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eclipsecrowned · 1 year

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AND NOW FOR SOMEONE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

JOANNA LANNISTER. (tw for stalking, assault, incest, death)

personals dni.

Backstory: The eldest daughter of Ser Jason Lannister, Joanna was born into the wealth and privilege that other noblewomen could only dream of. Being the granddaughter of one Lord Paramount, niece to his successor, and in time bride to the most recent to hold the title, Joanna's name has long been worth its weight in gold. Despite her father being an unlanded knight, his name and her ambition carried her far.

Such machinations and good breeding brought her to the Red Keep, to dwell with Queen Rhaella as companion. There, she would serve alongside the Princess of Dorne, and met the two men that would gall her the most, the men by whom her life would be defined. The first of these was King Aerys himself, who coveted Joanna and pursued her with the bloody-minded focus of a hound set on a deer. The second was a cousin of Joanna's, Tywin Lannister, who became some other man when in her company.

Joanna eventually married Tywin, despite meddling on the part of Aerys. Afterwards, she departed the royal court and took up her role as the future Lady of Casterly Rock. Despite being the wife of a member of the Royal Council, Joanna kept her distance, seemingly contented with life at the Rock.She gave her husband twin children, Cersei and Jaime, the year before he ascended to become Lord in his own right. At some point, she caught her eldest children in a troubling situation and forcibly separated the two.

Joanna would die almost thirty years prior to canon events. The birth of her third child, Tyrion, proved too great a burden on her body. She is never seen properly in canon, save in a brief dream her eldest son has. However, she is mentioned infrequently by her husband, children, and other relatives, as well as the few surviving members of the last Targaryen court. In standard Martin fashion, her backstory and character are not wholly fleshed out, but her absence clearly has impact on what those who survived her became.

My Fanon:

Going to come out and set this one straight outright: I hate most secret Targ theories that are not written on the wall (Jon Snow, Aurane Waters, etc.) While I am content to let larger fandom/my followers debate among themselves if any of the core Lannisters are secret Aerys bastards, it's a narrative I'm not interested in pursuing via my Joanna. She has so little story or agency as is, and I disdain giving the former to her via her being assaulted by the husband of a close friend. All her children are Tywin's, and Aerys never got as far as he wanted. Please note, however, that this is not me saying that Aerys never hurt Joanna. Abuse can be so much more than physical.

My own take on the whole 'bedding' situation and Joanna being sent away after is actually very important to how I portray her, and it plays out thusly: Aerys got too handsy, Rhaella was made aware of that and realized that his obsession was escalating, she sent away one of her few remaining friends to spare Joanna what we the audience know Aerys to be capable of. However, in the rush of Tywin and Rhaella conspiring to send Joanna to the safety of the Rock, no one filled Joanna in on Rhaella's intentions. She believes she was punished by someone she trusted for Aerys' actions against her, and ends up with a simmering hatred for the Targaryen dynasty as a result.

The last interpretation of fanon events I will touch on is that my Joanna doesn't really mesh with popular fandom perception of her. She's not the sainted Token Good Lannister who could have saved her husband and children and thus the realm if she had only survived. She was harder in nature than that, and a coolly calculating expert manipulator, and either approved of or tacitly accepted Tywin's worst traits. That does not, however, mean that she falls to the other side of fandom that presents her as a poisonous scheming bitch in the same vein as her kin. There's a true thread of kindness in her, especially for victimized women and outcasts, she's a learned woman who eschews several in-universe prejudices, and she is quick to defend those who earn her loyalty at any cost. My Joanna is a deeply complicated woman with both vices and virtues.

Rohanne Webber was renowned for her red hair, and I headcanon the Presters are likewise ginger. By these power combined... My Joanna is only barely strawberry blonde, leaning heavily towards copper-colored locks than true Lannister gold. She's quite pale like most real world European redheads, too, which means that she freckles easily. And yes, she hates that. So much.

All three of her children get some aspect of her personality. Cersei gets that permissive, doting idea of motherhood from her mother, even if she might not fully remember it -- Joanna might not have always understood the twins, but they always got what they wanted from her within reason. Tyrion has her voracious appetite for knowledge and the written word, though she favored myths and poetry over his love for history. Jaime, unfortunately, got the coping mechanisms: You go away inside yourself. Whatever they make of your body, they cannot take your mind, so you seal yourself behind it like a locked door. This is not to say she's a carbon copy of any of them, just that maybe some things do come to nature over nurture.

In the afterlife, Joanna is raging against her entire family. Her husband's monstrosity towards other women after all she went through with Aerys. The twins for having done such a horrid, unforgivable thing with the bond they were given. The son she never knew choosing the path of least resistance over becoming something more than what he has endured. She does not smile upon any of these people. She has regrets.

A study in: Parents as People / Born in the Wrong Century / A half-painted portrait / Never speak ill of the dead / Female ambition / "Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it's all a male fantasy." / Tears are a woman's weapon / The courts of women / "For hands of gold are always cold but a woman's hands are warm." / A secret history / The things we leave behind / Regicide / "Women have minds and souls as well as just hearts, and they’ve got ambition and talent as well as just beauty. And I’m sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for."

Verses/AUs:

Mainverse: Follows Joanna through her arrival in Kings Landing through her eventual demise. Canon-compliant save for the touches necessary for my interpretation of certain events canon treats as ambiguous. Beginning with Joanna's arrival as a maiden to serve Queen Rhaella and following her through adulthood, marriage, and motherhood. Potential triggering content abounds, at least where Aerys is concerned.

Survival: Follows Joanna through pre-AGOT events up to the most recent canon. Joanna survives the birth of Tyrion, though weakened and unable to have any more children. While this generally improves Tyrion's odds as a Lannister give his mother is in his corner, the rest of canon is a question mark to be defined by my partners and I in terms of divergences. Potential triggering content in any setting where Cersei and Jaime still follow through on whatever happened to make them like that.

A Lionesses Survival: Follows Joanna in a wholly fleshed out survival AU. Beginning shortly after her canonical time of death and ending some decades past the current 300 year of canon. Joanna being alive does not magically fix the timeline, but she and Tywin conspiring against Aerys and Rhaella and Joanna making amends does completely upend pretty much every event in book canon. Comes with extensive lore that I'm happy to flesh out to interested parties.

Plot bunnies/Calls to Adventure:

For older muses: Your character knew Joanna from her time in court, both the victories and the insults. Whether we play out their time together as courtiers under the Targaryens or pick up with your muse reaching out to the now Lady of the Rock after her tenure at court came to an end, there's ample opportunity to flesh out a dynamic and see where it went/goes.

For younger muses: Your character has some tie to Joanna's children, whether as friends, rivals, or lovers. Joanna, for her part, is going to dissect your muse verbally to see if they are worthy of the time and effort her child puts into this relationship. You want to have some part in the story of one of her kids? You go through Joanna first. Generally based in survival AUs.

For Lannister muses: Wife, mom, cousin, sister, Joanna is many things to the various Lannisters we meet. Give me any opportunity, canon-compliant or AU, to flesh out these dynamics. Let's give her some depth beyond 'everyone apparently liked her and she pegged Tywin.'

For Lannister loyal muses: Tywin might be ruled at home by his lady wife, but that lady wife also rules while her husband is away from home. Your muse needs something of their Lord, and Joanna is the one that handles negotiations. Your muse must win fair lady's favor in order to pursue their own aim, as nothing moves within the Rock without her knowledge and approval.

For 'Targs Negative' muses: The only good Targaryen king is a dead Targaryen king. Aerys is a brute and monster, who landed solidly on the madness side of the coin. Towards the end of her life and into her survival AUs, Joanna was conspiring to bring him down and instate his son as king with her husband as Hand and Regent. Join her whisper war rebellion in its early stages and see what can be done before Aerys goes too far into his madness.

Notes on this character:

I think I covered pretty much all my heavy canon/fandom divergences under the fanon panel of his post? But yeah, Joanna and Aerys never went all the way, all her kids are Tywin's, she's not some sainted innocent too good for this sinful earth idealized woman nor is she the totally stripped of character to be a strawman bitch that anti-Lannister readers want the family to be.

Given my own trigger, I'm liable to be very selective in the Tywins I write with. My main is written by my best friend Axem, who I trust and who understands and respects my boundaries. Not that I think other writers would do otherwise, just that I feel more comfortable at the outset with them compared to a stranger.

Definitely open to shipping her elsewhere than Tywin. Love me some AU potential. My one hard line is no, I'm not shipping her with Aerys. In any capacity. Even in AU. Feels synthetic feels bad on my brain.

#out of stories

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cardest · 4 years

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Washington DC and the Baltimore playlist

DC Sound Attack! Well, if Biden is waiting in the wings to move in to the White House and well, gets a bit bored or just has some spare time, he can totally tune in to my Washington DC playlist! And Baltimore! Maybe he and the new VP can grab a crab cake from Lexington Market! Anyway, what a town DC is, the bands, the songs, the TV shows and who can forget the Exorcist? So I just had to put a list of songs together from DC, from Virginia, Baltimore and surrounds. You may have see my Philadelphia playlist added a few days ago below. I wonder what Ian Mackaye would think of this list

WASHINGTON D.C 001 Clutch - D.C. Sound Attack! 002 Foo Fighters - The Feast and the Famine 003 Rollins Band - Change It Up 004 NCIS-Theme Song 005 Bad Brains - Pay To Cum 006 Prong - Banned In Dc 007 Parliament - Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) 008 Fugazi - Bulldog Front 009 KMFDM - Stars and Stripes 010 Dead Kennedys - Stars and Stripes of Corruption 011 Vlado Kreslin in Hans Theessink - Bourgeois blues 012 TROUBLE FUNK - Spin Time 013 Ministry - Ass Clown 014 Marvin Gaye - What's Going On 015 X Files - Theme Song 016 Clutch - How To Shake Hands 017 The Rolling Stones - Sweet Virginia 018 Pig Destroyer - The Adventures of Jason and JR 019 Experience Unlimited - Da Butt 020 The Evens - Dinner With The President 021 Steppenwolf - Draft Resister 022 The Blackbyrds - Blackbyrds Theme 023 Oneness of Juju - African Rhythms 024 Pontiak - Ignorance Makes Me High 025 Ex Hex - Rainbow Shiner 026 Parliament Chocolate City 027 Bill Hayes - The Ballad Of Davy Crockett 028 Staple Singers - Washington, We're Watching You 029 The Razz - You Can Run (But You Cant Hide) 030 Criminal Minds TV theme bits 031 Clutch - White's Ferry 032 Incredible Bongo Band - Apache 033 Jimmy Newman - Washington, DC 034 CHUCK BROWN & THE SOUL SEARCHERS - BUSTIN LOOSE 035 Weird Al Yankovic - Party In The CIA 036 Overkill - King Of The Rat Bastards 037 CANNABIS CORPSE - Zero Weed Tolerance 038 Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove 039 the coup - piss on your grave 040 Primus - Electric Uncle Sam 041 Pocahontas OST - The Virginia Company 042 OFF! - Elimination 043 THE HONEY DRIPPERS - Impeach The President 044 Roy Ayers - D.C. City 045 Chain & the Gang - The logic of night 046 Pentagram - Walk Alone 047 Duke Ellington - Caravan 048 Clutch - Son of Virginia 049 The Messthetics - Serpent Tongue 050 House of Cards - Main Title Theme 051 Windhand - Old Evil 052 While Heaven Wept - Hour Of Reprisal 053 Genocide Pact - Induction 054 Nation of Ulysses ~ You're my Miss Washington D.C. 055 Minor Threat - Betray 056 ILSA - Cult Of The Throne 057 Stop the World-The Clash 058 The Dismemberment Plan - The City 059 Les Baxter - The City 060 America - Old Virginia 061 Talking Heads - Don't Worry About The Government 062 Gwar - The Reaganator 063 Junk Yard Band - Loose Booty 064 Chicago - State of the Union 065 Clutch - I Have The Body Of John Wilkes Booth 066 Carol Leon - Washington, DC song 067 Rollins Band - Icon 068 COUGH - Crippled Wizard 069 The Magnetic Fields - Washington D.C. 070 Washington DC's new State Song, John Oliver 071 Alice In Chains - Never Fade 072 Animals as Leaders - Another Year 073 Deceased - Mrs. Allardyce 074 Tru Fax and The Insaniacs - Love Love Love 075 the hidden hand - someday soon 076 Sourvein - D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F. 077 Pig Destroyer - Alexandria 078 Drugs of Faith - The False War 079 Ex Hex - Diamond Drive 080 The Exorcist OST - Main Theme Tubular Bells 081 the slickee boys - gotta tell me why 082 Ministry - The Dick Song 083 Egg Hunt - We All Fall Down 084 Trouble Funk - Drop the Bomb 085 Q and Not U - End The Washington Monument (Blinks) Goodnight 086 Foo Fighters - Arlandria 087 Die Cheerleader - Washington D.C. 088 The Jesus Lizard - Queen For A Day 089 King Giant - The One That God Forgot To Save 090 Gil Scott Heron - Washington D.C 091 Unrest - Bavarian Mods 092 Rites of Spring - For Want Of 093 American Dad! TV show theme 094 Readeez Presents The U.S. Presidents Song 095 Darkest Hour - No God 096 Fugazi - Facet Squared 097 Rollins Band - Wreck-Age 098 R E M - Don't Go Back To Rockville 099 Dag Nasty - Trying 100 Bad Brains - Rise 101 Municipal Waste - Masked by Delirium 102 Escape-ism - Bodysnatcher 103 Tilt - Arkade Funk 104 Nonchalant - 5 O'Clock 105 Jawbox - Savory 106 The Staple Singers - Long Walk To D.C. 107 Teen Idles - Fleeting Fury 108 Burnt by the Sun - Washington Tube Steak 109 Chain and the Gnag - [Ive Got] Privilege 110 Priests- Ice Cream 111 Lamb of God - Checkmate 112 Lonnie Liston Smith - Sunburst 113 DEVO - Secret Agent Man 114 Duke Ellington - Money Jungle 115 Butch Willis - Flashback 200 William DeVaughn - Be Thankful for What You Got 222 Peabo Bryson - D.C Cab 666 Get Smart Original Theme

Baltimore 001 Divine - You Think Youre a Man 002 Bill Callahan - Javelin Unlanding 003 Clutch - Pigtown Blues 004 Cry Baby Soundtrack - King Cry Baby 005 PIG DESTROYER - Baltimore Strangler 006 Loo Reed - Edgar Allan Poe 007 The Fleshtones - The Girl From Baltimore 008 Gram Parsons - Streets of Baltimore 009 Prince - Baltimore (feat. Eryn Allen Kane) 010 Mr Bungle - Carry Stress In The Jaw 011 george harrison - baltimore oriole 012 George Brigman - Jungle Rot 013 Primus - DMV 014 Strawberry Alarm Clock - Barefoot in Baltimore 015 Nina Simone - Baltimore 016 The Obsessed - Punk Crusher 017 Scott Walker - The Lady Came From Baltimore 018 Clutch - The Great Outdoors! 019 Frank Zappa - Whats New In Baltimore 020 Mother Freedom Band - Touch Me 021 Misery Index - The Calling 022 Internal Void - Window to Hell 023 Trapped Under Ice - Stay Cold 024 Agathocles - Blatimore Mince Meat 025 FULL OF HELL - Deluminate 026 Dirt Woman - Fades to Greed 027 Wormhole - Nurtured in a Poisoned Womb 028 RHCP - Millionaires Against Hunger 029 Swell Fellas - Placebo 030 Clutch - Hot Bottom Feeder 031 Black Lung - Ancients 032 Dying Fetus - Fixated On Devastation 033 Motorhead - Civil War 034 NOISEM - Deplorable 035 The Brandos - Gettysburg 037 Visceral Disgorge - Fucked into Oblivion 043 SECRET CUTTER - Trampled By Light 044 Cemetery Piss - Such the Vultures Love 045 Pig Destroyer - [Head Cage #04] Circle River 046 Pockets - Come Go With Me 047 War On Women - Confess 048 Horse Lords - Against Gravity 049 Cry Bay OST - Doin time for being young 050 Clutch - Earth Rocker 666 Locrian - Two Moons

And what a way to meet up in the middle with Clutch teaming up with randy from Lamb of God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y6EVouZm-I

#washington dc #washington dc playlist #baltimore playlist #baltimore #maryland #the exorcist #songs about washington dc #fugazi #henry rollins #john waters #cry baby #divine #full of hell #clutch #pig destroyer #locrian

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rjzimmerman · 4 years

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If the allegations in this story are true, then the approval will be reversed by a court, and the process sent back to the EPA for review in full compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

Excerpt from this EcoWatch story:

In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that soybean farmers in 25 states are allowed to spray Alite 27, a cancer-causing weedkiller known to drift 1,000 feet from where it was sprayed, according to The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

To approve new use for the herbicide, which has the chemical name isoxaflutole and is manufactured by German-chemical giant BASF, the EPA had to skirt around the usual public comment period for the decision. The registration for isoxaflutole was opened for public comment, but it was never listed in the federal register. Agencies almost always provide notice that they are considering a new rule in the federal register, according to to The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

"The press release caught everyone off guard, we were just waiting for the EPA to open the comment period, and we never saw it," said Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, referring to an EPA press release, as the AP reported.

The spray, which is already used on corn in 33 states, can be sprayed on crops that have been genetically engineered to resist the herbicide. Commodity farmers praised the decision and touted the weedkiller as an indispensable tool in their arsenal of supplies to push back against new "super weeds" that have grown resistant to several types of herbicides, including glyphosate, or RoundUp, the most commonly used herbicide in the U.S., as to The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting reported.

"One of the biggest challenges growers face is resistant weeds, and the soybean market needed a new residual active ingredient to help fight against them," said Darren Unland, Technical Marketing Manager, BASF Agricultural Solutions, in a company press release. "Alite 27 herbicide will provide growers with another pre-emergent herbicide option to layer into their herbicide program for effective, season-long control."

Comments like Unland's were the only ones that appeared in the public register. In fact, there were 54 comments in the public register and all of them were in praise of Alite 27, neglecting that it is a known carcinogen and that the drift of the herbicide is potentially harmful to nearby farms and farmers.

"Clearly no one from the public health community knew about this because no one commented," Donley said, as The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting noted. "Yet there was all these industry comments, all these positive comments. Someone was tipped off that this docket had been opened. One side was able to comment, the other wasn't."

#EPA #coronavirus pandemic #pesticides #trump #Alite 27 #carcinogens

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matrixaffiliate · 6 years

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Like the Storybooks

Co-written with @hufflepuffmarlenemckinnon

FFN and AO3

Chapter 4

There was no rest for the weary, or at least it felt that way to Sirius as he made his way out of the Royal offices, after yet another long evening of trying to help James hold the bloody crown that none of them had been ready for him to wear.

With significant help from Sir Remus, they finalized the plans for the defenses of the borderlands and had a contingency for surrounding and blockading the castle at Semprapuria. He’d hoped he was good and done for the night. He’d been restless the night prior and the moment he closed his eyes he saw his brother Regulus’s face. His face as it had been all those years ago. That child’s face, and the look of disappointment in his eyes stuck with Sirius more than anything. He couldn’t meet him now, as a man on a battlefield… The thought was sickening. He was fairly confident now that he wouldn’t need to, at least not at this juncture. But he was nearly dizzy with fatigue and not in the mood to hand out favors. Was pointing out the weaknesses in his own family not enough for one day?

It seemed as if it wasn’t. At least not according to the resident Princess at court, who apparently had a penchant for wandering the halls late at night. As soon as Sirius saw her approaching, he sighed, mourning the moments of peace that were slipping from his grasp as she took his arm.

Which in and of itself was strange and forward behavior, but she was James’s cousin so what else could he expect, really?

“So listen,” she said quietly, “I need your help with something.”

“Unless you need help being pointed in the vague direction of ‘elsewhere’ then you’re out of luck, Princess. I’m kicking off for the night.”

She didn’t flinch at the less than proper form of address. She was the very image of the princess in a fairy story filled with tales of honor and chivalry. Sirius would know because he’d read them all in his youth. They’d served as a good tool in forgetting that he was the son of Walburga Black and giving him something to mold himself after. He got the impression that Princess Marlene didn’t have to mold herself to the likeness of Guinevere of Cornwall or Nimue of the Lake. He may have read those tales voraciously but she‘d probably lived them. It wouldn’t have surprised him if she’d once been held captive by a dragon in a tower. He’d imagined, given this whole air that bounced off her just as the light reflected off her gold-blonde hair, that she’d get indignant over the teasing. He had to remind himself again that she was James’s cousin, of course, she’d find no fault in the mocking use of her title.

“It’s not something you have to do today. Here. We’ll walk while I explain. That can only help.”

She had a glint of mischief in her bright blue eyes. Sirius wasn’t sure what to make of that, or of her in general. He’d grown up hearing James’ tales of ‘Cousin Marly’ and this woman was not at all what he’d pictured. It was too much of a task for his already tired mind to adjust his view of the world to one where this person could exist. He needed at least a good night’s sleep before even starting in on that, and besides, what did it matter? What did she want with him anyway?

“It’ll help what? Your ability to multitask?”

“Charming.” She rolled her eyes, “No. It’ll help for us to be seen together.” Her tone was as casual and mocking as his own.

Sirius did a very poor job at reigning in his facial expressions. Another product of exhaustion, he supposed. He felt himself blink several times in quick succession, and shake his head slightly so as to reorient. King James’s cousin Marly was a right nutter. That was the only logical conclusion.

“What are you playing at?”

“You heard me yesterday. Being a very marriageable heiress to the throne has gotten to be unmanageable. I thought that you could help me out by being something of a decoy. If they think that I’m spoken for perhaps the Lords of Lechery will find a new hobby.”

Sirius didn’t have the patience for this. Not today. “A decoy? You do realize that I have a job? I lead armies, I’ll have you know. I’m not concerned with matters that merely inconvenience you with the company of Gilderoy bloody Lockhart.” He heard the sharp edges in his voice and hated the sound of them, while still feeling completely incapable of softening them out.

“Well, first of all, it isn’t JUST Lockhart, and secondly, have you ever had to endure an attempted wooing from Gilderoy Lockhart? It’s a sight worse than inconvenient. It’s painful.”

She was smiling. Apparently unperturbed by his shortness, she smiled at him like they were just having a laugh. She was a very strange person and he was fairly sure this was an act in case there was anyone watching. What was she really thinking?

He reminded himself that he didn’t really care. He just wanted to be alone. The past six months had left him without an ounce of energy to care about the inner workings of a very strange storybook princess.

“I’m terribly sorry Princess. And not all amused by your predicament and don’t plan to watch you squirm.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. He really didn’t have the patience for this. “It’s a pity that I can’t help, seeing as we’d never be a believable match anyway. So… hurry along. Go find some other gentleman to be part of your nonsense.”

He’d not had to deal with any sort of romantic propositions in quite some time, but he’d had plenty of experience in dissuading that sort of thing, back in his first few years at court. Now it was accepted fact that he was married to the concept of honor and chivalry. Chastity was a virtue that only the truest knights in stories could embody. He was a true knight and the King’s man; like Sir Galahad to King Arthur. He would never marry.

Or that was what he liked for people to believe anyhow, and it was close enough to the truth. It just neglected to mention that it was all tied up in the issue of where he came from and who he wanted the world to think he was.

But regardless of his careful avoidances of romantic pursuits in the past, he’d never had to fend off anything quite like this. This was a princess, and also a madwoman. Why did it have to be now? He was in no shape to deal with any of this.

“I asked you because you’re really the most believable person that came to mind.”

He nearly stopped in his tracks. He was going to be on the block for regicide if James had gone loose-lipped about Sirius being the erstwhile heir to a rather significant Duchy that had recently declared itself a sovereign state. He hated the thought of people… courtiers… his own men… forming judgments of his character based on the unfortunate circumstances of his birth. He’d gone through the trouble of earning a reputation as a fine knight and a decent person and he was not going to have Walburga ruining all that too. He often wished the lie were true. James should have been his family.

But also James should bloody well be quiet. He really hoped he’d misunderstood the implications of what she’d said.

“You think people will believe an unlanded knight of illegitimate birth is a likely match for the heir to the throne?” He attempted to keep his voice steady and casual. Mostly he thought he sounded tired. Because he was tired. So so tired.

“I think we’re the best-looking people at court and it would be logical if not expected for us to pair off.” She looked at him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Well, that was not what he was expecting. It was… or it should have been… good news, since now he had no cause for murderous feelings towards the anointed King. But there was a large part of him that just wanted to scream at Princess Marlene to start behaving like a normal human being because this was beyond odd and he was bloody exhausted.

Who the hell says something like that? It wasn’t… particularly inaccurate… at least with regard to the Princess’ own personal beauty, upon consideration. That didn’t make it any less strange to hear out loud.

“Wow. Nice ego you’ve got there, Princess,” was all he could manage as a retort. He felt ashamed of himself. A year ago he’d have never guessed that he’d be too tired to think of a really good barb, well before midnight and at only 22. It was a crying shame.

She rolled her eyes again, “You know that I’m right.”

Was she? He had never gone to the trouble of considering how he’d place in a court-wide beauty contest. He looked… like his mother. She was beautiful and untouchable. He hated seeing her in the mirror, but he had to concede that he was glad she hadn’t been evil and also a hideous toad. It was never really a bad thing when a very pretty (very strange) high born lady expressed a favorable opinion of his appearance. She certainly hadn’t been the first, only the strangest.

“Thanks, I guess?” The words sounded disgustingly genuine coming out. He’d lost his tenuous hold on his courtier mask. She really should have left him alone tonight. He would have been much more fun after a good night’s rest.

He’d have probably been better looking as well, for that matter. He laughed at the absurdity of the whole thing. What difference did it make if he had no competition in that department according to Princess Marlene? What difference did it make in general?

“For what?” Her guard dropped for a split second, and Sirius saw the crease of a soul in her face, but it was gone in an instant.

“You just said I’m the most attractive gentleman at court? Or has this all been a delirium induced dream?”

She laughed, a short sound that coming from anyone else would have been a snort, but she'd managed to make that more graceful somehow. She really defied all logic. Princess Marlene should not rightly have been a real person. But there she was. Rolling her extremely blue blue eyes at him, letting go of his arm in order to flail her unnaturally graceful arms about more dramatically. “Come off it. I wasn’t paying you a compliment. Why do people have to be so tetchy about these matters? It’s not as if you’ve never seen your own reflection.”

“Well, we can all be assured you’ve spent plenty of time staring into a looking glass.” Another weak barb. He accompanied it with an attempt at a knowing smirk. He wasn’t living up to his reputation for being charming and witty. But she had stuck around after he told her she’d best not, so it shouldn’t have upset him if she thought he was rather less impressive than rumors suggested. Why was he upset?

Probably because he was still awake.

“I’m well aware of what I look like, I don't need to spend hours in front of a looking glass. And you have no reason to say no to my proposition. I’ve asked around and know that you’re unattached. It’s not as if you have to actually marry me or anything, I'd prefer you didn't actually. Just keep away the pests until Queen Lily produces an heir.”

He had to gather up his reserves to finish this rather unwelcome melee that the Princess had insisted upon. He would need to perform a feint to make it work, but Sirius was, if nothing else, confident in his sparring abilities. He took a deep breath and dredged up every ounce of charm that he had left in his exhausted being. This was going to work.

“You know what? I take back what I said.”

“So you’ll help me?” He would have laughed at the hopeful look on her face, but he was too exhausted to do so without risking falling into a fit of laughter that circled back around to laughing at himself and what his life had become. It was better avoided, so he just shook his head.

“No, not at all. I meant that I am going to really enjoy watching you squirm.” Satisfied that he’d been the victor, he sped up his pace and headed off to his own chambers, in pursuit of a moment’s peace.

#blackinnon #blackinnon fanfiction #sirius x marlene #sirius black x marlene mckinnon #jily #medieval au #medieval fantasy au #trebuchets

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awesomecolorfulcollectorwombat · 6 years

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What It's Like to Fly the WWII-Era Plane That Crashed on LA's 101 Freeway

New Post has been published on http://indolargeprints.com/what-its-like-to-fly-the-wwii-era-plane-that-crashed-on-las-101-freeway/

What It's Like to Fly the WWII-Era Plane That Crashed on LA's 101 Freeway

Watching the flames devour the wing of a World War II-era aircraft that crash-landed on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles, a few questions come to mind. How did the pilot escape unharmed? How’d he manage not to whack any cars as he came down around 2 pm on Tuesday? Why was the plane, a T-6 Texan, dressed up like a German fighter aircraft (sans swastikas)? And, most pressing of all, what is anybody doing flying a 70-year-old plane over northwest LA?

That last one, at least, is easy enough to answer.

“The T-6, out of all the airplanes I’ve flown, is one of my favorite aircraft to fly. It’s a beautifully handling aircraft, it’s extremely well built, very powerful, and it’s just a lot of fun,” says Dave Whitcomb, a professional pilot who has logged about 500 hours in the T-6 while working with a group called History Flight, which takes members of the public out flying in old-timey planes.

The crashed plane, a North American T-6 Texan, currently belongs to Condor Squadron, KTLA reports. (The Van Nuys-based non-profit’s pilots fly the vintage aircraft for parades and other events, according to its website.) In its previous life, the aircraft saw some combat during World War II and the Korean War, but mostly served as a trainer for pilots preparing to climb into the cockpits of Mustangs and Corsairs. Like a driver’s ed car, the two tandem seats each have a full set of controls. Forty-two feet from wingtip to wingtip, the plane can hit 205 mph at 5,000 feet, thanks to its single engine.

The joy of flying a vintage aircraft is similar to that of driving an old race car, Whitcomb says. Without any of the automated systems that pilots now spend most of their time monitoring, operating the T-6 requires constant adjustments to the stick in your right hand, the throttle and propeller controls in your left.

“You’re always flying the airplane,” he says. “In a smaller aircraft like that, it feels like it’s a part of you. Whereas big heavy jets today, you’re not manipulating the controls as much, because they’re so stable.”

Throw in the joy of reliving history, and it’s easy to see why you’d want to climb into the T-6’s cockpit, slide open the canopy, and slide through the air like the pilots of old.

Most of the folks flying T-6’s today are very experienced, Whitcomb says, largely because insurance companies aren’t in the business of covering rookies who want to zip about in a relatively rare and expensive plane. (Someone in Italy’s selling one for $28,735.) Most of the aircraft now have GPS navigation systems; they all have modern radios.

And while the T-6 is generally reliable, it only has a single engine, meanings that if that one craps out, you’re gonna make like Icarus. (This is why Whitcomb avoided flying the T-6 over large bodies of water or unlandable terrain.) That’s where the experience comes in. When an engine failure turns your plane into a glider, it’s time to look for a long, smooth landing surface—like the 101— steadily drop altitude, float down gradually, and hope everybody in their 21st century car can get out of the way.