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gooobley · 8 months

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[ THE HEART ACHES ONLY FOR THOSE WHO USE IT ]

(LISTEN WHILE READING)

Imagine this, let’s say, out of the blue, you get the news your very mother has passed. How would you truly “feel”?

Here you are, dressed in a luxurious golden robe crafted by the finest designers. Lounging on a sofa that even the wealthiest would envy, as you leisurely sip your hot coffee, savoring every taste. The years have rolled by since the untimely tragedy, and you've successfully created a formidable foundation for yourself and those dear to you. The nights were been long, solitary, and sometimes even sleepless, a testament to the grit it took to reach this pinnacle. Your life's journey has unfolded as if under a distant observer's gaze, but now everything you’ve ever wanted is laid bare before you as we speak. How would you “feel”?

You stand as a relentless vessel of interlocking gears, a tireless machine made of constant rotating, resounding organs, and superficial muscles. Each day, you trained for this moment, the day you could finally embrace your long earned tranquility, the peace of finally being able to cast aside the weight you've carried all this time. It was all done to garner praise from your others, for them to solidly believe in you. Every effort, every sacrifice, all for the love of another. But you've made it, right? The time to rest in hushed solace of all times, should be now. You should be equipping yourself to pass on your legacy to future generations yet to come, etching your mark on history through your children, grandchildren, and beyond.

But, wait. What's this feeling? This odd sensation creeping in? It throbs with a tender sting; all from deep within. Quickly, you rise from your seat. Why is your body moving on its own? You’ve never felt like this before!? An unfamiliar aura controls you, akin to something like a puppet master. How do you make it stop?! Internally, you struggle recklessly as a tumultuous battle for control rages on. Which is almost starting to seem like an endless struggle the further you push. However, externally, you tread aimlessly throughout your colossal mansion, with no end goal in sight; or is there?

Anyways, returning back to the present, you are still unable to gain your once held control over your own body. This can’t be. This feels almost too supernatural to be true. What could it be? God? A spirit? The Devil? Your mind is flooded with countless possibilities, yet on the outside your body still presses forward. That’s when you notice something, your body, or whoever guiding it, is steering you in direction of your mansion's rooftop. You give the struggling a rest, and await what is next to come. Ascending the stairs, you atlas reach the rooftop as you are greeted by the sun's creeping emergence, its gentle kiss on the ocean's reflective edge signifying a new dawn. The world's beauty unfolds before you, when was the last time you’ve enjoyed this since the incident?

That’s when it hits you, the incident. It’s sad isn’t it. You begin to wonder, what if she were right beside you. How would she “feel”? If she was sitting in a enormous mansion, worth millions, what would she say? Would she be proud? That’s when you finally regain control over your body. Consciousness surges back in from the depths of the abyss, a state you’ve haven’t claimed since you began this expedition. The state of being “conscious”. Has it always felt like this? Sonder overcomes you entirely. You gaze down below, at all the passerby’s living day to day. You're truly here, this is reality. No really! You’re here! You should be cheering!? Clap! Jump! What’s wrong?! Oh. Right. She’s gone. The one who would always love you unconditionally. The one who would greet you every morning, the one you needed at your darkest times. She’s gone. You did all this to make her and everyone else proud. So why do you feel nothing? All the accomplishments, all the glory, but she just isn’t here. You can’t touch her, talk to her, or even see her. She’s actually gone.

You look over the horizon, asking both her and the world why. Why did she leave? Is she proud of all that you have done?! You did this for her! So where is she?!? You yelp at the skies, telling her to come out, to come back. The sun’s rays gently caressing your soft buttery skin, its beams radiating off your sorrowful eyes. You grip the balcony rails with such intensity it leaves marks on your hands. You were always told to cherish those close to you before it was too late; but you didn’t think time would go that fast. You ball, you cry, you weep. An endless flood of tears flowing from you with speed. It’s just too much. Wiping your face trying to keep your composure together, you never really had the opportunity to release your inner feelings, but now you do. So you just, cry. You cry so hard even the earlybirds and morning roosters shift their heads in complete and utter shock. It’s shocking just what losing one person can do to someone. Can people even cry like that? You worry about none of that as continue on releasing it all. Just releasing, and releasing, and releasing everything until. You stop. You begin to wipe your eyes as your sobbing slowly becomes feint in the morning ruckus. You just want her back. You just want you back. This is a reminder to slow down. The world won’t speed up, and you shouldn’t either. Enjoy life. Enjoy the mistakes you make along the way. Because soon, you won’t know what to do. It’ll come so fast you’ll have nothing to say but just, “Why? Why me?”. I’m done now, but before I go, I still have one question. And yes, I know i’ve asked this question before. But I still just need your “true” and “final” answer. Regarding then, regarding now, regarding anytime in the future, present or whatever. Just answer me this, and promise you won’t ever forget to ask yourself this old pal. How do you “feel”.

wanderlust

#cyberspace #goodnight #time waits for no one #enjoy it while it lasts #if you ever need help i’m here #i promise #reality #behind the curtain #Spotify

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missdawnandherdusk · 4 years

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Something Old

Draco X Gryffindor!Reader

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four

Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight

Part Nine

Summary: Now that winter break was upon you, you finally had time to look into what your mother told you about as well as confront the other parent in the situation, the one you dread to think about and the one Draco had to live with.

A/N: Hello my darling loves! We’re finally getting somewhere with plot! And lore! And Latin! ((Seriously, something is lost when you know Latin and can translate the spells on the top of your head... it’s less... magical. But funny because the spells mean exactly what they’re doing and I don’t know if that a cheap lazy move or brilliant.)) Let me know what you guys think! Also I’m toying with the idea of uploading this to AO3... would you guys want that? Love you guys, stay safe.

Tags: @un-limiteddd @geekysimmerthings @coffee-addicti @ilikestuffproductions @msmcsmutt @ravn-87 @artemismohr18 @whygz @crazywritingbug @dolphincommander @bisexualbumblebeesstuff @fuzzy-panda @bitemebro522 @zombiesnips-blog @jillanaholland @shookyungsoo @savingdraco @welcometomyworldwithoutrules @akari180 @slytherin-emerald @chaotic-good-gemini @memalfoy-spidey @theres-a-dog-outside-omg @queenfeatherwings @fanficflaneuse @go-whovian-universe @spicyshenanigans @darling-im-not-okay-i-promise @dietkiwi @katsukink @takemetothekingdom @strangerr-things @tmnt-queen @mccloudchloe

Snape eyed me as I smiled through my exam, on cloud none the entire way. I had gotten through my History of Magic exam no problem and now Snape wanted us to recreate our Bellum Amoris antidotes. Weeks of worrying and I was finished with the second fastest time.

Draco beat me by a few minutes—he was allowed to the ingredients first—and we walked out of the exam hand in hand, not caring much about anyone who decided to gawk at us.

I was in too good of a mood. The term was done for the winter, I had finished all of my exams, and I wouldn’t be alone for the holidays when I remained at Hogwarts this year as I had the years before.

“I told you, you had nothing to worry about,” Draco nudged my shoulder. “Except beating my time of course.” A grin stretched across his face. “Which you couldn’t of course,”

I rolled my eyes and let out a laugh.

“I think I’ll be okay missing one point because I wasn’t as fast as you,” I drawled.

“Oh, I’m sure you’re dreading the fact,” He teased back as we made our way to the Great Hall. “Have you heard anything from your mother?” His voice lowered.

“Not yet, thought I suppose she’s waiting to hear from me,” I mumbled.

“You didn’t answer her!?” Draco grew agitated.

“I did,” I reaffirmed, giving him a look. “But I said that I would talk about it later when we had time to... figure things out? I didn’t know what to say...”

“We’re gonna figure this out,” He reassured as we entered the Great Hall that was really magical with the Christmas decorations and warmth from the people within.

“Y/n! Draco!”

We both tensed until we saw Hermione waving at us along with the four Weasleys and Harry. No one was glaring at us—Draco—so I took that as a good sign as we sat down for dinner.

It was easy to sink into the familiarity and safety of the school, but with the Yule Ball coming, worry nagged at my mind. It was a big deal and an even bigger deal to pure-bloods. Another occasion to show off and “be better” than everyone else. My mother wouldn’t care, and I knew that... but Draco’s parents—father—had to have something to say about it and it worried me.

“Have you heard from your father?” I asked in a soft voice during dinner when the others were concerned with the upcoming task for the tournament.

His expression darkened as he glared at his plate.

So, yes then.

“Dray,” I whispered softly, rubbing his arm softly. “What happened?”

“Not here,” He said curtly, his eyes dancing around the merry scene around us.

I nodded and we both put on masks of calm and ease through dinner. His hand held mine throughout and we both lost our appetites. Maybe I should have written my mother a bit more than the vague note I gave. She would know what to do.

____________________________

Draco had gotten the letter last night, before he sent you the invitation to dinner. It what prompted him to send it in the first place. He knew that you could take away the depressing cloud that hovered whenever his father spoke to him.

And you did, almost easily. When he was with you, it was easy to focus on your smile, the way your hair fell into and out of place constantly, the way you almost danced down the hallways because you always gave off the demeanor of not having a care or fear in the world. It rubbed off on him. He’d rather be frustrated with the simple secrets that you kept than frustrated with the conflict about family and legacies.

And you were exactly what he needed last night. Your warmth, and comfort, the games you played and gentle touched you gave and small sounds that were his now to hold. But there were

still dark moments of the night that he couldn’t escape when his father’s words weighed him down.

Draco would never understand how you managed to pick up on the fact that his father had sent him something. Maybe he hadn’t given it away and you were just worrying again.

After dinner the two of you split up for some time, to drop off books and changed from school uniforms and in your case hopefully to find something warmer to wear.

Draco almost didn’t want to take you up to the Astronomy Tower because it was so frigid outside. He racked his brain for anywhere else to go in the school that offered solidarity and warmth. He could sneak you into the Slytherin dorms... but it might pose a danger to you as his house wasn’t as welcoming as yours had been to his relationship with you. The library seemed to be the best place at the moment to finally start looking into what was going on.

He met you outside you Common Room, as always and the two of you walk together. he had taken your books from you the moment you stepped out and though you gave him a curt you, you said nothing.

“I was thinking maybe we go to the library,” He offered. “It’s too cold for you in the Tower.” You hummed in agreement, silent in your thoughts again.

“It’ll probably be empty because of the end of term,” You mused, nodding as if you had settled on the idea.

“You’re quiet again,” He noted, the notion bothering him more than he thought.

“Thinking,”

“Now there’s an idea.” He teased as the two of you sat in a back table in the vacant library.

__________________________

It wasn’t the same as being alone with him in the Astronomy Tower, but it was much warmer being surrounded by lit fires and a million books.

“Where do you want to start?” The question slipped through as I pulled out parchment and quill to take notes.

I knew the last thing he wanted to talk about was his father, but that’s what worried me the most. It was all for naught if his father could get between us and make whatever this had become into a tragedy. As if he knew this, he slid a folded parchment over to me, not meeting my eyes.

Taking it, I took a breath in and opened it:

Draco,

I have heard many rumors about you, and I pray that none of them are true. You have been raised better than to fraternize a Lupine let alone allow her to kiss you. It is atrocious behavior and it will stop immediately.

They are a disgrace to pure bloods everywhere and are almost worse than the Weasleys. I have raised you with higher standards than this. I am appalled to even hear that these things might be going on.

I do not want you to go near her. I want to hear nothing of you being with her or the people she considers friends. Do not believe her lies or the things that she tells you. It is what the Lupines do. They lie and bend the truth into something that is horrendous. It is what they have always done, and you know this.

She is nothing more than a she-demon come to ruin everything that I have built for you and to steal everything that I have worked all my life to give you.

You are a Malfoy. Do not forget that.

I am beyond disappointed to hear this. Correct what has been done immediately.

Your Father,

Lucius Malfoy

I frowned at the letter as I read it a few more times, trying to figure out what I wanted to address first. At the moment, I just wanted to send this to my mother and see what she would do knowing the fire in her was stronger than mine. But I didn’t do any of that.

Instead, I placed the letter down and looked up to wary blue eyes. “Well,” I whispered. “What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean what am I going to do?” He snapped; a soft look from me and he took a deep breath, calming.

“If... I know that I’ve dragged you into this. And that you didn’t have much of a choice. So, if you want to... I...” My gaze fell to my lap as I tried to find the right words to tell him... to let him go.

“Why would you think—”

“Because I don’t want you to get talked down to like this by someone who’s supposed to love you!” I threw the letter on the table. “I’m... I’m not worth ruining... You shouldn’t be treated like an errant child because you’re talking to me,”

“I’m always treated like an errant child Y/n,” He scoffed. “Now at least I have a good reason.”

“What?” I looked up, the frown returning to my face.

“Nothing I ever did for my father has been good enough. I think landing in Slytherin was the last time he was actually proud of something that I did.” Draco picked up the letter and rolled his eyes, tearing it in half.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

“What I should have done when I got this letter,” He muttered, tossing it into the nearest fireplace.

I marveled at him, a small smile playing at my lips. I had hoped he would choose me, but now that he had, something heavy was lifted from my shoulders. Though I still wasn’t quite taken with how his father talked to him, but I knew it wasn’t my place to go against Lucius no matter how much of a...

Never mind.

“Now, to the books?” He sat back down, picking up the book I had taken from him not too long ago and he leafed through the pages.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly for a moment and whispering a small thanks before we settled in to read. Taking another book—The Nature of a Soul— from the stack, we got to work. My eyes scanned the table of contents and then the pages.

...Every person has a soul created of the either stars, or earth. Those who have earthen souls are born without magic, but those with Souls of The Stars will grow to be wizards. It is not genetics that decides but the universe itself...

I scribbled down notes as I read, leafing through pages.

...Souls born of the same matter bond to another. It is rare for a Soul of The Stars to bond, but when it does happen it is the work of the universe and no man or magic can break it. This was known as the Consentire Animi Pace. Seers of our kind have often prophesied about Great Darkness that would take hold before these Animi came to unite what was unraveled by generations past. Millenia has passed since this foretelling and it is doubted to exist...

I nudged Draco and showed him the page, watching the way his eyebrows furrowed slightly and he gnawed on his lip when he read something due to concentration. It made me smile.

“Great Darkness?” He muttered softly.

“You know as well as I do who it could be,” My voice was soft and hesitant.

I knew that Draco’s father had fought alongside Voldemort in the first war and I wondered what happened if it came down to it, what would Draco choose? With what I knew from Harry’s

adventures and life story, the threat of Voldemort loomed now more than ever. Was that the Great Darkness that the text referred to?

“This talks about a prophecy,” He murmured, pulling the book that he was reading. “That might be what this is, I can only make out some of it...”

He showed me the carpet page filled with intricate designs and detailed lettering. Some of the page was burned away, leaving half in its wake. I ran my hand softly over the artwork before reading the script:

Nox defluet et malum surget.

Dos Animī consentiens

Eō die, nox non vincet

Cum illī ...

I stared at the text, grabbing my parchment and slowly translating.

“What do you know?” I asked softly. “What could you translate?”

“Nox is night, malum, evil...” His brow furrowed again.

“Night... falls—will fall and evil will rise. Two souls... joining?” I wrote down what I could. “On that day, night will not conquer, because these souls...”

“You can read this?” He was baffled.

I shrugged. “Just some Latin. Mother taught it to me. That’s why spells are so easy for me... it’s just Latin all I have to do is translate.”

“Bloody hell that’s genius,” He muttered.

“But some of the prophecy is missing... I think most of it probably.” I mused, leafing through the book to see if I could find anything else.

“Do you really think that this is about is though?” He asked softly, timid. “Even if it’s not... it’s still something to know. And it might be important.”

“The only person who would see this as important is Trelawney.” Draco scoffed, leaning back in his chair.

“Maybe she’s the one we really need to talk to if prophecies are caught up in all of this.” I thought aloud. “Did you find anything else?” I looked up from my notes.

“Nothing of use. You?”

“Souls apparently are made from either stars or earth and magic or muggle has nothing to do with genetics,” I shrugged, reading over my notes. “So that’s new I guess.”

“What do you mean it has nothing to do with blood?” He snapped.

“I read it; I didn’t say that it was law. And what does it matter anyway? Magic is magic, no matter who uses it or doesn’t.” I defended, narrowing my eyes.

He grumbled and folded his arms sulking.

“Draco,” I chided, but gave up the notion.

I knew it would take time to undo what his father had engrained in him. Maybe this was step one.

Soon after finding nothing more about the prophecy or soul matter, Pince said that she was closing the library for the night and that we should head to bed before curfew. Returning the books to their proper places, Draco and I walked quietly along the halls.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you.” Draco sighed, taking my hand. “Forgive me?”

I nodded and offered a small smile.

“We grew up in different worlds, it was bound to clash eventually.”

“Doesn’t make it right for me to take it out on you,”

I raised an eyebrow at him, a smug smile finding its way to my face.

“Yeah, yeah shut up.” He muttered.

“One step at a time,”

We walked along in thought, no words needing to be spoken. Pausing outside the Gryffindor portrait, Draco leaned down and pressed a soft and gentle kiss to my lips.

“Goodnight Y/n,”

“Goodnight Draco,”

There were words stuck on the tips of our tongue that neither of us dare to utter but felt all the same:

I love you.

Part 11?

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chillyravenart · 4 years

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Hi, I'm curious about your opinion on a seldom discussed asoiaf matter: Rhaegar Targaryen's relationship with his mother, Rhaella. It's bugging me since there's little to no mention of it in any of the books. Safe to assume that Viserys was close to her, her crown was his last joy according to Dany. Dany herself sadly doesn't count, she only has stories about their mom. But Rhaegar has plenty of years. He must have seen her misery as well. Surely he didn't just stand aside and did nothing right?

It's a seldom discussed matter for a reason, we simply don't have enough material on their relationship and only mere snippets on them entirely. I have opinions and views of my own, but none of them are fully backed up by canon- because the info just doesn’t exist :(

Rhaegar was born to thirteen-year old Rhaella during the Tragedy at Summerhall- an event that was said to overshadow him throughout his life. As per royal etiquette, I can only assume that baby Rhaegar was brought up by wetnurses and tutored by maesters as a child, with limited access to his mother. This would have been exacerbated by the fact that within the first eleven years of Rhaegar’s life, Rhaella lost FIVE babies. Her role was to provide Aerys with heirs and spares, and for a very long time, it ended in grief. I’m sure Rhaegar would have known of his mother’s misery, but there’s literally nothing to illustrate that point. Royal children did not share the same maternal relationship as children today, and whilst I’m certain Rhaella loved her firstborn, I just don’t know if they were super close on account of her losses, as well as Aerys’ increasing madness.

I’ve done some rambling below the cut just to try and explore this further. Hope it makes sense lol!

To start off with, Rhaella and Aerys’ marriage was never a happy one. Aerys was unfaithful, and Rhaella clearly disapproved.

Sadly, the marriage between Aerys II Targaryen and his sister, Rhaella, was not as happy; though she turned a blind eye to most of the king’s infidelities, the queen did not approve of his “turning my ladies into his whores.”

This led Rhaella to eventually dismiss her friend and lady-in-waiting Joanna Lannister, who as everyone knows, married Aerys’ Hand, Tywin Lannister. Her marriage suffered as did her health when she lost 5 babies in a ten year period.

Relations between the king and queen grew even more strained when Rhaella proved unable to give Aerys any further children. Miscarriages in 263 and 264 were followed by a stillborn daughter born in 267. Prince Daeron, born in 269, survived for only half a year. Then came another stillbirth in 270, another miscarriage in 271, and Prince Aegon, born two turns premature in 272, dead in 273.

This tidbit had escaped me entirely but when Tytos Lannister died in 267AC, Tywin returned west and Aerys accompanied him with Rhaegar.

Though His Grace left the queen behind in King’s Landing (Her Grace was pregnant with the child who proved to be the stillborn Princess Shaena), he took their eight-year-old son Rhaegar, Prince of Dragonstone, and more than half the court. For the better part of the next year, the Seven Kingdoms were ruled from Lannisport and Casterly Rock, where both the king and his Hand were in residence…

This highlights a period of almost a year where Rhaella and Rhaegar were separated. Again, I can only assume they missed each other- as any mother and child would- but nothing is written of it. It was also during this time that Aerys’ relationship with Rhaella began to show cracks.

At first His Grace comforted Rhaella in her grief, but over time his compassion turned to suspicion. By 270 AC, he had decided that the queen was being unfaithful to him…

Aerys began imposing restrictions on Rhaella at this stage, forbidding her to leave Maegor’s Holdfast and having two septas share her bed. This probably extended to her relationship with Rhaegar too, sadly.

The march of the king’s madness seemed to abate for a time in 274 AC, when Queen Rhaella gave birth to a son. So profound was His Grace’s joy that it seemed to restore him to his old self once again … but Prince Jaehaerys died later that same year, plunging Aerys into despair….

Nothing is mentioned of Rhaegar during these troubling times, but again, I can only assume he was kept separate from the inner workings of the queen’s court and wasn’t fully exposed to his mother’s troubles. We also know he was a solitary child during his early years and preferred books until the age of ten when he decided to take up arms too. He was seventeen when Viserys was born, and was “everything that could be wanted in an heir apparent” and yet it was still overcast by Aerys’ deteriorating mental health. It’s also worthy of note that once Rhaegar came of age, his role in the workings of the court would have increased; he may have sat at council meetings and been prepared for the role of heir. This paired with the fact that he continued to read, train vigorously, and travel to Summerhall on his own indicates that he didn’t really have much of a “family environment” to speak of. I always wonder where he got his love of music from, and I’d like to think Rhaella enjoyed his sad songs and harp skills- but again, WE DON’T KNOW :’(

The birth of Prince Viserys only seemed to make Aerys II more fearful and obsessive, however. Though the new young princeling seemed healthy enough, the king was terrified lest he suffer the same fate as his brothers… Even the queen herself was forbidden to be alone with the infant…

I don’t think Rhaella and Viserys were as close as could be hoped during Viserys’ early childhood. Aerys was extremely paranoid, particularly after the defiance of Duskendale which broke him irrevocably and turned him against his wife and heir.

Convinced that the smallfolk and lords were plotting against his life and fearing that even Queen Rhaella and Prince Rhaegar might be part of these plots, he reached across the narrow sea to Pentos and imported a eunuch named Varys to serve as his spymaster…

Similarly, when Rhaegar wed Elia in 280AC, Aerys did not attend, nor did he allow Viserys to attend. Since there’s no mention of Rhaella being prohibited, we can safely assume that she was in attendance.

They were wed the following year, in a lavish ceremony at the Great Sept of Baelor in King’s Landing, but Aerys II did not attend. He told the small council that he feared an attempt upon his life if he left the confines of the Red Keep, even with his Kingsguard to protect him. Nor would he allow his younger son, Viserys, to attend his brother’s wedding…

Rhaegar and Elia took up residence on Dragonstone after the wedding, presumably because Rhaegar and Aerys were definitely at odds at this stage and rumours and paranoia were rampant. There were talks of Aerys possibly disinheriting Rhaegar, Rhaegar deposing Aerys etc. Again, no clue on how Rhaella would have felt about this- but you can probably guess! The only slight snippet we have is when Rhaegar presented Rhaenys in court.

When Prince Rhaegar returned to the Red Keep to present his daughter to his own mother and father, Queen Rhaella embraced the babe warmly…

This certainly gives us an insight to how pleased Rhaella would have been to be a grandma, so I can imagine this reunion would have been very dear to her too. Fast forward to the Tourney at Harrenhal, neither Rhaella or Viserys were present, and had been left behind at the Red Keep. During the Rebellion, we know Rhaegar meant to win the war and bring about change- for his own family too, “... changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but... well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken…”

But when Rhaegar was slain at the Trident,

When the word reached court, Aerys packed the queen off to Dragonstone with Prince Viserys…

Nothing is mentioned of her reaction to her firstborn’s death (but we can imagine) nor the nine months Rhaella and Viserys spent together, but it must have been a time fraught with worry and fear as King’s Landing fell and House Targaryen was unmade. I feel most deeply for Rhaella’s life, and I wish we had more detail on her direct relationship with her children- particularly Rhaegar- but alas, there is not much to work with. All I can say is, despite her woes and losses and the abuse she suffered, Rhaella was a strong woman, she held her own and was dignified until the end. I’m certain she adored all her children, and the pain she suffered throughout her life affected her acutely, but she remained with her faculties intact and was able to possess the fortitude to carry Daenerys to full-term and deliver her safely, before sadly perishing herself.

RIP Rhaella, your daughter is amazing and you would be so proud of her, and Rhaegar’s legacy also lives on. VIVA LA HOUSE TARGARYEN!!!! I really hope this answered your question, if not, it certainly made me sad AF to research all this.

#anon asks #chillyravenart answers #rhaella targaryen #rhaegar targaryen #its depression hour #gosh this breaks my heart man

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heisthq · 4 years

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you all certainly didn’t make this easy on me — it was an incredibly tough decision for many of the roles. there were THIRTY-EIGHT applications for only ELEVEN roles, which is insane, and please know that every single one was incredible. i’m only one person on the internet, and this decision is in no way a reflection of the quality of your writing ( seriously, i know i just said it, but i’m kind of shocked by how good every single app was ). i’m so grateful for all the love heist has gotten, and i couldn’t be happier with the beautiful submissions i received ! from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

for those of you who were accepted, please follow the checklist, familiarize yourself with your fellow members, & review the triggers list. once your blog is set up, please send it in to the main within 24 hours so i can send you a link to the discord server.

but enough talking — the newest members of HEISTHQ can be found under the cut !

welcome, DEDE ! you have been accepted as THE BLEEDING HEART, otherwise known as JUDY FAULKNER PRYCE ( ELIZABETH OLSEN ).

good god. what a way to start off acceptances — judy reached into my heart and took it for herself, and i’m not upset about it in the slightest. her gruff outer shell, still with that instinctive need to help, to do something, is so bleeding heart, and i ached at every step of the way through her journey. i knew i was really in for it when i dedicated a skeleton to loss itself, but you spun that concept into a living, breathing person and shot her back at me. i’ll happily let her knock me down any day, and i know she certainly will as soon as she makes her way onto the dash.

welcome, CHERRY ! you have been accepted as THE CAREER CRIMINAL, otherwise known as MISCHA DOSTOYEVSKY ( NATASHA LIU BORDIZZO ).

though you made my decision very difficult with that eleventh hour app, i couldn’t stop coming back to mischa. from the beginning of her childhood crimes to her current position as the head of the motherfucking bratva, she pulled me in and got me hook, line, and sinker. you painted such a brilliant picture of her that i felt she was going to jump off the page at any moment — and that last line of her bio ? chills. literal chills. finally, i have now decided their next heist is going to be stealing lip gloss from claire’s, shoutout to mischa for that hot idea. all in all, she’s an absolute delight, and i cannot wait to have her here.

welcome, REED ! you have been accepted as THE EYE IN THE SKY, otherwise known as INDIANA “INDIE” ASCENCIO ( ANA DE ARMAS, BUT ONLY WITH PINK HAIR ).

okay, first of all, are you kidding me with that bio structure ? that was the coolest shit i’ve ever seen. what a way to kick it off for the eye in the sky — i said break the stereotype and you said bet. indie is an absolute gem of a character, as stunning as she is valuable, and damn if she doesn’t know it. she’s so vibrant that i could practically hear her voice when i read your answers to the prompts; i’m still howling at thirty five pages of criminal offenses. the eye in the sky needed to take me by the throat to show me who they are; you broke down the door and said here she is. i couldn’t be more honored to have her.

welcome, NOAH ! you have been accepted as THE GETAWAY DRIVER, otherwise known as CARLISLE “JACE” JACOBI HARRISON-SHEA ( CYRUS AMINI ).

the getaway driver was, arguably, the toughest choice i had to make — but i couldn’t help myself. jace drew me back in every single time like a moth to a flame, and i know he’d read that fact with that same, secret little smirk. every moment of reading your app is exciting, like i’m white-knuckled in jace’s passenger seat, along for whatever twists and turns his psyche brings, which was exactly what i was looking for. there are too many incredible quotes to put in one acceptance post, but one such example is stunningly simple: you weren’t just running. you were chasing. i posed a question in the getaway driver’s skeleton, and with one quick pivot, you took my breath away. just... wow. that’s all.

welcome, MARS ! you have been accepted as THE HIRED GUN, otherwise known as ASLAN “MAZZIE” YILMAZ ( ALPEREN DUYMAZ ).

mars, i’m gonna be honest, i hate you a little bit ( but not really. i love you ). i’m pretty sure forcing me to choose between two stunning apps should count as some sort of personal attack, but after much agonizing, i’m delighted to settle with the absolute tragedy that is my newest son mazzie. there’s a quiet power, a quiet ( but no less imposing ) threat threaded throughout his story, and somehow you managed to weave my own heartstrings into the picture alongside it all. you sent me tumbling head over heels for this man who, in his own words, is death himself. you gave me my hired gun, and he’s everything i dreamed. thank you.

welcome, LUCY ! you have been accepted as THE INSIDE MAN, otherwise known as IVY WANG ( GEMMA CHAN ).

lucy. lucy !!! you didn’t make it easy on me, but man, i couldn’t be more wrapped around ivy’s finger, which is probably just how she’d like it. the structure of your app was so interesting & unique ( that arrest report ?? HOT ). she encapsulates the inside man so perfectly — from her mannerisms to her motivations, everything was so spot on that i’m pretty sure you reached inside my brain to pull out my exact vision. she feels so real, so human and so powerful all at once, and i would personally let her arrest me and write her a thank you note for putting me in jail. i’m obsessed. obsessed !

welcome, BEE ! you have been accepted as THE MASTERMIND, otherwise known as BISHOP LEE ( CHOI MINHO ).

my beautiful mastermind is no longer mine — he’s yours, bee, every inch, and i couldn’t be happier about it. from his recruitment log ( which was !!! you wove his voice into it so perfectly ) to his reasoning for creating the group in the first place, bishop is someone i didn’t expect, but i adore him, shaping his little family & leaving behind a legacy he can be proud of ( “so bishop acts like they’re immortal, because he truly believes they are. it’s just his version of immortality is in the history books rather than an eternally beating heart.” are you KIDDING ??? ). please don’t take him from me — i don’t want to let him go.

welcome, MIA ! you have been accepted as THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK, otherwise known as MARTY CHOI ( KANG MINA ).

listen, i’m pretty relieved i didn’t get another app for this character, because i didn’t need one — marty is the new kid, through and through. she has that hunger that is so quintessential for this role, the drive and ambition for something more in this grand universe of ours. it’s so perfectly exemplified by marty’s own words: let me be excellent at something again. let me be proud of my own capabilities again. let me be part of something so i'll stop feeling so alone. this !! this is so perfect i almost jumped out of my skin reading it. thank you for bringing me our perfectly imperfect new kid — i can’t wait to see her in action.

welcome, LEXI ! you have been accepted as THE SECOND IN COMMAND, otherwise known as PERCY BANKS ( BRENTON THWAITES ).

holy shit, lexi. holy shit !! from the moment i saw “STATUS: deceased” at the beginning of your app, i knew i was in for a wild ride — but i had no idea what truly awaited me. from percy’s humble beginnings through his ambitious rise to hotshot fbi agent ( speaking of, can you say hot fucking take to have him as ex-fbi ? i’m floored ), i was hooked into the twists and turns of his story, my jaw dropping when i realized who jupiter was after all. the highs and lows of his first foray into the world of heists had me on the edge of my seat, and i truly cannot wait to see what percy does next — because at this rate, who knows where he’ll end up ? i’m excited to find out !

welcome, HANNAH ! you have been accepted as THE STAR OF THE SHOW, otherwise known as STRIKER KIM ( CHARLES MELTON ).

god, hannah — break my heart, why don’t you ? as each tidbit of striker’s past fell into place, that’s what you did, and i’m aching for this boy who’s just trying to stay alive ( and live as much as he can while he still is ). though the star could be played in so many different ways, you took this role an entirely different direction, and suffice to say it blew me away. literally, your mind. exhibit a — you didn’t go running to high society for fame or fortune, no. it was your insurance policy — god, striker !! he’s such a complex, heartbreaking character, and i can’t wait to see him on the dash. he may have a hand in two different worlds of crime, but he’s also got a place in my heart, and god knows he could use the love. also, making me crack a code just to understand your bio headings ? touché. i deserved that.

welcome, ELLIE ! you have been accepted as THE WATCHDOG, otherwise known as THEA JAIN ( NAOMI SCOTT ).

the watchdog requires a delicate balance: soft edges bathed in steel, a gentle person capable of terrible things. it can be a tough image to capture, but i shouldn’t have worried. your entire app painted a picture of this exact person, tugging at my heartstrings until the very end: remember that you are thea jain, and that you are a good person. you are kind. you are loved. and you are in control. that was it — just like thea’s fifth rule to round out the reminders of her morality, you completely sealed the deal. the way she cares for the team, baking for them and occasionally mothering them, exposes that soft underbelly guarded by her quiet yet surprising strength and power. you’ve made a beautiful character, ellie. i can’t thank you enough for bringing her to me.

#accepted.#thank u all for putting up w me !!!#sorry it took so long but whew #it's here

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ohcndrea · 5 years

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ft. Bruce Pearson, Ida Pearson, Zachary Pearson, Andrea Pearson, Louie Pearson contents: history, quick facts, and too much detail for a bunch of npc’s written by: sam, a dumbass triggers: death i mean its family history my guys

Bruce Robert Pearson ( father )

better known as: Bruce

faceclaim: Blair Underwood

age: fifty three

occupation: head of paediatric surgery at Yale New Haven Hospital

relationship status: married

zodiac: taurus

Ida Bente Pearson ( mother )

better known as: Ida

faceclaim: Vibeke Boe

age: fifty one

occupation: professor at Yale Law School ( field: family and juvenile law )

relationship status: married

zodiac: capricorn

Zachary Dante Pearson ( older brother )

better known as: Zach

faceclaim: Jacob Artist

age: twenty six

occupation: medical student at Yale School of Medicine ( focus: neurology )

relationship status: single

zodiac: pisces

Andrea Mona Pearson

better known as: Drea

faceclaim: Alisha Boe

age: seventeen

occupation: junior student at Broadripple Academy

relationship status: single

zodiac: aquarius

Louie ( family greyhound )

better known as: Lou or Louie

faceclaim: imagine jenna marbles dog kermit but bigger

age: six

zodiac: aries

History

A successful legacy has been something that the Pearson family has been after for some time now, Zachary and Andrea are only the latest generation to feel its pressure. Before them was their father, Bruce. The son of an ambitious small business man who never got as far as he wanted to. Now, that’s not to say he was unsuccessful. He was quite successful, by anyone’s standards. He just never got as far as he dreamed, as far as he believed he deserved to go. So when he didn’t make it, who else would carry the expectation but his oldest son: Bruce Pearson. Luckily, Bruce had already inherited his father’s ambitious spirit. He was energetic, charismatic, and above all, eager to please. But like all children that hold their parents hopes and dreams on their shoulders, he eventually let his father down. You see, while he had the perfect attitude for it, he had no desire to be a businessman. Especially not one trapped in one town, in one experience for the rest of his life. He once described it to feel as though he were picking out his own casket.

Ida had always felt similar, except about everything. Every part of her early life felt as though she were organising everything for once she was gone. A feeling that was largely due to her family’s attitude towards death, which was always prepared for it. The person Ida is now doesn’t believe in curses, but when she was young it was almost impossible not to. With each birth that happened in her family, there was a death. Usually within a month, sometimes within a week or even the same day. And Ida as a child had felt especially cursed for the night she was born a true horror occurred. As her parents shared the news of the birth of another beautiful, healthy baby girl they found out their family in law had been involved in a home robbery gone wrong. Ida’s cousin first, suspected to have scared the burglars followed by his parents as they reacted to the loss. Three deaths for one life. While her parents tried to protect her from that mentality, the rest of the family was not so forgiving. She grew up constantly thinking that the universe would eventually have to balance itself out and take her too, that she was constantly out running death. It left her torn between trying to make the absolute most of everything she did and not trying at all. As she got older, she chose the former.

The two initially met during a very important part of their lives. Bruce had moved across country to study biology to prepare for his eventual medical school application and not business like his father had hoped. Left most of his life behind and started pursuing a life he believed was the one that would bring him the most joy. The one where he could contribute while not wanting to roll over and die for how bored he was. Ida was on exchange in the states, getting her first experience of the world without her family right behind her, breathing down her neck and reminding her of something that happened minutes before her birth. Deciding what she wanted to do and what she wanted to pursue. Her mind was set on psychology. Study of the mind so maybe she could figure out the intricacies of her own family’s mentality. But it was her meeting with Bruce that lead her to the path she eventually followed to became a lawyer and later a law professor. While during their first meeting the two did not form a romantic connection they were exactly what the other needed at the time. Someone to believe in them, encourage them, and push them to achieve all they ever wanted to. After a semester of becoming close friends, Ida returned to Norway and tragically they grew apart. There was no hard feelings, simply distance.

Their reunion years later was not planned but was certainly not unwelcome. While neither of them believed in fate, both would agree their reunion was extraordinarily lucky. Even if it was a dislocated shoulder on Ida’s part that ended up bringing them back together. Their relationship progressed quickly, catching up at bars turned to dinner dates at nice restaurants, leaving a few things at each others places for convenience turned to applying for apartments together with both their needs in mind. And finally, pregnancy quickly followed by engagement. It wasn’t until that point that the two really started making an effort in becoming closer with each of their families. Realising then that they didn’t want to do all of that alone. Ida desperately wanted her father to walk her down the isle and Bruce wanted to see her dance with her father at their wedding reception as much as he wanted to hear his mother say how proud she was of him while they danced at the same reception. There was some push back, first, neither of their families had really known how serious the relationship had been. They felt cheated and betrayed from being kept so distant and in the dark about their childrens’ lives. And then they found out Ida was already pregnant. Both families could easily be described as conservative or at least, traditional for seperate reasons. While Bruce had his doubts, his parents were rather devout Christians. They definitely believed that the child could not be born out of wedlock, but didn’t want their son to be married simply because he knocked “some girl” up. It took a fair amount of convincing to assure them that the news of the coming baby had only sped up the proposal he had already been planning. Ida’s family had their reservations for different reasons. Like the Pearsons, they too were traditional and believed that the baby could not be born out of wedlock, and were upset the engagement had happened before Bruce had asked the family for permission. But they also feared for the curse. While Ida had fled to America to escape the constant reminder that her life had taken three of her relatives, it quickly returned to discussion the moment it was revealed she was pregnant. Would the curse worsen because the baby would be a bastard? Not exactly the thing a pregnant woman wants to hear, but a question she heard whispered a lot whenever her family gathered.

But they prevailed. Through judgement and the stress of pregnancy, they made it to the other side and were wed. They had their first ‘legal’ wedding in America, in a church in Bruce’s hometown of Anderson, Georgia. A gorgeous affair that at least Ida’s parents and elder sister were able to make it to until they were able to have their second wedding in Trondheim, Norway, Ida’s hometown. Between the two weddings however, they had to wait for their child to be born. Mostly because Ida couldn’t travel too far, especially not internationally being almost full term. Partially because the closer the baby’s due date came, the more she feared the curse. Would her family blame her beautiful baby for another loss like they had her? Or would his birth finally take her life, had she invited death to come and collect her after so many years and leave her son without a mother? One thing she hadn’t considered, was that her son’s birth would take the life of someone she loved so dearly. The same day Zachary was born, Ida’s own father passed on from cardiac arrest. While Zachary was welcomed so warmly by the American family, he did not receive such love when they made it to Trondheim a few months later. Of course the family was excited for the new baby, they were always excited for a new baby, and her mother was delighted to be a grandmother. They were just in mourning, they couldn’t celebrate while in mourning. Something that took Zachary many years to understand was that while his American family didn’t even know of the curse, to his Norwegian family he was a reminder of tragedy. And he lived too far away, saw them too little to ever truly become anything else to them.

After all the high expectations and pressure Bruce and Ida had received from their own parents throughout their lives you might expect they wouldn’t put the same pressure on their own children. That they might have learned from their parents and not want their children to experience what they did, but unfortunately for Zachary, and later Andrea, this was not the case. They did believe they had learned from their parents, that they now knew exactly what kind of life their children needed to lead in order to be successful and start a legacy that wasn’t family curses and small businesses. While he was still quite young, Zachary was allowed to participate in the extra curricular he wanted, it wasn’t until much later that it was claimed that most of them were a distraction from his studies. While he was pushed into it, he did always enjoy science and math and what his parents considered the “useful” subjects at school. He loved science fair time because it usually meant he got to mess around, talk very loudly about something his classmates likely didn’t know, and if he picked the right thing, he could make something explode. But nothing compared to being able to run around a court or field, be a part of a team, and have people cheering you on. Little league basketball practice and games were his favourite times of the week and he always came back from them with flushed cheeks, wobbly knees, and giant smile.

However, it didn’t last. While people with exceptional talent and incredible dedication and a large amount of luck could make it as a star athlete, Zach’s parents didn’t think it was reasonable to dream for something that only might happen even if he did everything right. They had a vision of something far, far more reliable for their son. A reliable, and impressive career was what they had in mind. Something like medicine, law, or science. Something that would certainly add to their legacy with hard work and next to no luck necessary. It wasn’t that they told young Zach that he had to give up basketball and focus on his studies, no they would never. They simply said that basketball was a distraction, that his academics were what would take him far. And with that he started to develop a fear that if he got distracted, he would fail, let his parents down. He couldn’t just aim high, he had to reach his dreams too. Or, at the very least, his ‘realistic’ dreams.

By the time Ida was pregnant with her second child, Zachary was already well on his way to being everything her and Bruce had dreamed of for their children and their legacy. That, thankfully for Andrea, would lift some of the expectation off of her. While she was expected to continue the legacy they were trying to build, if she didn’t, at least Zach was already doing it. Learning from their ‘mistake’ with their eldest child, Drea was only encouraged to take up extra curricular as hobbies. Hobbies that had designated times and either didn’t distract from her studies or encouraged them. As much as they tried to push her towards the latter, Drea seemed to stick more with the former and on top of that did everything she could to let hobby time bleed out and take on more of her life. She was always pushing to work longer on an art project, or run a few more laps, anything that would get her away from study groups and mathletics and debate teams. As she started to get older, she realised it was easier to just pretend she was interested in academics and keep her hobbies more secret from her parents. Put on the show they wanted to see. And thus, the legacy of hiding things from their parents continued. Not exactly the successful legacy the Pearsons had in mind, but they were all very, very good at it.

Now don’t forget the curse, because it reared its ugly head for Andrea’s birth too. The Norwegian side of the family was worried again, especially after Zachary’s birth seemed to have robbed them of a beloved father, uncle, and grandfather. And Ida was scared too, she desperately wanted another child but she was taunted by the idea that it would steal another family member. But once again she persevered with the help from her husband and this time, her son too. And when Andrea was born, Ida thought that the curse might have finally ended. And so did her family. It was a cautious joy, and rightfully so because it didn’t last very long. Exactly one month after Andrea’s birth, Bruce’s mother passed away. While the time between birth and death, and the fact that it was a member of Bruce’s family and not Ida’s made it hard to connect it to the curse, the fact that Andrea grew up to be so similar to her grandmother did not go unnoticed. Rebellious spirit paired with artistic flair. Almost as though her grandmother’s spirit had passed on to her. But unlike Zach, Andrea had the opportunity to at least try and fight that association in the minds of her and her grandmother’s loved ones. While they didn’t live very close, Connecticut was closer to Georgia than Trondheim and that was enough. The person who took the longest to forget, was Bruce. He saw so much of his mother in his little girl, which only made him want her to succeed even more, push her even harder for success to honour the memory of his mother.

Boarding school was never something that had been envisioned by Bruce and Ida. Private school certainly, they wanted to give their children the best chance they possibly could and they’d decided that public school was too focused on sports and arts, not the academic vision they held. Of course, Zachary being Andrea’s elder by almost ten years, was the first to reach high school. Several schools were thrown around but they eventually landed on an all boys catholic boarding school for Zachary. Catholic hadn’t been their first choice but religious education was hard to avoid not only within New England but also within private education. But it made their elders (what remained of them) happy, and it was a good school so off Zachary went. To get his education and start to gain some independence. And because he graduated as valedictorian and made it into Yale with dreams of med school, his parents considered it a job well done and were already picking out boarding schools for Andrea while she was still a few years off high school at all. But truth was, he had hated it. Being so surrounded by school and people he didn’t like, and then going home to relax and find his parents only ever wanted to talk about school too? It was suffocating. But it was easier to suck it up, and accept that it was so he would have the best possible chance to succeed and live up to his parents expectations, than it was to try and tell anyone how he felt, much less his parents. So that’s what he did. What he didn’t consider, was that his little sister would have to go to boarding school too, given his success.

coming eventually: a seperate post specifically detailing drea’s relationships with members of her family bc thats a whole other 10 paragraphs lmao

#this long as shit and is still the summarised version #but its been sitting in my drafts for too long and i like the graphic too much so : )))))) here it is #( about. )

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odesseaverse · 5 years

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The Earth Shaman

The time of the Earth Shaman was a long one, with a lot of side characters and changing dynamics to explore. It’s kind of a miscellaneous category spanning hundreds of years, but you’ll get to see some key players rise to the challenge of leading Odessea. Everything comes to revolve around a single, central character...Read on to learn more about the continuing origin of Odessea.

Timeline: Year 4565-5099

Key Player: Mana, Companion to the Earth Shaman (b. 4759, d. 4838), most likely the single most important character in the Earth Timeline, as she was the first character I wrote about when I began to write about Odessea’s past. Also the first in a long list of badass women that will continue below. She originated from a wealthy artisan family constantly at war with her best friend Rhys’, but rejected the path they had set out for her, never becoming the heir to their business. From the beginning, she was different: born with a scar-like birthmark on her right cheek, with a proclivity for excitement and adventure and clear admiration for the heroic deeds of the past. As she began to resist her family’s demands to conform to their expectations for her, she and her friend Rhys were appointed the new Companion and Shaman after the death of the fifth leader following the Water Shaman. At the age of 14, she became a fierce and loyal leader with a rebellious streak, constantly challenging tradition while keeping lessons she learned from old tales close to heart. Mana also grew accustomed to visits from the spirit realm, as she endeavored to help Rhys in developing his powers. From the outside, it appeared to many as though the Shaman and Companion had gone from enemies-to-lovers, and the story was often repeated and saved in history, but in reality, Mana had chosen someone else: the daughter of her mother’s housekeeper, Suki. Keeping her relationship a secret from the village (Rhys found out after a time, but never told) meant that she had to carry out a balancing act with her responsibilities and her feelings, which proved difficult at times, but was a sacrifice Mana was willing to make. However, she was warned by the spirit of her predecessor, the First Companion, Xander, that her position was one in which she would encounter loss, sooner than she might imagine. In his case, it had been the untimely death of his youngest daughter. Upon the incident of summer 4787, Mana faltered and turned away from her leadership, her heart broken, and only with the help of Rhys and her younger relative, Kanako (see below), she was able to regain some of her strength. Later in life, she chose to become a teacher to anyone who wished to learn about the skills necessary to be a leader, to defend oneself, and to stay true to who you are, with Kanako being her first and lifelong student. She also recorded a great deal of the island’s history and her own accounts as a Companion, some of which she discovered she had written as a teenager. Never taking another lover after Suki, she remained faithful and never forgot what she had learned from the woman who had once been her heart and soul. Living without her for thirty long years, Mana passed on in peace, with Rhys at her side. As her spirit traveled to where it would be at rest, she discovered that, at the time of her birth, the spirit of the First Companion’s youngest daughter, who had died an untimely death, had manifested to assist her mother through a difficult labor, leaving behind the mysterious mark on Mana’s cheek and showing that she would grow to have a strong connection to the spirit realm.

Key Player: Rhys, the Earth Shaman (b. 4759, d. 4873). Born to a rival artisanal family, he got along with Mana from the beginning, with her leading the way throughout their childhood. However, pressure from his family to have a proper upbringing left him with an emotional disorder he struggled with for his entire life, and a bad encounter with Mana’ s ornery grandfather left him terrified to express himself, leaving him “constantly living in his own head,” as Mana called it. He embraced the spiritual side of his new position when he became the new, immortal Shaman at the age of 14, gaining special powers that allowed spirits to possess his body to speak through him, but shied away from the public role of a leader, his never-truly-admitted depression and social anxiety making it difficult for him to act the part. Instead, Mana became his proxy, speaking for him and negotiating with the rest of the village, while he made formal appearances only at ceremonies and celebrations, presenting himself as the spiritually devoted leader. He relied on Mana’s support and understanding for years, before a tragic accident left Suki gravely injured and Mana falling apart. Rhys became determined to take on the responsibility Mana had accepted unquestioningly for him, and set about trying to heal her broken heart through his actions. Realizing how much she had taken on at such a young age, Rhys made sure that she would never be overburdened again, giving her more time to focus on herself and becoming a true educator. He also used his powers to the utmost to reunite Mana and Suki in their dreams, a skill that he later taught to the Fire Shaman. Though neither he nor Mana would ever be “whole” again, they were still able to be one another’s strengths. At Mana’s death, he stayed at her side, vowing to continue to shape the island into a place she would be proud of, opening up the island to more interactions with the outside world and creating a greater space for inter-island trade. Abdicating his leadership and his immortality in 4869, at the age of 110, he was left with only four years for his age to catch up to him, and many tales were written of him in his wise old age. He was particularly close to the spirit of the Water Shaman, but left behind no one at his death, with the exception of his great legacy, which ushered in a new golden era for Odessea.

Key Player: Suki (b. 4759, d. 4802), the significant other of Mana. A kind and self-sacrificing girl born on another island and adopted by Mana’s mother’s housekeeper. Despite being discriminated against for being an outsider and looking physically different, she never held it against anyone. She was nonetheless kept away from the rest of the village, working with her mother to look after Mana and the house she grew up in. Suki developed a passion for working with the earth and tending the land she lived on, becoming an apprentice cultivator for the village at the age of 12. She was able to assist the village’s farmers and tend to the nature of the island as a whole, which she had dreamed of doing since she had been young. Soon after, she realized that she was falling for her only friend, and confessed her feelings when she was 14 and Mana 15. Their relationship remained a secret for multiple years, even when the two turned 20 and began to share a house together, but tragedy forced them apart. In the year 4787, a midsummer storm caused the village to have to evacuate, and Suki, inspired by Mana’s bravery, attempted to rescue a group of children trapped on the cliffs. However, a rockslide trapped her under the debris of the storm, and her back was permanently broken. Unable to walk, Suki was taken back in by her parents, and Mana’s subsequent grief and guilt over the accident caused their relationship to be revealed to all. Suki began to lose heart with the loss of both her profession and her relationship, until she could not even bear to see Mana in the waking world, guilty for causing her such pain. In death, she returned as a spirit to advise Rhys and speak to Mana, and waited patiently for her love to return. She found a kindred spirit in Lucy during her relationship with Sora in the Fire Timeline, and through these two, she and Mana reminisced over the past they had once shared together.

Minor Character: The entirety of Mana’s extended family (she never had children, but her cousins did) can be counted as a single minor character. Particularly important are her cousin Makotta (becoming the heir to the family business in her stead) and his wife Felide’s children: Kanako, Marko, Luca, Jessamy, and Erii. Kanako (b. 4776, d. 4863) grew particularly close to Mana, as she was to be the next heir to the family business, and was also her first student. She kept her “aunt’s” teachings close to heart and passed them on to her own children. After Mana’s death, she and her youngest sister, Erii (b. 4786, d. 4844) began a project to restore and preserve her writings for future generations to learn from. Kanako’s own strength as a leader inspired many, and she paved the way for women leaders just as Mana strove to do in her own life.

Minor Characters: I also thought up a group of five misfits during the Earth Shaman’s rule coming together and becoming friends. All are mentioned in passing during Mana’s accounts of the time, so they became official minor characters. At the center of the group are Thea (b. 4769, d. 4839), a girl who defied gender roles by becoming stronger and embracing a more masculine appearance, secretly troubled by guilt over the death of her only female friend, as well as her oldest friend Tobey (b. 4769, d. 4828), who, despite not having a head for learning, supported Thea as best he could and became a true leader. Their group grew with the addition of Cai (b. 4769, d. 4835), a direct descendant of the First Companion and a lifelong dreamer, and the boy he grew to love, Linden (b. 4770, d. 4835), the eldest son of the island’s richest merchant and the brains of the group. Inspired by Mana and Suki’s same-sex relationship, Cai and Linden found the courage to be together openly. Later, Linden’s younger brother Roan became Kanako’s spouse, and the two both supported Linden and Cai. Finally, the group became complete with the arrival of hotheaded, off-islander Zacharias (b. 4770, d. 4831), who was adopted by the temple and struggled to find his place in the village before falling for Thea, the girl he had initially clashed with. While the five friends never had children, they left behind stories that came to represent the everyday life of those during the Earth Shaman’s era.

(I initially had an even longer post than this on the Earth Timeline, but it got deleted, so bear with me here) Since there are so many characters (I love my minor characters so, so much), character designs will be coming! And since Mana’s written accounts = my longstanding WIP from her point of view, look out for lots of fun facts and small snippets as well!

#earth #lore #long post

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ultimavolatusrpg · 5 years

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ACCEPTED // DAHLIA HOLMES

28 years old, 87th Hunger Games, FC: Brie Larson

Stubborn, passionate, dedicated, prideful, loyal.

tw: death, drug use, gore, decapitation, child death

ARENA:

The 87th Hunger Games was a space station themed arena. The Cornucopia rose into the hub of the station where Dahlia had managed to fight off Careers for her two futuristic battle axes and escaped down a corridor. At the second day, the aliens were released into the bowels of the station. On the morning of the third day, not that they could tell time of day, Dahlia managed to get a hold of the boy from Twelve and snap his neck. The third day was mostly of her hiding and gathering as much supplies as she could.

However, on the fourth day, she hunted down the Career pack with purpose, knowing all four of them were still alive. In a brutal display, Dahlia managed to cut the heads off of the girl from One and the girl from Two while she had buried an axe so far into the boy from District One’s stomach that she disemboweled him. Unknowingly to her, the boy from District Two had also been dragged off into the darkness when he attempted to run away from the carnage to save himself, only to run into the claws of an alien and die in that manner.

The fifth day was the finale, where Dahlia came face to face with the girl from District Eight. It was an unexpected finale to say the least, but the girl ended up dying quickly, as she only had a knife. She had ended up punching Dahlia in the nose, breaking it, before Dahlia, in turn, snapped the girl’s neck, crowning her victor as the space station crossed an image of Jupiter.

BIOGRAPHY:

Dahlia’s story didn’t begin with her birth. It started when her grandfather, Elias Holmes, became Victor of the 27th Hunger Games. She never got to experience living in Victor’s Village as a child, as the man had died well before she was born. Her father, however, did have that experience. Reid and Willa Holmes had met back in District Seven shortly after Elias’s passing when Dahlia’s father was only twenty-years-old. Three years later, he had married Willa and a year later, began their family in the woods of District Seven -- a local celebrity family in their own rights.

The first of the Holmes boys had been Xavier, then came Quinton, and then Dahlia was born four years later. There were steady gaps between the children, as they weren’t as bad off as other District Seven families. Then, three years later in a surprise birth, came Dahlia’s little sister, Constance. It was shortly after the birth of her little sister, Dahlia finding wonder in the little girl as quick as any older sister could, that tragedy struck their family.

In the market town, while their father had personally taken Constance to see a physician for her one-month check up while her mother was ill with the flu, a riot broke out. From the reports, their father was caught in the mob and their little sister was trampled. However, as they got his body back, they found bullet holes in his back, to which the only people in District Seven that were allowed a firearm were Peacekeepers. Dahlia heard that story later on in her life and it fueled her hatred for the Capitol more than it ever had in her life. That left her without a father and her little sister, having to grow hardened to the world around her at too young of an age.

Her life continued as normally as it possibly could get. Her brothers, herself, and her mother had grown more skeptical of the Capitol as life continued. She learned how to be resilient in a world that didn’t look at her gender highly from her brothers and how to be compassionate but also stubborn against those who would bring her down from her mother. She became prideful of her District, proud of where she came from, proud of the fact that her father had been there for what little time he was there. The older she grows, the more his memory fades, but she knows deep in her heart that she will never stop loving him. The one memory she held onto was something her mother told her -- that he absolutely loved having a daughter and would always volunteer to take care of her when he could. Dahlia held that deep in her heart for as long as she could.

Then, the 87th Hunger Games came and her name was drawn from the bowl.

As fearful as that may have made some families, it didn’t do so visibly for her mother and brothers. They all stood stoically and Dahlia went to the stage to do her duty. They were blood of Elias Holmes. There was validity in that.

And her Mama didn’t raise no bitch, either.

Dahlia went to the Capitol with her head held high, refusing to partner with anybody. She kept to herself, notoriously quiet throughout her time as a tribute. She was quietly concocting what she wanted to do, getting with her mentors in order to figure out logistics depending on the arena. She was a legacy and she had to live up to that. So when she was taken to her arena and she came up into an alien-infested space station, it was far from her expected training, but she made it work.

She came out of the arena with no scars, several bruises and a broken nose after murdering five of her fellow tributes. Out of those five, three were Careers. The other had been picked off by an alien in the same bout. She still thought back on that moment, wondering if she could have taken out the fourth one on her own if they hadn’t been backed into that trap.

After her Games were over, Dahlia had solidified herself as somewhat of an intimidating figure. After her performance in the arena with two battle axes and taking out nearly the entire Career group, she was someone even the Capitol wasn’t likely to try and coerce into their own desires. She had random outbursts early on in her life as a new Victor, but soon tamed them. She had even gone as far as requesting her weapons from her arena, granted them, and they now hang over her fireplace mantle in Victor’s Village.

Her life continued without much fuss after that. Her family stayed in District Seven, not willing to be any closer to the Capitol than they needed to be. Dahlia understood that, so she made them promise to come visit when they could. While it had gotten lonely, she had her fellow District Seven mentors and made quick friends with others in the Village. It wasn’t until she was a year or two ago that she ended up with a surprise visitor to her door. Found laying on the porch, passed out after trying to get into her front door, was Delsin Rhodes, a District Six Victor.

Knowing he probably needed help, Dahlia pulled him into her house and took care of him to make sure he was going to be okay. After a while, she saw how run down the man was, like he had given up on life. Dahlia, for whatever reason, had her mother’s compassion and her brother’s fiery attitude and attempted to do her best to try and get him off of it. He would go stints without using morphling, but eventually, he would end up back where he started. Dahlia would get frustrated, but after an unusually longer stint from him, she thought she had turned a new leaf due to their friendship. From there, they had a fling that ended rather disappointingly according to her, but because of that night, Dahlia had gotten her own little surprise.

Dahlia had become pregnant with Delsin’s child.

After telling Delsin, she saw him immediately spiral back down and start using again, keeping her at arm’s length. She had foolishly thought that he would have stayed on the straight and narrow when he didn’t, so that ultimately broke her heart. She had gotten to know him and she found him to be a good friend to her, but with her carrying his baby, it made it even more so. Now, Dahlia is trying to navigate her life in Victor’s Village as a single mother. She had lost her own father so early in her life and she wasn’t looking forward to having to tell her son about how and why he didn’t have a Dad either.

She is five weeks away from giving birth and Delsin wasn’t showing any signs of being there for his son, and she purposely kept her baby’s gender and name away from Delsin and swore her friends to secrecy as well. Her little boy was all she had in the Village now.

Her little boy she lovingly named after her father.

PENNED BY: TABBY

#accepted #character bio #dahlia

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cassandraclare · 6 years

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TLH Q&A (leading up to CLS...)

Hi Cassie! First of all, i'm a great fan of your work, i truly love you and what you're doing. A lot of the people i know are just angry at Alastair, but i want to believe in him, like, i think he's just a kid with bunch of problems, and he's just acting like that because he's just trying to cover up the things that make him sad or angry. Was Alastair always like that? Like, did he make fun of Cordelia, or even now, he cares about her? I'm really curious about the relationship between them.

Thank you so much! Alastair definitely has a bunch of problems--as many of my characters do, but it's the choices they make, and how they act on their sadness or anger, that defines who they are.

Alastair and Cordelia had a difficult upbringing, and are very different people who express themselves in wildly different ways, which will cause clashes between siblings in the best of situations, and their situation certainly isn't the best. Growing up, their relationship had ups and downs, but it certainly disimproved when Alastair came back changed by his experiences in the Academy. Nevertheless, I've mentioned before that Alastair, a prickly individual, likes only four people in the world. Those four people are his mother, Cordelia, Charles--and one more. He detests everyone else. Both Alastair and their mother Sona are pushing Cordelia to make a good marriage, and even if they're activated by concern for her in dark times, that's a huge concern for a girl in that era, whose whole future could be shaped or shadowed by marriage.

henrybrnwll said: I really love Henry, and, when reading the part of TFTSA where Matthew says he needs to take care of his father bc Lottie can’t and Charles >won’t<, I started to think about how their relationship might be and my thoughts were ‘not that positive’. And I would be so pissed if Charles dismissed Henry in any way, bc Henry wanted him so much! Could you tell us a little more about the Fairchilds after TID? LOVE YOU AND YOUR BOOKS! I wouldn’t be alive with it wasn’t for you - carol from brazil

Oh, gosh. Thank you, and that means a lot. Shine on, you diamond. Henry and Charles have a complicated but ultimately loving relationship! Henry loves Charles a lot, and is very proud of his political prowess--in the same way he's proud of Charlotte's brilliance--and Henry never thinks Charles neglects him. He's all 'Charles Buford WILL be Consul one day! Charles Buford is interim head of the Paris Institute, I understand not one word of his letters home, it is so impressive.' (Henry calls Charles “Charles Buford" affectionately, though Matthew copies him to tease Charles.) Sometimes Charles is embarrassed by Henry, who is not ideally diplomatic, but well, parents do embarrass their kids sometimes! Charles is a more conventional person than Matthew or Henry, and Shadowhunter society looks down upon Henry's type of intelligence. Which is not to say that Charles looks down on his father: he just doesn't see the extent of Henry's genius, and is thus often puzzled by his behavior. Along with many other Shadowhunters.

Matthew is also a natural caretaker in a way Charles is not--he does not just look after his father, but as we will see, he tries to cosset Charlotte and feed her when she seems particularly stressed by Clave business. He collected Christopher, who blows up stuff, and small sickly Thomas, when they were little, and as soon as possible he collected James, who has what most Shadowhunters regard as infernally tainted blood. Charles can't really be blamed for not having that instinctive tenderness--it's a rare quality and often not valued in men--and yet Matthew can't understand people not feeling it. So many failures to get on are failures of understanding!

lilyherondale13 said: Hi Cassie! I have a question about Cecily and Gabriel: why they children Alexander was born many years after Christopher? There was no contraception in 1903 we can think they would have a child earlier. Thanks Cassie!!! There actually was contraception in 1903. The first rubber condom was produced in 1855. There are cave paintings of men using makeshift condoms. In ancient Greece, they used goat bladders. Later there were condoms made of sheep innards, which could be tied on with ribbons of various colors — very festive! Throughout history, like everybody else--before Clary Fairchild, our hero for this and many other reasons, came along with the contraception rune--Shadowhunters did various things to try to stave off having kids at inopportune times. Sometimes they worked great, sometimes they worked not at all. Shadowhunter women have to be even more careful than other women, because many Shadowhunter women (definitely Sophie and Cecily, who were both very keen to be Shadowhunters!) are fighters, and fighting demons while pregnant is risky, and in the later stages of pregnancy extremely difficult. At the same time, Shadowhunters often die young, so they have kids early with hope that even if they die, the next generation will carry on their legacy and their fight. (Valentine's Circle all had their kids at a very young age--not that the Circle are role models, but that's the way it often goes down in Shadowhunter society--they have the kids, and then continue the fight. As we see in Born to Endless Night, Alec wanted to have a kid young, and only worried that he wouldn't be able to because of the Clave’s prejudice regarding his sexuality.)

The time in between TID and TLH is a time of relative calm and happiness, which is a first for me: each of the other series were preceded by tumultuous events and fragmented families! In TLH, we see more of how the Shadowhunters as they traditionally work as a society, when not shattered by the events of the Circle, or the aftermath of Sebastian's Dark War. Shadowhunters have kids young, and hope: but also, nobody can keep fighting forever. When a Shadowhunter woman is ready to give up or at least scale back fighting, or when her partner feels ready to give up or scale back on fighting, they often try for a last child, who they can bring up with both parents very around and very involved. And often with Shadowhunters, that child comes. It's seen as a happy, lucky thing for Shadowhunters, a blessing from the Angel--a sign you both lived! For instance, you may have noted Jem's parents had Jem young, and then never any other kids. But if they had survived, I think they definitely would have tried for another kid. It's just that they didn't live. That's a common tragedy for Shadowhunters, and the later-in-life kid is thus a rare and beautiful thing, a sign of an enduring happy ending. Cecily and Gabriel, with Anna and Christopher almost grown and rather splendid, and with London and Idris both in a time of almost unprecedented peace and prosperity, decided to scale back on fighting, and try for a last child. Thus, Alexander! Alexander is much adored and cosseted by both his parents, though with the instinct kids have for trouble, baby Alexander is often to be found toddling after his big brother Christopher and risking having test tubes of bubbling liquid upset on his tiny head. This answer may lead to more questions--are any other ladies we know likely to have a child? It's entirely possible. ;) Remember, we can't trust the family tree...

#tlh #lots of questions answered #countdown to cls #gotsm

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creativityhq · 6 years

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AS LONG AS I AM BREATHING,

Name: Roxana Hall

Species: Valkyrie

Age: like a million years old

Gender: Cis-female

Faceclaim: Hannah John-Kamen

Powers: Afterlife transport, death sense/inducement, enhanced physiology, immortal.

I AM JUST BEGINNING.

An ancient race of warriors, the Valkyrie were both proud and lethal. Throughout history, it was their job to choose who was slain in battle and who survived, their job to escort the souls of those unfortunate casualties to their respective afterlives. The job was vital to the way of the world, and each and every member of the Valkyrie race took their responsibility seriously. Roxana Hall was no different.

The Valkyrie were an old race, and because they so rarely fell in battle, it was rare for a new one to be born. New members of the race were only born when old ones died, and each birth was viewed more as a tragedy than a celebration. Roxie’s birth came on the tail of an especially tragic death. Sigrdrífa, an esteemed general among the Valkyrie’s forces, was never meant to fall. Many of her fellow warriors had believed her unbeatable, and when she was killed in what should have been a largely bloodless battle, the Valkyrie warriors were devastated. From the moment of her birth, Roxie was saddled with a legacy she could never truly live up to, a fact she was well aware of. That didn’t stop her from trying.

Desperate to prove that Sigrdrífa’s death was not a complete loss, Roxie trained harder than any warrior before her. She honed her natural talents and skills, becoming deadly in every way. It was never going to be enough, of course, and while some part of her knew that, she couldn’t cease in her training. Even if she could never live up to the legacy her predecessor left behind, the least she could do was make it worthwhile.

As the years went on, something shifted. At first, the Valkyrie didn’t notice it, but before long, it became entirely undeniable: more and more of them were dying, and for the first time in their recorded history, no new Valkyrie were being born to replace the deceased. Naturally, none of the warriors were particularly pleased with this development. Each warrior had her own viewpoint regarding the change, but the general consensus was a firm one. For some reason, the gods that they served had forsaken them, ceasing in replenishing their forces. Having no real attachment to humanity or the balance they provided as a whole, many Valkyrie disappeared with the realization. If their gods would no longer serve them, they would no longer serve their gods.

While Roxie understood the frustration of her fellow warriors, she couldn’t bring herself to follow in their abandonment of the cause. She became one of the last remaining Valkyrie to stick around and perform her duties. Those that remained alongside her were far older than she was, too bound by tradition and duty to ever leave their posts. They formed an elite squad, and Roxie’s willingness to stay and fight finally earned her the respect she had long been chasing.

Because the Valkyrie’s forces were so few, those that remained found themselves spending far more time among humanity. In order to fight in their wars and participate in their battles, the remaining Valkyrie needed to blend in. Roxie became good at this, finding that humans were far easier to connect with when you saw them doing more than simply dying. She lived in their barracks, she ate meals at their tables, and she made friends. The older Valkyries would have frowned on it if they knew, and she kept her affection for the species largely secret. Her friends were spared in battle only when she could afford to do so without raising suspicion, though those she had to let die she escorted to Valhalla rather than a less worthy afterlife. It was a risky move, but Roxie found it was well worth it.

War among humans never ended entirely, and while the remaining Valkyrie were among the most experienced of the forces, they were not invincible. Through the centuries, Roxie watched her fellow warriors fall, taking each death to heart. Their elite squad had bonded far more than was the norm due to their diminished numbers, and losing them never got easier. As time went on, each and every Valkyrie save for Roxie met their fate valiantly, until Roxie was the last remaining.

While she was saddened at the deaths of her fellow warriors and terrified at the idea of being the only one responsible for her duties, there was something undeniably freeing in being the last Valkyrie. She no longer hid her friendships with humans, no longer avoided sparing those she cared about. She got to save the people she loved, and it was exhilarating. She was still bound by certain laws, of course. In every battle, there was a predetermined number of casualties for both sides. Try as she might, Roxie had never been able to go against this, nor was she able to avoid abandoning the battlefield to take the souls of the slain to their afterlives after a certain number had built up. It was an inconvenience that could easily become a tragedy, a fact she learned far too many times when she returned to a battle to find someone she cared about among those who had died in her absence.

Still, she refused to abandon her post. For centuries she went on, shouldering every ounce of responsibility herself. It was exhausting, but she firmly believed it was a necessity. She continued to fight in each and every war, made her presence known in every battle. When the world shifted from swords to canons to guns, Roxie followed suit. When battles were fought in deserts, she adapted. She fought battles all over the globe, in the human world and in other societies. When an old friend requested her help in a battle under the sea, she made no hesitation.

Even without her abilities, Roxie could have predicted the outcome of the battle long before it played out. The rebel forces were vastly outnumbered and undoubtedly outgunned, making it clear that they didn’t stand much of a chance. Centuries ago, before she became integrated with humanity, before she’d befriended so many people, Roxie would have done her job and nothing more, but she was no longer that person. Desperate for any sort of a change, she fought adamantly against Cordellia’s forces. She tried to choose the strongest warriors on Cordellia’s side for death while only taking the weakest of the rebels, but it was useless. The battle was a losing one and when Roxie was pulled to Valhalla against her will to escort the fallen, she knew in her heart what she would return to.

Even so, it was gut wrenching to come back to a battle already lost. The rebel forces were scattered, and the friend that had brought Roxie into the battle was rumored dead. Devastated by the loss, Roxie found herself relating to the warriors who had abandoned post centuries before. She sought answers in temples, hoping to find the gods she had once served, but all she was ever met with was silence. As time went on, she continued to fight in battles and wars without her usual ferocity. Centuries of fighting without rest had taken a toll on her, and part of her sought to fall in battle and die with honor rather than continue living a life that seemed meaningless.

Nevertheless, she continued to survive. No matter how recklessly she fought, no matter how close to the middle of the action she pushed herself, her training won out. It seemed almost as though she couldn’t die, and life became more meaningless as a result. She began to care less and less, often turning her back on battles entirely and letting chaos reign who lived and who died while allowing souls to roam endlessly on Earth with no guide to escort them home.

Roxie was looking for an out when she stumbled across the entrance for Halloweentown. Hoping it might allow her with some escape from the pull that drove her towards battles she no longer wanted any part in, she entered and made the decision to remain. Somehow, the magic surrounding the place cut her off from that pull to battle, allowing her peace however temporarily.

When several of her closest acquaintances claimed they were leaving Halloweentown, Roxie had no real intention of joining them. She knew what awaited her out in the world, and she knew she wanted no part of it. But somewhere within her, that call to battle remained. She left alongside her friends despite her own reservations, claiming she was through losing people. While that was true, the desire for action and violence played a far larger role in her decision to leave her safe haven. Valkyrie, after all, were made for war. Peace was a concept that would never truly be within reach.

#roxana hall #written by danica #halloweentown

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simsofsanmyshunoandmore · 3 years

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Amelia had Rozalin when she was in her menopausal years. She was 46 when she and her husband Lee got pregnant for their first baby in more than 25 years of marriage. Childless for the entirety of their marital life, Rozalin was the blessing they were waiting for, the celebration of their mutual love for each other.

Lee was a Simworld-renowned neurosurgeon who dedicated his life to the hospital and spearheaded projects to help those with rare neurological cases. He was respected in the medical community, but at home, he had always searched for the opportunity to hear a child call him ‘appa’. After years of trying, Lee and Amelia found out that it would be near impossible for them to have a baby of their own. Lee had a very low sperm count which set their chances of having a child near to impossible. Lee and Amelia may have accepted this truth, but they never gave up the fantasy of having a sweet little girl or boy in the house.

Amelia found out that she was pregnant the day after her 46th birthday. She was both excited and scared. The responsibility of keeping the chance of conceiving a child terrified her. It may be the only time they ever get an opportunity to conceive a child and she did not want to fail on that. It was tight pressure but Lee stuck to her side, keeping that chance up together. 9 months after, Rozalin was born. She was healthy baby girl with platinum hair and gray eyes. Lee and Amelia was scared. Did they do something wrong?

Lee, being a doctor, realized that their little angel had albinism, a genetic condition where the person does not have any pigment in his/her body. Rozalin looked different from her parents who had black hair and dark brown eyes but her uniqueness made her parents even more proud and blessed to have such a novel experience of welcoming her to the family.

Rozalin reached developmental milestones advanced for her age faster than children her age. She was a prodigy. She was different from any other kids in every other aspect of life. At school, she easily aced each subject, looked different from the other Chinese kids, and she was the only child whose parents were over the age 50. Her uniqueness set her apart in both good and bad ways. Rozalin did not have friends because she accelerated through elementary school fast. She was also the icon of competition in her school as honor students competed with her and teachers had to keep up with her pace as well. Rozalin was a wave the world wasn’t ready for, and so the world did not receive her well.

Rozalin confined herself in the safety of her parents’ love and support. They were her first and only friends and she needed that kind of relationship as she grew up. For years, it was only her, her mom and her dad who retired from neurosurgery to spend all the time with her. Lee decided to have general consultations at home instead and live by all the savings and investments he had for his daughter. Lee and Amelia were getting older fast and they both wanted to maximize their strength to give Rozalin the life she deserved. However, tragedy would strike and their perfect life fell apart. Lee died when Rozalin was 10. Lee was a father for a decade, the best 10 years of his life before succumbing to his heart condition.

Rozalin was fatherless at the start of her highschool years. Amelia was a widow by then. It was only her and Rozalin since then. To Amelia, it was devastating that Lee never got to see Rozalin’s first love, her high school graduation, her college life and all that would come after. She was scared to leave Rozalin as well. She knew fate may not be so good to her anymore as much as it wasn’t to her husband. Time was ticking so she promised to live each day to the fullest for her daughter.

Rozalin completed highschool in 4 years. She was offered to accelerate, but Amelia encouraged her to take her time and enjoy finding herself in her peers. Rozalin followed her mother’s intuitive advice but found no hope to relate with in a sea of teens aged 3 years older than her. However, high school wasn’t like middle school or elementary. Rozalin met Rachel Astin from one of her honor programs as well. She was confident and smart, friendly and warm. Rozalin felt comfortable with her. She was skeptical at first, testing the waters of actually connecting with someone other than her parents, but Rachel did turn out to be a likable person in the scary high school picture. She felt safe with her and Rachel never gave her a competitive sense of relationship. Rozalin felt like she could be a teen around Rachel, doing all sorts of exploring who she was.

Rozalin came to think how it would be like for her after high school. Her father’s colleagues knew her well and invited her to follow her father’s legacy of being a neurosurgeon. Rozalin did not know what to do yet in those early years despite having the suggestions and support from all the older people around her. Rozalin thought if medicine was the field for her to make a mark on. She was unsure, but she knew she had to figure it somehow before high school ends.

Rozalin graduates with Rachel and two of Rachel’s friends as well; Melitta and another girl named Rachel. Everyone knew which degree to pursue; Rachel was set to be a physicist, Melitta wanted to study history, and the other girl named Rachel dreamed of being a performing artist. Rozalin was lost.

One day, she was at the library, she ventured to read some medical books for leisure. She grabbed Leibman’s Brain Anatomy and just flipped through the pages of anatomical structures in the brain. Doing so, Rozalin remembered her father who read these books by the fireplace every night. She’d sit on his lap and Lee would playfully teach her how the brain works.Those were the sweetest memories Rozalin had with her father and these medical books reminded her of those that truly mattered in her life. Medicine reminded her of her father’s influence and love. She figured that she’d always feel safe under the foundations of her father. That way, her father would still be a big part of her life for the years and decades to come.

Rozalin took biology in Foxbury Institute with Rachel. They rented a house nearby and were roommates throughout college. In many of her classes, she had a popular professor, young, a prodigy like her as well, Mr. Steven Orellana. Rozalin had a huge crush on him but never got a chance to confess her feelings as she deemed they weren’t appropriate any way. However, she held onto that fantasy, establishing her identity even more, knowing herself a little bit further. Rozalin never had a romantic interest since she was a little girl. Her life was mounted on academics and all these giddy feelings for a guy was new to her. Rachel may have urged her more towards those romantic feelings for Dr. Orellana, but Rozalin knew the limits of her decisions. She may not have had a chance with him at that time at least, Rozalin was thrilled to feel such way for the first time.

Rozalin’s college journey was the most profound experience. She did not only get academically recognized and had more friends than she could have expected, Rozalin was also able to feel romance. She had crushes and she had guys liking her back like Jase Takahashi from the Robotics department. Other than Dr. Orellana, Rozalin met another guy in his 40s who’s taking in audit classes in physics. He was also a professor but in Britechester University and he was a gentleman to begin with. His name was Dr. Elmer Redding and he wooed Rozalin just by being the kind man that he was. He was Rozalin’s first date, first deep intimate connection. By then, Rozalin realized that she did the right decision and venture for medicine. In this path, Rozalin became more than just the smart kid in the program. She was more than just a prodigy, and she was happy that her father became a big part of her story.

Things went great for most of her terms. She had an A+ GPA until her last term when she failed one of her courses for malicious reasons. She tried appealing for a recomputation but the next term had already started and it would be much more of a delay arguing for that uncertainty. It was Rozalin’s first failure and it devastated her for weeks in the next term. She did not know how to deal with such failure but Rachel and her mother remained by her side with unwavering support. That last term in college was the most difficult experience she went through, but she still completed it nonetheless.

Rozalin graduated without honors, but she still felt with the highest achievements. She felt closer to her father as she finished college and finally could be a physician like her dad started as. When Rozalin also saw how happy her mother was at her graduation, she felt fulfilled to have given her the opportunity to be a mother in her lifetime.

Rozalin now ventures to be a doctor and establish her name in the medical field. She may have been under her father’s shadow, but she figured that it would be the time for her as a woman to make a difference in the field herself. Rozalin lives with her mother again in Newcrest as she grows older and needs more assistance. Like her mother, Rozalin wants to live each day to the fullest, feeling the threat of time by her side. Despite her mother’s reassurance of her life’s fulfillment to see her daughter graduate college, Rozalin wants to give her mother the daughter she always wished for her whole life. She knew she was the blessing her parents awaited back then so she didn’t want to fall short on the happiness that they deserve.

It was sad that Rozalin wasn’t able to give her mother the highest honors medal on her graduation, but she hoped her embrace awarded her mother the recognition she deserved.

#sims4 #sims #thesims4 #thesims #ts4 #family #miracle baby #albino #asian #love #college #smart #prodigy #Shang

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floridaprelaw-blog · 4 years

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Kobe Bryant: The Legacy Will Live On

By Matthew Ginsberg, University of South Florida, Class of 2021

February 7, 2020

Kobe Bean Bryant (August 23, 1978- January 26, 2020) was a former Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard, who played 20 seasons in the NBA, and helped the Lakers win five NBA championships. Throughout his career, he was an 18- time All- Star, 15- time member of the All-NBA team, and ranks fourth on the all- time scoring list. With such high credentials and a case to be made for NBA’s Mount Rushmore, why is it that so few are talking about the talent of Kobe on the court?

Kobe Bryant will be remembered by many as a world renowned superstar- athlete, who was motivated by the thrill of competition and drive to win- no challenge too big. Whether it was putting up 81 points in a single game to overcome an 18 point deficit against the Toronto Raptors on January 22, 2006, or putting up 27 game winning shots when the spotlight shined’ brightest, Kobe always embraced the big moments. Conditioning himself to wake up at 4:30am every morning, Kobe knew that to validate himself as an all- time great, he had to put in the hours to maximize his talent. With the average NBA player being 6’7, 217 pounds, Kobe entered into the NBA with no physical advantages against his competitors, measuring in at 6’6, 212 pounds. What separated Kobe from other players was not physical dominance, but rather an inability to show any signs of contentment, always striving to elevate his game.

Coming into the NBA at 17 years old straight out of high school, Kobe knew he had a chip on his shoulder, and needed to prove his talent was worthy of going head to head against the greatest players the world had to offer. Selected in the first round (13th overall) Kobe quickly silenced his critics and proved that he had what it took to make the Lakers legitimate championship contenders. Named on the all- rookie second team, winning the slam dunk test, and averaging nearly 16 points a game- Kobe’s rookie season would prove to show a mere glimpse of stardom to come.

As Kobe’s career with the Lakers continued, his list of accomplishments seemed to grow by the day. Alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe helped lead the Lakers to three straight championship victories from 2000-2002. Although the Lakers decided it was in their best interest to trade Shaq to the Miami Heat in 2004, Kobe never lost his ‘mamba mentality,’ embracing any opportunity he had to silence his critics. In 2007, Kobe fell desperate to re-embark on a new journey with the Chicago Bulls, requesting to be traded. After his request was denied by the Lakers, Kobe continued to steamroll his path to becoming one of the greatest the NBA has ever witnessed. In the 2009 and 2010 NBA seasons, Kobe led the Lakers to back-to-back championship victories, being named Finals MVP on both occasions. Kobe’s five rings helped validate his success as an NBA legend and global icon.

Kobe’s success on the court made him a mentor, who many admired; however, his decisions off the court nearly ruined his legacy in July of 2003, when he was accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old hotel employee. At the time, Kobe was in Edwards, Colorado in advance of having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. According to investigators, Bryant had allegedly raped the employee the night before he underwent surgery. After initially denying that he had a sexual encounter with the 19-year- old, a physical exam of the victim showed clear evidence that contradicted Kobe’s initial claims. Investigators found small blood stains on Bryant’s shirt, and conducted DNA analysis that verified it was the alleged victims. She accused Kobe of leaning her over a chair to have sex with her, which caused the bleeding. Facing four years to life in prison for committing a Class 3 felony, Kobe knew he needed to cooperate with investigators and plead his innocence. Agreeing to submit a rape test kit and voluntary lie detector test, Kobe changed his initial claims and admitted to having sexual intercourse with the 19-year-old, but pleaded that the intercourse was consensual. After prosecutors spent over $200,000 preparing for the trial, Eagle County District Judge Terry Ruckriegle dismissed the charges because his accuser was unwilling to testify. While Kobe was acquitted of his initial charges, his accuser proceeded to file a civil lawsuit against him. In 2005, the lawsuit was settled, with legal experts estimating he had to pay off over $2.5 million to settle the case. After the allegations were dismissed, Kobe signed a $136 million contract over seven years with the Lakers and regained the majority of his endorsement deals.

While his career didn’t play out without controversy, the death of Kobe Bryant symbolizes more than just a routine helicopter flight went wrong. Under visual flight rules, no pilot is permitted to fly based on their cockpit gauges, if they encounter limited visibility from bad weather conditions. While the pilot did not break the law because he was licensed to fly by cockpit instruments, he had minimal real- world experience navigating in such hazardous conditions. By the time pilot Ara Zobayan made the final decision to take off, law enforcement agencies and helicopter tour companies had decided it was in their best interest to remain on the ground, until the fog cleared up. While there is no sufficient evidence that supports Zobayan’s visibility was in fact impaired, the helicopter climbed to 2,300 feet, before descending 33 feet per second- suggesting that the dense fog made it nearly impossible to see. The legal implications of Kobe’s tragic death are still under investigation, but it’s hard not to wonder why Zobayan made the call to take off, when law enforcement officers were grounded.

While it’s easy to mourn over a star NBA legend dying at just 41 years young, we can never allow the legacy of Kobe Bryant to be hindered by the devastating way he was killed. To say Kobe’s death was a tragedy would be a clear understatement. There are no words that can suffice the grief that so many face as a result of his early, shocking departure. Dying alongside his 13 year old daughter Gianna Bryant only exacerbates the true decimation of this blindsiding accident- reinforcing that even with glitz, glamour, and fortune we all must face the harsh reality that no one is immortal. We are all on separate timelines, and the world has unforgiving lessons. Paralyzed by heart ache and affliction, it’s the responsibility of those who live on to carry Kobe’s legacy for generations to come. Kobe Bryant will go down as an all- time NBA great, but to allow his greatness to be overshadowed by the way he died would be an utter shame. Kobe Bryant was a loving father, proud NBA player, and will always be one of the hardest working individuals to ever step foot on the court. Kobe’s influence went far beyond the basketball court, as he helped set the example, showing those that admired him that dedication to consistent hard work is an essential component of a successful career. Kobe Bryant will not be remembered as a fallen hero that passed too early, but rather a goal- oriented legend, who utilized his competitive drive to elevate his game to Hall of Fame stature.

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Allen, Eric. “Kobe Bryant Stats.” ESPN , ESPN Internet Ventures, 25 May 2017, www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/110/kobe-bryant.

Feis, Aaron. “Kobe Bryant Dead in California Helicopter Crash.” New York Post , New York Post, 26 Jan. 2020, nypost.com/2020/01/26/kobe-bryant-reportedly-killed-in-california-helicopter-crash/.

Hernandez, Steven. “Kobe Bryant | LA Lakers The National Basketball Association.” Yahoo! Sports , Yahoo!, sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3118/.

Howard, Adam. “Sexual Assault Allegations Cast Shadow Over Kobe Bryant Legacy.” MSNBC , NBCUniversal News Group, 30 Nov. 2015, www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sexual-assault-allegations-cast-shadow-over-kobe-bryant-legacy.

Luciano, Michael. “Kobe Bryant Complete All-Star Game History.” 12up.Com , 12up.Com, 18 Jan. 2020, www.12up.com/posts/kobe-bryant-complete-all-star-game-history-01dywm2tvrtr.

Naftulin, Julia. “Kobe Bryant, 41, Dies in Helicopter Crash in Calabasas, California.” Business Insider , Business Insider, 26 Jan. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/kobe-bryant-dead-helicopter-crash-in-calabasas-california-2020

Reed, Anika, and Julia Thompson. “Kobe Bryant Death: Basketball Icon's Entertainment Legacy .” USA Today , Gannett Satellite Information Network, 26 Jan. 2020, www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/01/26/kobe-bryant-death-entertain ment-legacy-oscars-win/4582897002/.

Ryan, Edgar. “Kobe Bryant, Daughter Gianna Die in Helicopter Crash in Calabasas.” Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2020, www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-26/aircraft-slams-into-hillside-explodes-in-flames-near-calabasas.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Kobe Bryant.” Encyclopædia Britannica , Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 26 Jan. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Kobe-Bryant.

Photo Credit: Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA

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ucflibrary · 7 years

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American history is a broad and varied topic. It ranges from the native inhabitants who formed communities here thousands of years ago to the creation of a new nation of states to the dreamers who immigrate to these shores today. It is a vast tract of information to cover, but it is important that we all learn about our past. As Edmund Burke said in Reflections on the Revolution in France, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

The founders of the United States, beyond their faults and foibles, began this nation with a grand and noble sentiment of “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity….”

Never forget “We the people” is us.

Click on the Read More link to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the 20 titles on American History suggested by UCF Library employees.

1776 directed by Peter H. Hunt You'll be seeing stars and stripes as the most fascinating leaders in American history come to life in 1776, a musical about the birth of a nation. With the Boston Harbor still stained from over-taxed British tea, a revolution is brewing in the colonies, and now England has thousands of troops headed for America's shores to squelch her subjects' freedom-loving spirit. It's up to John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to convince a stubborn congress of British colonists to unite as American patriots turn the inevitable war with England into a Declaration of Independence! Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden: the Story of the Philosophers' Camp in the Adirondacks by James Schlett In this book, James Schlett recounts the story of the Philosophers’ Camp, from the lives and careers of—and friendships and frictions among—the participants to the extensive preparations for the expedition and the several-day encampment to its lasting legacy. Schlett’s account is a sweeping tale that provides vistas of the dramatically changing landscapes of the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. Suggested by Christina Wray, Digital Learning & Engagement Librarian

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History of the United States is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers. Suggested by Mary Rubin, Special Collections & University Archives, and Susan MacDuffee, Acquisitions & Collections

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld A stunning graphic novel that makes plain the undeniable horrors and humanity triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the true stories of six New Orleanians who survived the storm. A.D. follows each of the six from the hours before Katrina struck to its horrific aftermath. Here is Denise, a sixth-generation New Orleanian who will experience the chaos of the Superdome; the Doctor, whose unscathed French Quarter home becomes a refuge for those not so lucky; Abbas and his friend Mansell, who face the storm from the roof of Abbas’s family-run market; Kwame, a pastor’s son whose young life will remain wildly unsettled well into the future; and Leo, a comic-book fan, and his girlfriend, Michelle, who will lose everything but each other. We watch as they make the wrenching decision between staying and evacuating. And we see them coping not only with the outcome of their own decisions but also with those made by politicians, police, and others like themselves--decisions that drastically affect their lives, but over which they have no control. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in the distance, servants flutter about preparing for one of New York society’s biggest events: the Schuylers’ grand ball. Descended from two of the oldest and most distinguished bloodlines in New York, the Schuylers are proud to be one of their fledgling country’s founding families, and even prouder still of their three daughters—Angelica, with her razor-sharp wit; Peggy, with her dazzling looks; and Eliza, whose beauty and charm rival those of both her sisters, though she’d rather be aiding the colonists’ cause than dressing up for some silly ball. Still, Eliza can barely contain her excitement when she hears of the arrival of one Alexander Hamilton, a mysterious, rakish young colonel and General George Washington’s right-hand man. Though Alex has arrived as the bearer of bad news for the Schuylers, he can’t believe his luck—as an orphan, and a bastard one at that—to be in such esteemed company. And when Alex and Eliza meet that fateful night, so begins an epic love story that would forever change the course of American history. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Alexander Hamilton, American by Richard Brookhiser Alexander Hamilton is one of the least understood, most important, and most impassioned and inspiring of the founding fathers. In these pages, Alexander Hamilton sheds his skewed image as the "bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," sex scandal survivor, and notoriously doomed dueling partner of Aaron Burr. Examined up close, throughout his meteoric and ever-fascinating (if tragically brief) life, Hamilton can at last be seen as one of the most crucial of the founders. Here, thanks to Brookhiser's accustomed wit and grace, this quintessential American lives again. Suggested by Larry Cooperman, Research & Information Services

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph Ellis For the historian Joseph J. Ellis, the experience of writing about Jefferson was "as if a pathologist, just about to begin an autopsy, has discovered that the body on the operating table was still breathing." In American Sphinx, Ellis sifts the facts shrewdly from the legends and the rumors, treading a path between vilification and hero worship in order to formulate a plausible portrait of the man who still today "hover[s] over the political scene like one of those dirigibles cruising above a crowded football stadium, flashing words of inspiration to both teams." For, at the grass roots, Jefferson is no longer liberal or conservative, agrarian or industrialist, pro- or anti-slavery, privileged or populist. He is all things to all people. His own obliviousness to incompatible convictions within himself (which left him deaf to most forms of irony) has leaked out into the world at large--a world determined to idolize him despite his foibles. Suggested by Larry Cooperman, Research & Information Services

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other -- a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: a story of wealth, ambition, and survival by Peter Stark In the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Skeletons in the Zahara, Astoria is the thrilling, true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition, an epic, now forgotten, three-year journey to forge an American empire on the Pacific Coast. Peter Stark offers a harrowing saga in which a band of explorers battled nature, starvation, and madness to establish the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest and opened up what would become the Oregon Trail, permanently altering the nation's landscape and its global standing. Suggested by Christina Wray, Digital Learning & Engagement Librarian

Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 by James Oakes Freedom National is a groundbreaking history of emancipation that joins the political initiatives of Lincoln and the Republicans in Congress with the courageous actions of Union soldiers and runaway slaves in the South. It shatters the widespread conviction that the Civil War was first and foremost a war to restore the Union and only gradually, when it became a military necessity, a war to end slavery. These two aims―"Liberty and Union, one and inseparable"―were intertwined in Republican policy from the very start of the war. Suggested by Larry Cooperman, Research & Information Services

His Final Battle: The Last Months of Franklin Roosevelt by Joseph Lelyveld “By far the most enigmatic leading figure” of World War II. That’s how the British military historian John Keegan described Franklin D. Roosevelt, who frequently left his contemporaries guessing, never more so than at the end of his life. Here, in a hugely insightful account, a prizewinning author and journalist untangles the narrative threads of Roosevelt’s final months, showing how he juggled the strategic, political, and personal choices he faced as the war, his presidency, and his life raced in tandem to their climax. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Subject Librarian

In the Shadow of Liberty: the Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis Through the powerful stories of five enslaved people who were “owned” by four of our greatest presidents, this book helps set the record straight about the role slavery played in the founding of America. From Billy Lee, valet to George Washington, to Alfred Jackson, faithful servant of Andrew Jackson, these dramatic narratives explore our country’s great tragedy―that a nation “conceived in liberty” was also born in shackles. Suggested by Emma Gisclair, Curriculum Materials Center

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell Chronicling General Lafayette’s years in Washington’s army, Vowell reflects on the ideals of the American Revolution versus the reality of the Revolutionary War. Riding shotgun with Lafayette, Vowell swerves from the high-minded debates of Independence Hall to the frozen wasteland of Valley Forge, from bloody battlefields to the Palace of Versailles, bumping into John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Cornwallis, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Antoinette and various kings, Quakers and redcoats along the way. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen Americans have lost touch with their history, and in Lies My Teacher Told Me Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying eighteen leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. Suggested by Nola Pettit, Research & Information Services

Lincoln's Hundred Days: the Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union by Louis P. Masur This title tells the story of the period between September 22nd, 1862, when Lincoln issued his preliminary Proclamation, and January 1st, 1863, when he signed the significantly altered decree. As battlefield deaths mounted and debate raged, Lincoln hesitated, calculated, prayed, and reckoned with the anxieties and expectations of millions. Suggested by Mary Page, Administration

No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: the home front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin With an extraordinary collection of details, Goodwin masterfully weaves together a striking number of story lines—Eleanor and Franklin’s marriage and remarkable partnership, Eleanor’s life as First Lady, and FDR’s White House and its impact on America as well as on a world at war. Goodwin effectively melds these details and stories into an unforgettable and intimate portrait of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and of the time during which a new, modern America was born. Suggested by Meg Scharf, Administration

Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World by Sarah Vowell While tackling subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history, these autobiographical tales are written with a biting humor, placing Vowell solidly in the tradition of Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker. Vowell searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears. Take the Cannoli is an eclectic tour of the New World, a collection of alternately hilarious and heartbreaking essays and autobiographical yarns. Suggested by Joanie Reynolds, Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Services

The Irish Americans: A History by Jay P. Dolan Jay Dolan of the University of Notre Dame is one of America's most acclaimed scholars of immigration and ethnic history. In The Irish Americans, he caps his decades of writing and teaching with a magisterial history of the Irish experience in the United States—the first general-reader’s account to be published since the 1960s. Dolan draws on his own original research and much other recent other scholarship to weave a fresh and vivid narrative. He follows the Irish from their first arrival in the American colonies through the bleak days of the potato famine that brought millions of poor immigrants; the years of ethnic prejudice and "No Irish Need Apply;" the rise of Irish political power and the heyday of Tammany politics; to the historic moment when John F. Kennedy was elected to the highest office in the land. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

The March: the Story of the Greatest March in American History produced by Smoking Dog Films Witness the compelling and dramatic story of the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his stirring "I Have a Dream" speech. This watershed event in the Civil Rights Movement helped change the face of America. Recounts the events when 250,000 people came together to form the largest demonstration the young American democracy had ever seen. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck In the bestselling tradition of Bill Bryson and Tony Horwitz, Rinker Buck's "The Oregon Trail" is a major work of participatory history: an epic account of traveling the 2,000-mile length of the Oregon Trail the old-fashioned way, in a covered wagon with a team of mules--which hasn't been done in a century--that also tells the rich history of the trail, the people who made the migration, and its significance to the country. Suggested by Christina Wray, Digital Learning & Engagement Librarian

#american history #ucf library #ucf libraries bookshelf #suggested reading #1776 #james schlett #sarah vowell #howard zinn #josh neufeld #melissa de la cruz #smoking dog films #rinker buck

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heavyarethecrowns · 7 years

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Landmine Free 2025 Reception.

Twenty years ago, in the last months of her life, my mother campaigned to draw attention to the horrific and indiscriminate impact of landmines. She visited affected areas such as Huambo in Angola and Travnik in Bosnia. She heard how people in these communities lived in constant fear that each step may be their last. She met with those who had suffered life changing injuries as a result of anti-personnel mines, she listened to their stories, and helped share them with the world.

At the time, the attention my mother brought to this issue wasn’t universally popular; some believed she had stepped over the line into the arena of political campaigning – but for her this wasn’t about politics; it was about people. She was an advocate for all those who she felt needed her voice most: whether it be marginalised men dying of AIDS in East London, ostracized sufferers of leprosy in India, or the teenage girl who had lost her leg to a landmine in Angola. She knew she had a big spotlight to shine, and she used it to bring attention on the people that others had forgotten, ignored or were too afraid to support.

My mother had been shocked and appalled by the impact that landmines were having on incredibly vulnerable people and on children in particular. She did not understand why more people were not willing to address the cause of so much suffering. She refused to accept that these destructive weapons should be left where they were, just because they were perceived as too expensive and difficult to remove.

In June 1997 at a seminar organised by Mines Advisory Group and the Landmine Survivors Network, my mother said in a speech -

‘Even if the world decided tomorrow to ban these weapons, this terrible legacy of mines already in the earth would continue to plague the poor nations of the Globe. The evil that men do, lives after them…’

Ken Rutherford, who is here with us this evening, was working for a humanitarian organisation in Somalia when he lost both his legs to a landmine. Ken opened a Landmine survivor’s project in Bosnia with my mother and, in my mind, sums up her contribution to this cause perfectly.

He says that… ‘she transformed landmines from a security issue into a humanitarian issue.’

I know if my mother was here with us today, she wouldn’t be willing to accept any credit for the fact that the Ottawa treaty was signed by 122 states in the same year as her visits to Angola and Bosnia. Rather, she would have applauded the public outrage and the resolve of those in positions of power to end the indiscriminate killing of civilians. She would have applauded that, in a moment of global conscience, the treaty put humanitarian, not military, considerations at its heart.

There is no question that a huge amount has been achieved in the last 20 years – landmines remain politically toxic weapons in the eyes of people around the world; vast government stockpiles have been destroyed; and production of these weapons by the world’s arms producers has all but ceased.

Additionally, thanks to the bravery and dedication of the teams from MAG, The Halo Trust, Norwegian People’s Aid, Danish Demining Group and others; 27 Countries have been declared mine free and out of the 30 countries deemed to have massive scale contamination in the 1990’s, thankfully only a handful remain in this perilous position.

The contribution of these demining organisations cannot be overstated; if you were to retrace my mother’s footsteps through Huambo in Angola today, you would see no danger signs and have no need for a helmet or body armour. Where the land was once contaminated with deadly explosives, there is now a thriving community, with a small college and a workshop making wooden furniture.

It is right that we should celebrate the huge progress which has been made, thanks to the difficult and dangerous work of the field teams, the dedication of all those who support them and the tremendous financial support, especially from the governments’ of the United States, Japan, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, the EU and our own government here in the UK. But in marking how far we have come, we must also acknowledge that there is much more which needs to be done to fulfil the commitments of the Ottawa treaty.

It is estimated that 60 million people still live in fear from the threat of landmines. In 2015, global deaths and injuries from landmines reached a ten-year high; but perhaps more shocking is the fact that almost 80% of them were civilians. It is typically the most vulnerable who are at the greatest risk; those attempting to rebuild their lives or returning home after conflict, where food is in short supply and medical services are often limited.

Families trying to meet their basic needs for survival – growing crops, gathering wood or collecting water – are facing unacceptable risks in their daily lives. In fact, somewhere in the world right now, a parent is making the grimmest of choices: to risk cultivating mine-contaminated land or to let their family starve. That is no choice at all.

Last September, not far from Kuito Angola, an area my Mother also visited, a young boy found an landmine and took it home. What he mistook for a toy killed him and eight members of his family.

Such tragedies undermine the promises made by the world twenty years ago; too many communities remained shackled in a cycle of poverty and fear. But it doesn’t need to be this way. With the renewed focus this anniversary demands, we should celebrate MAG and HALO’s joint commitment to ‘finishing the job’ and use their example to bring other organisations into this collaboration.

I have seen first-hand the work of demining field teams in Cahora Bassa, Mozambique and Cuito Cuanavale, Angola and can attest to their discipline, expertise and determination. MAG and HALO alone have a combined workforce of 9,000 people – almost all from mine-affected communities. They, and other organisations, have the knowledge, experience and capability to realise the Treaty’s vision by 2025 or sooner.

It would take just an additional £100m each year until 2025 – the cost of a star signing for some professional football teams – to clear the world’s most affected countries of landmines; countries such as Afghanistan, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, where the debris from bygone wars denies men and women the ability to cultivate their land, feed their children and re-build their lives.

I applaud the Secretary of State and our government for their bold commitment to supporting this vital work with additional funding. I hope this example will be seen by the international community as a reminder of the commitments made in 1997 and that other countries will redouble their efforts. The sooner we are able to clear all remaining landmines the less chance there is of innocent lives being lost or changed forever.

I would like to end by briefly introducing two people to you all. As I mentioned earlier, in August 1997, my mother travelled to Bosnia with Ken Rutherford. When she was there she met two young boys – one Muslim, one Serbian – who had both lost legs to landmines. She shared their stories with the world, and helped campaigners – many of whom are in this room – to change history.

Those two young boys, Malic and Žarko, are now grown men and are with us today. 20 years on, they both still struggle with their physical and emotional injuries and with the high costs of replacing their prosthetics.

When my mother said goodbye to Žarko that August, just weeks before her untimely death, she told him he would not be forgotten. Please help me keep her word to Žarko and Malic, and other people like them throughout the world, who still need us to finish the job and rid the planet of landmines. Collectively we have the knowledge, skill, and resources to achieve it, so let’s make future generations proud and finish what we started.

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#prince harry #princess diana #article #submission

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filmgeekroyalist · 7 years

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Speech by Prince Harry at the Landmine Free 2025 reception

At the time, the attention my mother brought to this issue wasn’t universally popular; some believed she had stepped over the line into the arena of political campaigning – but for her this wasn't about politics; it was about people. She was an advocate for all those who she felt needed her voice most: whether it be marginalised men dying of AIDS in East London, ostracized sufferers of leprosy in India, or the teenage girl who had lost her leg to a landmine in Angola. She knew she had a big spotlight to shine, and she used it to bring attention on the people that others had forgotten, ignored or were too afraid to support.

In June 1997 at a seminar organised by Mines Advisory Group and the Landmine Survivors Network, my mother said in a speech -

'Even if the world decided tomorrow to ban these weapons, this terrible legacy of mines already in the earth would continue to plague the poor nations of the Globe. The evil that men do, lives after them…'

Ken Rutherford, who is here with us this evening, was working for a humanitarian organisation in Somalia when he lost both his legs to a landmine. Ken opened a Landmine survivor's project in Bosnia with my mother and, in my mind, sums up her contribution to this cause perfectly.

He says that… ‘she transformed landmines from a security issue into a humanitarian issue.’

Last September, not far from Kuito Angola, an area my Mother also visited, a young boy found an landmine and took it home. What he mistook for a toy killed him and eight members of his family.

When my mother said goodbye to Žarko that August, just weeks before her untimely death, she told him he would not be forgotten. Please help me keep her word to Žarko and Malic, and other people like them throughout the world, who still need us to finish the job and rid the planet of landmines. Collectively we have the knowledge, skill, and resources to achieve it, so let's make future generations proud and finish what we started.

#prince harry #princess diana

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coruscorp-blog · 6 years

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DEAR, MS. ( MITSUE ONISHI )

We are pleased to have you back for another year as an UPPER SECOND YEAR STUDENT at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We sincerely hope your classmates in RAVENCLAW treat you well.

sapporo, hokkaido. 1988. odori park is where onishi rikizou and matsumura kanon meet under the fleeting flowers of spring. two people lost to the heart of a work culture that demands constant overtime and obeying of seniors, their minds only know of exhaustion. one silently craves death, telling nobody of their thoughts. if the two of them had not met, forced to share a bench to eat their respective lunches, then perhaps this story would come to end in a tragedy.

conversation strikes solace. then a friendship blossoms while the brief sakura wilts above them. among the emerald and turquoise of summer, rikizou decides to ask kanon out on a date. the cicadas almost drown his voice out, but she hears. he doesn’t think he’s ever seen a smile that shone so beautifully in his life. she can’t wait to offer him many more, scattered throughout the future.

kyoto, honshu. 1998. “nee-san, nee-san!” there is a loud thump of a body hitting the floor, but the excited boy in question does not feel the pain from the soft tatami. he scrabbles over to a nearby coffee table, to slap his sister’s arms. “okan and otoun are coming back! i see them right out the window!”

“amato what did i say about keeping calm?” his sister hisses without much malice for she too is excited, leaving the table to head to the door. it only takes a few seconds for the door to unlock and there enter two proud parents. kanon is cradling a precious bundle against her chest.

“amato. yuika. come to meet your imouto mitsue.”

kyoto, honshu. 2003. “mitsue, what did i say about climbing the gingko tree?”

“but nee-san i can’t think as well when i’m on the ground.”

“are you a bird? why do you need to be high up to think better?”

“maybe it’s the sky…” the little girl reaches her hand out towards the broad blue carefully. "because when i look at the sky it spreads out infinitely and it makes me realize how much i don’t know…but also how much space my mind probably has. like the sky.“

“is that what a five-year-old should be saying? maybe amato was being serious when he said you’re smarter than him,” there is a giggle, a brush of leaves against branches as a familiar figure sits beside her to stare off into the distance. but unlike her younger sister, yuika is unable to see the same colors and thoughts.

but though she won’t tell mitsue beyond a fond stroke of the younger girl’s hair, yuika knows that she doesn’t want to live the same life. a life of obsessing over details, solving riddles and theorizing things that extend even beyond a simple explanation of imagination.

kyoto, honshu. 2004. “mitsue is what? a witch?” kanon pulls her daughter closer to her on the couch, but the little girl is not paying attention to her mother’s movements. she’s focused on the sudoku book in her laps, but she can hear distress. she can also hear the stranger’s words.

there’s some things about magic which now explains to the little girl why she’s often been able to stare at something long enough for it to float. or the few times that she’s been angry at her older siblings she’s made the ceramic on the dining table crack much to her entire family’s further displeasure.

weird things happening. emotions correlating to power. there’s an answer to it all. there’s always an answer to things, it just depends how easily everything can be reached. the stranger does’t take long to convince kanon and rikizou of their daughter’s behaviors and soon she is sent off every morning on umi tsubame to an unknown island with unknown people.

unknown, but they are just like her somehow.

minami iwo jima, ogasawara. 2008. “mitsu! what book have you lost your nose in this time? put it down! we’re going to be late to the entrance ceremony.”

“hai, hai, i’m coming!” mitsue sighs but she’s not actually annoyed by her friends calling for her, tucking away the milky way road by miyazawa kenji into her gold colored robe she runs after her them. opening ceremonies are nothing new, but this will be the first time she attended mahoutokoro as a boarding school and not something simply for the day.

it’s the first time she’ll be away from her parents and her two older siblings. it was the first time she saw amato cry too when he hugged her goodbye, but the girl had promised him when he handed her his stack of mangas that she’ll read them all and message him back about it before they meet again over christmas holidays. there was no way she wouldn’t go back and risk missing her mother’s osechi during the new years.

“are you excited to live here mitsu?”

“stuck on an island with you? i don’t think so,” she earns a sharp jab in the ribs by a rough elbow but the laughter in the air as the flock enters the building is enough to explain everything about them all.

minami iwo jima, ogasawara. 2014. “takeru you’ll get water all over your bangs.”

the boy leaning over the water foutain looks up at her with a goofy lopsided grin, mischief glimmering in his eyes. she sighs at his response, reaching into her robes to pull out a simple red hair-clip. her fingers are careful when they brush aside wet bangs, clipping the stray strands into place with a satisfied smile.

“is this the school idol onishi mitsue that i know? the famous mahoutokoro quidditch manager being a lot more approachable than rumors say and even doing a few things beyond playing tactician? shocking.”

“what are you saying? are you an idiot,” mitsue scoffs at takeru but she doesn’t break eye contact from the warm familiar brown hues that she’s come to call a piece of her home. comfortable silence fills the space between the two of them, then it too is pushed out of the way as he leans in to close the distance between the two of them. her eyes close. briefly, a sensation like honey floods her entirety for eternity. but eternity is always so painfully short.

“hmmm, i wonder? what am i saying to my girlfriend?”

“girlfriend,” mitsue tilts her head to the side playfully. “quidditch captain, i wasn’t aware that someone like you could actually get a girlfriend?”

she screeches when cold water hits her robes but the noise dissolves into a fit of giggles under the sunny warmth.

minami iwo jima, ogasawara 2017. “onishi-san, as you are the valedictorian of your year and someone who holds an excellent extracurricular record, i would highly recommend you to attend the new program at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry,” there is a short but loud snap of a folder snapping to a close. mitsue sits in her gold, knees pressed together and hand on her lap. maple irises are reading the headmaster’s every expression.

hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. another transition to another world.

“kouchou sensei, i’m honored you believe that. but are you positive about this? it’s halfway across the world and i have never stepped one foot outside of japan. i may know english, but i know nothing about the people there. the culture. i don’t think i’m suited for it, i would be so lost.”

“remember when we first met?” there is a warm hand on her shoulder, offering her a comforting squeeze, “i told you that i wanted you to become like the sakura trees and blossom beautifully. but you told me you didn’t want to live such a short fleeting life. that as someone born to a regular family, you wanted to become a tanpopo. one that can survive anyplace anywhere. people may call you a weed, but they would also be the ones holding hands with the wind to spread the seed of your legacy. that was almost ten years ago when you told me this mitsue. you wre still a child when you said such profound words. now tell me, where is this dandelion now?”

a pause, there is a small shuffling noise that comes from her aureate robes as she finally stands up from the couch to bow down to the senior.

“preparing for a journey across water and land to scotland.”

highlands of scotland. 2017. i can already tell, you’re a smart one. but i have one question for you, do you like quidditch?

“no, i’ve never been athletic. sweating’s gross and flying’s not as fun on a broomstick.”

interesting, but when i look into your memories i see a lot of the sky.

“when i’m high up, i think better. i tell myself the sky is endless and that the only part stopping me is the horizon itself. same goes for the human mind. we’re stopping ourselves.”

the sorting hat murmurs something she can’t quite catch then it roars into the great hall.

RAVENCLAW.

#CR!Follow #CR!Ravenclaw

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