sasha) & Quil (Jackson)

Steffanie (Tegan) & June (Gayle)

Serena (Serena) & Embry (Luigi)

Ettore (Big E) & Ashley (Emma)

Adam (Edge) & Royal (Roddy)

Amy (Lita) & Charles (Lucas)

Samantha (Samantha) & Becca (Nastya)

Živilė (Aksana) & Jonathan (Logan)

Kristen (Kris) & Gisell (Becky)

Dwayne (The Rock) & Jasmyne (Olivia)

Daria (Sonya) & Lauren (Olga)

Brodie (Luke) & Rob (Rio)

Kevin (Kevin Nash) & Samuel (Wally)

Bryan (Daniel) & Flynn (Mickie)

Catherine (Lana) & Tara (Gilda)

Jake (Jake) & Vixen (Mario)

Amanda (Mandy) & Beth (Christy)

Joseph (Solo) & Eleazar (Chris)

Kenneth (Montez) & Sam (Mantaro)

Celeste (Kaitlyn) & Matthew “Matt) (Jimbo)

Sarona (Tamina) & Luna (Kanna)

JoJo (JoJo) & Arianne (Falcon)

Kacy (Katana) & Paul (Brett)

Nicola (Nikki Cross) & Bronson (Kaito)

Adam (Braun) & Garrett (Gabriel)

Phillip (CM) & Sean (Mickie)

Rena (Sable) & Roman (Grayson)

Anriel (Lash) & Colleen (Dahlia)

Allen (AJ Styles) & Leah (Lilou)

Renee (Renee) & Jason (Ron)

Angela (Zayda) & Tanya (Olivia)

Kia (Kharma) & Lee (Mick)

Kaori (Kairi) & Theo (Brett)

Todd (Ivar) & Riley (Jules/ m)

Danielle (Willow) & Jane (Riley/ f)

Stephen (Sheamus) & Tara (Ember)

Ashley (Dana) & Sue (Emma)

Jazmin (Mercedes) & Bridget (Alexa)

Melina (Melina) & Han (Mustafa)

Franklin (Bobby) & Bree (Lola)

Faith (Nikkita) & Archie (Haruto)

Ronda (Ronda) & Makenna (Kanna)

Pamela (Bayley) & Samantha (Emma)

Gail (Gail) & Vyolette (Kanna)

Colby (Seth) & Leann (Donna)

Skye (Skye) & Alice (Katya)

Karen (Wendy) & Mariana (Nastya) 

Steve (‘Stone Cold’ Steve) & David (Alexander)

KiLynn (KiLynn) & Kirk (Logan)

Austin (Xavier) & Elle (Gilda)

Alexis (Alexa) & Jakob (Lucas)

Adrienne (Athena/Ember) & Esme (Riley/ f)

Matthew (Matt Hardy) & Earnest (Mario)

Stephanie (Nikki Bella) & Bella (Anastasia)

Thea (Zelina Vega) & Deckard “Deck” (Terry)

Glenn (Kane) & Priya (Olga)

Mary (Maria) & Mae (Anastasia)

Jillian (Jillian) & Aro (Shane)

Michelle (Michelle) & Nicole (Katya)

Lisa (Victoria) & McKayla (Nia) 

Mickie (Mickie) & Kate (Stephanie)

Lilián (Lilian) & Esmeralda (Candice)

Leva (Leva) & Clara (Itsuki)

Toni (Toni) & Nicholas (Jimbo)

Gary (Angelo) & Murray (Mario)

Shinsuke (Shinsuke) & Jennifer (Olivia)

Saraya (Paige) & Lauren (Ember)

Karlee (Maxine) & Ashely (Jules/ f)

Cody (Cody) & Jacob (Jack)

Shelly (Ariel) & Aaron “Hotch” (Louis)

Tom (Aleister) & Emily (Sasha)

Carla (Roxanne) & Alec (Ron)

April (AJ Lee) & Sam (Roddy)

Victoria (Alicia) & Marissa (Chyna)

Danielle (Summer) & Kendall (Jack)

Matthew (Matt Riddle) & Tarrence (Nathan)

Jessica (Billie) & Whitney (Beth)

Stacy (Stacy) & Allen (Alexander)

Joan (Chyna) & Sasha (Hawk)

Jonathan (Dean) & Ophelia (Amelia)

Natalie (Eva) & Tatum (Reo)

Jade (Jade) & Jennifer “JJ” (Riley/ f)

Joe (Roman) & Marcel (Roddy)

Oscar (Rey) & Xavier (Shane)

Kimberly (Piper) & Annelise (Mia)

Leah (Carmella) & Rebecca (Gilda)

Torrie (Torrie) & Irina (Emma) 

Tenille (Emma) & Noel (Nathan)

Dori (Ruby) & Rachel (Gayle)

Eve (Eve) & Ettore (Logan)

John (John Morrison) & Brian (Riley/ m)

Andrew (Drew) & Mary (Candice)

Rami (Sami) & Edythe (Chyna)

Katarina (Katie) & Lance (Luigi)

Cassie (Peyton) & Vera (Lilou)

Kofi (Kofi) & Vallie (Becky)

Laura (Allie) & Annissa (Sasha)

Chelsea (Chelsea) & Jess (Zoe)

Joshua (Jey) & Elyssa (Ruby)

Raymond (Erik) & Russ (Kid)

Ashley (Charlotte) & Leticia “Letty” (Lilou)

Deonna (Deonna) & Logan (Wally)

Kanako (Asuka) & Vince (Mario)

Barbara (Kelly Kelly) & Julyanna (Rhonda)

Lina (Nia) & Eleanor (Stephanie)

Brianna (Brie) & Jared (Ted)

John (John Cena) & Jack (Haruto)

Mike (The Miz) & Henry (Jackson)

Debrah (Alundra/Madusa) & Douglas (Ron)

Claudio (Cesaro) & Laurent (Vince)

Ariane (Cameron) & Stephen (Tyler)

Brandi (Eden) & Erica (Stacie)

Kevin (Kevin Owens/KO) & Derek (Luigi)

Jessika (Jessika) & Jesse (Logan)

Candice (Candice) & Anne (Olga)

John (Johnny Gargano) & Ben (Jimmy)

Debra (Debra) & Jessamine (Jules/ f)

Seth (Riley/ m) & Tyler (Aiden)

Rowena (Donna) & Victor (Kid)

Tej (Elijah) & Sullivan (Mustafa)

Penelope (Becky) & Emily (Stacie)

Evangeline (Olga) & Beth (Stephanie) 

Carine (Layla) & Emmett (Wayne)

Alex (Emma) & Jedidiah (Shane)

Gina (Anastasia) & Mia (Nastya) 

Presley (Louis) & Edward (Kaito)

Gabriel (Brett) & Cain (Alexa)

Ramsey (Katya) & Katie (Nia)

Rubie (Emma) & Eloise (Katya)

Mike (Louis) & Cherylyn (Becky)

That's the full ship list. Hope you guys enjoy it.