#thaddeus is enamored

[ryathenaughtykitsune]

Rya is just facepalming as she's listening to thaddeus carry on a about the 'horsie with a horn' and how he's gonna see if he can't com... comm... 'momma what's that real fancy word for art buying that you want bur can't find'

"Commission?"

'Yeah that! Imma commission a horsie with a horn for my ship when I get older'

Cues the facepalm again.

@phoenixbxrn @ladyxamalthea

[blueshistorysims]

February 4th, 1925, Harlem, Manhattan, New York

My Dear Byron,

You cannot imagine my surprise by your letter. Not by its content or sender, but by pure coincidence! I had just sat down to in fact write you a letter when it was handed to me. It seems you have beat me to it. You are not the only one who will be married! If you will remember a woman I  had mentioned in a letter from years ago, Miss Adanna Okafor—well, she and I are to be married as well. In fact, this letter was also meant to be an invitation to my own wedding.

I never thought I would marry, hence being 34 and only now getting married, but now, I am so enamored with my fiancée, I can barely imagine what life was like before I met her. Our situations are familiar, I think, when it comes to our parents. My father especially does not like that Adanna is one, Nigerian and two, Catholic. I find it all very silly, but what can he do, I am a grown man. 

I am delighted to meet Miss Balass and make her acquaintance—I expect her as well as you to be at my wedding. It will be on July 17th, in St. Patrick’s Cathedral (I am still shocked we will wed in a church as nice as the cathedral). Of course, I will attend your wedding, and I know Samson will be eagerly writing to report the same, and so will my parents. 

I can read between the lines with the invitation of the former in-laws to your wedding. In truth, I am not sure if Stella would have gone if she were able, but there is other happy news in our family: Stella is to have a baby! Mother and Father are very excited for a grandchild. By your wedding, she will be caring for a newborn, as the baby is due shortly after my nuptial date. Campbell, on the other hand, still feels shame about the nature of the end of your marriage to my sister, and I don’t know if he will come. Perhaps if you affirm that you have no hard feelings in person, he will change his mind. 

I look forward to your reply, 

Thaddeus B. Gardenhouse

London, England

The news of Stella’s pregnancy startled Byron. She’d told him more than once that she never wanted children. He’d been fine by this when they married, but to learn she was to have a child sparked something in him he couldn’t explain. She could have a baby with Campbell but not with him? Perhaps it was unjustified anger or envy, but he couldn’t help it, much to his guilty conscience.

[batmanego]

6 for manny, 12 for thaddeus, 18 for JAILBIRD <3, for sam, 30 forr eugene, (picking names at random at this point), 36 for maite, 42 for billie. for the first section. for the 2nd section… A for veev, E for glory, & C for Paimon

you’re insane for including everyone. i love you. A long fucking answer below

6: does manny consider laws to be flexible or immovable?

depends on what your definition of law is. in the sense of legal happenings, manny largely considers laws a joke and doesn’t care about following them. the laws that govern him, however — the divine laws he operates under — are very very real and very very immovable. he’s tried.

12: how does thaddeus deal with an itch he can’t reach?

thaddeus has nerve damage on a good portion of his body that means half the time he can’t feel any itching. that being said, probably just by using whatever’s nearest to him to itch it, probably without thinking.

30: who does Eugene most regret meeting?

it depends at what point in his life you ask that question. deluge, glory, jailbird, and his biological father are the four answer’s he’ll give most consistently for various time periods though.

you didn’t pick a number for sam, so i’ll go with 15: how do they speak?

sam talks like a salesman. because he is one. he’s very confident. he also always sounds cheerful and chipper. it’s near impossible to get him to break that and tread into genuinely mad at you territory, and he is probably for real incapable of sadness. not quite old timey radio announcer, but definitely adjacent to that.

36: do they actively seek romance or wait for it to come to them?

maite would rather shoot herself than attempt to flirt with anyone.

42: how badly do they want to reach their end goal?

billie’s end goal is to Stop Having Superpowers. they want this very badly, regardless of cost. their powers are extremely dangerous, destructive, and often visually unpleasant to the point of nausea. by the end of the story, they get a better hold on their powers, but they never get rid of them completely, and they never fully accept them because really when you can’t hug people without a barrier for fear of melting the flesh off their bones, it’s hard to accept it.

A: why am i excited about veev?

I think veev is funny. In concept. i’ve always been enamored with the pseudo-stoner skater boy character trope and i think it’s funny to imagine one of those having the weight of the entire universe on him.

E: would i get along with glory?

i’d like to think so, but she might be a little much for me. she’s very, uh. Peppy and full of energy, and has a very poor understanding of other peoples’ boundaries at first.

C: did i have trouble figuring out where paimon fits in the story?

not at all, but that’s mostly because he’s essentially just a part of thaddeus, who is the titular character of hell and high water. i struggle to imagine thaddeus without paimon.

[sharkiethedork]

3, 17, 71, and 114 for both Thad and Rory<3

3. Does your character prefer to work in silence or with noise and of what kind? Rory likes to listen to podcasts and audiobooks while she's at the office! She likes to have something with a narrative to keep her from dying of bordom at work. But I think when she's doing stuff with Thad she'd just rather talk to him. Thad has become very enamored with modern technology being able to play so many noises. He likes to listen to pretty much any music, he's not picky. Sometimes he gets distracted and starts dancing along!

17. How petty is your character? hi i misread this as "how pretty is your character" and almost posted this ask with that. (For the record I don't think Rory usually puts much effort into her appearance. I think she looks nice tho. Thad on the other hand is a handsome lad and loves to look pretty.)

Rory can be a bit petty, she's not very good at hiding it and it normally manifests as her being passive aggressive or sarcastic to the person she's upset at. Thaddeus likes to think he's not easily bothered, but he's actually been holding grudges for decades and if he got the chance to get back at those people he absolutely would.

71. How good is your character at reading people and navigating social situations? Ooooh. They're both bad in different ways. Rory doesn't care much about social interactions, she just kind of goes through the motions with a monotone voice and doesn't usually care about how the other person is feeling. Thad on the other hand cares so much about what other people think of him, but he's too selfish to be able to fully commit to acting how someone needs or wants. He does make an honest try and he's very polite by nature! He's just very likely to do what he wants, or assume he knows whats best for the other party more than they do. That said they do both kind of help each other become better at interpersonal connections over time :>

114. Do any of your characters insist on going by their fullname rather than a nickname? Thaddeus really likes it when Rory gives him affectionate nicknames, it means they're getting along well! He doesn't mind too much being called Thad by people he knows but he'd rather most folks called him Thaddeus as a sign of respect. (A quote from him I've been sitting on: "Or, I will answer to mi'lord, Master, or Your Excellency, if you see fit!") I've been assuming that Rory's name is short for something because she doesn't like going by her full name. I just looked up what Rory can be short for and it's now canon that her full name is Aurora and she hates being called that. Partly because she doesn't like being associated with Sleeping Beauty. Her parents had her dress up as her three years in a row for Halloween and she's still bitter XD

[dweemeister]

Movie Odyssey Retrospective

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Walt Disney seemed to have been mentally drifting in the 1940s, producing a scattershot of films without the artistic discipline he displayed prior to Bambi (1942). His attention wavered between the package animated features, his forays into live-action features and nature documentaries, and taking mental notes about the new medium of television. As Walt approached his 50s, the strain of the work he had thrust upon his studio and himself was beginning to show.  In his nurse, Hazel George, he found a rare confidant (it was a friendship, nothing more). He noted his personal need to move forward on projects, rather than tolerate any stalling. “I’m going to move on to something else because I’m wasting my time if I mess around with that any longer,” he told George about his projects stuck in development hell. That was the difficult reality facing The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad – directed by Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, and James Algar – as it became the final animated feature of the package era of Disney animation.

Walt was dividing his time between this film, building a personal miniature railroad in his backyard (the genesis of the idea that would become Disneyland), a nostalgic and personal dramedy of rural turn-of-the-century America in So Dear to My Heart (1948), the start of his True-Life Adventures series of nature documentaries with Seal Island (1948), and restarting the studio’s line of non-package animated features. Of all these things, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad probably consumed the least of his attention. A feature-length adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows had been in the works at the studio in the months before the United States’ entry into World War II, but was halted due various factors: the war, the Disney animators’ strike, and Walt’s belief that Grahame’s book did not justify a feature-length treatment. Work on an adaptation of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow began in 1946. But unlike The Wind in the Willows (which also resumed production in 1946), the adaptation of Irving’s story was always envisioned as a segment to a package film – not a standalone feature. Itching to return to animated features and still not convinced in the potential of a feature film surrounding Mr. Toad and friends, Walt announced the merging of the two projects in 1947.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad uses a live-action library as a framing device. The Wind in the Willows makes up the film’s first half; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow closes it out. Each half has a narrator that, at the time, was at their career’s peak. The opening half is narrated by Basil Rathbone (1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood and as Sherlock Holmes in fourteen movies from 1939-1946); the concluding half by Bing Crosby (best known for his musical career, but was also an enormous box office draw with the Road to… series among other films). Both Rathbone and Crosby hold up Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane, respectively, as exemplary characters of their home nation’s literature.

The Wind in the Willows begins in 1908 as J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. harbors an insatiable appetite for adventure, rather than being shut in his elegant Toad Hall estate all day. His friends Rat, Mole, and Angus MacBadger (also his accountant) mostly tolerate Toad’s newest crazes. When, for the first time, Toad spots a motor car, his eyes widen and he is enamored with this newfangled contraption. Toad’s obsession turns into recklessness – leading him to some fraudulent dealings with weasels and legal trouble.

On the surface on Walt Disney’s concerns with The Wind in the Willows, I disagree that Grahame’s novel could never be a feature film.* As presented, the segment runs a neat and all-too-brief half-hour. In an era of communal moviegoing and when a single movie ticket often bought the purchaser a double feature (a B-picture followed by an A-picture, with film trailers, short films, serials, or newsreels in between), The Wind in the Willows is presented as the film’s B-segment. That should not be taken as a swipe on the segment’s quality, however. The Wind in the Willows is a marvel of narrative compactness and situational madness that tees up Alice in Wonderland (1951). Whenever necessary, the narration and newspaper headline montages accelerate the plot. The pace is breakneck, but that never threatens to make The Wind in the Willows incomprehensible. It is filled with dry English wit, benefitting from wonderful voice acting from Eric Blore (a regular supporting actor in Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals for RKO) as Toad and J. Pat O’Malley (Tweedledum and Tweedledee in Alice in Wonderland, 1954’s Dial M for Murder) as Toad’s horse, Cyril Proudbottom. When both Toad and Cyril are introduced in the short song “Merrily on Our Way (to Nowhere in Particular)” – music by Frank Churchill and Charles Wolcott, lyrics by Larry Morey and Ray Gilbert – it is a perfect overture to the madcap misadventure that is about to occur.

Animator Frank Thomas’ (the dwarfs from 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Captain Hook for 1953’s Peter Pan) character designs for Toad, Rat, and Mole are simple, fluid, without too much definition (think Winnie the Pooh). As such, all three are highly expressive figures easily adaptable to the comic scenarios that stumble onto. So much is related to the audience with a crazed grin from Toad, an exasperated sigh from Rat, and Mole’s concerned face. Similar praise must also be dedicated for a side character – namely, the Crown Prosecutor designed by Ollie Johnston (the three animated principal characters in 1946’s Song of the South, the fairy godmothers of 1959’s Sleeping Beauty). The Crown Prosecutor does not appear in the film for long, but his elastic limbs and body – outside Johnston’s wheelhouse – provide a simultaneously comic and menacing contrast to the anthropomorphized animals he towers over. Like all of Disney’s package film segments before it, The Wind in the Willows has numerous instances where the backgrounds and character animations compare unfavorably to the studio’s Golden Age works. But does the lack of painterly backgrounds or character design definition mean much when the piece in question is aiming purely for laughs? Not really. This is some of the best comic filmmaking made by the Disney studios in its history, even though it seems to have been overshadowed by what happens next.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow takes place in Colonial-era Sleepy Hollow, New York. Ichabod Crane, the town’s new schoolteacher, is a thin dandy (“lean and lanky, skin and bone / with clothes a scarecrow would hate to own”) possessing an enormous appetite. The man looks nothing like a ladies’ man, but he is exactly that – to the annoyance of town rogue and proto-Gaston, Brom Bones. Brom and Ichabod vie for the attention of Katrina van Tassel, the daughter of wealthy farmer Baltus van Tassel. Noting Ichabod’s superstitious ways, one night Brom tells the story of the Headless Horseman – a stratagem that succeeds in spooking the schoolteacher.

Mary Blair’s midcentury modernist design and coloration for Sleepy Hollow reflects the folksiness of the village, Ichabod’s occasional naïveté. Her curved lines for the surrounding countryside – notice how her trees curve in improbable ways – make it an inviting, down-home place to live. Putting the segment’s climax aside, the backgrounds lend an atmosphere similar to early autumn, as the calendar year begins to wither away.

This, of course, is turned on its head when Ichabod encounters the Headless Horseman. Blair’s backgrounds are blanketed in black, blue, and purple – emphasizing Ichabod’s physical isolation in these moments. The trees blend into an abstract tapestry, as if one cannot see only a few feet outside of the road. Outside of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’s uninteresting romantic wooing scenes, the segment is an exemplar of atmosphere and how to successfully change a film’s tone with animation. Wolfgang Reitherman’s (an animator who later became a prominent director with the Walt Disney Studios in the 1960s) smooth character animation specific to the Headless Horseman chase contrasts Ichabod’s flexibility with the sharpness of the Headless Horseman and his horse. Reitherman’s approach to the characters, combined with Blair’s style for the backgrounds, heightens Ichabod’s full-bodied terror against the Horseman’s frightening presence.

The segment’s pedestrian character animation is unfortunate and is the film’s most visible example of cost-cutting. Yet Ichabod and Brom’s designs – by Ollie Johnston and Milt Kahl (Prince Philip in 1959’s Sleeping Beauty, Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh short films) respectively – are excellent. Ichabod’s outwardly-angled, high-footed gait proclaims immediately his peculiarity in behavior and temperament. His impossibly thin body is bendable to achieve tremendous comic effect while still resembling something like a human. When providing three village women singing lessons, Ichabod (voiced, like Brom, by Bing Crosby), assumes many of Bing Crosby’s affectations while singing himself – those raised eyebrows, that jowl movement. This scene is much funnier if one is familiar with Bing Crosby’s film (and to a lesser extent, television) appearances. For Brom, his muscular frame is a first for a Disney animated feature, providing a somewhat threatening feel for the song, “The Headless Horseman” (which introduces the idea of the segment’s villain). On paper, Brom should be the segment’s antagonist, but things are not clear cut – especially because Ichabod himself has questionable motives in his pursuit for Katrina. Decades later, Kahl’s character design for Brom heavily influenced Andreas Deja’s design for Gaston in Beauty and the Beast (1991). Deja would take some of Brom’s features, add more details and exaggerations, and provide his antagonist a more sneering disposition for Gaston.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow also has the benefit of songs sung by Bing Crosby and composed by Don Raye (known for various Andrews Sisters songs) and Gene de Paul (1954’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers). The first, “Ichabod”, is the one number I always find stuck in my head and singing to myself throughout a given day (I also notice, while singing, I’m trying to imitate Crosby’s suave delivery, to little avail). It also serves as an ideal introduction to the character – outlining his personality in less than two minutes. Midway through the segment is “Katrina”, which is as musically uninteresting as the character herself. “The Headless Horseman”, also an earworm, plays on Ichabod’s fears and is a wonderful transition into this film’s most famous sequence.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is the best animated feature from the Disney package era. Its two halves – so distinct in style and narrative approach – are incongruent, some may say an unnatural pairing. But moviegoing audiences in 1949 so used to the B- and A-picture format of film exhibition were also accustomed to feature film pairings with little rhyme or reason. A flighty musical comedy might lead into a war movie; a romantic melodrama before a fast-paced swashbuckler; a seedy film noir giving way to a grand historical epic. Many decades removed from the moviegoing attitudes of this era, the pairing of The Wind in the Willows with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow pays off due to the stylistic distinctions between these two segments. Compared to its package era predecessors, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad has taken the time to shape its characters. For Toad, his motor car mania is a mostly innocent obsession that has endured; Ichabod Crane is forever associated with a harrowing chase through a gnarled wood. Their characterizations come through despite the limitations put upon the studio’s animation staff.

A modest success for Walt Disney, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is now mostly described as a transitional film. The film sees the Disney animators flex their artistry before the resumption of the studio’s traditionally-structure animated features. Sometime during the final stages of this film’s development, Walt and his brother Roy E. Disney fought over the former’s desire to return to features, to recapture the thrill that he felt when he produced Snow White. Under protest, Roy relented and approved a budget for Cinderella (1950) – the first film of Walt Disney Productions’ “Silver Age” films. While Ichabod and Mr. Toad wound down, more resources were being pooled into Cinderella.

This was the effective end to a creatively restrictive period in the studio’s history, but also to some of the most unique offerings in the Disney filmography. Audiences have seldom seen the concise characterizations, Warner Bros.-influenced outlandish humor, romanticized American folk storytelling and propaganda, and experimental animation in a Disney animated feature to the present day. Each of these aspects could be found throughout Disney’s package films – which, for any serious fan of animated film, cannot be dismissed offhand. In a decade of war and global reconstruction, the studio stood mostly alone in the realm of feature animation. But not for much longer. In Europe, animation studio Soyuzmultfilm was beginning to distribute its films beyond the Soviet Union’s borders. And with Walt Disney’s attention straying from his animated films, his animation studio’s record of sterling creativity – already hobbled by the animators’ strike and wartime budget cuts – would be further challenged.

My rating: 7.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

This is the eighteenth Movie Odyssey Retrospective. Movie Odyssey Retrospectives are reviews on films I had seen in their entirety before this blog’s creation or films I failed to give a full-length write-up to following the blog’s creation. Previous Retrospectives include Dracula (1931), Godzilla (1954, Japan), and Oliver! (1968).

* A “feature film” – as defined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the American Film Institute (AFI), and the British Film Institute (BFI) – is a film lasting forty minutes or longer.

[uzumaki-rebellion]

“Wet Sugar” [Part 21 of 30]

Summary: Erik has doubts about what he has done...

Mature Audience. NSFW. 

"Gotta be careful, I know, I know You and me can't be nothing no more I've been lookin' for something from you I've been gettin' nothing at all You're such a fuckin' woman (woman) But deserves the fuckin' world, yeah…"

Lucky Daye—"Love You Too Much"

The saltwater in the pool soaked Erik's sunburned skin as he floated on his back. He would've preferred to swim at the cove, but going there was all her. Too much her.

That woman he tried to ignore became a specter before his eyes. He would catch glimpses of her around the compound, but she was like a rumor whispered in hushed tones. They were able to work around each other, but sometimes he caught her lingering above the gun range when he was there firing the new weapons with the other mercs. He acted like he didn't see her in the distance when she did that, or when he caught her slipping out of the kitchen when they all came to eat. He felt her eyes on him even when he couldn't directly see her.

He did the same, often hanging back after meals, sipping on dinner espresso and waiting to hear the side kitchen door open with her bounding in to help Leona clear away dishes and leftovers. Or he would stay out by the pool for a long time and catch the sound of leaves rustling as she snuck down to the cove using the secret path no one else knew about. She would sometimes cuss at Jerome while heading there and he would stifle a laugh while thinking about the first time he heard her talking to the iguana. The sound of her voice still thrilled him. It was the girlish softness of it mixed with the smart-ass personality behind it that still made him excited about her.

He dreamed about her. And Sydette.

Those night visions were often a replay of the earlier days of them alone at the compound. He'd wake up suddenly in the middle of the night clutching at his side hoping she was there. When he heard movement from Linda in the room next to his, he would pretend it was Sweet Pea sneaking out of her bed to crawl between him and Yani.

He knew from jump Yani despised Linda.

But that was to be expected because Linda tended to rub people the wrong way and of course...he had fucked the woman. Linda could be condescending to people that she felt were inferior to her. She treated a lot of the other mercs that way and they couldn't say shit because her skills were so tight and she proved it to be true time and time again. She never tried it with him. His game was tighter than hers and she respected that.

He never saw Yani act funky in front of Linda personally, but Linda often commented on how Leona was very nice to her, but Yani was just direct and spoke very little.

"She's efficient and like a damn ninja around here…but I can't get more than two words out of her when I ask her for stuff. It's like I'm bothering her own personal things. She acts like Klaue's house is her house. I had my feet on the coffee table and she walked past me with the laundry sucking her teeth."

Erik knew the reason why Yani was acting that way. It wasn't because of no feet on the furniture.

Klaue moved Linda into his house and her bedroom was next to Erik's. She was sleeping in Sweet Pea's old room. She was sleeping too close to him.

Yani wasn't the only one feeling irritated by new interactions.

He was feeling a way about her and Zachary.

Erik still lurked on her social media to see how she was doing. At first, it was to keep tabs on Sweet Pea from afar, and he could also see what Yani had to say about her classes. She was acing school like he knew she would, but it was the posts about her social life that had him uptight.

As expected, Zachary pounced on her, and Yani seemed open to the rekindling of some type of relationship because Erik saw pictures of them together at clubs and group gatherings. Yani had big smiles on her face when she posed with Zachary, and apparently, they took a trip to Jamaica together for a concert Kendall performed at. He saw pictures of them posing in front of a waterfall together in swimsuits holding hands while facing one another. Yani's eyes were closed and the grin on her face told him that they had either kissed before the picture was snapped, or they were about to kiss.

He couldn't even be all that mad on a certain level if he were honest with himself. He would've done the same thing. If he'd lost a bad bitch being stupid, he wouldn't waste time snatching her back up.

She looked happy in that picture. Zachary looked…enamored with her. Erik wondered if she was sleeping with him. Getting new dick to forget the old dick. Erik scoffed a bit while staring at them. Ain't no way Zachary could handle what Yani had. Fire pussy needed bomb ass dick. That was the only thing that kept Erik from going off seeing her with someone else that soon.

What nigga could compare to him with her?

He used to make that bitch's pussy jump when he called her on the phone. He could snap his fingers and have her pulling open her slit for him whenever he wanted it, had her cumming and crying and begging him not to stop until she couldn't hold onto him anymore. Made Yani sit anywhere he wanted—indoors or outdoors-with her legs wide open while he watched her slam a thick blue dildo in her pussy just to amuse him before he picked her up and stretched her walls out all night. He made her cum in her sleep with just the thought of him fucking her. She would lay in bed next to him having multiple orgasms that woke her ass up and made her beg him to fuck her wide awake. What could that civilian do for her?

She looked good though. Damn good. She had lost some weight from running around again, but shit was looking hella tight.

Shit.

Thinking about her in that picture made Erik want to fuck.

He climbed out of the pool and took himself a long shower. Afterward, he drove himself to a barbershop in Havensight and had his locs cut off and his beard trimmed and groomed. He needed the change. His mother had done it often when she needed a fresh start. At least two times in his life with her he had witnessed his mother shaving off her hair. Shedding old energy to welcome the new.

He felt a few eyes on him in the shop. Maybe they recognized him from being with Yani.

Before meeting up with Linda and Klaue in the main house he shot off a few emails to his grandfather and his Uncle. He also loaded more money onto Yani's credit card. She didn't use it all that much anymore, probably because she didn't want him tracking her purchases, but more than likely not wanting to stay connected to him. No matter what happened between them, he wanted her to have some sort of back-up support if she ever needed it. If not for herself, then for Sydette at least.

Strolling into the main house, both Klaue and Linda gave him a double-take when they saw his hair.

On the viewscreen in the living room, Erik posted up a picture of the C.I.A. agent that he was tracking for Klaue. The man had a mousy face and the strait-laced look of one who believed in toppling other governments in service of making America great again. A weak-looking yes man by the name of Everett K. Ross.

"U.S. Air Force. Decent pilot. Currently the Deputy Task Force Commander of the Joint Counterterrorism Center. He reports to the Secretary of State. That good ole boy, Thaddeus Ross."

"He's taking nibbles from me. I've been dropping hints at wanting to sell vibranium," Klaue said, "the U.S. wants their hands on all they can find. But he's a bit skittish right now."

"No one likes to look like they're in bed with mercs and terrorists," Linda said.

"The U.S. fucks with them all. They must be under scrutiny," Erik said.

"Any sales aren't going to be done in the U.S. The Great Satan needs to come where I say," Klaue barked.

"Nowhere in Europe," Erik said.

"Definitely not Africa," Linda added.

"What a wimpy looking oaf," Klaue surmised.

"That's what makes him effective. A milquetoast-looking face can get away with anything anywhere," Erik concluded.

"Well, the moment you find me a chunk of the good stuff I'll set up the sale," Klaue said.

The three of them sat around drinking until dinner. There was to be no meal at the house that night. Klaue took everyone out to a restaurant on the Northside of the island. The food was exceptional and Erik didn't get into any arguments with Neal or Huntsman. Surprising. There were great bars to crawl around and when Shipley let them toke on some blended weed, Erik felt pretty mellow. He actually wanted to hang out a bit.

Klaue caught a cab back to the compound but the rest of their crew stuck together. Linda was really floating, acting like the Snow White to their ragtag team of six non-Dwarfs. Shipley was trying to run game down on her, but Linda wasn't interested. She put up a front of being all business. But not with him.

He kept it friendly between them. Even when she sunbathed topless on the porch of Klaue's house, he treated her like his colleague.

It wasn't easy at times.

When his sexual urges came on strong, he was tempted to seek her out in her bed, but he didn't want the headache of Neal or Shipley. They were both jockeying for some play and there was nothing worse than working with hard-up men and the tension that jealousy brought.

Linda would give him looks sometimes and he hoped that no one else caught on.

Some really hard-sounding island music caught their attention and they stumbled upon a boisterous club that excited Linda. Shipley got into the spirit and they were all sucked into the space ordering drinks and watching the spectacle of winding hot bodies and good sounds. Linda grabbed Shipley's hand and dragged him out among the crowd. The place was a lot bigger inside than it looked outside and there was an actual stage on one side with a D.J. spinning tunes with a massive sound system. No wonder they could hear it blocks away.

Erik found a honey with loose hips and he followed her out onto the floor. Neal sprang for drinks and by the time it turned midnight, Erik had a good sweat and copped a few feels on some Grade A ass that seemed to come from an endless supply throughout the space. He found another shorty that made his temperature rise, and he was getting her number when she and a few other women swarmed the stage. The music was thumping and there were a few eager men on stage where a solitary chair sat in front of them.

Erik bought himself some Henny and walked closer to the stage with Neal and Shipley in tow.

"What's happening?"

Huntsman eased up beside them, his voice loud over the music.

"I don't know," Erik said.

"I think they are about to…ah yeah…we about to see some rump-shaking," Neal said.

A man with a chiseled chest poking out of his half-unbuttoned shirt sat on the chair as an MC talked to the crowd.

"What's the point of this?" Huntsman said.

"Watch and see," Neal said.

Erik sipped on his drink.

The music got a little buck and several women, even the one Erik was trying to mess with climbed on stage and took turns dancing with frenzied athleticism on the lap of the man who sat in the chair.

"Man…I couldn't do it!" Neal squealed.

Linda found her way over to them. Her face was flushed from dancing and drinking.

"Poor guy!" she said.

"Be right back, gonna refresh my drink."

Erik left them and headed to the bar. He could see the different women trying to out-dance one another, and by the time his new drink finally got to him, a new dude was in the chair getting his junk pummeled.

"Shit," Erik whispered.

These women were not playing. He grinned when he saw Linda reach up to the MC and he helped her on stage to take her turn at grinding on a stranger. She stood out with her light gray booty shorts and half top. Kicking off her sandals, she made the man sit on the floor of the stage as she did the splits and pounded her groin on him. Her wild cascade of curls covered part of her face. The audience went into a frenzy and Erik could hear Shipley and Neal cheering her on.

"Did y'all dare her to get up there?" Erik asked when he returned to his entourage.

"Nope. She said they needed an expert up there," Shipley said.

The woman could move, and she played to the audience while she awaited her chance to dance on the next guy in the chair.

"This gyal is on fiyah!" the MC shouted.

Linda wiggled her hips fast, throwing her cheeks in a wild circle. She dropped down and grabbed her ankles letting the audience watch her cheeks move.

"She too much, man…too much!" Shipley shouted.

"Goodness gracious," Neal said.

Erik looked around the stage to see who he was talking about, but then he saw Twyla moving near the front.

"Twyla!" Erik shouted.

"You know her?" Neal asked.

Twyla looked his way. She saw who was calling her and she smiled.

"Big nigga. Where yuh hair go?"

Twyla's hand rubbed his head.

"God damn…she thicker than a pot of grits," Neal barked looking toward the stage again.

"That girl is small—" Shipley answered.

"Not that one…her. Oh my damn. That's…shit. That's Klaue's girl," Neal said.

Erik saw Yani staring at the stage. He recognized a couple of her friends with her that saw him fuck her in a club.

"Don't be scared to say hello," Twyla said.

Her eyes regarded Erik's face.

"Yuh can't hide back here."

"I'm not hiding—"

"Lookin' like yuh back at Juvay," Twyla teased.

One of Yani's friends jumped on stage and stood next to Linda.

"How is she?"

His eyes were sheepish looking at Twyla.

"She's as good as can be expected from a bad break up. Doing well in school—"

"Sydette?"

"A busy body. And you?"

Erik shrugged.

"Still hurts, yeah?" she said.

He didn't answer.

"I see it on your face. Hers too."

Twyla glanced back at her cousin.

"She say yuh leaving the island."

"Yeah."

His eyes were focused on Yani.

"Big man…if there are things yuh still need to say to her, best tell her before yuh bounce. End it the right way with she, yeah?"

He decided to suck it up. Test the waters.

He sipped on his drink again as he walked over to her.

"Yani."

She turned to look at him and he realized it was a mistake. He should've kept his ass in the back and ignored her.

"Killmonger."

Damn.

He got goosebumps hearing his name on her lips despite the coldness. Her eyes took in his new appearance and he couldn't tell if she liked it or not. Indifference settled around her toward him.

The crowd surged and she turned back to watch her friend on stage. He stood behind her and could only concur with Neal's words. Lil Mama was thick as fuck, and the tight black pants she wore did not hide a damn thing. His body yearned for hers. He stepped closer, close enough to feel her body heat. He wanted to kiss the back of her neck and trace his tongue around her tattoos again. Erik had to fight his own hands to keep them from circling her waist and pulling her back toward him. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't even there.

"She doin' too much."

He heard one of Yani's friends talk about Linda.

"She gwine break his dick if she keep that up!" Another one cackled.

Yani giggled and covered her mouth.

Erik's eyes swept back up to the stage. Linda was living it up in the spotlight, and she was getting plenty of rousing support from a lot of men and women.

The current man in the seat had a serious expression on his face, like all that ass pounding his dick from different women wasn't affecting him in any way. Stoneface.

"Go up there, Yani."

She shook her head as her friends cat-called her name.

The D.J. changed the song to a track that had been remixed to death over the years. But it revived the crowd and the women on stage. Linda received some more cheers when she had another turn at bat, and for the first time, Stoneface reacted a little bit. The audience laughed and the MC teased the man about losing his cool.

Yani and her friends walked away and Erik felt himself actually deflate a bit. Yani straight ignored his ass. He watched the lights of the club hit the bronze of her top with them titties sitting, her platinum fade lined up tight, and that ass just being totally disrespectful in public.

He felt absolutely proud to see her not giving a fuck about him.

Gulping down the last of his Henny, he saw the MC bend down to the crowd trying to catch Yani's attention. She stopped with the rest of her homegirls to listen to him. Her hands flew up waving him off, but her friends nudged her arm. She put a hand on her waist and said something to the MC, and Twyla sauntered over pushing her up toward the steps leading upstage.

Fuck.

She went up the steps and once the full lights hit her, Erik had to stop and take inventory of what he had once. That used to be his woman, but there was something different about her that was turning him on in a way that made him feel out of control.

Linda saw Yani approach the chair and the look on her face told Erik that she was in a bit of shock recognizing the woman who cleaned her room and cooked her food.

The MC let Linda and a couple of other women do their booty shakes again, but then Yani stepped over the man, spread her legs wide and did the slowest drop down onto his lap that put the audience in a tizzy. Unlike the other women who moved with hyped up energy, Yani slowed it all the way down until her cheeks were popping in a way that had the man's legs jerking.

Erik felt his jaw get tight when Yani turned her head to look back at everyone as she let each ass cheek bounce in syncopated rhythm. She rolled her hips and the MC, along with several other people on stage started laughing hard and slapping arms. The MC started jumping up and down and pointing.

"Lawd -a-mercy! She done made this nigga buss in his pants!"

Yani lifted up and stepped away from the man with his eyes glazed over and his left hand grabbing at his protruding erection. Eyes watched Yani sashay away, and even Linda gave a painful-looking laugh as her eyes watched Yani leave.

"She dangerous. That gyal dangerous!" The MC shouted.

Yani's friends laughed with her as the entered back into the fray of bodies swaying to the music. A few men tried to get Yani's attention, but she was focused on her friends.

A song they used to listen to at the house came on and Erik took long strides to get to her.

"Come dance with me," he said touching her hand.

She pulled back from him as if he stung her.

"I don't want to dance with you."

Her friends surrounded him and their eyes were ready to cut him in two.

"It's just a dance, cuz," Twyla said nudging her cousin's arm as she walked past heading to the floor herself along with other people. The lap dance show was over.

Yani shoved past him and her friends followed.

Bet.

He headed back to the bar and ordered a couple of shots. Shipley joined him and they drank and talked, watching people dance on the floor. Erik tracked Yani's movement as she danced with different men.

"Can't believe that's the same chick at the compound," Shipley said.

"Yep," Erik answered.

They watched Neal approach Yani and she wasted no time sending him on his way. The way her friends swooped in to protect her, Neal had no chance of harassing her further.

"Whew, I gotta slow down," Linda said.

She plopped down on a stool next Erik and asked for water from the bartender. Twyla walked past him and gave him a look. Erik shrugged his shoulders at her and Twyla rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Had no idea Yani was a regular Cinderella," Linda said.

"She fine," Shipley said.

Erik found that surprising since he never showed interest in women built like Yani before.

"Thought you didn't like thick bitches," Erik said.

Linda eyed Shipley with amusement.

"She could be the exception," Shipley said gulping down a shot of tequila with lime.

"He'll fight you for that," Neal said.

Erik watched Neal grab a beer from the bar.

"What?" Shipley said.

Erik felt his face harden.

"That's Killmonger's pussy."

"Shut the fuck up," Erik snarled.

"You're fucking the help?" Linda asked.

She tossed her head back and laughed at him.

Erik stepped off the stool he sat on and left the bar in a huff.

"Killmonger…hey….hold on…."

Linda followed him and tugged on his arm.

"Hey…we're just drinking and pulling your chain. Calm down."

She steered him to the dancefloor.

"Relax. Loosen up."

Linda swayed in front of him and tried moving his arms. His eyes darted about looking for Yani again, but he had lost track of her.

"How can you not dance to this?"

Linda moved around him, bumped her hip into his and he eventually gave in and danced a little.

"Oh, come on now. You're better than this. We fucked it up in Jo'burg. You remember that club with the roof that was caving in!"

Erik smiled. He remembered. The music was hot, fast, and so were the club patrons. That was a good night. Right before the raid…

"…fucking her?"

Erik missed what Linda said. The confusion in his eyes made her repeat the question.

"Is it true? You and Yani?"

"Nah. Neal had been bothering her and I put a stop to it."

"He is aggressive. Nasty piece of work."

His eyes flicked around. Searching still.

"You want to fuck her?"

His eyes glared at her like she was insane.

"It's just a question. She watches you all the time—"

"I barely have time to—"

"I'm just telling you…I think she has a thing for you. I hear her cleaning your room and she stays in there for a long time. You are a neat freak, so there's no reason for her to be in there so long."

Yani in his room lingering?

"I catch her watching you at the gun range…"

Erik dismissed Linda's words when he felt his cell vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out.

A text from Twyla.

Yani is alone in her apartment this weekend. Chez has Sydette. Roommate gone too. Chance to talk?

Erik stopped dancing.

Unger ran up and grabbed Linda's hand to dance.

"I'ma head back to the compound," he said.

Linda nodded her head.

"I'll catch a cab."

"I'll let the others know."

He watched her and Unger head further into the crowd on the floor.

###

Looking around his room, Erik tried to see what Yani would see.

A clean room. Sterile almost without her there anymore. Two boxes of condoms on the dresser. One empty and the other half used. She would probably think he had been with Linda. He hadn't. But he was seeing women outside the compound again. He couldn't help it. It kept his mind off of her.

But seeing her that night brought up all the things festering in his mind about her. Was she okay? Was Sydette fine? Did Yani hate him? How would she react if she saw him in public?

If Linda was able to glean Yani's feelings for him around the compound, maybe she still had a soft spot for him. Maybe he could…

No.

It was stupid to think of going to her. Even with Twyla's encouragement. He hopped into his bed fully nude. No one was at the compound. The secret tracker he placed in Klaue's arm told him the man was on the other side of the island. Inside a hotel. Probably with a woman.

Staring up at the ceiling, his mind settled on Yani again. Seeing her wind her body on that man onstage made him groan as he felt on his dick.

He reached for his cell again and read Twyla's text two more times.

It wasn't worth it.

What could he say to her? I'm checking to see if you've been able to salvage your life after I blew it up?

But damn…

She was so beautiful on stage. Her whole demeanor was just…sexy…bold. She used to make him cum in his pants all the time. Maybe she did that because she knew he was there watching.

He slammed his fists on his bed.

He wasn't going to get any sleep. He would think about her all night.

He reached into his nightstand and pulled out some weed. He smoked a bit and felt his muscles ease up from the tension he carried in them after seeing her.

Killmonger.

His name on her lips sounded so dead to him. There was no malice in her eyes, but they seemed clouded like she was really and truly over him.

That's what he wanted, right? He told her to focus on school and to forget him. But faced with it, faced with true indifference…he didn't want her to forget him.

Taking a long drag he thought of Linda and what she told him. She noticed Yani keeping her eyes on him. She had to still feel something. Lingering in his bedroom had to mean something. Too many good memories in the place. All the things they did to one another. All the time they slept together in a pile with Sydette between them.

Twyla was right. He had to have a final conversation with her that didn't come from a place of anger, but one of love. They still had to part, but he wanted it to be on better terms. He did have things he wanted to say to her. Secret things. Maybe even promise her something that he didn't think he had a right to.

Stubbing out the joint in an ashtray, Erik jumped out of bed and put on some loose sweatpants and shirt.

He borrowed one of Klaue's smaller cars, a blue Beemer with a moon roof.

He let air flow through from the roof of the car as he drove to Yani's place. Every few minutes he thought about turning around, but once he pulled into the parking lot of her small complex, he was fully committed to talking with her.

After a bit of deep breathing in the car, Erik walked up the stairs and tried to find the right words to say. Once he was in front of her door on the far end of the floor, he felt a bit calmer, less afraid. He debated about texting or calling her. It was too late. He was already there and high as fuck…

He pressed his ear to her door.

Noise.

Talking.

No…not talking.

Moaning.

Shit.

"Yes, Baby!"

The seductive mewling in her voice raised his blood pressure.

She was fucking someone.

Zachary.

Erik removed his ear from the door. His hands pressed against the door frame and he closed his eyes. His body burned with rage. That little punk bitch.

He heard a loud male groan erupt from behind the door.

Erik clenched his fists.

The weed had him spinning scenarios. Bust the fucking door down and drag her off that nigga's dick. Or wait for Zachary to leave and pound on the door and…and do what?

Yell at her for getting dick when he had empty boxes of condoms in his room that she saw? Two days prior he was guts deep in some bitch with big ass titties making her holler out his name. Nutted all in that woman's face and didn't even think about Yani while he did it.

But that's your woman in there. Giving your pussy away.

Erik walked away from the apartment.

Back in the car, he pulled out his cell.

Call her. Break up their little party.

Fuming in the car, he sat there for a long time until he could think straight. The weed still had his mind spinning, but he was able to drive back to the compound and crawl into his bed. The sun was rising when he finally fell asleep.

###

"Hey, lazybones."

Erik blinked his eyes.

Linda looked down at him.

"You were out for a long time. Thought I'd check on you," she said.

Erik sat up.

He was still wearing his sweats.

"What time is it?"

"Two."

"Shit," he said.

"Stay in bed. You looked worn out last night."

Erik leaned against the headboard.

"You want anything to eat?"

"Nah. I'm just gonna chill. I feel tired still."

She touched his forehead.

"Are you feeling sick?"

He shook his head and pulled off his sweatshirt and pants. Crawling under the covers he tucked himself into a ball.

"I'll be up in an hour or so."

"Okay. Call me if you need anything. I have to get some things in town. Klaue is still out."

"Cool."

He pretended to go to sleep and Linda left his side.

When she opened his bedroom door, Yani was using a soft bristle broom to sweep the floor in the hall.

"Don't bother him. He's sleeping in," Linda said.

Erik saw Yani's eyes sweep over Linda's short house dress, and then her eyes caught his on the bed before Linda shut the door.

"Bring him some of that soup around three," Linda said.

"Him sick?"

The lilt in Yani's voice had concern.

"No," Linda said.

"Does he need medicine?"

"No. Just bring him the soup to the kitchen like I asked and he'll be fine."

Erik stayed curled under the covers until he saw from his bedroom viewscreen that Yani had left the house. He jumped in the shower and cleaned up, shaved, and threw on some light cologne. He pulled on some beige loungers and hopped back on the bed.

Exactly in one hour, he saw Yani heading down to Klaue's main house with a covered tray. She entered the space and headed to the kitchen.

He hopped on the intercom.

"Can you bring that here, please? In my room?"

He watched Yani's face look perturbed as she stood in the kitchen. She knew he was watching her.

"Yuh not sick. Get it yourself."

She left the kitchen.

"Bring it here please."

He watched her calculate her next move. Unlike the time when they were together at the compound alone, Klaue had everything watched. If she refused to do her job, Klaue would see it. The bedrooms were pretty secure because Klaue did allow that privacy. He wanted her in his room.

"I have some laundry to be picked up too," he said.

He saw her lip pout and he smiled. Her cell phone rang.

"Yeah?" she answered.

Erik waited. A smile came across her face and she started to giggle into the phone. Flirty-like.

"Mi can't tonight…can't. I'm working…"

She hung up and put her cell in her back pocket. Her smile left her face when she picked up the food tray and carried it to his room. She kicked the door with her foot softly.

He opened it.

"Thanks," he said taking it from her hand.

She turned away.

"Wait, the laundry, my sheets—"

"You do your own cleaning, remember?"

Her eyes were petulant looking up at him.

"Yeah, but um…I'm not feeling great—"

"Linda said you were fine…can I go?"

Mean.

She wasn't with the shits.

Her mind was on giggling over Zachary.

He walked slowly over to his bed and climbed in balancing the tray. She moved over to help him.

"Thanks," he said.

Her eyes took in the room and when they glanced at his dresser, he made sure the condoms were gone. She went to the hamper in his bathroom.

"There's nothing in here," she said, annoyed.

"I need these sheets changed," he said.

"I'll come back then, or you can have Linda change them for you—"

"Yani, wait a minute."

He lifted up too fast and the tray tilted. He spilled some soup on the covers.

"You did that on purpose," she said.

"No, I didn't."

"What do you want, man?"

He hated the sound of her voice at that moment. She didn't want to be around him.

"I miss you," he said.

"I don't think so."

"I do—"

"You got Linda and whoever else…"

Her eyes drifted toward the dresser.

"And you have Zachary."

Her eyes regarded him with suspicion.

"I heard you on your phone."

"You don't know who I was talking to."

"You're not with him?"

She left the room.

Erik jumped off the bed and ran after her.

"Hold up—"

"I don't have time for your shit—"

He grabbed her hand. She snatched it back.

"Clean up your own fucking mess!"

She stormed out of the house and he let her go.

"Whoa. That was…awkward."

Linda walked into the room, coming in through the back door.

Shit.

"So…um…the help…" she said.

Erik stomped back to his room and slammed the door shut.

###

Chp 22 Here

Tag List:

@fd-writes​ @soufcakmistress  @cherrystainedlipsbaby @tclaybon  @thadelightfulone

@allhailqueennel @bartierbakarimobisson @cpwtwot @shookmcgookqueen @yoyolovesbucky

@raysunshine78 @the-illllest @terrablaze514  @l-auteuse @amirra88 @jimizwidow @janelledarling

@chaneajoyyy @sweetestdream92 @purple-apricots @blackpinup22 @hennessystevens-udaku

@scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @bugngiz @stariamrry  @honeytoffee @meilintheempressofdreams

@tyees @eye-raq @writerbee-ffs

[strawberryswalker]

@unlicenscd​

There was just something about a good big log to roll down a hill. Thaddeus put his boot on the log and gives it a hard shove. And as the log began to roll, Thaddeus saw there was a bunch of small sticks that had been under the log.

Cockin’ his head to the side as he listens to the large log roll down the hill with great velocity. He’s too enamored by the sticks.

“Look Dante, that log had babies.”

[elvensorceress]

Chapters: 11/? Fandom: The Avengers (2012), Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Bruce Banner/Tony Stark, Bruce Banner/Betty Ross Characters: Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Obadiah Stane, Thaddeus Ross, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Betty Ross, Clint Barton Additional Tags: Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Alternate Canon, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros, Physics Written by a Chemisty Nerd, Pre-Avengers Movie, Bannerella, Revisionist Fairy Tale, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Safer Sex, Sexual Content, Male Slash, Past Bruce/Betty, Pansexual Character, Demisexuality, Oral Sex, Anal Play, Anal Sex, Falling In Love, Non-Graphic Violence, Surgery, Promiscuity, Miscarriage, Depression, Implied/Referenced Suicide Summary:

What if Yinsen wasn't the only one Tony met a technical conference in Switzerland before he became Iron Man? AKA the one where Bruce is Cinderella and attends a conference despite being on the run from the military, and charming Tony becomes enamored with a mysterious physicist.

[bluboothalassophile]

I would love to see Raven have some kind of legit relationship with someone who actually realizes how beautiful and amazing and she is. Without some ulterior motives or complication on their part and without it being Gar. But in the end it doesn't work out because she is in love with Jason and that will never change. Let her break a heart for once, cause she is totally worth the love and not enough people are it. Not everyone likes bound and bimbos! (Just sayin)

Hello,

I can totally get behind this request! So I hope you enjoy the story, even if it didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it too.

Paired For Life…

Koryak knew there was going to be a difficulty in datingRaven, in general. Not the normal difficulties that would be presented fordating.

Raven was perfect, she was gorgeous, she was smart,engaging, entrancing, and funny with her dry, sarcastic, harsh humor.  He found her beauty bewitching, and bemusing,he liked her eyes a lot. Dating her was fun, the dates didn’t need to beextravagant, or even elaborate. Dating her was fun, easy, and lovely. Raven waslovely.

He loved her. He loved her time, her company, he loved heremotions, her kindness, and her wit. Koryak was head over heals for the NavajoRaven.

But she wasn’t his, he should’ve figured.

Raven dated him, she indulged him and his desire for hercompany, but her heart was well and truly captured by a Gothamite who she wasn’teven aware had claim to her heart or that she held the Gothamite’s heart. Itshouldn’t have surprised him, Raven was so like her namesake, she had her life’spartner, one she had selected even if she didn’t know about the selection.Ravens mated for life, they selected partners that complimented their naturalways, they selected the partner best for life; their life, and even if she didn’tknow it right now, she had selected her life partner.

Which brought him to this sad day as they walked togetherthrough Central Park. Her hand was slight in his own, cold, but her hands werealways cold. Her long hair was pulled into a braid, the crisp winter air hadher dressed up in layers of sweaters, a Ravenclaw scarf was around her neck, aHorned Serpent beanie on her head. She was also wearing a leather coat. Koryaksmiled a bit sadly, knowing where most her wardrobe was from; it was gifts fromJason over the years. Everything about her, it screamed claimed, she wasclaimed, she was taken, enamored with another, and she didn’t know.

“So what did you want to talk to me about today?” she asked.

“Well,” he paused when he heard her teeth chattering. “Areyou cold?” he sputtered.

“Just because you’re thinking this is summer weather doesn’tmean I’m warm,” she defended. He chuckled; he was dressed lightly, but he wasInuit, and grew up on the Arctic Ice.

“Fair enough, perhaps we should go somewhere warmer,” heoffered.

“Yes, yes! Please!” she chattered. He chuckled and pulledher along. She was so fucking beautiful, so bewitching and mesmerizing. Therewas an ache in his heart because the demoness could never be his, she wouldnever be his, and he loved her. She handled his heart with careful hands, andshe hadn’t broken it, intentionally, he supposed he couldn’t fault her in thiswhen she didn’t even seem to notice who held her own heart.

“Better?” he asked as they walked out of the park and into acafé. She chattered and nodded her head, he released her hand, she shivered asshe found them a table, and he ordered her tea and his own coffee. Sitting withher he paused, her cap was off, her hair was escaping in little wisps, her gemwas gone today as she had herself looking human. His heart ached, but this wasthe right thing to do before it got to be too late, for her. It was far toolate for him, but he didn’t mind so long as she didn’t get hurt.

“What’s up?” she asked keeping her tea between her slim palefingers.

“It’s about us,” he offered softly.

“Okay?” she sounded unsure and concerned, even scared, hehated that, but he had to do this. “What about us?”

“Well, Rae, I… we’re friends,” he offered awkwardly. Garthhad made it a point to make them friends, hell, she was the entire reason hewas on the Outlaws, and he was even getting to be friends with the othermembers, like Roy and Jason and Thaddeus, so he didn’t want this to be weird.But it would be, he figured.

“Yes, we are,” she agreed.

“I… I think we’re better, you know, as… as nothing morethan-than friends,” he offered weakly.

Raven blinked several times, her dark eyes were bewildered,then confused, then concerned and now there was a slight frown on her lips andher eyes screamed hurt. “Are we…?”

“Hey, hey, it’s not because, it’s not you,” he promisedcatching her hand. “It’s not you, and it’s not me, you’re amazing, you’rewonderful, and I love you.”

“Then what’s this about?”

“You don’t love me,” he answered honestly. Raven tilted herhead a bit, that quizzical way she would when she couldn’t figure somethingout, and he smiled.

“We’ve only been dating for six months,” she said softly.

“Rae, I think if you felt what I felt; even a fraction, forme, what I feel for you, you’d understand,” he said. “And this isn’t somethingtime will help.”

“But we’re good?” she said uncertainly.

“We’re great, as friends,” he clarified, she withdrew herhand and looked so confused.

“Koryak, what’s this about?”

“Well, it’s about you, and it’s about me,” he said honestly.

“Then I should get a say in this, and… and I like you,” shestarted.

“And you’re not ever going to love me Rae, you’re going to realizethis eventually and you’re going to then stay out of obligation and you’re toogood for that”

“How can you say I do or do not love you when you’re notme!?” she demanded.

“Because!” he snapped. “I just do.”

“Explain it!” she hissed.

“Jason.”

That one name hung between them, he felt it was heavy, he feltlike an ass, he hated doing this, he hated it, he hated himself for going thisroute, and he hated that he was throwing this in her face. But he was going tosay it, and he was going to keep his friend, he’d miss kissing her, miss makingout with her, but he wouldn’t miss the death glares from Jason or the threatsof retribution from Jason’s horde of siblings if anything were to happen toRaven. Not to mention he was tired of competing with Jason for her attention;though he didn’t think Jason or Raven realized that Jason was a priority forRaven; she would put the Red Hood above everyone else; short of her moms andbrother. Now, Jason hadn’t gone about sabotaging    dates or taking her time from Koryak, but it was clear that whenRaven had free time she would rather be hanging out with Jason than Koryak, andthat had hurt because he loved her, he wanted her love. But she was Jason’s,and she didn’t even notice it.

“There’s nothing between me and Jason,” she said honestly. “We’rebest friends, and I would never!”

“Rae, I don’t think you’re cheating,” he said quickly. “ButI do know you love him.”

“He’s my best friend.”

“I know.” he replied. “And he’s a friend of mine.”

“Then…”

“I don’t want you to regret me when you figure it out,” hesaid. “I love you, I always will, Rae. You see me, but I… I see you,” he saidand reached over. His fingers slid a stay stand of hair behind her ear, shedidn’t lean into his touch. She never had, he had watched her lean into Jason’stouch though.

“I don’t understand.”

“I love you too much to hold onto you when you’re nevergoing to be mine,” he admitted. “You are a wild free bird, and I will alwayslove you.”

“Koryak,” she started, bit her lip as her dark eyes flickedup to him then away. She sighed and her head rested on her hand then as shelooked him in the eye again. “I’m sorry…” she started.

“I’m not,” he smiled at her as he caught her hand for thefinal time. “I will never ever be sorry, not for a moment. And there is notshame in love, ever, for anyone.”

“I don’t love him,” she insisted.

“And ravens don’t mate for life,” he mused. “This isn’t you,Rae, this isn’t your doing, this isn’t because of you. You’ve done nothingwrong. You’re his best friend, he’s yours, and I will always love you.”

“You could be projecting all this nonsense.”

“You’re free on Saturday, what are you planning to do?”

“Jason and I are going to the Nutcracker, like always, but Ican do something with you if you want?” She offered desperately.

“I know, but I won’t ask you to choose,” he smiled. “I knowwhere I stand. And I am lucky to have a woman like you to have loved, but youaren’t mine.”

“I’m dating you.”

“Rae, you love him, not me, and that’s okay,” he promisedher. She opened her mouth to protest and he stood, leaning over her he kissedher softly. “It’s okay.”

His heart was breaking, but he saw that he wasn’t hurtingher, merely that she looked sad and confused, but not hurt.

“I don’t love him.”

“Go, you’re free Rae, go see where you fly to, I’ll alwayslove you, but you were never mine,” he said softly as he left her behind. Heknew where she’d go, he knew who would come for him in retribution for herhonor, her pain, her sadness, but even she would see it wasn’t a broken heart. Sheloved Jason Peter Todd. She loved him as surely as the ocean loved the sky, thewolf loved the moon, as the raven loved the wind. She was so in love, and it wasn’thim she loved.

Koryak found himself in a bar, and staring at nothing as ashot glass sat before him, his heart was broken and everything hurt. He’d neverlove another like he had loved her, he could feel that.

[asktheghosthost]

So was there anybody in particular in the mansion u were dating at the time? It's ok u can tell me.

"While I was alive?" He thinks on it. "Aside from my wife, well..." With a chuckle and a blush, he admits, "As a young man, I did have a terrible infatuation with Madame Leota. Of course, back then, I was nothing more than her best friend's annoying baby brother.

"I would trip over myself bringing her tea, or carrying things for her. She took full advantage of my desire to please, which is partially why I was so enamored with her.

"After death... Thaddeus, (Mr. Morgan of the ballroom organ), and I had a very... intense relationship. We're still friends today. Erm, at least, I think we are. There's a very fine line between love and hate with him."

[poes-love-blog]

Sloppy

For the first time in my life, I got sloppy. In a world where I didn’t hook up, my depression was at in all time low. But in reality, moving to Chicago - being away from my family and friends, from the people who had always supported me when my brain was against me, really affected me. And while trying to find ways to validate my own worth, I was looking in the wrong places. 

Manny came back into my life for a brief spurt around my 23rd birthday. I was still enamored with him. Realizing he followed me on Instagram, I followed back - and shot my shot, sliding into his DMs to see how he was. And that became three months of confusion. Of constant flirting, of him inviting me to his boxing matches, of acting like he wanted a relationship with me. And then he suddenly stopped talking to me. Answered none of my texts. Totally dropped off the face of the earth. 

And this behavior, emulating the behavior of Colton, coming from someone that I had trusted wholeheartedly, hurt. And I knew that I was never going to get an explanation for why I suddenly wasn’t good enough for Manny. 

I was single. I was moving away from Chicago in a year. I was lonely. I was broken. 

I was on Tinder. 

And I began to swipe. 

Thaddeus was a guy I met who solely wanted to hook up when I only wanted a relationship. I loved the depth of our conversations, and agreed to stay at his place one night. And there, he tried to sleep with me. I freaked. Because this wasn’t what I wanted, and he knew that. We cuddled that night, but that’s it. He spent weeks trying to get me to sleep with him, to come over again, and I refused. Partly because he reminded me of my brother-in-law, and partly because he started to want something more - and I was just coming around to the idea of having a harmless hook-up. 

During the weeks of Thaddeus constantly texting me, I matched with a guy named Brandon. Straight from Sri Lanka. Musical. Intelligent. Funny. Fashionable. Outgoing. He and I texted every day, all day for a month. And when we finally met in person, he invited me back to his place where we ended up hooking up. I thought things went really well. We didn’t have sex, but he walked me to my uber and said, “I’ll see you again soon.” That was the last thing he said to me. And again, I never got an explanation until weeks later. I sent him a text demanding an explanation, receiving: “I don’t usually do hook-ups or one night stands. But I just wasn’t feeling us. Sorry.” 

For a month after Brandon - a guy who had gotten my hopes up - I stopped eating. I was crying every day. I was upset. So I went back onto Tinder. And this is where I began to spiral out of control. Because I met Jake. 

Jake and I met at a bar. He was nice, paid for my drinks, and was a phenomenal conversationalist. We talked for the night, and sexual tension between he and I was high. His friends showed up to the bar sometime during the night, which resulted in Jake finding out that his best friend and the friend’s girlfriend had just broken up. Said best friend bought a hotel room for the night and invited us back for the night. Against my gut, which kept telling me that I was about to make a mistake, I went. And while I was there, Jake and his friends snorted cocaine - which was the first time I’d ever been in the presence of any drug more severe than weed. And it was terrifying. Drunkenly, I consented to sleeping with a cross-faded Jake, but I don’t remember consenting to the video he took of us. And that video is haunting. 

After Jake and I slept together, his best friend tried to sleep with me. He locked me in the hotel bathroom while Jake fell asleep on the couch. And after what felt like hours of pushing him away and trying to get out of that bathroom, I did. I fell asleep in a hotel room with three strange men, not feeling safe. 

I tried to stay away from men after that, but out of boredom, matched with a guy named Michael on Tinder. Michael and I went out on a date, slept together, and then continued to see each other for a couple weeks. His negativity, cockiness, and the fact that he refused to cuddle me made me not want to see him again. 

There were a few other random hook-ups in between Michael and the last guy I saw in Chicago. No sex until I met Anish. 

Anish grew up in Dubai, born in India. And he was the first guy in years that actually wanted to get to know me. He was a sapiosexual, meaning intellect and emotional connectivity was important to him when it came to building a sexual relationship. And that meant that we got to know each other before sleeping with one another. For the first time since moving to Chicago, I felt appreciated. 

I don’t know if Anish knows how important meeting him was to me. It’s something I should tell him. But he made me realize that I deserved better than what I settled for, and that I deserved someone sweet and tender like him. Who wanted to wake up to me, and lay in bed until late in the morning. Who wanted to kiss me when I had morning breath, who wanted to grab dinner with me, and sacrifice their time at work to be with me. 

Anish raised my standards. He was the end of me being sloppy. 

[nbatrades]

76ers Land Arnett Moultrie in Draft Night Deal with Miami Heat

On June 29th, 2012, the Philadelphia 76ers traded the draft rights of Justin Hamilton, a 2015 second round draft pick (Jordan Mickey) and a 2016 second round draft pick (Deyonta Davis) to the Miami Heat for the draft rights to Arnett Moultrie.

*Trade originally framed as Heat trading draft rights of Moultrie to the 76ers for draft rights of Hamilton and a 2013-2015 lottery protected first round pick. If pick was not conveyed in ‘13, ‘14 or ‘15 drafts, pick would convert into two second round picks in ‘15 and ‘16. 

The Miami Heat were 2012 NBA Champions with a loaded cap sheet. With much of their team salary devoted to stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the team was a in the luxury tax. That meant Miami would be penalized financially for every dollar that they went over the tax. 

The Heat held a first round pick (27th overall) in the 2012 NBA Draft and instead of adding an incoming rookie with a guaranteed contract, the team traded the pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for a second rounder (45th overall) in the draft and a future first round pick that was lottery protected from 2013-15.

The Heat drafted Arnett Moultrie for Philadelphia with the 27th selection and dealt him to the 76ers soon after. Standing 6′11″, Moultrie was an intriguing prospect from Mississippi State. Armed with a 38-inch vertical leap, Moultrie was an athletic big that could finish well at the rim. He joined a Sixers team loaded with athletic players like Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young and Jrue Holiday.

The Sixers had been enamored with Moultrie and almost picked him 15th in the draft, but prioritized St. John’s wing Maurice Harkless first. After Moultrie fell down in the draft, Philly swooped in to take Moultrie late in the first round.

Despite his intriguing athleticism, there was some caution around drafting Moultrie due to character issues. After the draft, Moultrie was unable to participate in 2012 Summer League in Orlando due to a left ankle sprain suffered in a predraft workout. 

The Sixers made a splash in the offseason. They dealt Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets, and 2011 and 2012 draft picks Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless respectively in a four-team trade that netted them All-Star Andrew Bynum. 

Moultrie was expected to be eased into a backup role, playing behind the newly-acquired Bynum, Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes and LaVoy Allen in Philly’s frontcourt. The Sixers had hope for regular season success with the addition of Bynum, but their hopes would be severely damaged by a knee injury to Bynum that caused him to miss the entire season.

Without Bynum, the team began the season 10-6, but couldn’t sustain their early success. A season-ending knee injury to starting shooting guard Jason Richardson also hurt as the Sixers went 24-24 the rest of the season to finish 34-48.

Moultrie spent time in the D-League where he played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce and averaged 9.7 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.6 APG and 0.6 SPG in nine games and 26.3 MPG. He finished his rookie season playing limited minutes. Overall, Moultrie amassed 3.7 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 47 contests and 11.5 MPG.

After the Bynum situation unraveled, coach Doug Collins decided to resign. Club president Rod Thorn decided to retire and general manager Tony DiLeo was let go. That Sixers triumvirate ended abruptly while Philadelphia would enter the “Trust The Process” era. Led by new team president and general manager Sam Hinkie, the 76ers opted to trade All-Star Jrue Holiday and tank their way to the bottom of the NBA. Hinkie brought in his own coach, hiring San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown. 

Philly dealt Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans for the draft rights to center Nerlens Noel. The team also drafted point guard Michael Carter-Williams in the 2013 NBA Draft. 

The Sixers let the injured Bynum and bench players Dorell Wright and Nick Young walk in free agency. In 2013 Summer League, Moultrie was given a chance to play. He appeared in five games and amassed 12.2 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 0.6 APG and 0.6 SPG in 28.2 MPG.

Moultrie underwent left ankle surgery in late September of 2013. The injury caused him to miss a huge portion of the 2013-14 season. When he returned, he played sparingly, as Sixers head coach Brown cited his lack of conditioning and being overweight as reasons not to play him. On top of that, Moultrie was suspended five games by the NBA for violating the league’s drug policy. A five-game suspension indicated that Moultrie had tested positive for marijuana for the third time.

Due to his struggles getting in shape, Moultrie spent some time with Sixers D-League affiliate, the Delaware 87ers. Moultrie played in 10 games, managing 10.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.6 APG and 1.0 SPG.

During the 2013-14 season, the Sixers experienced the brief highlight of winning their first three games. That would be the team’s peak, as the Sixers finished second worst in the NBA at 19-63. Philadelphia continued to sell off key pieces, trading mainstays Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes at midseason in separate deals. In his second season, Moultrie finished with 12 games played, 3.0 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 0.7 SPG and 15.6 MPG.

In the 2014 offseason, the Sixers had the third pick in the draft, and selected center Joel Embiid from Kansas. They also acquired the 12th pick Dario Saric. The team continued to get rid of key players, dealing forward Thaddeus Young to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the three-team trade that saw Kevin Love join the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Coming into his third year, Moultrie dedicated himself, losing 10 pounds and improving his conditioning. In preseason, Moultrie showed modest signs of improvement, posting 10.2 PPG on 46% from the field and 5.7 RPG in six preseason games and 23.3 MPG. The slight momentum Moultrie built was all for naught. The big man was traded by the 76ers to the New York Knicks for Travis Outlaw, the rights to swap second round picks in 2018, and a 2019 second rounder. 

Overall, Moultrie appeared in 59 career games with the Sixers, compiling 3.6 PPG and 3.1 RPG. The big man shot 55% from the field and 67% from the free-throw line in that time.

From Miami’s vantage point, they acquired LSU center Justin Hamilton in the trade with the 76ers for multiple reasons. As a second round draft pick, Hamilton was an ideal player for the Heat to draft. 

He was a floor spacing big man who could make midrange jumpers with the potential to expand his game outside of the three-point line. That would be ideal to open up driving lanes for James and Wade. Also, Miami acquired a future lottery protected first round pick that could be used as an asset in a trade.

Hamilton played in 2012 Summer League for Miami, but since he had no guaranteed contract, the Heat stashed him overseas. Hamilton played professionally for Cibona Zagreb of the Croatian League and BK VEF Rīga in Latvia during the 2012-13 season. 

Hamilton signed a training camp deal with the Heat in October of 2013. He played in five preseason games before being waived by the Heat in 2013 training camp. Hamilton went to the NBA's Developmental League where he played for Heat affiliate the Sioux Falls Skyforce, averaging 19.2 PPG and 9.3 RPG in 37 games.

Eventually, Hamilton was signed to a 10-day contract by the Charlotte Bobcats in February of 2014. He appeared in one game for Charlotte before his contract expired. Soon after, Hamilton signed a contract for the rest of the 2013-14 season to return to the Heat.

In January of 2014, the Heat dealt the protected first rounder along with a second rounder and center Joel Anthony to the Boston Celtics in a three-team trade also involving the Golden State Warriors. 

When the Hamilton-Moultrie deal was first made, the protected first round pick was expected to convey soon after the Sixers added Andrew Bynum in a four-team deal in 2012. Expected to be a top playoff team in the East, the Sixers’ playoff hopes crumbled after Bynum sat out for the entire 2012-13 season with a knee injury.

The tanking process allowed the Sixers to keep their lottery protected pick from 2013-2015. Since the pick was never conveyed, it converted to two second rounders in the 2015 and 2016 drafts. The 2015 second rounder was used by the Boston Celtics on big man Jordan Mickey at the 33rd spot of the draft. The 2016 second rounder ended up 31st in the draft and was used on center Deyonta Davis.

Arnett Moultrie on being acquired by Philadelphia (via the Philadelphia Inquirer):

“It makes you feel good to know that they wanted me that badly. It makes you want to play for them. It’s always good to be wanted.”

On being able to play the five in addition to the four (via NBC Sports Philadelphia):

“My primary position is the four, but whatever coach Collins needs me to do, I’ll do it. I’m a winner so they need me to play the five, I’ll play the five.”

On falling in the draft:

“I wasn’t disappointed when my name wasn’t called. I figured I was going to end up in a place I needed to be to be successful. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so I’m just happy to be here.”

Miami Heat president of basketball operations Pat Riley on why the trade was made (via Sun Sentinel):

“We simply wanted to defer our pick and our asset to next year. The players that we had on the board were not there at the time and we felt we had a great option, in being able to get a future first from Philly, that’s lottery protected, but could be 10 picks higher than this year. We just felt with our roster that roster spots were very valuable.”

On Justin Hamilton (via the Miami Herald):

“[Hamilton is] a big body 7-footer that can go into the pipeline with our other bigs and keep developing them. There’s a possibility [of going overseas]. You want that flexibility with a second-round pick. He has quick feet, big, takes up a lot of space. Not an above the rim player. Has a nice touch from 15 feet. Smart player, played in a good program. We had him in for workouts and he had a great workout.”

Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Rod Thorn on Arnett Moultrie (via the Philadelphia Inquirer):

“He’s athletic. He’s a good rebounder. He’s got a good jump shot. He should be very good for us, and we’re very happy to have him. We needed a big, and we think we got an outstanding big player.”

How the drafting of Moultrie unfolded (via Sixers.com):

“Over the course of the draft, (the potential for such a trade with the Heat) materialized. Our feeling was that (Moultrie) was one of the top-10 players in the draft and that he was the kind of player we could use on this team.”

76ers head coach Doug Collins on Moultrie (via Delaware Daily County Times):

“I talked to Arnett, and said from his standpoint I’m sure he wanted to go at 15, but selfishly, as we saw the draft unfold we started feverishly getting on the phone. I think [owner] Josh [Harris] went into hedge-fund mode, acquiring assets. It was fun to watch, to sit back and watch him, [senior vice president and assistant general manager] Tony [DiLeo], [president of basketball operations] Rod [Thorn] and get Arnett at 27, we were thrilled. We worked out six guys the one day here (at PCOM) and it took Arnett five minutes to separate himself from all five of those guys.”

On how they ended up acquiring Moultrie (via the Philadelphia Inquirer):

“We were thrilled. As the draft was unfolding, we had Maurice targeted as our No. 1 guy based on how we thought it was going to shake out. And if he had not been there, we were going to take Arnett.”

How Moultrie should feel after several teams passed on him in the draft (via NBC Sports Philadelphia):

“I told him he should have a chip on his shoulder. He was being kind, but you can’t help to be upset. When you’re a lottery talent and you go 27th, you’re going to be disappointed. But what you do is take that disappointment and fuel it.”

Image Credit:

Arnett Moultrie via USA TODAY Sports/Chris Humphreys

Justin Hamilton via Getty Images/Mitchell Leff

[thegirlnamedgia]

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE | Georgianna Leib

September 6th, 2017: Lucas & Taney’s Wedding

     It was easy for anyone to see that Gia was a wedding type of woman. She put her focus into bridal design while studying fashion, took on as many brides as she could when her design season opened up, and -- while it would be bashfully admitted -- she spent many, many hours into the night on Pinterest just looking at ideas. Some were for herself, some were just things she liked, but wedding fever was something that hit Gia hard and stuck around. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was the idea of weddings and the pure magic that was behind it, or if it had something to do with the fact that getting married was a dream of hers for quite a long time, but something was there and it was making her itch. Every wedding she attended, every dress she designed that made a bride tear up made the itch worse, and for the longest time that itch was something that drove her completely insane. It only did so because for the longest time she felt as though those rollercoaster of emotions when something as simple as a dress or the right invitations fell into place was something far away from her. As much as Gia hated to think about it, the wedding bells stopped ringing so loud for her when she came to the conclusion that perhaps marriage wasn’t in the cards for her.

     After the “Thaddeus Incident”, as she referred to it once upon a time, the idea of marriage slipped far from Gia’s hands. The embarrassment was the first thing that hit after that moment, those bells stilling for the time being due to the fact that she had put herself out there and bared far too much of herself only to be shot down. That entire situation did a number on her ego as well as her ideas of weddings and marriage. It all kind of paused for a short while, while she dealt with the sudden shift in what she knew with Thaddeus, from dealing with the broken relationship she wasn’t prepared for to the fact that what she thought her future was going to be wasn’t going to be that at all. In the moment when she decided to propose Gia had everything planned out, and even though the nerves had set in she was still excited for what was to come. Except it didn’t. Nothing was coming when such an opaque wall of “NO” was what she was met with upon the question, and that certainly did a number on her entire life plan.

     Looking back on that she still felt the slight sliver of embarrassment that would forever be etched into her mind, but it was for entirely different reasons. At the time Gia was embarrassed due to the fact that the man she was in love with didn’t feel the same way at the same level, but now her embarrassment took on another form. It took on the form of the fact that she now knew she was young and stupid, and that she had went out on that limb simply because she wanted the wedding and the life that would come with it. She did feel for Thaddeus, she couldn’t deny that, but upon reflection it was glaringly obvious that the way she felt wasn’t anywhere close to how she should have felt if she were ready to marry the man. There were things they hadn’t done, things they weren’t ready for that she just jumped over and ignored in her blinding want of a married life.

     A few years of self-reflection and discovery in who she was and what she really wanted in her life was what made the bells in her mind start ringing again. When Gia settled down in Los Angeles of all places, taking on a teaching position instead of a full-time designing gig, that was when the sound started echoing once more. At first she couldn’t place it, ignoring it, but the sound became familiar and much louder because Gia found herself at a good place in her life. She had a secure job that she enjoyed going to and doing, she had a nice home, and mentally she matured and felt as though she had a stable footing underneath herself. She became ready in those years to be a supportive partner for someone, to be able to give enough of herself to another person while still keeping some for herself so that what she could be was strong and secure in whatever relationship came her way. She was older than most women who got married, that was for sure, but it just meant that the silly, little things that were worrisome in a young relationship were things she could step over easily. She had her own goals, and she was sure that whoever it was that became that special someone to her would as well, and in knowing what she and they wanted in life meant that they could support and push each other instead of sitting and trying to still figure it out.

     And then, out of the blue, it happened. It happened in a way she would have never imagined, and not because the meeting and revelation of romantic feelings was strange in any way, but it was the circumstances that were a tad bit odd looking at the grand scheme of things. The dates were wonderful and absolutely normal, the relationship, albeit new and still rather shiny, was blossoming into something so good, but the fact that she had found all of this in Thaddeus’ brother of all people was -- ... Well, it was interesting. Of course it was something she thought about early on when she agreed to the first date, but Thaddeus was a part of her life that didn’t define her anymore. Sure, Gia could say that what had happened defined her early on and helped her grow from that point, but now? Now that was just something in the past for both her and Thaddeus, so why should it be something that stopped her from pursuing something that could be better?

     Yes, in a way the relationship between her and Thane was fresh, but considering the fact that their lives had started and settled meant that it was still mature. Like herself, Thane was somewhere in his life where his career was thriving, and as a person he knew who he was and where he wanted to end up. That level of maturity in a relationship skipped the awkward steps of “where will we be in five years?” because that five years was now. It was now and she and Thane were there, ready to be supportive and to enter a relationship as adults. So, due to that blessing, things were just a little easier than Gia could have ever imagined. It was easy to be with Thane despite his schedule keeping him from Los Angeles for some time, easy to talk to him and be that special person for him. However, Gia had a feeling that it was less about the level of maturity entering the relationship that made it so easy, and more about Thane as a person. He was a kind man, gentle and sweet, and with the charming aura that surrounded him Gia deduced that it was easy to have feelings for a man like Thane Watson because he was absolutely incredible.

     Having these feelings for Thane was easy when it all started, less easy but still so when he went away to London, and it was easy now during his visit to Los Angeles while she was next to him at Lucas and Taney’s wedding. Gia was swept up in the warmth that he was exuding, dizzied by the cologne he was wearing in the best way possible, and just knowing that she was beside him as his partner made her heart hammer in her chest when she took a moment to think about it. On that special day for her friends, she often did have moments to think -- when his hands brushed hers when they moved, when he spoke, when he turned to look at her briefly among the craziness of the unity and smiled. It was the little moments she was relishing in, and if she could be so enamored by the smallest of things she couldn’t even begin to wonder what it was going to be like when things began to get bigger.

     Oh yes, the bells were ringing.

[ageofwrathrpg]

Name: Andrei Janekovich Yolkov Age: 26 Ability: Intangibility  Faction: LESYAS as an ESCORT Faceclaim: Luke Pasqualino Availability: TAKEN

THE STORY || CW: Death, Drugs, Violence,  

Andrei was clean once. Before he stopped believing in rules and the world, he was born into the plot of his parent’s love story. His mother was a Lesya spy, sassy and smart and completely enamored with the Rostek doctor, Andrei’s father. They loved in secret, hidden away from the Rostek's prying eyes. When she became pregnant, they fled to the Lesyas, where they were allowed to raise Andrei once his father pledged his new allegiance. For as long as anyone could remember, Andrei was a bright boy. He would spend time with his father, picking up medical terminology as easily as the alphabet, and at night, he would read his mother his own bedtime stories. He was happy and he was loved, but as he grew older, he became discontent with his simple life. The Lesya Manor became the cage that he paced inside of. It was only a matter of time before he jumped the gate, or rather, walked straight on through it without even pausing to think. He’d wanted to leave – to see see the other side. Because he was clever, he was curious, but being clever never made him wise. If he was wise, he would have known that he wasn’t worth more than bait on a hook.     

The Rosteks were watching, had always been watching, like patient hawks fixed on sewer rats. When he bolted out of Lesya territory at age 12, they followed him through the scopes of their rifles. They didn’t fire – and then they did, when his parents chased on after him. Pop, Pop, Pop. A traitor, his wife, and their bastard son. He knew that the Rosteks had intended to kill him, would have killed him, if they hadn't failed to anticipate the bullets flying through him like he was made of nothing. Andrei wasn’t stupid. He knew that nothing was permanent and that everything came to an end, but he also knew that it wasn’t normal for the last memory of a parent’s touch to be the ghost of their blood passing through their children’s face. Andrei would spend many nights awake after that, wondering if maybe he had felt the warmth of it, that it wouldn’t hurt so much. Andrei stopped being a child in the moment they died. He stopped being clever too – out of superstition, mostly. He didn’t know if it would keep him from getting into more messes, but he didn’t not know that, either. He hated the feeling of emptiness that found a home in his gut. He hated that, when someone tried to comfort him, their hand would pass through his shoulder because he couldn’t control it still. He was 16 when he started ability suppressants, 17 when he knew he was addicted to them, and 18 when he started prostituting himself for more. The Lesyas never tried to help him, aside from the roof over his head and food in his stomach. When he was 20, he moved into the brothel. The empty needles and bedraggled beds felt more like home than the white-marble manor ever could.

THE CHARACTER

Some would say that he fell into a downward spiral, only redeemable by his sense of humor and adaptability. Andrei, though, would deny all allegations against his Enlightenment. He was never destined for greatness. He was never supposed to sit on some great Lesya throne embossed with gold and punctuated with gleaming diamonds, no. People like him don’t get happy endings, and that’s okay. People like him – well, people like him don’t just live. They fight for every inch they aren’t supposed to move and they make it into a game because shit stained walls are only funny if you laugh at them.

CONNECTIONS

Kristina Yerikevna Antonova - From the moment Kristina joined the Lesyas, they have been friends. She met him before he was an escort, back when they were young enough to feel invincible. He used to braid her hair. She used to tell him that he was the smartest person in the world. Now she just pities him, wishes that he could have been a spy like her, and sometimes she’ll beg him to run small Lesya errands for her. When he succeeds, it’s her way of reassuring him that he hasn’t lost his spark. 

Boris Mihailovich Polzin - Boris is Andrei’s dealer. While it’s uncustomary for a Rostek dealer to sell to a Lesya anything, he makes an exception for Andrei and will sell him ability suppressants in the knowledge that Andrei is as good as human anyways. Boris is indifferent to Andrei, but he’s Andrei’s lifeline. Their addict-dealer relationship is completely one-sided, but Andrei doesn’t need reciprocation. He just needs Boris. 

Luka Viktorovich Ikashev - Andrei has never met someone so closeted as Luka. As far as Andrei’s concerned, Luka’s anger management issues are a side effect of his secret homosexuality. Sure, he’s probably wrong. He’s usually wrong about these things, but that hasn’t stopped Andrei from trying to get Luka to unwind at parties and watch him spin. Just to be sure, you know? 

Yana Czarevna Grekova - Yana joined the Lesyas when he was just beginning to dabble with suppressants. He remembers being terrified of her, and then being surprised when she approached him first. She was curious about the drug and Andrei didn’t mind answering the questions that she had. She wanted to take them too, and Andrei encouraged her, but the circles under his eyes convinced her otherwise. 9 years later, and he serves as her gaunt reminder to avoid them entirely. 

Thaddeus ‘Faddey’ Karinevche Pashkov - Andrei’s always been a better escort than Faddey. It’s not even a question. Andrei doesn’t mouth off his clients, doesn’t ask anything of them except for which way he’ll be bending. Faddey has always managed, though, to get the ones who pay better and are more loyal. Maybe he’s jealous. Maybe he just doesn’t like arrogant pricks who get more than they deserve.

[[ More Connections ]]

ETC

He keeps his father’s medical books and reads them when he’s tired or bored or really in need of a fix. They make him sad, but they’ve helped him many a time when he’s had to patch himself up after someone’s been violent with him.  

Andrei doesn’t like the taste of alcohol, but he likes what it does to him. He likes losing himself to the mercy of drink and will only ever drink to get drunk. 

There’s a couch in his room. It’s old, worn, and the most uncomfortable thing in the world. All the same, he sleeps on it every night. It gives him peace of mind. Beds, after all, haven’t been for sleeping in many years.  

He runs when he’s angry. He runs until his legs burn and he’s gasping for air and then he runs some more.  

Andrei’s too far gone to be self conscious. Too many people have complimented him (in bed and otherwise) for him to think that he’s anything short of perfection. He’s not arrogant about many things, but when it comes to his physical appearance, there isn’t a soul that could convince him that he’s lacking.

[pikachugirltits]

Michal Introduces her Characters: Marcus Reynard

Name: Marcus Reynard Race: Half-Orc Class: Sorcerer (Storm) Gender: Male Alignment: Neutral Good

Bio: It all started with a small tribe of orcs and half-orcs. One day, as a female half-orc in the tribe began to give birth, a sudden freak thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere. The strength of the storm seemed to surge as her labor pains did, and as the baby was finally born, the storm suddenly climaxed in its fury and sent a single bolt of lightning crashing down outside of the cave where the birth was occurring before fading away just as suddenly as it began. The elders and shamans of the tribe grew worried, viewing the storm as a dark omen and the child as a harbinger of destruction. They took the newborn and descended from their mountainous home to find a pile of stones sacred to their people. There they left the baby as an offering to the spirits, hoping that by sacrificing the boy that the tribe could appease them.

Luckily for the newborn, the pile of rocks just happened to be next to a caravan road. While the road wasn't often used due to how close it ran to orc territory, the storm had blocked off the main road when it knocked over some trees. So it just so happened that a caravan was passing by shortly after the baby had been abandoned. At the head of the caravan was a carriage being ridden by the head merchant of the group and his wife, a slightly older human couple named Thaddeus and Gertrude Reynard. The Reynards had been together for many years and were trying very hard to start a family to no avail. So when the newborn let out a cry and the caravan halted to investigate, the Reynards knew exactly what to do when they found the baby boy. Who were they to pass up an obvious blessing from the gods? Why did it matter that the child was a half-orc? They immediately adopted the baby.

The child was named Marcus and the Reynards raised him with all the love and attention they could, truly treating him as though he was their flesh and blood. He was given all the best things their considerable money could buy, including a top notch education. Marcus grew up into a cheerful, personable child with an inquisitive mind and a selfless attitude. Sure, rumors were thrown around about the origins of the strange half-orc child that the Reynards were raising. Many whispered that Gertrude had an affair with an orc, or that they had been cursed by a witch to have a hideous child. Yet no matter what people said, the Reynards ignored it. They were a happy family. Thaddeus was even grooming Marcus to someday take over as the head of his mercantile empire.

Then one day on Marcus's thirteenth birthday something strange happened. The Reynards threw a lavish party, inviting many other mercantile families and even minor nobles to attend. Everything seemed to be going well when a fight broke out among the children. Aside from his tusks and his green skin, the one other thing Marcus seemed to have inherited from his orcish side was a slight temper. One of the other boys had been teasing Marcus. While Marcus could easily brush off insults to himself, when the boy made a rude comment about his mother Marcus became furious. As the adults rushed to break the fight up, Marcus threw a punch that smacked the other boy in the stomach. The moment the punch connected, a surge of lightning flowed from Marcus's fist into the boy and a sudden gust of wind threw the bully across the room. The crowd stood mystified as Marcus stood there with electricity dancing across his skin. Luckily, one of the merchants that had been invited was also a wizard who had been an adventurer before retiring to start a potion shop. He preformed some basic divination spells and determined that Marcus carried the touch of innate power that marked his as a sorcerer. He told the the Reynards that he had seen a similar display of magic once before in his adventuring days, and that while he couldn't really do much to teach young Marcus he could help them find someone who could.

The Reynards quickly jumped on the chance to help their son and spent quite a bit of money to track down a teacher for Marcus. Eventually they found a halfling storm sorcerer, a woman by the name of Cordealia Skygazer. She somewhat reluctantly took on the task of teaching Marcus, thinking that she would be stuck teaching a spoiled rich kid. However, Marcus quickly won her over with his sincere and respectful attitude. As she trained him to control the storm within him, Cordealia would tell Marcus stories of her own adventures, fighting monsters and saving villages. Marcus grew enamored with the idea. He began to believe that he must possess his powers for a reason, and that his magic would be wasted if he remained a mere merchant.

Eventually, years passed and Cordealia managed to shape Marcus into a promising sorcerer with all the basics of control. On his twentieth birthday, she informed Marcus and his parents that she was leaving. She explained that every sorcerer was unique, and that while she could mentor Marcus on the basics of control and start him on the path, it was up to him to find out how to truly master his powers. There simply was nothing more she could teach him. Hearing this, Marcus knew what he had to do. He told his parents that he felt that the only way to find himself and learn to control his powers was to go on a journey of discovery. He wanted to wander the land and try to use his powers to help people. Never the type to get between their son and his happiness, his parents gave him their blessing and an not inconsiderable amount of gold and sent him on his way.

Personality: Marcus is an idealistic young man, full of conviction that he can make the world a better place with his magic. He's also a bit naive, having grown up slightly sheltered in the luxurious mansion he called home. However, despite his wealthy upbringing, Marcus is very selfless and generous.  

Marcus is also incredibly inquisitive. He was taught by the finest tutors money could buy in his home city, and this upbringing encouraged his desire to learn. He's also incredibly social as a result. He very much enjoys conversing with others.

Because of his appearance Marcus tends to surprise most people in one of two ways. People who see his orcish heritage before anything else are often surprised by how eloquent and well read he is. As for the people who see past his race and notice his fine clothing and obvious wealthy upbringing, they often are surprised at how genuine his concern for others and desire to help is.

Marcus's temper is something kind of interesting. He's surprisingly hard to provoke if you insult him, whether you make fun of his orcish blood or his wealthy upbringing or anything else about him. Insults to his family however, or towards others he cares about get a quick reaction. If you're lucky, you'll get a warning to stop. Otherwise, it's a Shocking Grasp to the face. He also has a tendency to get worked up and enter a kind of righteous fury when he sees things he perceives as unjust or  wrong. Often, this can lead him to sticking his nose in others' business and occasionally lands him in trouble.

Appearance: Marcus's appearance is certainly something that tends to stand out in a crowd. His green skin and slightly small tusks make the orcish half of his heritage obvious, although his face seems to favor his human side. He keeps his somewhat coarse black hair trimmed short so it won't blow in his face when controlling the wind. His eyes are a pale sky blue that turn storm cloud grey as he channels his magic. He stands at 6'4" and has a rather athletic build that causes many to mistake him for some kind of warrior rather than a spellcaster, although he's definitely "scrawny" by orc standards. He has a tendency to wear very fine clothing in town that makes his wealthy upbringing obvious, with a preference for dark blues. When adventuring in the wilderness he switches to what he thinks are more practical clothes but are still obviously much better quality than what most other adventurers can afford.

Notes: Marcus is another character inspired by me looking for odd race/class combinations. I came up with him during college for 4E, liking the idea of a half-orc spellcaster but feeling that a sorcerer was more interesting than a wizard. I mostly chose storm sorcerery because I like lightning. I never actually got to build him for 4E, but the character stuck around my head for years until I finally got a chance to play him, in both Pathfinder and 5E.

@cromoris-compendium @actualborossoldier

[jonahkoppelafosurface-blog]

King Seppy Art review

               The most interesting art that I saw were the bead sculptures by King Seppy (Thaddeus LaCrette) in the Ada gallery. The millions of beads that covered the bodies of wooden manikins resemble traditional African royalty garments. However, the male manikin’s clothing was covered in the flags of European countries that had participated in the slave trade. Chains fall from his neck to his feet. A female wooden manikin stands nearby. She is also clad in an ornate bead dress reflective of royal African garments.

               The bead dresses are vibrant, and the sheer amount of labor that went into them is staggering. While the two ornately dressed manikins are what initially draws the eye, what enamored me was a tree made from an ocean of beads atop a real tree trunk painted black. The combination of traditional African art with plastic beads creates an incredibly interesting conversation. Usually when a traditional dress is made out of cheap plastic the assumption is that a company has ripped from a culture a hollow representation of their design, made in china, then worn by a child in around Halloween and thrown away. However, the plastic creations by King Seppy are earnest and authentic. He uses the materials around him the same way people hundreds of years prior had.