#on the other hand there was a big talk about the union leader and since i had seen that bitch of jean a lot i thought

[vorakh]

still believe that the funniest most incorrect thing i got wrong about disco elysium before playing it was thinking that jean was the union leader. that he was evrart claire (or edgar claire). or alternatively that he worked in the post office or something.

[mysticmellowlove]

Sub jock hcs 🙏🏻

I hate jocks ands that’s where this gets fun-

Jock that’s on a powerful position( typical quarterback because it’s the only position I know lol) and the girl who everyone is lowkey jealous of. Like richest girl in town but she’s not from the town her family just kinda can in and took over. She is super kind though and that’s why he began to like her. They’ve never even talked but he always notices her. Always. But…. She doesn’t like him. She’s nice to him of course but she isn’t into him how others are. He’s a jock- ew

note; anon sent in an inspo as well (here)!

warnings; fem reader, sub male, solo masturbation,

The streamers fell over him as he clapped his friends on the back, the last game of the season and they had just won it. Cheers and hollers surrounded him as their cheerleaders flooded the field and began their routines, sending kisses to the players as they clumped together in a mass of grass-covered sweaty boys.

His best friend slapped him on the back and grinned through his mouthguard, his head inclining towards the stands where he knew she'd be waiting. Always here for college cheer, the leader of the student spirit committee was the cutest, kindest girl in the world. She also happened to be a major crush of his. He pushed his friend away teasingly as he jogged over to her, watching her shake the pompoms she had been handing out before the game that sported their university colours.

He basically grinned as he took in her smile, her eyes soon locking onto him.

"Hey QB, great job today." She hummed as she looked up at him, his form easily dwarfing her own. He knew he was a big guy, it's why he was picked for the quarterback position. Tall and muscular, devilishly good-looking... he often had his friends say he exuded 'raw masculinity' whatever that was. The girls also loved him, fawning over him and chatting him up.

But it was unanimous around the university that he had eyes for one person only, the one person he just couldn't seem to snag. She had moved here from a rivalling uni about a year back and had been a ray of sunshine ever since. She was the leader of the cheer committee and basically lived for setting up student union events. She was at every sports game, concert and exhibition.

She really was like an angel sent from above.

"Thanks, me and the boys are going out for celebratory drinks later on, you interested?" He grinned as he leaned against the stands, willing her to look his way for just a moment. To nod and give him a chance. She smiled that sweet little smile as she shook her head.

"Sorry, I have some module work I need to get done. I just had to come over and support our boys." He willed the flush in his cheeks to go down as he referred to him as her boy, even if it wasn't exactly what she had meant. He swallowed his disappointment but nodded anyway.

"Alright, good luck then. I'll see you sometimes on campus anyway." He shot her a heartwarming smile before he crawled his way back to the others, heart doing flips in his chest. This was usually how their interactions went. She was a lovely girl, so kind and open but it was clear she wasn't interested. He knew she liked the scholarly type more, her friend group reflected as much. He didn't like to admit it but he was a little bit of an airhead, but that's what had drawn people to him.

He knew others called him a 'golden retriever' which by his understanding meant he was lovable and energetic. But she seemed to like the stoic type and he couldn't bring himself to change... maybe one day when they were older something would happen between them. He wasn't going to be the star quarterback forever after all.

"Hey man, we're heading toward Joey's, gonna bring some of the girls along. You down?" His friend came up to him and they shared a clap.

"I would but I have something on later, I'll meet up tomorrow yeah?" He laughed as others gathered around him, booing playfully. Soon enough they relented and he watched as they filed towards the lockers, he'd be following as well but he wanted to help out his coach with the equipment first.

In reality, he was simply stalling time, he wanted the showers to himself after all. Packing up was nothing for him, mainly because there wasn't anything to do but it served its purpose. When the coach let him go he made his way to the lockers and grinned at their vacancy. Now he'd not only have the space to himself but the showers would actually be hot.

He shucked off his gear and stepped under the relaxing spray, just hot enough to relax his muscles. He flicked his hair back from his face and doused it in a small amount of shampoo he kept in his pack. As he let the water and suds run down him his mind began to wander.

Frustrated he leaned his head against the cool wall of the stall, his hand unwillingly going to cup his hardening cock. Every time she let him down easy he'd get hard, as if it was like magic. He was so down bad for her it was insane. And yet he couldn't bring himself to move on. So long as he was able to see her on campus he knew he'd keep fantasising about her like this.

Sure it made him feel dirty but the sheer amount of pleasure overrode anything in his mind. Never before was he able to get himself off like this thinking about others. He tried the porn, tried the mags and even his own imagination but everything looped back to her. What would she look like as he plunged into her? Would she look good in pink or red lingerie? What would her voice sound like as she scolded him for thinking of her like this?

That's how it began, he had noticed a shift in his preferences. All his friends would point at the smallest things around but his mind would be on her. It was innocent at first, her riding him as he held onto her hips but soon.... soon it changed. Her forcing him to lay down as she perched herself on his face, making him surrender before her so she could please herself first.

His tie and satin bows turned to handcuffs and ropes. His dick inside her turned to her hand wrapped around a toy she was teasing him with. Making her cry out his name turned into her making him a whining, sobbing mess.

"Fuck." He hissed as he realised he had been jerking himself off all this time, his hand wrapped furiously around his cock. God what he'd do to have her in this position. Her hand stroking him as he fought to stop his legs from buckling.

A drawn-out moan left him as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, just the thought of her had him wanting to cum.

It really was insane the hold she had on him...

[preet-01]

Maxiel Political AU

Word Count: 864

Summary: Max Verstappen only had one goal - to be President. It's all he's wanted since he was just seven years old and all that he's worked towards. But bachelors don't get elected as Presidents, for the most part. Enter Daniel Ricciardo. Daniel's the ideal candidate for the country's most prominent and stressful unpaid job: the President's loving partner, a pretty bauble for the country to fall in love with and look towards. In secret meetings, contracts are signed and a marriage is arranged. Max and Daniel must convince the American people that they are a loving couple and perfect for the White House

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Chapter Three

Jos Verstappen didn’t often breach the boundaries that Max had set once he left New York for the House in DC. He attended the big events, posed for pictures, and didn’t run his mouth in the press – despite how much he wanted to talk about his difference in opinions with the current President or the Senate Majority Leader. It was a compromise they had found after many arguments over Max’s politics. 

However, he’d heard from Victoria, by no fault of her own Jos was just nosy when it came to his son’s political career, that his new campaign manager for 2028 was suggesting a political arrangement of sorts. While Jos was no politician, he was a blue-collar working man who unlike his neighbors in the city had gotten no handouts from the government, he did understand how things in the world worked.  A political arrangement of sorts was just fancy speak for marriage. Max’s lot loved their fancy speak when it came to everything, nothing was what they said in that swamp city. 

He would have to make his way down to the hellscape they called their great nation’s capital to ensure his son doesn’t do something stupid and ruin everything before he even got to put his name in the running. Some hussy chosen by another political elite wasn’t going to be the answer. No, his son needed a good, normal American woman, not another political Jezebel more focused on her own career than Max’s. 

The trip from Manhattan to DC is just four hours by bus. A handful of buses leave from Penn Station and head straight to Union Station in DC. Just perfect for his travels. No need to inform his son about his arrival or tell his daughter that he won’t be in the city. 

_______

In California, however, Joe Ricciardo was cursing his father. 

Joseph Snr. had great hopes for their family, just as his father before him had, and his father before him, and so on it went stemming from when their ancestors resided in Australia. Each man wanted more than the previous. Joseph Snr. had made himself a national figure and was one of the most respected men when it came to politics, but he had never made it to the White House. 

Nor had his son, much to his displeasure. Joseph Jr. or just Joe as he preferred to go by in silent rebellion to his over-involved father, had only made it as governor of California. His presidential hopes had been lost when the children were still young. Sometime around Daniel’s eighth birthday, Joe thinks. 

When Daniel was a child, Joseph had turned his attention to him in an effort to make a Ricciardo that would finally take the family to the White House. He had high hopes for  Daniel, more than Joe would’ve ever put on his young son. And when Daniel’s carrier status had been confirmed, Joseph had pulled away that attention as if it were something small and irrelevant. Luckily for them, Daniel was more capable and mature than most men his age had taken his grandfather’s snub as well as one could by moving across the country and only returning home every other holiday. 

But now, Joe thinks his father has gone too far. It was one thing to make a careless remark during dinner while his son was vulnerable, it was another to foist some strange man onto him in the hopes that said man would be President one day. Joe hadn’t meant to hear the conversation between Daniel and Grace – a weekly occurrence ever since Daniel had said he would be building a life for himself in DC and its surrounding suburbs instead of sunny California where the rest of the family resided. 

Joe had never blamed Daniel for doing as such or held it against him, he had understood the desire to not be so close to the rest of the Ricciardos and their various political dreams of varying concerns about the state of the county. Grace hadn’t taken it as well. While she understood why Daniel wanted to live in DC, she did not like that her baby was so far away and demanded weekly calls to make sure that he took care of himself. 

So Joe had not been the intended audience when Daniel said, “Grandfather has suggested another man.” Joe hadn’t even known that there was a first. “He is not bad from the looks of it and Seb seems to like him. I’m thinking of meeting him,” Daniel continued, relaying his thoughts to his mother. 

So yes, Joe Ricciardo was cursing his father for being so focused on the family legacy and a tie to the Oval Office. Daniel shouldn’t be the one with the weight of generations on his shoulders where Joseph Snr. and Joe Jr. had both failed 

But Joe also knew his son. Daniel was the pragmatist of the family. He was just like Grace in that regard. Daniel would meet with this man that Joseph Snr. thought would be President in a few years. Joe just hoped that Daniel wouldn’t share his grandfather’s opinion and would say no to the match. 

________

This was technically supposed to be the chapter where Daniel and Max had their first meeting, but the dads needed their POVs. So the next chapter will be the first meeting now

[beardedmrbean]

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's postal service said it had enough staff to handle the country's largest ever postal vote for snap elections due on July 23, as a union leader said it needed to hire more to ensure no one was at risk of being disenfranchised.

Two and a half million out of 37.4 million registered voters have opted to vote by post, more than double the one million that did so during the last election in November 2019, the Correos union said.

Voters have been lining up at post offices to register for ballots and, at a time when much of the population is decamping to the coast or countryside for summer holidays, they must complete and return them by July 20.

"There are bottlenecks and queues in some post offices in big cities and also in the beach towns where people are already on holiday," said Alberto Perez, a Correos union leader. "We need more staff."

The postal service said it had already hired almost 20,000 extra staff to handle the additional workload, across 2,300 post offices working under extended opening hours. A third of employees due to be on leave had cancelled their trips to help, it added.

It also criticised conservative opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, a former head of Correos, for appearing to suggest that preventable delays might stop some postal voters from casting their ballots.

"There is a risk that many citizens will not be able to vote by post, and this will be the responsibility of the government," Feijoo told newspaper El Confidencial in an interview published on Thursday.

He also urged postmen and women to work "day and night ...no matter what your bosses say," later saying he was not talking about fraud.

In response, the postal service said it would "stay out of debates that seek to undermine the country's institutions and public services," adding: "The postal voting process in Spain is safe and secure."

DEMOCRATIC CONSENSUS

Political scientist Pablo Simon of Spain's Carlos III University described Feijoo's comments as "very dangerous", given the consensus of support for Spain's democratic institutions since Francisco Franco's dictatorship ended in 1975.

The country's democratic processes have operated largely unquestioned by mainstream parties since then, though a handful of allegations of fraud marred local elections in May.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who called the snap election after his leftist coalition performed badly in May, called Feijoo's remarks "part of a campaign aimed at muddying the political debate."

Many Spaniards reacted with disbelief to the prospect of having to vote in the middle of summer, and queues built up outside some post offices this week as people rushed to register before Thursday's deadline and others handed in completed ballots.

"Everyone I know votes by post because we want to spend a Sunday on the beach instead of voting in the city," said 25-year-old real estate agent Paula Bericart outside Madrid's central postal office.

Ana Sarmiento, 32, and her boyfriend delivered their completed ballots to a post office very early on Thursday before heading to the airport for a holiday abroad. "The ballots arrived yesterday evening so we did it in the very last minute".

Zaira Llano, a second union leader, said excessive workloads could mean delays, and for some out delivering, Spain's punishing heat was proving a challenge.

"There are only 17 of us in this area and I am doing the work of two people," a postman in northern Madrid pushing a full cart told Reuters on Thursday.

[helshades]

Hello, do you know how to proceed in a university to organize a gathering or a student demonstration? so that we are in large numbers without dispersing? with all the social networks we can no longer get together, everyone goes their own way and we end up with small groups quickly evacuated by the police I'm mainly talking about tomorrow and the days to come, so that we can hold out as long as possible

sorry it's me again, but is blocking university effective? or wouldn't it be better for students to join the strike points where citizens will be gathered to show greater support? especially after the vote on the motion

Honestly, this is what I believe. Let's think on what the aim of the strike is: to cost the managing class dear money, as much of it, in fact, within the shortest amount of time. The more people strike, the less wealth is produced. Strikers do lose money, but shareholders lose profit. And the strikers are in control for as long as the strike lasts.

Part of our common problem these days, beside the fact that we're all broke because of the worst socio-economic crisis since the last war, is that French society, along with the rest of the globalised West, was heavily tertiarised during the last few decades, meaning that our country is critically disindustrialised, with big cities concentrating employment based on services. Geographs speak of metropolitanisation, which tends to reject manual labour outside of the Great urban centres to the periurban and rural areas. This is where the Yellow Vests were born.

In other words, there aren't enough workers in the cities. I think your idea was right: it could prove a better strategy to join forces with existing picket lines at electricity or transport companies for instance, first because there's strength in numbers, and then because it is they who hold the power to put the entire country to a halt if they cease working. It's probably wiser to help them to hold the line against the police.

The problem is communication. Don't you hold general meetings at your university, by any chance? This would be the ideal place to submit that idea to the vote. If you don't, well, you'll need to organise yourselves and signal other students the good old-fashioned way mayhap: by setting placards to announce a general meeting meant to decide on a plan of action! You do need to stay together, or if you divide yourselves to leave the building and go on a picket line or to a protest, to set up a rendezvous point. Also please use Telegram rather than the usual networks, it's a lot safer.

Why not ask for Louis Boyard's help? He's not my favourite person in the world but political party members may help set you up with union leaders and strikers and give a hand in coordinating joint actions; and if I'm not mistaken, Boyard is something of a specialist in student matters...

[yobaba30]

Manly, War-Winning Non-Loser Vladimir Putin Kidnapping American Journalists Now

We guess Russia was feeling weak and puny with its back stuck up against a wall, because it's taken a journalist from a real country hostage.

Russia's FSB has detainedWall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, from the paper's Moscow bureau, on what we assume are entirely fictional imaginary espionage charges. The world might be more inclined to take Russia's statements seriously if it were a real country that didn't stifle all dissent, murder (often literally) the free press, and wasn't currently engaged in a genocidal war it started for no other reason but to make the masturbatory fever dreams of its increasingly frail leader come true. Hell, it banned telling the truth about how poorly that war is going. Also, just in general, Russia is a huge fucking liar trusted by no one who isn't an easily flattered idiot and/or traitor.

This is reportedly the first time they've kidnapped an American reporter as a spy since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the first time they've kidnapped a foreign journalist since they barged into Ukraine and started killing children. Obviously they've kidnapped American lesbian basketball stars and ex-US Marines and others. It's a pretty big deal that they've kidnapped an American journalist.

According to the Journal, Gershkovich had the proper accreditation from the Russian foreign ministry, as all foreign journalists working there must. Since he started with the Journal in January of 2022, he's been covering a "variety of Russia-related topics, including the recent visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Moscow, close associates of Mr. Putin and tensions between Kremlin officials and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russian paramilitary group Wagner." He's also worked for Agence France-Presse, the New York Times and the Moscow Times.

Gershkovich was particularly known for reporting like this: "Putin, Isolated and Distrustful, Leans on Handful of Hard-Line Advisers." It was full of the kinds of quotes we've come to expect about a weakened president, disconnected from reality, who blunderfucked himself into the greatest geopolitical miscalculation of the 21st century when he figured he'd have an easy time invading the country next door and that nobody in the world would really do anything about it.

Fellow journalist Max Seddon, Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, says on Twitter that this is "yet another troubling sign of the off-the-charts repression, paranoia, and hostility to the US in Russia right now. A moment of which Evan was one of our finest chroniclers." He links to the article excerpted above.

Gershkovich was kidnapped in Yekaterinberg, in the east of Russia. The FSB says he, "acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.” They are particularly claiming his trip to Yekaterinberg was not journalism-related, but rather espionage-related. Sure you betcha.

His friends say he was doing reporting on the Wagner group there. Apparently it's a big place for Wagner's recruitment of fighters. Are these some of the same ones Russia is sending to get slaughtered on the frontlines and then reportedly hiding that information from their families? Don't know, but Gershkovich reported A LOT on the Russian military.

Putin mouthpiece Dmitry Peskov says: “We’re not talking about suspicions,” Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, said in a daily conference call with journalists, adding, “He was caught red-handed.” Mr. Peskov said he could not provide further details.

Eat a bag of dicks. The Wall Street Journal, of course, says this is all obvious bullshit.

As of now he's supposed to be held until May 29. Based on Russia's past behavior, we are sure that day will come and go and they'll still be illegally holding Gershkovich hostage and Russia will tell us as little about it as possible. As the Journal writes, "His case, according to TASS, is considered top secret." He could go to prison for 20 years, according to the New York Times.

Does Vladimir Putin think he's in a good position to be doing this right now? We know Putin's sidepiece Donald Trump is making sunny predictions on "Hannity" this week that Russia is about to take over all of Ukraine, but back here on Earth #1, Russia is a laughingstock and a pariah. But yeah, sure, take a hostage. Big strong man!

Many are noting that ever since Russia invaded Ukraine and banned all journalism that hurt Putiun's feelings, American and other foreign press outfits have cut back on their presence in Russia. And quite frankly, all Americans should leave that ugly, falling apart shithole of a country and never return. It's not like it has anything to offer to the world, culturally or otherwise. That said, what Gershkovich was doing was by definition what journalists do, and the risks are part of what make the job so vital to the world.

Therefore any commenters who say things like "DURRR DURRRR WHY WAS HE EVEN IN RUSSIA IF HE DIDN'T WANT TO GET KIDNAPPED" will be immediately thrown out of a window. Ha ha just kidding, that's just a little Russia joke for you!

But people who say that should fuck off anyway.

[Wall Street Journal / FT / New York Times]

Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter right here

[feelmir]

Macron’s so called conference to support Ukraine is but as usual a simple Hollywoodian show, a simple gestures to make believe that he is governing France becoming like other NATO’s members states, a slavish US colony without any importance both in European politics and global geopolitics. This man is immature to rule a big country like France, the first military power in Europe, nuclear power with a long colonial past. After the collapse of Holland’s socialist party, the CIA’s agency, the global young leaders led by Klaus Schwab since 2005, whose main mission, the recruitment of European young leaders devoted to the defense of US hegemony in Europe and in the world, the selection of Macron, making within only months thanks to the French mainstream media controlled by 9 billionaires, from an obscure former employee of Rothchild Bank, president of France. Contrary to the very skilled and experimented Putin who knows very well what he is talking about, Macron is ignorant both in domestic and global politics, becoming the joke of the French and African peoples and the most hatred president since the yellow vest protest in 2018 only one year after his election and because of his repeated and humiliating cut and dried expressions vis a vis jobless and ordinary people(illustrated by this phrase” I cross the street and I find a job” . The latest example of a ridiculous president, occurred yesterday during his conference, when Macron has made a ridiculous and how dangerous proposition as he wants to send troops to fight in Ukraine telling the French people that the defense of Ukraine is also the defense of France knowing very well for a minded person that Ukraine proxy war has been triggered by the United States and its European proxies when they have fomented the neo nazi coup Euromaidan exactly 10 years ago, from November 2013 to February 21, 2014 unleashing a 8 year civil war that claimed 14000 lives, started only two months by the horrendous Odessa massacre where the nazi hooligans supporters and nostalgic of the Ukrainian nazi Stepen Bandera eliminated in Munich in 1959 by the KGB, have set fire in the Trade Union House where 42 Russian speaking people protesting the overthrow of Yanukovich’s democratically government, have been burned alive. The ridiculous Macron has enough time to observe since the launch of the Russian military special two years ago, that Russia has today the upper hand in Ukraine proxy war and the 50 countries which are supporting their puppet Kiev regime are incapable to move the frontlines even one inch and they are impotent to defeat the Russian armed forces on the battlefield. Hoping that the French high commandment will be more minded people to deterrent immature and unpredictable chief of Armies.    

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"MILITARY IMPERIALISM DANGER TO LABOR WORLD, SAYS KEIR HARDIE," Toronto Star. September 9, 1912. Page 1 & 13. --- Veteran Leader Declares Contribution From Dominions Not Needed. --- PLAY INTO HANDS OF THE NOW RICH ---- Says Workers in Both Germany and England are Voting on War Question. --- A MUTUAL MOVEMENT ---- British M.P. a Delegate to the Trades and Labor Congress at Guelph. ---- Special to The Star By a Staff Reporter. Guelph. Ont., Sept. 3. - James Keir Hardie, M.P., of the British House of Commons, and fraternal delegate from the British Labor party to the 25th convention of the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada, arrived in Guelph Monday morning at 1 a.m., from Rochester, N.Y.

A large gathering of delegates met him at the station. The sturdy frame of the former miner shows no fatigue. The only change noticeable since his last visit is his now white hair and beard. No, it was not too late for him to talk of the social problems that have engaged his whole life's work.

Situation in Britain. Interviewed by The Star, and asked about the industrial situation in Great Britain, he said:

"It is more hopeful than ever, the trade unions have strengthened their position, both numerically and in solidarity. Rec Recent strikes have shown more solidarity than ever before A like remark applies to Socialism, people who have been away for a few years and return to the Home-land are astonished at the change, and the politicians are at their wits end trying to check its growth.

The old insular spirit which has been a characteristic of the British race, mainly due to the fast that they live in an island, is breaking down through the growth of the International socialist and trade union movement,

Imperialism Versus Socialism. "The ruling class are attempting to substitute for it a spirit of Imperialism, and talk as though they would like to turn the British Empire into a huge compound from which all the rest of the world is to be excluded.

"They use big sounding phrases as one Empire, one flag, one navy, one throne, whilst meaning only enlarged area within which they they may exploit the working class. The labor movement is now too much wide awake to be taken in by such hypocritical cant.

"I am here as a fraternal delegate from the British Labor party which has 1.400.000 affiliated trade unionists and socialists

"I do not come here, however, because Canada is within the British Empire, but because the Trades and Labor Congress represents the working class movement of the Dominion of Canada. I have carried the fraternal greeting of our party to similar congresses in Germany and France, and elsewhere. The international working class movement is not limited by the boundaries of nations or empires. It encircles the whole earth and is binding the disinherited propertyless working class of f the world into one mighty army, not to make war upon other, but upon the entire capitalist system which oppresses and enslaves the workers of all lands alike.

Danger To Canadians. "I hope by my visit to the Trades and Labor Congress to do some thing to arouse the workers of Canada to a sense of the danger and menace to their well-being which military imperialism would bring in its train.

"An Imperial navy and army to which all the Dominions will continue to contribute their quota would play into the hands of the filibusters and money-grabbing contractors who never expose their own skins on a field of battle, but who'll slaughter millions of working men, whilst they stay at home and grow rich out of their fat contracts.

"The recent Boer war disclosed such an amount of swindling ling on the part of contractors who supplied the army with food, clothing, shoes, and war material as made honest men of all parties, blush for shame.

Fighting War Scare. "The greatest interest of the worker is peace. If the Canadian workmen lends himself to the beginnings of a navy or compulsory military training he will only be creating a fresh power to his enemies to keep himself in subjection..

"Are workers in Great Britain taking a definite course with regard to the present scare?"

"Yes, a ballot is being taken of the workers as to whether they are prepared to come to an agreement for stopping of work simultaneously in both countries to prevent the nations being launched into a war. Of course, the movement must be mutual."

"Are the Germans doing the same?"

"Yes, and the French workers are to take the matter up in April of next year.

"The different countries are to report next September at the International Socialist and Trade Union Congress at Vienna."

Prospect of Hostilities. "Do you think a war likely between Germany and Great Britain?"

"With all this building of navies and speculation of interested parties there is always a certain risk; responsible statesmen in both countries dread such a contingency as war, but their hands may be forced by the conspirators just as it was by the millionaires of South Africa in the case of the Boer war."

"How strong are the German workers?"

"Over four millions and a quarter voters are behind the working class party in the Reichstag in Germany, while in Great Britain, with candidates in every constituency, the labor party will poll 30 to 35 per cent. of the total vote, which will represent some three million workers."

Insurance Scheme. The Insurance scheme of Lloyd George was referred to by Mr. Hardie as a helpful scheme. The source of the revenue for it he thought should come from income tax, and a tax on unearned increment of land rather than a tax upon industry as at present

Mr. Hardie is on a lecture tour of the United States under the auspices of the Socialist party of the United States, in connection with the present political campaign.

He leaves Guelph on Wednesday, or not later than Thursday morning.

[reverse-moon]

Forgotten Fates

Chapter 1 - Re-Union

Count: 1,106 words ; 5,969 characters

Chapter Summary: "Yuki" goes to save their old friend from a marriage. Emu is strangely calm about it all...

Staring at the small girl in front of her, the elder motioned for the hand maid in training to go inside for a little bit. They watched as she shuffled in, before turning back to the younger princess and bowing on a knee.

“Then I promise, under our Goddess Solaria, to marry you when the time is right. That way, we can be friends forever! And never have to worry about any chaos.”

They watched rose eyes widen and sparkle in excitement. “Deal!!”

--- ••• ---

A deep breath was taken outside the church. The Church of Phoenix was a very careful bunch normally. It had taken a lot to convince them to let their little entourage past as if they were just late guests.

Thankfully, the person who ran the church was a good friend of the late Fuyuki Empire's queen, and was willing to help the new king... for a proper silence fee. Yuki couldn't blame him, honestly. If the king found out that a priest helped, the chances of him being banished were high – meaning the funds he got would be used to start a new life in the Fuyuki Empire.

Yuki felt the hand of Mizuki on their shoulder, glancing over. “We're all ready when you are. Just give us the command.”

Turning around, Yuki faced their small army. Mizuki, Akito, Ena, Tsukasa, Kaito and Luka... They deserved a very big compensation for this. Raising its sword, their eyes narrowed. “Let's save her.”

----- ---- •••• ---- ----

Emu didn't dare look up from the floor. Her bangs covered her pained and upset eyes, her ears hearing the marriage celebrant drone on with the usual things. Not that any of it was true for her...

She didn't love being married off to a person she hated. Let alone, at all. She felt this was wrong, like it was a broken promise... She couldn't remember if it was in actuality... Closing her eyes, she waited for when she would be forced to lie. To say she does...

“If anyone can show why the prince and the princess should not be lawfully joined together under our gods, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.” Emu braced for no one to talk.

... She did not brace for the doors of the hall to be kicked open. Like everyone in the hall, she sharply turned to her right, to see a small party entering. The leader kept their eyes hidden under their hair, but spoke clearly and loud.

“Princess Emu has promised under the Goddess Solaria's name to marry one other than this prince. To break a promise under Solaria's name is to break a promise with the goddess.”

Emu realized she seemed the calmest about the situation. Even her elder sister, who didn't like the wedding either, seemed scared. Rose eyes watched as the purple haired leader approached the alter. Those who had come with kept the guards of her kingdom back, her guards storming the leader.

“Aht aht aht! No touching Commander Yuki!” A pink haired guard said, almost as a taunt as she and a ginger one took out all the guards going at Yuki (the leader...?).

“Tch... If I knew you'd make this so so much work, I’d have just killed you sooner.” The words of the prince she nearly married scared her more than the interruption had, her attention sharply turning to him. Sword in hand from the wall, he ran back at Emu, point aimed at her torso.

Flinching and closing her eyes, she expected to feel pain. Instead, she heard her name being called from Yuki, eyes opening in time to see Yuki disarm the prince by blocking the attack. Emu assumed that Yuki's face was terrifying, as the prince fell back and backed up as they pointed their sword at him.

“ Anyone else wish to try and hurt the princess or us? ” Yuki said, looking at the wedding attendees. When no one spoke, Yuki put their sword away and turned to Emu. It must have been a surprise when she didn't seem scared or surprised, since Yuki seemed to hesitate before kneeling and bowing. “My king has sent us to retrieve you, if you w—”

“Okay.” She watched the Commander looked up surprised again. Well, why would she want to stay here...? Especially if she made a promise to marry someone else.

“Ah... *ahem* Mizuki and Luka will escort you to collect what you wish to bring with. We leave before the end of the day, then.”

The two pink haired ‘invaders’ smiled and followed Emu back to the castle as she glanced back to watch Yuki speak to a brown haired girl. She could hear the girl Yuki talked to address the crowd as she left.

Emu grabbed a small bag, Luka (she was the one who insisted on helping in the room) then helping and suggesting a few things as well. Emu denied all but a small snowflake shaped locket, packing a few books and one thing from her mother and sister otherwise. Soon, they returned to where the Fuyuki Empire carriages were. Her eyes closed and she fell unconscious from stress.

When she woke up a few hours later, they had set off. The other guard who escorted her to her room, Mi... Something. Sitting up, the other smiled.

“Ah, you woke up! Glad to see it was just from stress like Ena said.” She hummed and leaned forward a little. “Still, you were out for a long while. Good few days, since we're almost home. We should make it back to the castle near noon if all goes well~ Eh heh heh~ Then I get to bug Ena for the rest of the day about getting her measurements for a new dress~~”

Emu blinked a little, confused.

“Annnnyywayyy~ I'm Mizuki, your new personal guard~ Nice to meet ya officially, Princess Emu!”

Emu nodded looking out the window of the carriage. “We're almost to our destination...? How long was it out for...?”

Mizuki seemed a little worried. “About 3 days... Ena and Kaito said it was just stress, but you really had us worried... Besides that, you seemed really calm.” Emu glanced back to Mizuki as the guard sighed. “Well, it's great you're awake and okay. You hungry? I can ask Kaito to grab some snacks for ya.”

Emu nodded a little.

Mizuki smiled and opened the window next to her, calling out of it to the Kaito and asking him to grab a snack or two. Emu took a deep breath as that happened, smiling a little. She felt free.

[newstfionline]

Friday, December 16, 2022

From Mexican labs to U.S. streets, a lethal pipeline (Washington Post) Fentanyl’s catastrophic surge came after the Drug Enforcement Administration cracked down on the excesses of the U.S. opioid industry. Millions of Americans who had become addicted to prescription pain pills suddenly found them difficult or impossible to get. Mexican cartels stepped in to fill the vacuum. Traffickers, who relied for decades on plant-based drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana, are now using chemicals in clandestine laboratories to manufacture fentanyl powder and pills to meet the ever-increasing demand in the United States. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, and its compactness makes it far easier to smuggle. The synthetic opioid is so powerful that a year’s supply of pure fentanyl powder for the U.S. market would fit in the beds of two pickup trucks. As fentanyl trafficking boomed, U.S. counternarcotics cooperation with Mexico deteriorated. U.S. border authorities are now overwhelmed, and, since July, the volume of fentanyl seized coming across the Mexico border each month has doubled from earlier in the year. Since the early 2000s, three waves of the opioid epidemic—fueled first by prescription pain pills, then by heroin and now by illicit fentanyl—have taken the lives of nearly three-quarters of a million Americans. The damage to U.S. communities cost the economy $1.5 trillion in 2020 alone, according to a congressional analysis.

A Sign That Tuition Is Too High: Some Colleges Are Slashing It in Half (NYT) Like other schools across the country, a small private college named Colby-Sawyer College saw applications fall by about 10% over the last two years, caused in part by the Covid pandemic and increased competition from other universities. In response, Colby-Sawyer slashed its tuition for the 2023-24 school year from roughly $46,000 to $17,500—a discount of 62%. While this may look like a huge discount for prospective students, in practice the move barely affects tuition for most. Like other lesser-known private colleges, the school has long driven up its sticker tuition price in order to appear a bit more prestigious—a well-established marketing move in the realm of private higher education. To make the school actually accessible to real people, the school provides scholarships and price cuts for all of its students. Why play with tuitions like this? Roughly 20 years ago, colleges discovered the Chivas Regal effect—basically, people associate price with quality. Parents also liked the system of using scholarships to make tuition more affordable, giving their pride a boost. Since then, colleges have fallen into the groove of raising prices and handing out scholarships to offset them. Other schools have caught on to the end of the inflated-tuition status quo as well. Multiple private colleges have announced “tuition resets,” overhauling their tuition and scholarship systems, and some public schools have cut prices as well. However, the most exclusive schools in the country are holding strong at their price points, knowing that demand for their products remains high. The jury is still out on whether or not tuition resets work—while Colby-Sawyer has seen an increase in interest, the number of applications the school has received has remained relatively level for now.

The world’s most expensive city to live in (CNN) The award for most expensive city to live in goes to … New York and Singapore, tied for first place. Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first time the Big Apple makes it to the top of the annual Economist Intelligence Unit list. Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Zurich, Geneva, San Francisco, Paris and Copenhagen complete the top 10.

EU to US: We already have war, don’t give us trade war, too (AP) Disappointment has set in two years after the election of U.S. President Joe Biden was supposed to reset trans-Atlantic relations with the European Union. EU leaders are openly talking about fights, not only friendship. They say conflict with Washington is the last thing they want, with war raging on their doorstep in Ukraine and common resolve essential in stopping Russia. But money is a threat to that unity. “We already have war in Europe. The last thing we need is a trade war,” European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager told lawmakers Wednesday. They were debating U.S. policies that many in the 27-nation bloc see as unfairly locking a longstanding and trusted ally out of the lucrative American market. The point of contention is the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, a $369 billion plan that favors American-made climate technology through subsidies and, according to the EU, will unfairly discriminate against its firms.

Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ tops Russian bestseller lists (Reuters) George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984”, set in an imagined future where totalitarian rulers deprive their citizens of all agency in order to maintain support for senseless wars, has topped electronic bestseller lists in Russia. The novel is the most popular fiction download of 2022 on the platform of the Russian online bookseller LitRes, and the second most popular download in any category, the state news agency Tass reported on Tuesday. The English author’s novel was published in 1949, when Nazism had just been defeated and the West’s Cold War with its erstwhile ally Josef Stalin and the Soviet communist bloc he now led was just beginning. The book was banned in the Soviet Union until 1988. Orwell said he had used Stalin’s dictatorship as a model for the personality cult of the all-seeing Big Brother, whose “thought police” force cowed citizens to engage in “doublethink” in order to believe that “War is peace, freedom is slavery”.

Will Russia’s defenses hold? (NYT) Russia has accelerated the construction of trenches and traps along the eastern and southern fronts, a Times analysis of satellite imagery shows. In an area where Russian forces are waging an offensive near the eastern city of Bakhmut, the structures appeared within six days. The defenses include miles-long rows of concrete pyramids known as dragon’s teeth and deep ditches called tank traps. Both are designed to slow Ukrainian vehicles and force them into positions where Russian forces can target them. Russia is also building miles of trenches, and pillboxes for their troops to shoot from. Near Bakhmut, the newly built defenses provide Russian fighters with several options for retreat. That could help Russia avoid a repeat of its costly withdrawal from the Kharkiv region in September, when it lost thousands of square miles of territory and was forced to abandon military equipment. Ultimately, the success of Russia’s defenses depends on the quality of the troops defending them. Military analysts say the new defense lines could easily collapse if they are manned by poorly trained and unequipped new recruits.

Turkish court sentences Erdogan rival to prison for insulting officials (Washington Post) A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced Istanbul’s popular mayor, a political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to more than two years in prison on the charge of “insulting public figures,” a verdict that underscored concerns that opposition figures will be prevented from fairly competing in upcoming elections. Recent polls have shown that Imamoglu is among a small group of opposition figures who could defeat Erdogan in a consequential presidential election in June. Erdogan’s popularity has been dented by his management of the economy, which has suffered from skyrocketing inflation, rising unemployment and the collapse of the local currency. Imamoglu, 52, a member of the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, rose to prominence in 2019 after defeating a candidate from Erdogan’s ruling party in the race for mayor of Istanbul—a political thunderbolt that handed the opposition control of Turkey’s largest city for the first time in decades. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP, challenged the initial vote, which was overturned by the state election council. Imamoglu, though, handily won the revote, a stunning defeat for the president that cemented the mayor’s stature as a figure who threatened the AKP’s dominance.

Covid cases explode in Beijing leaving city streets empty and daily life disrupted (CNN) Empty streets, deserted shopping centers, and residents staying away from one another are the new normal in Beijing—but not because the city, like many Chinese ones before it, is under a “zero-Covid” lockdown. This time, it’s because Beijing has been hit with a significant, and spreading, outbreak—a first for the Chinese capital since the beginning of the pandemic, a week after leaders eased the country’s restrictive Covid policy. The impact of the outbreak in the city was visible in the upmarket shopping district Sanlitun on Tuesday. There, the usually bustling shops and restaurants were without customers and, in some cases, functioning on skeleton crews or offering takeout only. Similar scenes are playing out across Beijing, as offices, shops and residential communities report being understaffed or shifting working arrangements as employees fall ill with the virus. Meanwhile, others stay home to avoid being infected. Beijing is now on the front lines of a new reality for China: not since the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan have Chinese cities dealt with an outbreak without hefty control measures in place.

Bethlehem welcomes Christmas tourists after pandemic lull (AP) Business is bouncing back in Bethlehem after two years in the doldrums during the coronavirus pandemic, lifting spirits in the traditional birthplace of Jesus ahead of the Christmas holiday. Streets are bustling with tour groups. Hotels are fully booked, and months of deadly Israeli-Palestinian fighting appears to be having little effect on the vital tourism industry. Elias Arja, head of the Bethlehem hotel association, said that tourists are hungry to visit the Holy Land’s religious sites after suffering through lockdowns and travel restrictions in recent years. He expects the rebound to continue into next year. Christmas is normally peak season for tourism in Bethlehem, located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank just a few miles southeast of Jerusalem. In pre-pandemic times, thousands of pilgrims and tourists from around the world came to celebrate. But those numbers plummeted during the pandemic. Although tourism hasn’t fully recovered, the hordes of visitors are a welcome improvement and encouraging sign.

When African leaders go to Washington, China is in the room (Worldcrunch) Some 100 of the most important political eyes in Africa aren’t turned towards the U.S. this week—they’re in the U.S. For the first time in eight years, the White House is hosting 49 African heads of state and leaders of government (and the Senegalese head of the African Union) for a U.S.-Africa summit. It’s only the second such summit, after Barack Obama held the inaugural one in 2014. For African nations, it’s a chance to push for trade agreements and international investment, as reports FinancialAfrik, as well as to showcase their most successful businesses. But is the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and the accompanying nice talk all just cynical cover for what are, in fact, purely U.S. strategic interests in its wider global competition with China? That’s certainly the message from Chinese media—but also a point of view either echoed, or simply acknowledged as matter of fact, by African voices. “No matter how many fancy words the U.S. uses, the country still sees Africa as an arena to serve its strategic goal of competing with China,” Liu Xin writes for China’s state-run Global Times. Even if Biden Administration officials have been eager to talk about Africa on its own terms, the “long shadow” of China is everywhere, writes Kenya’s The Standard. The U.S. is playing “catch up,” writes The Standard, having fallen behind China when it comes to foreign direct investment in Africa, and must convince African countries that it is a better partner than China.

Luxury Submarines (Financial Times) For the discerning rich guy who yearns for the sea, sometimes it’s simply not enough to get a massive yacht to take to the open water. For a specific type of person, they’re the ideal customer for the luxury submarine business, which does in fact exist. Triton Submarines, partly owned by the billionaire Ray Dalio, will sell you a sub for anywhere from $2.5 million to $40 million, vessels that range in overall capacity from one person to 66 people, and with a depth range of anywhere from 100 meters to as deep as you want. Yes, no longer will you have to buy one of El Chapo’s narcosubs from a police auction to get in on the submersible action; you too are just $2.5 million away from the first step in becoming a James Bond villain.

[kingdomkeykitsune]

KHOC WEEK 2022 DAY 1: APPEARANCE

Bonus Round

So, I've been alternating between being sick (nothing serious, just bad allergies) and being stumped for how to approach OC Week this year, which means I got exactly zero Prep done ahead of time 😅. I do have a lady I'd like to talk more about this year, someone we haven't seen since a small appearance or two in the very first OC Week, and I do plan to try to get some stuff done later tonight, though if I don't get new stuff done I'll be sharing some old stuff for various OCs that I don't think I've put on Tumblr yet throughout the week. In that vein, just so you guys aren't high and dry in the mean time, I'm gonna share some of my Keykids with you all, since I have some references for them on hand. Consider this a bonus.

One thing to note is that none of these kids suffer the Canon fates of the KHUX kids, and in their storyline the main character role was filled by an acquaintance of theirs called, well, M.C. 😅 gonna try to keep these descriptions somewhat brief, but don't be afraid to ask questions if you want to know more!

Obligatory tag: @khoc-week

RIE

Rie's story is... Complicated... Mostly because I've never decided exactly where I want to go with it. She's just such a flexible character that I greatly enjoy playing with different scenarios with her, haha. Some things that always stay the same is that she's a strength based Keyblade Weilder from the Vulpes Union, she ends up separated from her best friends at the end of KHUX, and, just as we see many other familiar keyblades in the hands of keykids, Rie was a previous Kingdom Key weilder. She's very protective of her two best friends, and she just might have a soft spot for a certain rose boy. She gets two "Adult" looks to represent different versions of her story, and in certain outcomes both could appear.

In certain outcomes of her story she ends up on a familiar set of Islands, in others she becomes a keyblade master. In some others she has children, and in yet another kind she gets thrown to the future to help our dearly beloved cast. In the ones she has children in she begins a family line that results in some familiar faces.

PAX

Pax's story is more simple. He's a magic based keyblade weilder and one of Rie's two best friends. He's very quiet and bookish, and he falls head over heels for Ephermer. At the end of KHUX he and his two friends get separated, tossed across the worlds by a chaotic burst of energy when their path home gets destroyed. He does end up reuniting with Ephermer at least, and the two spend the rest of their days together. His (currently unnamed) keyblade has a staff form change that he prefers over the traditional sword form.

Wisteria

Ah Wisteria... Believe it or not, I've teased her before. It's her journal that Echo finds and starts translating Sister AU [link] She's also the third member of Rie and Pax's trio. She's another magic based keyblade weilder (Rie has her hands full acting as their tank, lemme tell you) and she has a deathly fear of being forgotten. She normally keeps a bright and bubbly exterior, but underneath the poor thing is often a walking bundle of nerves. When she gets separated from her two best friends at the end of KHUX she ends up in the newborn world of The Refuge [link] along with a small handful of other people who've lost their homes for various reasons. Being the kind person she is she can't help but reach out to help her fellow castaways and ends up becoming a leader in the small town that soon forms. Her Keyblade, Comet Tail, has a bow form change.

---

There is one AU in which the gang gets to come back together, and they all end up becoming Masters in the newly created Scala ad Caelum. This is one of the AUs in which Rie has her children and the trio plus Ephermer raise them as a big happy family. Here's a look at the kiddos, Natsuki and Tomomi.

[the-ghost-king]

thoughts on nico as the camp counselor/camp leader or whatever percy was after he leaves chb

Yeah! It’s honestly a great idea to me because I head canon Nico to be quite good with kids:

In the beginning he’s really nervous, he hasn’t interacted with children since he was a kid, so he is a bit worried about fucking up

Between Will and Jason, and some other friends who have more experience being at Camp(s) full time, Nico gets more comfortable around kids and being helpful

Once he realizes that he’s not like all the bad people who he was around as a kid, he gets more comfortable and realizes he’s not a horrible influence on the kids and he wont hurt them

He also had to learn a lot about kids because 1930s gender roles were really strict and he had no experience because of that, so he didn’t really know what he was doing at all

Luckily for Nico he has good instincts and an infectious child-like wonder about him, so kids like him and latch on to him because of that

He’s really chill to be around and generally quite open, also kids like him because he treats them like humans with complex mental processes (like they are) and he admits when he doesn’t know things, or if they ask questions he gives honest answers

He sees a cool plant and the woods and is like “oh shit! look! cool plant!” and points it out to all the kids and all the kids are like “wow! cool plant! what kind?” and then Nico racks his brain for information he learned from Persephone and Demeter

And then all the kids are like “you’ve met Persephone and Demeter?” and they start asking him questions about that and he answers

And everyone who’s helping assist is confused in the beginning, but after this sort of thing becomes a common experience and people get used to how kids react towards him they all sort of just laugh fondly at the interactions

Nico is a good teacher when it comes to a variety of things, he has a good intellectual understanding of the world, and he has the experience to back it up so people go to him with all sorts of questions, if he doesn’t know he admits to it (and sometimes adds “but I’ll look into it”), but if he does know he’s going to infodump everything he knows about it for days 

He’ll keep coming back with little things he forgot to mention for a solid week after you first ask, but people nod along because they like him and he’s polite and knowledgeable and also you don’t want to offend the son of Hades

(His friends don’t tell him people are still a bit scared of him, because it makes Nico sad and he doesn’t like it, so they avoid mentioning it unnecessarily as much as they possibly can)

Nico is one of those people who genuinely enjoys being around kids, he finds their paint projects, and all the weird trinkets they bring along genuinely cool and he’s interested in going looking for trinkets along with them or creating art beside them

His only real annoyance with kids is when they’re sticky and he doesn’t know why (the classic “why are your hands sticky/wet? where did it come from? what were you doing?” type questions that permeate every long term interaction with a kid). 

The only other one he ever gets is sometimes kids are a little too illogical for him to follow along with, and although he’s generally pretty chill and go with the flow, there are times when children just do not understand action-and-consequence and/or they will not listen to you trying to explain to them further, and he gets sort of lost on how to communicate with them for a minute or two afterwards.

He can generally bounce back pretty fast from that though, it only really takes him a few minutes, and usually he goes to Will upset, “why does the kid not like me anymore? what did I do wrong?” and Will looks at him silly because the kids always like him and “Nico you can’t take it as a personal offense if they cut you off in the middle of an infodump on queer history and it’s connection modern unions their brain cannot handle that long term of information, go try to talk about pirates or dinosaurs or something.”

And then everything works out pretty good

I could also see him being good friends/taking care of Meg (big brother/fatherly sort of figure to her) because they have a lot of shared childhood experiences in some ways

[winchesterxxi]

To Make you Mine (Din Djarin x Reader)

Rating: PG-13

Type: Fluff

Summary: Din got the darksaber and as we know he can’t yield it to Bo Katan, it needs to be won in a fight. He doesn’t want the darksaber to land in Bo’s hands because she doesn’t sit right with him, so he suggests you take it, along with an interesting proposal

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: CH.16 SPOILERS, graphical descriptions of violence, mentions of blood, implications of sex

A/N: This idea came to me in one of my many maladaptative daydreaming moments a few weeks ago so bear with me

MASTERPOST | REQUEST HERE | KO-FI

✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

You were trying to find a sense of normality.

After yours and Din’s life had been turned upside down just the week before, with losing your home and giving away your kid all in less than a couple of days, you had to go somewhere and deal with things. And you knew the Mandalorian by your side would never willingly take a single day off.

But with the help of a newly acquired ally, who also happens to have become the newest leader of Jabba’s Palace, Boba Fett, you managed to get in the possession of a small A-47 Airspeeder. Having a friend feared by all of Tatooine had its advantages.

You flew the fighter to what you knew to be a safe place to rest, across the galaxy: the forest moon of Endor.

You landed three days ago, and you and Din have been living a nomad life, using the ship to sleep in and igniting fire every day and night to cook and keep yourselves warm. You could’ve easily settled on a planet with a more hospitality feel to it; staying in an inn. But you knew this is what you both needed – fresh air away from everyone.

Despite Din’s way of dealing with the past events was to either cry alone or keep quiet, you always found intense physical activity the best way to blow off some steam. Tragic events had a way of making you angry, and this is the coping mechanism you found.

Slipping out of the small cot in which you were pressed against Din’s chest, you get some sturdier clothes on and get out of the ship, and run in big circles until you feel tired.

Once you were in your 15th lap, you couldn’t really tell anymore at this point, Din descends from the ship, full armor on which catches your eye.

“What’s wrong?” you yell so that he can hear you from how far you are.

From where he stands, he simply motions you to come closer with his left hand. You stop running and head in his direction instead, regaining your breath.

“What’s so important, you couldn’t wait for me to run my laps?” you question him, letting your hair loosen itself from the tight ponytail in which you had put it in to prevent it from getting in your way.

“I was thinking about something, and I’ve come to a decision.” His modulated voice explains calmly.

“Okay… and what decision have you exactly come to?”

“I don’t want the dark saber.”

“Yeah, you made that pretty clear to everyone three days ago.” you frown up at him, not understanding where the conversation was going.

“And I don’t trust Bo Katan.” You nod along, following his words.

“I want you to have it.”

You almost choke on your own spit when he communicates his decision to you, completely aloof as to why he would’ve thought of such a stupid thing.

“Are you out of your kriffing mind?!” you practically yell at him, waving your hands in the air, striding away from him to calm yourself down. You take a deep breath before turning to face him, still a few feet away. “What in the galaxy makes you think that I would ever do that?! Plus, you do remember that if I were to get that thing,” you gesture to his right hand, which has since reached for the dark saber “we would have to fight over it. As in, beat each other up.”

Din doesn’t dare to get closer to you, simply talking from where he is standing.

“It’s not a thing, it’s the single most powerful weapon in all of the Mandalorian history and yes, I do know that.” His helmet nods down and you finally connect the dots as to why he was in full armor when there was virtually no one on this moon besides the both of you. You sigh and your shoulders lower. You can’t believe that you’re actually considering this, hand coming up to press against your forehead.

“What’s in it for me besides the pain in the ass of having to rule all the Mandalorians in the galaxy?”

“I’ll marry you.” Once again your body as if goes into shock, stiffening up every possible muscle and your eyes widening.

“You -…” you stop yourself, before you scream, quickly striding over to him “You’ll what now?”

“If you can win the dark saber, I’ll marry you, you’ll become part of my clan, you’ll become a Mandalorian, and no other will be able to oppose you as their ruler.”

If before your heart was beating faster than ever with a mix of rage, confusion, and just overall annoyance, it has now sunk to the bottom of your stomach.

You and Din shared a connection beyond words, having spent countless nights together, both in union acting as guardians to Grogu and if anything ever happened to him you know you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself. So many were the times when you thought you’d lose him for the crazy stunts he has pulled to save the people he loves.

It was a love that didn’t need to be spoken, rather felt or shown, but now you weren’t so sure it was reciprocated as his answer bore a purely practical solution to a problem. Not a declaration in any way.

“Oh… Yeah, that makes sense.” You can’t hide the way your body slouched slightly and your face dropped at his answer. Din walks over to you, his chest tight at the words that he wants to say to you.

“And…” He places his free gloved hand upon your cheek, causing you to look up and meet his hidden gaze. If you could see through the dark visor of his helmet you would you could see the gentle smile that made his eyes crinkle at the corners as he looked adoringly at you, maybe soon “obviously, because I love you, mesh’la.”

You take a quiet breath in as your heart skips a beat at his confession. The words he’s wanted to say to you for so long and that you have longed to listen to for longer than you’d care to admit.

“I’ve lost too many things in my life, and if there is the chance for me to take you like a piece of myself for the rest of my life, I’m going to take it.” He brings his helmet down to meet your forehead and you take a deep breath before stepping backward and away from him, crouching down into a fighting stance, as you bring your hands up to be close to your face, closing them into two fists.

“Are you sure?”  You ask “What if I hurt you?”

“Give me your best.” Is all he says, igniting the saber at the same time as he reaches for the spear lodged in the back of his cape and throwing it in the direction of your chest. You grab it before it falls to the floor, handling it the way you had been instructed all those months ago when you insisted the man standing in front of you to teach you to defend yourself. “I know I’ve taught you well.”

The corner of your mouth lifts in a smile and you speed up to where he is, bringing the beskar speer down to meet the saber’s glowing blade as the sound of the clash echoes around you.

You breathe in before moving the spear to try and strike him from a different angle, moving forward as he backs away at the same time, grunting at the effort, all possible friendliness within the combat having completely flow away.

Once you finally think you have a good aim, he steps out of your trajectory, causing you to stumble forward with the momentum of the blow you were about to deliver.

“Think before striking, Y/n. We’ve done this before!” his voice comes heavy and sharp through the modulator in his helmet. Turning back at him, you are panting before running back to him, lifting your spear as if to strike him, but as his blade goes up to meet your weapon you slump below it and turn back, immediately hitting him on his defenseless back, in between the beskar plates.

He groans in pain and stumbles forward.

“Faster, Din. We’ve done this before.” You mock his earlier statement, smirking at him.

Oh. The man is pissed off. You can’t see his face, but having known him for so long you can tell by his body language that he is no longer padding around the playground. He means business.

He charges at you full force, but you block his blow with your spear, rotating and pushing it away from you at the same time, both of your weapons fly to the side.

You both look at the weapons, before looking at each other in sync, knowing exactly that you were going to try and go for the saber.

Din runs from you but you quickly catch up to him, advantages of him being in full beskar armor, weighing down on him and you only sporting some training clothes. You throw one of your legs around his waist and the other over his shoulder, rotating with his neck in the center so that you’re in front of him, and you pull your body weight to the side, bringing his own down with you.

You both fall to the ground with a heavy thud, his side crushing the leg that landed under him as you let out a cry. But you fight through the pain as you look to your side and notice that the place you are is only a few feet away from where the weapons landed. Holding him in a chuck hold with your legs, you hastily reach for the saber’s handle and switch yourself from underneath him, straddling his chest and holding the blade dangerously close to his throat.

You are both heavily breathing, you visibly sweating and his grip on you loosens as he holds his hands close to his face, surrendering.

You shakily exhale as a smile makes its way onto your lips and you nod in amusement, standing up from where you were.

Looking down at your lover, you extend him your free hand, which he takes as you pull him up to your level. He hovers over you as your right-hand turns the dark saber off, both chests still heaving up and down.

He brings his forehead down, shoulders slouching as he bows to the new Mand’alor.

“Ner alor.” My leader. “Mand’alor.” Sole Ruler.

You smile up at him once he straightens back to his full height.

“Now,” you grin with your tongue in peeking behind your teeth, and hanging the dark saber’s handle to your belt “If I remember correctly, I heard something about getting married... am I correct, my loyal subject?”

You walk slowly up to him, swaying your hips in the course.

His arms come to rest upon your waist, his voice letting out an amused hum and you just know he is smiling like an idiot underneath the beskar.

“And if I remember correctly, according to the Creed, that means that all this…” you tap with your pointer finger on the beskar of his helmet, chest and arms finalizing with a light tap of your nail against his crotch protection “gets to come off. Right?”

His grip on your waist tightens.

“Let’s go inside to find out.”

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PEDRITO TAGLIST

@weirdowithnobeardo

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[ibijau]

I saw a post about, not sure where god!lxc fic goes next? I assume nhs insists on going back to the cave to make a proper offering. Lxc accompanies b/c nhs is still a little sick and nmj is busy. Nhs continues panicking about this uber-powerful god. Lxc enjoys the offering, it's nice, but not the panicking, and hey he committed to being honest? so he tells nhs he's the god. This does not have the calming effect he was hoping for --the anon who got super excited about god!lxc can't read sideplot

ok so, didn’t quite use all of that, but big thanks anon for giving me a way to at least write a little more on that AU which is very dear to me

Price of Wishes on AO3 (can’t remember my tumblr tag for it... orz)

Lan Xichen stares at the altar.

It is a small one, hurriedly installed among others inside the Unclean Realm. Its only decoration is a bolt of pale embroidered fabric from which Nie Huaisang apparently once wanted to have a robe made, and a portrait of Lan Xichen that Nie Huaisang personally painted, as promised in the temple. It doesn’t look like Lan Xichen does in this mortal form, and it probably doesn’t look the way he once did as a god, but the main attributes of his last remaining statue are there.

How long has it been since he was granted a new altar? Not since before this Nie sect even came to be, he thinks.

And now not only was he given this altar, but there are offerings on it. Nie Huaisang put incense to burn and offered flowers and rice, yes, but surprisingly others did the same, and thanked Lan Xichen for keeping their young master safe when he ran away. Even the stern Nie Mingjue, who clearly didn’t share his brother’s certainty about a godly intervention, still lit up some incense and bowed before the altar, simply because he realised how much it mattered to Nie Huaisang.

It had been a flight of fancy to help that boy and get him into the temple, just a sudden impulse to feel like a real god again, but Lan Xichen finds himself more than rewarded for this kindness. If he can keep this up, if they continue honouring him, he might well survive a century more.

Lan Xichen had forgotten what hope feels like.

But hope or not, Lan Xichen knows to whom he owes this. As days pass, he sticks close to Nie Huaisang, who is currently his strongest believer. Even the old lady, dear to Lan Xichen as she is, never had such unwavering faith in his power. She prays to him mostly out of habit, while Nie Huaisang does so out of conviction. Being near him feels like stepping into the sun after an eternity in darkness, and Lan Xichen cannot get enough of the sensation.

Besides, if they are to be married, he needs to know more about the young man whose life he will share.

Nie Huaisang is an interesting person, Lan Xichen thinks. He acts a little spoiled, but of course he is young, and Lan Xichen vaguely understands that the Nie family has gone through rough times in the recent past, and Nie Huaisang’s childishness might be how he dealt with it. At his core, Nie Huaisang is more serious than he lets on. For example, he is determined to fully repay the debt he contracted toward Lan Xichen. The altar he set up is but a first step. In spite of his brother’s warnings, Nie Huaisang has inquired what it would cost to have a safe road to the mountain temple, just as he promised to do. In fact, he goes beyond his promise, determined to find every possible detail about Lan Xichen so that he may be worshipped properly. To that end, he spends day after day in Qinghe Nie’s immensely rich library, reading through books with a speed which astonishes Lan Xichen, writing letters to make inquiries as if it is the easiest thing in the world.

Lan Xichen thinks Nie Huaisang might just be the cleverest person he has ever met, and the most stubborn as well. Both are qualities he appreciates in a follower, and in a person.

It’s quite funny to Lan Xichen to realise that Nie Huaisang is considered lazy. Perhaps he only puts efforts into things that interest him. Lan Xichen, of course, is glad to be one of those things.

In general, he’s just glad to be around Nie Huaisang. The steady warmth of belief is quite nice, of course, but that’s not the only reason. Nie Huaisang, although he apparently realises to some degree that Lan Xichen shouldn’t exist as a mortal, still tries hard to be kind to him. He gives him delicious foods, and tries to find subtle ways to look for gaps in Lan Xichen’s knowledge of the mortal world so he can fill him in and help him fit in better. He is a pleasant person to talk to, a pleasant person to silently spend time with, a pleasant person to look at even, his youthful face showing every sign that he will develop into a handsome man someday.

In just this little time, Lan Xichen finds himself quite fond of this little mortal. It won’t be unpleasant to marry him as agreed.

First, though, Nie Huaisang must mature. And part of that means heading out toward the Cloud Recesses, where Lan Xichen himself is supposed to come from, according to the narrative Nie Huaisang demanded in his prayer. It is a stressful perspective, since Lan Xichen isn’t sure he is quite strong enough to shift reality around people who have much stronger reasons to refuse his intrusion into their life, but he will try his best. It is the deal he made with Nie Huaisang, and he will see it through.

To Lan Xichen’s relief, just before they are set to head south toward Gusu, Nie Huaisang begs his brother for a full ceremony at the mountain temple, with incense and prayers and everything that can be done to honour Lan Xichen. Nie Mingjue grumbles and complains and even gets angry, but he eventually gives in, as seems to be common for him when his brother makes a request. Nie Mingjue is a wise man, and he apparently understands that little can be done when Nie Huaisang is in a mood to be stubborn about something.

So the three of them head out into the mountain, followed by a few Nie disciples who carry food offerings and some tools to clean the temple.

The temple’s floors are swiped clean. Rubbles are removed. The nearly faceless statue has its layers of dust carefully cleaned away by Nie Huaisang who climbed on its pedestal so he can reach every part, revealing details that Lan Xichen himself had forgotten. There are even some traces of colour here and there.

“I’ll have to make another portrait,” Nie Huaisang notes. “Mine isn’t accurate at all after all.”

“I’m sure this god is already more than happy with what you have given him,” Lan Xichen says, lifting his gaze from the altar he’s wiping clean. It is a struggle to keep himself from crying from joy, and his voice comes out a little strangled, but Nie Huaisang doesn’t appear to notice.

“I need to do better,” Nie Huaisang says with a shiver. “I cannot risk offending him.”

He sounds almost afraid, and his hands tremble slightly as he carefully dusts the statue. Lan Xichen stares at him a moment more, and sighs.

However pleasant everything else has been, this is one thing that doesn’t sit right with him. For whatever reason, Nie Huaisang seems to be afraid of his god self, and it taints his every prayer. This doesn’t change the value of those prayers, it doesn’t make his belief any less strong and valuable, but Lan Xichen can feel that fear almost constantly and he doesn’t enjoy it. He is too used to the old lady’s belief, simple and companionable. She treats him like an old friend to whom she can make requests, and he wishes Nie Huaisang would do the same. They are set to be married, it is the deal, and Lan Xichen doesn’t like the idea of a union set in fear. 

“I am sure that god would not be offended,” Lan Xichen quietly insists. “You haven’t found anything about him in all your books and your letters, have you? So he must not be a very important god, and your efforts are sure to have been noticed and appreciated.”

“But it’s not enough,” Nie Huaisang retorts, gritting his teeth. “It can’t be enough. Nothing I do is ever enough, there’s got to be more I could do!”

Lan Xichen frowns, and looks around until his eyes land on Nie Mingjue. He heard this, and is staring at his brother with some concern.

From what Lan Xichen understands, the reason Nie Huaisang took refuge in his temple a few weeks ago was because of a great argument with Nie Mingjue regarding his capacity to do… nearly anything, really. Nie Mingjue, taking Lan Xichen as the confident Nie Huaisang asked that he be, admitted to him one day that he is terribly worried for his brother’s future. There might be a war, he said, and Nie Mingjue could die in it and leave Nie Huaisang alone to lead their sect before his time. Nie Mingjue confessed he is terrified that the elders of their clan won’t respect Nie Huaisang because his mother was of lesser birth, that some of their cousins will attempt to rob him of his birthright, that even if he becomes sect leader he will not be respected and some people will try to take advantage of his inexperience. So Nie Mingjue pushes his brother as hard as he can, demanding more efforts, more results, but it is all in vain because Nie Huaisang has stubbornly decided he isn’t good at anything that matters, and refuses to try anymore.

It was a terrible argument they had that day, Nie Mingjue said. And then, proving all his fears right, Nie Huaisang nearly died after running away and catching a fever, showing to all his future enemies how vulnerable a target he would be without Nie Mingjue to protect him. At the same time, that Nie Huaisang was ready to run away showed that he took it to heart every time he was scolded for not doing more, and now Nie Mingjue doesn’t know how to handle him anymore.

After Nie Mingjue confided in him this way, Lan Xichen promised he would look after Nie Huaisang, no matter what. It is part of the deal, as far as he’s concerned, because spouses must support one another, but also…

Lan Xichen is quickly becoming quite fond of this pair of brothers. Having been lonely for so long, he finds joy in the closeness they share, no matter how strained it might be at times. It is clear to him that Nie Mingjue loves his brother, though he struggles to show it when he has so much on his mind, and Nie Huaisang feels the same, to the point it was inconceivable for him to marry someone who wouldn’t be friendly with Nie Mingjue.

“Nie gongzi, you’ve done all you could for that statue,” Lan Xichen says, grabbing Nie Huaisang by the waist and pulling him down from the pedestal.

Nie Huaisang squeaks in surprise, fighting for a second before going rigid with fear as Lan Xichen puts him down. His face is a bright crimson when he looks up at Lan Xichen, who wonders whether that’s anger at being manhandled this way, but the other Nie just start laughing at his expression.

“Don’t seduce my brother like that, Xichen,” Nie Mingjue scolds, more of a joke than a real warning. “Look at him, he’s two heartbeat from asking for your hand now.”

Amazingly, Nie Huaisang manages to blush an even brighter colour, and leaps away from Lan Xichen. Nie Mingjue laughs again, apparently content with his brother’s perceived crush. Perceived, or real. Lan Xichen isn’t really sure what goes on in Nie Huaisang’s mind. He can feel is never ending flood of belief, the undercurrent of fear, but no particular affection so far. Then again, with fear that strong, it would be hard for any other emotion to flourish. Lan Xichen hasn’t wanted to talk directly about their situation yet, assuming that Nie Huaisang might want the illusion that this is all perfectly normal, but he’s rethinking that strategy. It is clear that Nie Huaisang, for whatever reason, is immune to the narrative that Lan Xichen created for his sake, so why not talk about it openly? If it can make Nie Huaisang any less afraid…

That is a problem for later. Right now, the temple is as clean as can be achieved with what little time they have available, so Nie Mingjue conducts the ceremonies necessary to consecrate the temple again, and invites Lan Xichen to inhabit again this place dedicated to him. Incense is put to burn for him, offerings are left on the altar, thanks and prayers are presented to him. Even Nie Mingjue, so openly reluctant to believe that there was any divine intervention to help his brother survive in the mountain, does provide a small stream of belief, hinting at a mind just as strong as his brother’s. Lan Xichen hopes that they can truly become friends over time, though he is unsure that’s possible with the lies he’s had to weave so he could fulfill Nie Huaisang’s request.

Still, there’s no harm in trying. If Lan Xichen is to spend one lifetime as a mortal, he wants to make the best of it, not only as a god in need of believers, but also as a person left alone far too long.

[mmvalentine]

Let Me Touch You Pt 9 | Feysand

High school AU. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 10

The weeks floated by like soap bubbles on the breeze. In art class, Feyre and Rhys started making portraits of each other no matter what the new brief was- something in this room. Something in the cubist style. Something that makes you happy. In history and chemistry, Feyre started sitting next to Rhys, and her teachers said he was a bad influence on her but Mor did not get in trouble once. After school, Rhys held Feyre's hand on the walk home and sat with them in study group, with his ankles locked around hers under the table.

And on the days Rhys disappeared at lunch to visit his scruffy dog, Feyre would go with him, and scratch Bryaxis' ears, and kiss Rhys on the staircase until they had to run back to school to avoid being late for the next class.

Mor was a huge fan of their relationship from they day they kissed in history class, and was not shy about shoving them together any time she saw the opportunity. One such day, they were studying together right before midterms, and Mor got up all of a sudden and declared she couldn't keep going with Rhys and Feyre distracting her.

"What do you mean 'distracting'?" Rhys asked. "We've just been sitting here quietly working, you've gotten up fifteen times in the last hour." "Yes exactly," Mor said. "Because everything you do reminds me of something else I need to do. Like, when you drink water and I remember I have to pee." "Sorry Mor," Feyre said. "We'll try to be less distracting." "No no no, it's too late. I really have to nail this midterm, you guys are going to have to go work in Rhys' room or something I need to be left alone." Feyre shrugged at Rhys and began packing up her things.

They carried their armfuls of books back to Rhys' bedroom, and since Rhys' desk wasn't big enough for the both of them, he stationed Feyre at the table and dropped his own belongings on his bed. It took all of five minutes for Rhys to be finding an excuse to get her next to him.

"Feyre," he said. "I'm having trouble with this practice exam for history. Can you come quiz me on some of these dates?"

Feyre crossed the room and took the text book that Rhys was holding out for her. Over the next little while, she asked him questions and rewarded him with a kiss when he got the answer right.

"What year was Hitler appointed leader of Germany?" "1933." She kissed him on the nose. "What year did the Soviet Union invade Poland?" "1939." She kissed him on his jaw. "What year did Churchill become Prime Minster of England?" "1940." She kissed his Adam's apple. "Beginning with the bombing of Pearl Harbour, what year did the US officially join the world war?" "1941." She kissed him on the lips, and before she could move away, Rhys was pulling her into his lap and winding his hands through her hair.

xxxxxxxxxx

There were days when Rhys was perfectly content to just sit and watch Feyre, whether she was painting or concentrating or laughing with Mor, when just feeling the glow of her beauty took his breath away a little. And then there were days where it was all he could do not to eat her alive.

This day was one of the latter. Rhys had sat at the table with the girls, and although midterms were breathing down their necks, all he wanted to do was lock his cousin out of the house and make out with Feyre on the kitchen table. So when Mor had suggested they study in his room, Rhys couldn't leave fast enough.

Now he had her in his arms and if he could kiss her forever he would. Fuck midterms. Fuck it all.

He leaned back against the headboard, and moved his fingers in the strip of exposed skin where Feyre's shirt rode up. Feyre's fingernails scratched lightly in his hair behind his head, and when her tongue ran along his bottom lip, he went completely hard underneath her.

In the month that he and Feyre had been dating, Rhys had gotten over his embarrassment at how quickly his body responded to her. At first, he had tried to control it, and when that had been a complete failure, he tried to hide it. But it happened every gods damn time she put her soft, full lips anywhere near him, when she bumped against him with her hip, when she hugged him and her breasts pressed up against his chest. So, pretty well whenever she was around. And after a number of times where he knew she knew, but she didn't freak out or pull away or laugh, he began to worry less.

This time, Feyre was right in his lap and there was definitely no denying it. He squeezed his hands at her hips, and then she moved and the rolling pressure over his crotch had him hanging onto her for dear life. He kissed her more deeply, and when she reacted in kind, tightening her hands at his neck, he moaned lightly.

Feyre shifted around so she was straddling him, and suddenly she was seated right over his cock. Through his jeans and hers, he burned like she was the actual sun.

Rhys pulled away, and was met with vicious protestations from both his body and the girl in his lap. He groaned into her palm. "Feyre, Feyre Feyre," he said. "You're going to have to slow down." "Why?" Feyre said, and when she tilted her head she looked so fucking cute he could have died. "I'm not... you have to take it easy on me sometimes," Rhys said, touching his thumb to her chin. Concern clouded her lovely eyes. "Are you not ready for this yet?" she asked him. Rhys barked out a laugh. "Gods no, the opposite. I'm afraid I'll lose it and push us too far. I want to be careful with you, and I want you to feel safe with me."

Feyre leaned in and pressed another lush, long kiss to his lips. He melted.

"Thank you," Feyre said. "I do feel safe with you." She looked at his lips. "I appreciate you being careful but... I also want you to just talk to me about these things. We can decide what we're ready for, together, right?" Rhys nodded, and toyed with a lock of her honey and gold hair.

"Have you... you know, slept with anyone before?" he asked her. Feyre shifted. "Yes," she said. "Just once. A boy from my old school, last year during a football game." She made a face. "It kind of sucked, it was weird and awkward. But," she added, and her thumbs stroked at the back of his neck. "It wasn't like this, with Isaac. Not like how it is with us." "You didn't love him?" Rhys asked. Feyre blushed. "No," she said. "I didn't." She asked him the question back. "Have you slept with anyone?" "Yes," Rhys answered, playing with her hair again. "A few people, here and there." "A few?" Rhys shrugged. "After my parents died I sort of went a bit off the rails, did some stuff that probably wasn't the best." He looked up at her. "But I didn't love any of them, either. And that's why I want to be careful with you. Because I want it to be different, because I love you and I want you to know I would never, ever hurt you if I could help it, and I don't want you to feel like you're any random girl to me."

Feyre looked down, and when she met his eyes again she was a little breathless.

"You love me?" she said. "Yes," Rhys said, having never been so sure of anything in his life. "I do." "I love you too, Rhys," Feyre said, and this kiss tasted even sweeter than all the ones before it.

****

Gah I was so sure this would be the last part, but it's high school and I just want to be careful with my little babies. If people were not careful with you when you were eighteen, this one is for you.

TAGLIST: @ghostlyrose2 @highladysith @stardelia @feysand-babies @tillyrubes10 @ratabrasileira @live-the-fangirl-life @maybekindasortaace @annejulianneh111 @thebonecarver @rowaelinismyotp @whythefuckdoiexist @teddytdr

MASTERLIST

[just2bubbly]

The Dinner!

Masterlist

Rumors and Affairs: Chapter List

// This is an update of Breaking the News..

Kai’s Persective: 

“Your Majesty, are you okay?” the American President Vargas asked.

“Yeah, just Emperor Kaito would do.” he said as he had learned the hard way that the President liked to use his title of ‘Emperor’ wherever possible.

“Okay. As I was saying it’s time for dinner so we both can walk together to the dining chambers”

Kai nodded his head. President Vargas had interrupted on his comm with Cinder and he did not look ashamed about it as well. He was angry after realizing why Cinder seemed so dejected, but could he really shout at the President of the USA because of Cinder’s mistake, a big fat NO.

Cinder.

 What was she thinking today? He was excited to go home now that he would finally be seeing Cinder after like 9 days 21 hours and 58 seconds-now it becomes 59 seconds. He was definitely not counting. Now he was looking forward to going home back for an entirely different reason. He had to solve this mess that was already looming on his head before he had come to England. He was trying to postpone addressing the rumors for his own sake and sanity. He was happy in his own bubble- where everyone was happy as the royal couple was expecting a child. Alas! Fantasies were not made for Emperors especially not for Kai. His life with Cinder felt like a dream but the press ruined it all the time. The first thing he would do after going to Eastern Commonwealth was put restrictions on the press.

“Emperor Kaito, are you listening?”

Kai zoned out. He should pay attention to avoid saying something wrong like Cinder.

“My apologies President, I got distracted. Could you repeat what you were saying?” he asked with a polite smile.

“Nothing much actually, I was just asking how you feel about the meeting that took place in the morning?”

“Oh, About that! I must say I agree with Queen Camilla for once. The prospect of abolition of cyborg needs of guardians is very much acceptable to the Eastern Commonwealth. It is actually done in the Commonwealth thanks to Cin-my wife you see. It would be good if the Earthen Union follows lead. ”

“I agree as well, Emperor. It seems your mind is in the Commonwealth where your dearest wife Selene is.”

“No President, I am wholly involved this conversation.” Kai replied, his ears becoming pink. Why did he have to blush and get flustered so easily, he could read Cinder cliché love letters and she would not show a sign of blushing and here he was getting all flustered at the mention of his wife.

“I was just kidding, Emperor. Remind me how far along the Empress is?”

“She is 7 months along” he said, feeling quite happy now that they had reached the dining chambers. He would be able to avoid talks with President Vargas, never his favorite one.

“Here you are Emperor Kaito and President Vargas. I would request you to take a seat so that we can commence with dinner. We were expecting your arrival.” addressed the Queen.

He and the President took their seats. His seat was adjacent to Princess Sophie, Queen Camilla’s daughter.

Feeling a bit out of his element, he avoided talking with any of the world leaders. ‘Out of his element really huh, Kai!’ he said to himself. He had been raised to be presentable at such meetings and political dinners, how could Kai be out of his element, then again when did he ever feel out of character at Rampion even when he had not been raised to have friends who were criminals for a time- being.

He could not really avoid any talk for Princess Sophie was sitting next to him, she was rather known for her talkative nature. Not only this but the sitting arrangement was awkward for Kai who had recently learned that the princess had some royalty-crush upon him. He really had no idea how to sit beside a person who might have a crush on you. Besides he was a married man, expecting his first born child.

Someone coughed a bit too loudly to seek his attention.

“Emperor Kaito, are you enjoying yourself?”

“Well, Queen Camilla I certainly am, why would you ask that?” he said evidently lying.

“No, Emperor you seemed a bit too lost in thoughts.” Kai wanted to shout at her if a man could not maintain a calm face through an idiotic and might he add unnecessary delay of dinner, but he would not to that because he was THE Emperor.

“Don’t disturb the Emperor, Camilla.” President Vargas said with a hint of mischief in his tone.

“And why would that be Vargas?” talking as if they were friends since college, they seemed to forget that a few hours earlier Camilla wanted to chop down his head.

“He was distracted with me as well. His mind is somewhere else.”

“And where would that be?” asked Africa’s Prime Minister Kamin.

“Don’t you get it Kamin, the Commonwealth.” The Governor-General Williams from Australia replied.

“Obviously, Empress Selene has stayed behind.” President Vargas said in a way of confirmation.

At this remark of the President, both Princess Sophie and Queen Camilla looked crestfallen. After the Lunar Revolution, Torin had told him about how Camilla wanted her daughter to be married to Kai, in order to form an alliance but his father never acceded and Kai had already fallen for the Queen of Luna later. He was watching the conversation going around him, royally failing to keep a straight face. Kai had become uncomfortable and it was evident that he was trying his hardest to not blush. With the ongoing talks around him and in an effort to change the topic he said, “May I know why the diplomatic dinner is used to discuss my marital life?”

“Oh! Emperor we don’t do diplomatic talks at the dinner table here in Europe but I guess it’s a common practice in the Commonwealth.” The Queen replied.

Why couldn’t she understand that he did not want to talk about his life at this dinner. Could he ask her about her plans to marry her daughter at the dinner hosted by him? NO RIGHT! The old queen could not evidently think this through.

“It appears that the Emperor is feeling uncomfortable, we should really not talk about his feelings for the Empress in such a teasing manner”, Princess Sophie came to his rescue.

“Yes, it is not diplomatic of us to make fun of the Emperor. Besides, tell me Kaito, how far along is your wife?”

If Kai would have not been used to the gossip attempts made by the Queen he would have taught her a lesson. Did she not hear what her daughter just said? Maybe he should gift her some hearing-aids for Christmas.

”She is seven months along, could not ride a plane so far in pregnancy. Hence, she could not come otherwise she would have definitely loved to attend the meets on cyborg rights”

“Cyborgs that she is.” European Prime Minister Bromstad said. He always had some sort of prejudice with Cinder and her cyborg-ness. It got on Kai’s nerves every damn time.

“Yeah, she would be better able to give suggestions regarding the changes after being a first hand victim of cyborg prejudices you see.”

The Prime Minister nodded. Kai must have been a little too outspoken and protective of Cinder against cyborg prejudice recently.

“Besides that, how are you and Empress Selene taking the news of the baby? “The Queen asked.

She was really getting on his nerves now. Was it so hard to understand that she was testing his patience and already crossed all boundaries of professionalism?

“We are very much excited to receive the child. I personally was delighted with the news.” He replied, a new sort of emotion feeling his heart and warming his soul at the mention of his child.

“Parenthood is a demanding role, Emperor”

“I know that and I am ready to accept it wholeheartedly, Queen Camilla”. He said, putting much authority in his voice. If not for his royalty status he would have told her ’Shut up, I already know that.’

“And what did the Empress think about carrying the royal heir?” she snubbed her way into his train of thoughts again.

“As I already said, she was very delighted and protective of the baby.” Why were all the world leaders suddenly so interested in their baby, as far as he could remember Queen Camilla had not even congratulated them upon the news.

“Have you revealed the gender of the baby?”  Princess Sophie asked curiously.

“It’s our decision to keep it confidential till the birth of the baby.”

“And? ” asked Prime Minister Bromstad.

“And what?”

That’s when it hit him like a train. These people are world leaders and they know the world happenings. Obviously, they know about the rumors regarding Cinder and Thorne and that’s the very reason everyone especially Queen Camilla is so interested in the discussion of his baby. He felt like an idiot to not have realized this beforehand. It seems they wanted to add salt to the injury. Were they really so foolish to fall prey for such rumors? Like hell they have seen him and Cinder doing the lovey-dovey stuff from up close, he was much convinced that they were blind.

Before any of them could ask him anything, he decided to leave the dinner.

“Excuse me, but I have some important business to attend to.”

“It appears that the Emperor would enjoy the company of someone else other than us.” Well a good time without them, he certainly would.

 “Very well emperor Kaito, it was an honor to receive you as our guest.” If looks could kill, everyone at the dinner would already be dead.

Nodding his head, he headed towards his room. He needed to talk with Torin at the earliest.

__

A/N: Needless to say, There is more!

( I also have an another Kaider fic named ‘ Nightmares’, if you like Kaider fluff you can check it out!!  🖤 )

Likes, Reblogs and Comments will be much loved!  🖤

P.S Can you suggest some baby names for Kaider child, both the gender please.