When will I see you again?

“In theory, Victorians concerned with troublesome issues on the margins of respectable fiction for girls could deal with them within the family reading circle. Reading aloud was perhaps the most common domestic entertainment within the Victorian family, used as reward, improvement, or therapy for life’s challenges. The sisters taking turns reading to accompany their needlework, the matron at the sickbed, the daughter reading to her father at the end of a business day—there were myriad arenas in which families used reading to ease, amuse, and instruct.

At its most basic, reading aloud enabled the sharing of resources (a book, or a fresh installment of a periodical) among many. But beyond that, it was a profoundly social way of responding to the lessons of history, current fiction, or poetry. The critic Andrew Blake suggests that the novel, in particular, was ‘‘a most important point of contact between the public and the private’’ because ‘‘it gave people a chance to discuss domestic ideology in public without touching on domestic secrets.’’ The semipublic sphere that was the family circle provided an important venue for the discussion of reading. Within this context, instruction in morality could be accomplished informally, gently, impersonally, with reference to fictional characters rather than through direct criticism and rebuttal.

The convention of the family reading circle generally restricted polite novels from treating illicit sexuality or immoral characters, but if any lapses occurred, the family circle could deal with them most effectively. Thus Elizabeth Gaskell said of her own novel Ruth, which features an orphan who has been seduced by an aristocrat: ‘‘Of course it is a prohibited book in this, as in many other households.’’ The one circumstance that would change its unsuitability for young people, she opined, was if it was ‘‘read with someone older,’’ perhaps with an older female relative within a family reading group.

The kind of family conversation which could improve all who participated was explained by Sarah Browne in a private diary in 1859. ‘‘Albert brings [Harriet Beecher Stowe’s] the Minister’s Wooing. We sit quietly and hear how James is brought back to the living, we calmly rejoice with Mary, plan and maneuver with Miss Pressy, call Parson Hopkins in very truth a Christian and wind up the evening by wishing to see Mrs. Stowe, knowing how she would seem and if she would talk at all, like other women.’’

Albert Browne Sr. was generally the reader in the Browne family, sometimes of ‘‘superior articles in the Atlantic Monthly.’’ In these moments of quiet, Sarah Browne most idealized her shared family life, ‘‘sitting as we do in our little western chamber, Father, Alice and I storing in the rich thoughts of others as a life element of our own.’’Reading aloud enabled a submersion of family tensions in a focus outward on the problems of others.

The idealization of the shared reading experience suggested stylized familial communion to daughters as well as parents. During the final days of the Civil War, as she anticipated her own marriage, Helen Hart thought to memorialize the evenings reading aloud together. ‘‘I think I never enjoyed evenings more in my life. First Bertie reads, then Hady, and then Mother and I; from History, Shakespeare, the Atlantic, and other miscellany. Such peaceful, happy winter evenings at home! Something for us to look back upon in after years when we are scattered. I have treasured up each one as it passed, as a sweet and sacred memory.’’ The pleasure came from the contrast between ‘‘our quiet harbor’’ and ‘‘the world with its commotions, its struggles.’’

Never did home seem so secure and safe as when implicitly contrasted with the adventures and misfortunes of fictional characters, warring nations, or past princes. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s biographer noted that Charlotte and her destitute and emotionally distant mother were at their best when reading aloud to each other, their fraught intimacy dissolved in their shared focus on the lives and feelings of others. Those moments of community might even be resurrected by rereading books so experienced. (‘‘It seems as if we were gathered around the nursery fire again. I can almost hear Aunt Mary’s voice.’’) The pleasures of reading aloud were those of reading mediated—reading mediated by the fiction of shared purpose.

Reading aloud did not have a single simple meaning, however, nor did it model only one kind of power relationship. The Browne family’s shared reading was patriarchal, with father reading and other family members (according to the hardly impartial mother) celebrating familial harmony. Alice Stone Blackwell, in her irreverent and spritely diary, offered another example of paternal reading aloud, lightly satirizing her father, the noted reformer and women’s rights advocate Henry Blackwell:

‘‘Papa sat with his feet on the top of the stove, saturated with laziness, and rated me for enjoying stories [fiction], and formed plans to give me a taste for instructive literature, and ended by making me bring Plutarch’s Lives, and beginning to read them aloud.’’ This depiction of a well-respected father indulging in playful tyranny of his only child suggests a quite different emotional shading—if a similar actual structure—to the idealized portraits of patriarchal reading circles.

Daughters also read on their own, though, and given the risks of immoral reading and the gains from uplifting reading, good parents attempted to mon- itor what they read. The goal in choosing reading, as in all the lessons of character, was to instruct gently and surely so as to encourage daughters to make familial lessons their own. Advice to parents ranged from the relatively cut and dried—‘‘Parents should choose the books that their children read until the age of 15’’—to the more subtle: ‘‘Wise parents put so many good books in the way of their children that the taste for them is formed unconsciously, and there is never any feeling of restraint.’’ (The latter piece of advice, made in 1901, was clearly advice for the book-wealthy.)

Ellen Emerson’s correspondence with her mother while away at boarding school suggested the appropriate supervisory relationship of parents over girls’ reading. Explaining that she was reading Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford, which she found ‘‘a very funny book,’’ she went on, ‘‘I never read any that I am not sure you would be willing to have me,’’ and recorded her assumption that Scott, Gaskell, and several others were ‘‘not forbidden.’’ She went on to query, ‘‘May I read [Margaret Oliphant’s] ‘Head of the Family’?’’ Middle-class or elite parents who participated in genteel Victorian culture assumed an important role in controlling the reading of their daughters—its quantity, its contents, and its circumstances.

In the elite midwestern Hamilton family, a family with a strong and eclectic reading tradition, novels were doled out prudently like candies during vacations from school, so as not to interfere with schoolwork. When her daughter was fifteen, Phoebe Hamilton gave her ‘‘Ivanhoe for my holiday reading, she always gives me one of Scott every vacation.’’ The next year her mother was more liberal, providing Scott’s Quentin Durward for a Christmas book and giving permission for the reading of Dickens’s Little Dorrit and Jemima Tautphoeus’s The Initials. As January arrived, Agnes lamented, ‘‘I have finished the latter but I am afraid as I go back to school next Monday I shall have to let Little Dorrit wait till summer.’’

There was a hierarchy within Hamilton family reading, and despite her voraciousness, Agnes felt that her tastes fell short of her family’s preferences. ‘‘Oh! why haven’t I the love of learning of the family?’’ She indicated what was expected in her next breath: ‘‘Knight’s England vol. III has been read all but two chapters since last fall and during two months I have read but four books of the Odyssey.’’ She forced herself to be realistic. ‘‘During this next week [probably a school vacation] I want [to] finish half a dozen or more books which I have begun but I dare say the novels are the only ones that will be looked much in.’’

Like the Hamilton reading regimen, other family routines, too, involved matters of both quality and quantity. There were appropriate ages for the reading of different books. At fifteen, Margaret Tileston wanted to read George Macdonald’s Alec Forbes of Howglen, an homage to the dignity of Scots country life. The author was certainly approved, but Margaret’s mother didn’t want her to read the book ‘‘yet.’’

At eighteen, Margaret was still reading under adult scrutiny. Sick at home she was ‘‘allowed’’ to read Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, considered excessively charged for young girls, and polished off 340 pages on the first day. Reading was one way of being inducted into family ideology; when Margaret reread Pilgrim’s Progress in 1883, she was conscious that she was reading a book that had been important to her mother when she was young.”

- Jane H. Hunter, “Reading and the Development of Taste.” in How Young Ladies Became Girls: The Victorian Origins of American Girlhood

Golden Age AU Masterpost

For everyone lacking context, the Golden Age AU is just me riffing on every piece of comic book media I’ve ever consumed. Here are some single-paragraph rundowns I’ve made to keep track of things as I start to write!

The Board of Directors is analogous to the Justice League- they’re pretty much entirely people with superpowers (with the exception of Carol, at first), they’re very prestigious, and they come together to ward off larger threats like the impressive super powered task force they are. Or they used to. Membership’s sort of dropped, and people with powers are getting harder to find and recruit, and the big headliner who ran it left it in the hands of some nurse, which is like. So not sexy.

PEIP is PEIP- they fit right in where they were. In the shadows, in the dark, fighting the threats that the “special people” won’t, protecting people on a lower level than “oh god, the apocalypse,” because apparently the superheroes aren’t concerned with espionage or alien meteors anymore. The pricks. Mostly run by people without superpowers- as far as they know- and deeply concerned with keeping heroes responsible for their own actions. They would be oversight, if they were allowed to be.

CCRP Technical is an interesting place. Charlotte and Ted work there, for Sam, though neither of them is quite sure what it actually does. Paul was recruited in hopes he’d grow into upper management, but he didn’t have the ambition for it. Bill has been there for a decade or two now, ever since he started attending those meetings with Becky and Mrs. Davidson. Melissa... Melissa is their rising star. Mr. Davidson isn’t sure what they found in her, but he’s glad to see her succeed! Good for her! Four for you Melissa, you go Melissa!

Hatchetfield.... is Hatchetfield. It’s small, it’s insular, it’s full of gossip and weirdness and people with eccentric ideas of morality. It might be easier to admit that superheroes and supervillains exist, but let nobody say that the citizens of Hatchetfield ever took the easy road. They will walk uphill, in the snow, denying the supernatural both ways.

Paul is a real sweetheart. He’s autistic, he’s quiet, he likes his routine and the simple pleasures in life... and he just happens to be unkillable and he maybe possibly sort of has the ability to fly. He could be an excellent addition to either team, but he refuses to be a proper superhero, making him Hatchetfield’s most obvious target. Which in turn means that he often ends up acting like a proper superhero against his own will. He thinks Emma is perfectly lovely and still hasn’t noticed her committing crimes.

Emma is Hidgens’ Lab Assistant, which is code for “committing crimes for college credit,” and she does a lot of the footwork for him. Being a henchman definitely tops food service, lets put it that way. She also gets to follow in the family business- a long line of Perkins supervillains ended when Jane broke free and became a real hero for Tom’s sake. She always wanted to be a good person, but Emma is not as opposed to violence. She also cannot wait for Hidgens to level Hatchetfield, which is made complicated by the fact that she likes Paul rather a lot, and he likes Hatchetfield.

Hidgens is a supervillain. He never leaves his house, orchestrates incidents of immense damage to the civic infrastructure, and refuses to acknowledge that just maybe putting children into the path of radioactive chemicals is not a valid scientific experiment. He’s not necessarily a bad person, it’s just that his morals refute even the idea of black and white. More like blue and red. Orange and green. He is of the opinion that world peace can only be achieved by world domination, and therefore has begun a track to world domination. He and Sam have a blood feud of indeterminate origin.

Becky Barnes, low-level healer and walking anesthetic, somehow ended up in charge of the Board of Directors. The last leader disappeared three days after handing off control, and Becky is still looking for them. Becky is very conspicuously not looking for her ex-husband, however. It makes some people suspicious, and nobody more than Sam, who is Stanley’s most obnoxious cousin. Apparently, ruining Becky’s life runs in the family. Despite these troubling events, Becky does her best to keep the city standing and the world turning- she and Bill manage what they can, Carol and PEIP manage what they can’t. She’s still in a precarious place, however, and she’s looking for help.

Frank Pricely supplies everyone with gadgets. Hero and villain alike, everyone pays. Not always the same price, but everyone pays. He’s a neutral party, and he acts the part, but everybody likes to debate his loyalties. There’s no such thing as truly neutral, right? Everyone has their price- even him. It’s just a matter of what that price is.

Lex is his cashier, which means that she learned early on in her career in retail that the panic button is not half as good a first resort as the paralysis darts Frank keeps in the cash drawer. She has the ability to manifest objects, as long as she knows where they are. She needs a concrete location to pull them away from, which means that she snoops in every house she visits, checks the staff rooms of every store she enters. She can, on command, find you just about anything you need. For a price. She’s learning a lot lately, though, and what she learns about her powers might put her at risk.

Bill is one of the few members of the Board of Directors still standing. He and Becky get coffee all the time, and commiserate about the lack of help in Hatchetfield. He has telepathy, and certain illusionary abilities, which come in especially handy when he’s talking people down or trying to sneak hostages out of hostage situations. A gentle, well-intentioned man, Bill is not outwardly very intimidating, but he’s strong. Much stronger than most people would like to think. Becky keeps trying to hand off leadership to him, and he gently hands it back every time- he’s got other problems to deal with right now.

Formerly married to the infamous Perkins family heiress, Tom tries to live a nice, quiet life. He used to be a hero- and a damn good one- but Jane defected for him, and then died for it, and he carries more guilt than he probably should. Tom never thought of himself as special, really, and he still doesn’t. He can warp matter- twist it into shape, turn it from one thing to another, and he’s a fine craftsman when he wants to be. But it’s a dangerous thing to have on hand when you’re angry or frightened, and Tom still has an awful case of PTSD hanging around his neck. He’s doing his best to wrangle with it, but he’s going to need some help.

Ethan is just a teenager. Really, he promises. He absolutely swears. Nothing special about him! He’s just real intuitive! He and Lex have been looking into that whole “experimentation” thing they did at CCRP back when they were babies and it wasn’t even interesting! He’s just a mechanic, honestly. He’s a straight C student! He hasn’t even joined the cult off the coast on that houseboat!! He’s a good kid. No reason to be concerned at all.

Ted is also Hidgens’ henchman, but definitely the lower-ranked of the two. He applied hoping he’d make some friends, but thus far all he’s managed to do is fall in love with Charlotte, who is Sam’s henchman. It’s not going badly for him, but it’s not going well, either. He and Paul still work together. Every time Hidgens asks, Ted is like “Paul? Nah. He’s totally normal.”

Gary is a mob lawyer. He used to work for Emma’s family, but now he works for Sherman and Linda. They’re technically competition, and if they ever find out that he’s playing both sides he’ll absolutely die, but in the meantime he is racking up that cash. He is so rich. He is capable of great evil, and occasionally does terrible things, but overall he’s an affable guy. He and Charlotte had an unfortunate tryst once that ended with her tying him to the Welcome to Hatchetfield sign with his own scarf, but he still pines for her. She’s the one that got away. And continues to get away. cops hate her: local woman refuses to go to jail.

MacNamara still works for PEIP, which is only slightly a different job, on account of there being very public superheroes in this world. He and Xander have been married for ten years, but they are both under the (mistaken) impression that it wasn’t a real marriage because it was done undercover. He thinks about that and is very sad about it sometimes. But they’re partners, and that’s good enough that he can be content with it. For now. He has the ability to intensify or nullify other people’s superpowers, and he does his best to keep it quiet. He thinks there’s something noble about living without superpowers, and vaguely wishes that he and Chad’s roles were swapped- until he remembers that Chad has one (1) brain cell to his name.

Xander has the ability to speak to computers. It’s not flashy, at first glance. It doesn’t have the pizzazz of Paul’s gifts or the subtle mind fuckery of John and Bill’s. But he can know whatever he wants, can hear anything, tap any phone call, look through any webcam. He doesn’t, because he’s not a fucking creep, but he can. PEIP was lucky to find him before CCRP- and so was everyone else in the world. Xander’s not flashy in general- he keeps a lot to himself. He and John have been partners for a long time, and they still haven’t said they love each other. He still hasn’t told John that he’s a member of the Board. He still hasn’t told John that he and Paul are in the same book club.

Schaffer doesn’t need powers. You think she needs powers? Her power is that she breathes and death turns away. PEIP was built by good people like Schaffer, people with principles and strong hearts and ice cold spines of steel. Normal, human people, unremarkable except that they chose to be better. She’s fourth-generation PEIP, born and raised to believe in the service they do, the protection they provide. Some of the more bitter agents will say that Schaffer benefitted from nepotism. They will never say this in front of her, because deep down they know she did not and they know that she will prove it by kicking their asses. She and Carol used to date, but the strain of crossing enemy lines in what was, essentially, a Cold War between PEIP and the Board got to them both. Schaffer is the person Hidgens called after he got struck by lightning.

Charlotte is Sam’s henchman and quietly in the running for longest con ever pulled. One day she is going to off him and take his place as the leading supervillain in Hatchetfield, but that day is not today. She likes Ted, but Sam keeps telling her to kill him, so their relationship amounts to “the inherent eroticism of trying to murder each other”. Nobody is entirely certain how she does what she does, but she’s very, very good at her job. Emma looks up to her just a little. She had a therapist once. He tried to sleep with her. She no longer has a therapist. She does have a very lovely goldfish, however.

Mr. Davidson is MacNamara’s twin brother and Hidgens’ ex. His wife is a genuine bona fide Batman-level hero in a bigger city, so he occasionally gets kidnapped or tortured. Hidgens still writes him bitter and mildly threatening love ballads that he genuinely treasures and sends very heartfelt thank you notes for. His life is so messy. There’s so much drama. He’s also completely powerless and cheerful about it. (Re: the Working Boys.... he’s Chad. Chad MacNamara Davidson.)

Alice is developing absolutely no superpowers and she’s really really annoyed about it. She used to take this out on Lex, as teenagers will, but after Lex dropped out she began to regret that. Too little and much too late, but regret is regret. She keeps trying to mend that bridge, but it’s not working. Unfortunately for her, she’s still been seen with Lex and Ethan, and that’s enough. Imminent danger perceives no difference between friend and foe. Alice is full of a very different kind of potential, however, and sooner or later all that bottled-up anger and stress will lash out.

Deb, on the other hand, is an intern at the Board of Directors’ headquarters, which is now St. Damien’s given that Becky is in charge. Interns for heroes are much less common than henchmen working for villains, but Deb has a keen interest in coordination and overseeing operations. Bill hates having her on comms for missions, but she’s just... so good at her job. She can brew a pot of Red Bull twice-steeped coffee, arrange a date with Alice, avoid an international incident, redirect PEIP and talk Bill through defusing a bomb in the same ten-minute stretch. Lesbians can do anything. This is a fact. They are the backbone of our society.

Hot Chocolate Boy is full of secrets. And hot chocolate.

And speaking of St. Damien’s, do you recall poor Bridgette, who lost her eyesight in a horrible accident? I’m not saying Hatchetfield is going to have it’s very own Matt Murdock expy, but I am saying that. She’s blind, she’s Catholic, and she’s coming for your kneecaps.

Linda is a very low-level villain who operates out of her husband’s office and sics her Boating Club on people. Gerald should technically be a threat, given that it’s the Monroe family prerogative to slaughter rising heroes with an alacrity that distinguished them from all the other families in Hatchetfield. He is not. He’s barely even a henchman. Linda got all the bloodlust between the two of them, and she is out for blood from the start. Though initially quickly defeated, she grows in seriousness over the course of time and ends up a formidable threat with a weighty grudge against Becky and Lex. She’s not much in a physical fight, Linda, but she is deeply, deeply vindictive, and she’s willing to make any deals she has to to bring Becky down. Any deals. With anyone. Anything.

Sherman Young is a mob boss, and you know it. He’s a real creep and he’s got some sick hobbies, even for a man in his line of work, but somehow the 80s jacket and the comb-over mullet make it all worse. He’s the richest man in town, and that’s saying something, but if Linda has a say in things he won’t be for long. The Youngs, the Monroes, and the Perkins have been at war since the founding of the town, and Sherman is cutting down his competition. He might have even arranged for Jane’s accident to happen, but nobody is sure. Nobody living, anyway.

Sam is a villain. He’s not super or anything. He’s just a villain. He’s top-tier Joker-level normie, but he still goes toe-to-toe with all kinds of heroes. Notable for being pretty much exactly the same as his show counterpart in regards to his proclivity for threats and violence. He once told Paul to “talk to his fucking gun” only to find that Paul is, despite all outward appearances, fucking immortal. He is still very embarrassed about it. He’s up and coming in the Hatchetfield Villain circuit, but he’s definitely a threat. To who? Who can say. Somebody, somewhere.

Papa Ed is a PEIP informant, and he has the ability to speak to animals. He’s raising Peanuts to be a very small, very enthusiastic little squirrel spy.

Man in a Hurry is a former speedster who lost his powers and compensates for it by Being In A Hurry at all times.

Homeless Man is a CCRP agent. He specializes in camouflage and compassion. He doesn’t remember what came before, but he knows something did, and finding out what it was is all he has left to hope for.

Howard Goodman does not have superpowers, but he’s got gumption. Okay, I lied. He doesn’t have gumption. But he’s a very nice man.

planets in the 1st house

DOMAIN OF THE 1ST HOUSE:

The self; ego, identity, consciousness

Your name, title, and any other unique words you (and others) use to identify you

Your physical body and outward appearance

People’s first impression of you when they meet you face-to-face

Mannerisms, facial expressions, hand gestures, body language

Appearance as self-expression: the styles and trends you want to dress yourself up in

SUN IN THE 1H:This is an exceptionally powerful placement for your Sun. Anything placed in the 1st House is expressed at its fullest capacity with absolutely no censorship. For you, this means that you cannot shelter your ego from being impacted by others, and you also cannot stop expressing yourself in the realest, rawest way possible. When you are young or immature, people will see you as obnoxious, egotistical, self-absorbed, and self-important. But others will be drawn to your warmth, generosity, optimism, and creativity. Whether good or bad, you impact the people around you in a noticeable way, and are bound to be popular because of your large personality.One way you impact others is through your own personal aesthetic. You have the glamour and the sex appeal of the golden god himself - beautiful hair, a shining smile, muscle tone, a warmth to the colour of your skin, and a taste for bold, sexy, creative style choices that draw all eyes to you. It makes sense that you put a lot of care into your appearance, since it is an enormous source of pride for you. Of course, you aren't immune to bad body days, where insecurity gets the best of you. But the important thing is to focus on what you can change, and what you love about your body, no matter how you might feel day-to-day.

MOON IN THE 1H:Those with this placement are often given rounded features and softness about their face and body. Your look gives an impression of being warm and caring, a fact that is aided by a quiet disposition and telling eyes. You prefer soft, stretchy fabrics in soft colours, and like to feel "bundled up", like you were wearing a blanket. In many ways, you appear young and child-like, perhaps even baby-faced. This planet is closely tied to the maternal feminine, and many astrologers link the Moon to your impression and experience of your mother. When reading your Moon sign’s description, you may find you can relate a lot about what is said of your own emotions to what your mother is like. And in turn, you have become a lot like your mother in this way (whether you choose to acknowledge this or not).It is an understatement to declare yourself as an “emotional person”. You are moody, compassionate, intuitive, and very sensitive to your surroundings. Being so thin-skinned, all of your feelings exposed on the surface, you are permeable in the way that everything penetrates you, no matter how hard you try to erect barriers between yourself and the outside world. You feel enormous empathy for other people, especially animals and small children, and can't help but pick up on all the subtle energies in the air around you. Faced with other people who are upset, stressed out, angry, or on the verge of a nervous breakdown, you feel like the waters of your heart are crashing back and forth in your chest. In quiet isolation, at home or with family, you feel your waters are still, your inner seas calm. In a frenzied crowd, you feel overwhelmed, and run away to safety. And in the wild spaces outside our human cities, you feel at peace, as if the waves are gently lapping the shore.

MERCURY IN THE 1H:You are Mercury and everything it stands for. You flit from person to person, topic to topic, picking up information like a bee collecting pollen from a variety of colourful flowers. From everything, you take a little piece and make it a part of you, adapting to and mimicking all different kinds of people. Frequently, your life changes on a whim. Once you feel you’ve become stagnant, you suddenly change, travelling somewhere or picking up a new area of study. You are restless, inquisitive, insatiably curious. Your mind never turns off or slows down. Books, games, puzzles, studying, tinkering with things in your hand - you can’t sit still for the life of you!When being by yourself isn’t enough, you like to go out and mingle in big groups and talk to people. You need your mental abilities to be challenged, sharpened by wit and forged in the fires of intellectual discourse. This is why you have the potential to become such a prolific public speaker, writer, singer, journalist, or teacher. Your way with words is unparalleled by all but a few. But an obstacle stands in the way of you connecting with a wider audience: there is no filter between your head and your mouth. You say whatever comes to mind, no matter how offensive or insensitive it may sound. This can create tension between you and other people, who become irritated at your rude and audacious behaviour. Others, who are thicker-skinned, find it funny, and revel in the fact that they can say whatever they want around you. A little bit of edgy controversy can get you some attention, but you do not want to be popular for being vulgar and mean!

VENUS IN THE 1H:But despite this placement giving you enormous sex appeal, this is not an especially harmonious placement for Venus. When you take Venusian ideas into your personal identity and merge with the goddess, the value you place upon yourself depends on what other people think of you. Your worth and self esteem are not determined by your own level of self-respect, as it should be. You go out of your way to be as likeable as you can be. You may be a goody-two-shoes, always being sweet and good and impressive. Or you may become a seducer, flaunting your body for attention and adoration. You are gentle, reception to their emotions, compassionate, cooperative, and eager to make another person’s life more beautiful. Yet people call you weak, lazy, indulgent, pleasure-seeking, shallow, and vain. You spend too much time and money pleasing yourself and not enough on improving yourself. As long as your self-esteem depend on the opinions other people have about you,their perceptions of you will cut to the bone, and you will never feel satisfied with yourself.And honestly, there is so much to love about you. For all the hang-ups Venus has in the 1st House, there is no denying the charm and the beauty she gives you too. There is a reason for your reputation as a heart-breaker, a heart-throb, an idol, or a sex symbol. That certain something you have that draws people in and keeps them there is caught by everyone you meet. You move enticingly, like there is a coiled spring inside of you ready to twist little people around your pinky fingers. You enjoy the attention and find it flattering, allowing them to covet you even when you have no intention of making their dreams come true. Aside from that, you also impress with your artistic talents in art, writing, music, design, and acting, all of which come easily to you. And don’t forget your social etiquette – refined, elegant, but not without good humour, people find you as enchanting to be around as fireflies in the night.

MARS IN THE 1H:Possible conflicts aside, this is a very good placement for Mars. Through this energy you are able to exert your will and get what you want without shame or embarrassment holding you back. This placement shows itself very early on in life, as you were the type of baby that kicked and cried until you were free to stretch and move around. You showed an early desire to walk, to climb, to get into things and explore; bravery showed too, as you charged forward into new adventures and never looked back to mom and dad. You got hurt a lot, a trait that can be seen all the way into adulthood. Scars (especially on the face), bruises, broken bones, and trips to the hospital, all a result of you moving too fast, knocking things down, falling over, and your general accident-prone nature. You were one of many children that needed to be put into sports or some other kind of physical activity. Without a structured outlet, your boundless energy becomes destructive.As an adult, you still share many of the same charismatic features as your younger self. You still have that same strong identity, the same desire to impose your will upon others, the same outspoken (borderline inconsiderate) way of expressing yourself. Truth be told, you do not fare well with sensitive people; they find you to be  cruel, offensive, and too overwhelming to be around for very long. If you are wondering why people have such strong, predominantly negative, reactions to you, that would be why! You do better with other masculine people who do not need their friends or lovers to be so gentle. You are hilarious, entertaining, confident, sexy, and you possess enough strength of character to get past the hate doled out to you on a regular basis. Perhaps you are not always the most sensitive, nurturing type of person (if you are at all) but you possess other likeable qualities that draw others to you.

JUPITER IN THE 1H:Exaggerated stories, exaggerated speech, exaggerated movements – all makes you comical, dramatic, and fun to watch! This is what makes you so very popular, lucky, and successful in life. People like you, even when you stick in your foot in your mouth and say things that offend them. For you are totally honest (even brutally honest at times), even when that means telling people things they do not want to hear, and are not about to quiet your opinions on anything. You are totally yourself. You love yourself, and you aren’t about to deny yourself anything. Pleasure-seeking with a big appetite for live, you indulge in hedonistic pleasures all the time. Good food, drinks, shopping, parties, games, entertainment, seeing friends, having fun, school, and travelling make up the list of things you like to do. But be careful. Money slips through your fingers when you spend it unwisely!You are not simply a student of knowledge, who seeks to fill one’s head up with information. You are a student of philosophy and spirituality, who pours over pages of history, culture, politics, language, and the nature of mankind in order to become wiser to the ways of the world. There are big questions that need to be answered. As a teacher, you open your pupil’s minds to all the possibilities hosted here, inviting them to explore topics freely and unrestrained. In the position, however, you are victim to an inflated sense of self-importance and the false belief that you have more wisdom to offer than you actually do. Still, your confidence in yourself inspires confidence in others too – which is part of the reason why you fulfill the role of entertainer, too. Being as dramatic and funny as you are, you were born to perform!

SATURN IN THE 1H: Saturn here usually indicates a long and difficult birth, as if the child is not ready to come out and meet the world yet. Even in the very beginning of your life, you met new experiences with apprehension, unwilling to make any sudden changes to your established routine. Fear seems to run your whole life in this way, making you hesitate and procrastinate and dwell on things long after you should have acted. You are not made for frivolity. You plan out big goals that take you years to accomplish and then work very hard to make sure they are realized in the end. You are a figure of strength, stability, safety, and security; a reliable person one can trust to always be there and to be the same no matter what. But you are also frigid, strict, controlling, and unforgiving, totally devoid of sentiment when you are setting out to accomplish something. You are as stubborn as a bull, as solid as a rock, as enduring and as patient as a mountain, and as persistent as the waters which slowly erode them into valleys below. Responsibility and duty become your two most admirable qualities. Coupled with your intense work ethic and goal-setting nature, long-term success is bound to find its way to you. Even your appearance takes on the qualities of Saturn. An air of chilly superficiality tends to hang around you, adding to the unfriendliness that people pick up on. To some you look mean, cold, calculating. But the expression you wear on your face is there to mask your insecurities and put up an emotional wall between you and other people. Your clothing is apt to cover your body, as you are modest and do not like to show much skin. You are attracted to traditional, classier cuts and darker colours which lend a sense of timelessness to your style. One might get the impression that you are hiding your body, and they would be right. Saturn can make your body feel unattractive or uncomfortable to live in, as you focus on your flaws and what needs to be “worked on”. You are able to discipline your body with a strict diet and exercise regime. You may even be able to lose some of the weight you seem to retain no matter what. But you will always have the impression of being heavier, sturdier, and stronger than you actually are.

URANUS IN THE 1H: Your influence on the world is nothing short of revolutionary, as you characterize disruptive change and innovative individualism. You seek to discover the truths of this world that lay in science and reason. And yet you also ascribe to eccentric beliefs, unusual interests, and strange hobbies in your personal life. You feel entitled to determining your own truth for yourself and possess a highly independent way of viewing the world. When it comes to hard science you are in agreement with the experts. But on topics of spirituality, religion, politics, culture, and world issues, you can be quite controversial in your views. At times, you can be quite inconsiderate of other people’s beliefs and opinions, stubborn in your own, and intent on getting your way at all costs. For this reason (among others) you do better in leadership roles or working by yourself. You need an enormous amount of freedom to express yourself, and often you would prefer just to work alone. You may identify more readily with alternative styles, outcasts, weirdos, subcultures on the outskirts of your own. You may even start you own trends from the outside in. Kurt Cobain, who had this placement, became the face of the Grunge Rock movement of the 1980/90's, and John Lennon became a figure of war-hating, peace-loving, drug-using counterculture in the 1960/70's.

NEPTUNE IN THE 1H: You are a creative, imaginative, and talented artist in your chosen medium. You are a highly spiritual person who possesses uncanny psychic powers, heightened by a lack of emotional boundaries between you, other people, and the divine. You reflect their qualities like a mirror and absorb their energies like a sponge. Perhaps it is because your mother refused to let go of you that you feel so guilty about separating yourself from other people. Or perhaps when you were growing up, your life was so unstable you never developed a secure sense of self. You are so easily affected by other people that their emotions can be overwhelming to the point of madness for you. But instead of erecting walls between yourself and others, you simply look for methods of escaping from your current negative feelings. This is why you are so prone to drug use, alcoholism, and getting lost in your own imagination. You should not feel as though you have to sacrifice yourself and your own happiness for the sake of making other people comfortable. And yet, you do it all the time.

PLUTO IN THE 1H:Pluto in the 1st House makes you look intimidating and unapproachable. You are a figure of power, like royalty, and you gaze upon the world as a ruler does. Some people are hopelessly drawn to the energies you emanate, and some are too scared of you to dare approach. What is true is that you have a deeply profound, highly emotional effect on the people around you, whether you realize it or not. People around you pick up on the intense emotional energy you radiate, as well as the sultry, sexual magnetism exuding out of every pore. Your fashion sense is likely to switch between being sexually appealing and conservative, as you likewise sway between wanting to be an object of desire and being ruthlessly self-protective.Pluto in the 1st House is given to children who needed to protect themselves when they were younger. Some astrologers claim that this indicates that your birth into this world was difficult or life-threatening for you and your mother, beginning life itself with strong birth-and-death themes. Throughout your life, you have learned to be self-sufficient, to support yourself, not to trust anyone (even the people you love), and to observe people for clues as to their hidden motivations. In extreme cases, this could mean a childhood of abuse, betrayal, crisis, traumas, painful separations, destruction, emotional turmoil, and other difficult experiences. This has lead you to become a person obsessed with gaining power over yourself and your relationships, making you very controlling, obsessive, vindictive, and paranoid regarding whatever is “yours”. Depression and anxiety, as well as anger issues and violent fantasies, plague you. But these are all a part of who you are. You are not above using sex or emotional manipulation to get what you want. You are ruthless, dark, and dangerous, and as much of a threat to others as you are to yourself. You can unravel people’s lives from the inside in and force them to burn and be reborn – and you can do so destructively, through pain and anger, or you can transform them through love and acceptance.

-all the information i found is from canaryquillastrology.com

Aymeric alphabet redone

I got a prompting for the alphabet for him. So I am going to redo it. Some opinions have changed since I first did it! So with that. Under the cut~

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

He’s a cuddler post coital. He has you wrapped in his arms and pressing his face against yours in full kisses showering you in affection till you are either laughing from every spot on your face is kissed or sighing in love staring into those blue eyes as they watch your face for any winces of pain. He won’t do anything to hurt you, but if you are a smaller lover, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t get a little rambunctious.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Aymeric likes his arms, he loves using them to hold you in particular. They provide comfort when you need it, tender touches when he gives them, also they protect you, even if you assure him you hardly need protecting. It isn’t the world he is protecting you from, it is the feeling of loneliness. His favorite on his love would be their eyes/face. He focuses the most on it, and studies you even from across the room. He picks up on every nuance even you don’t realize you make. Sorrowful expressions when the mentions of beloved friends or the special gazes he gets when you are together. He prefers to have you happy and blushing under him.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

I still keep my earlier headcanon for this. Because of his diet he is sweeter. Consistency is fuller and easily has anyone wanting more of it. He might be very fond of oral from you.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Aymeric loves having you give him oral in his office. So much that he has learned how to keep a straight face when holding meetings. No one is none the wiser about it either. Only he can see under his desk, and during more dull meetings he is thankful to have you relieve his stress in a secret only you two know of.  

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Due to his status as a bastard, he does nothing to add onto his reputation. So I mentioned in the past, he is less likely to have had any stray lovers and most likely a virgin till he meets you. He is not ignorant to sex and has a specific collection of books he keeps tucked away. But he would never carelessly add to the orphaned and abandoned children of Ishgard. He wants to secure his partner before that and even prefers to experience first times together.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

He has three he really enjoys. Sitting positions ones that allows his lover to fit nicely in his lap while he helps them bounce in it. Doggy he loves this one as you are able to receive him in full and he can let go without restraints. Also seeing the way you arch your back drives him crazy. And standard missionary, he finds this position more romantic when he wants to take his time. He can touch your face, see every emotion cross it, and see you blush when you catch him staring or twisted in pleasure.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Aymeric adds a little humor in the beginning. He teases playfully, in small banter, or draws you in to relax with him. If he can get you to laugh, then it makes sex more fun and not just having sex and more of making love. As the time progresses, he gets serious about attending to his lover’s needs. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t say something to catch his love off guard to make them smile.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Going on the fact he does not have facial hair (I believe by choice) I am well likely to believe he is well kept up. He is a clean man, anything below the head is gone and prefers his partner to keep up in this area. Hair is not fun when you go down on someone.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Very romantic, there is spur the moments, but he loves devoting a whole evening to being romantic. It is you and him, not the world and his world together. You started as equals and he keeps that even in the bedroom. 

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

He keeps something of yours to have your scent when you are gone for long periods of time. He always imagines you taking him in your mouth, and gets lost in his fantasies that you have snuck up on him a few times to help him out.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Costume kink. He will get you costumes to wear for him. Whether some of those costumes make it out untorn depends on how well you shed them before hand. 

He is also very fond of sensory play and edging. If he can keep you for hours, he is spending it teasing every moment of you. Ice being rubbed on heated skin, a tongue across skin while blindfolded. Bringing you close only to deny you relief. He is good about keeping you teetering only because your face is lit in pleasure and he wants to keep that mental image for as long as possible while figuring out what makes you tick.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

His home, or his office. But he is fond of inns and places where the titles and people do not know him so he can let loose.  He spends so much time under the public eye, that he loves a location where all of that escapes him. A lake or river are favorite spots. Secluded and out in the open.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

A simple stare between you two. Or if he is sitting down rubbing his ears. He melts in your hands if you tease his ears and before you know it he is staring at you with that one gaze. Specially if you touch his ears in public.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Forced, watersports, anything digusting or dangerous is off the table. He will never engage in extreme plays as he would never dream of hurting you. Consent is very important to him, he checks often to ensure you are happy with him even in the middle. The last thing he wants to do is take you when you are not into it.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Both. He loves receiving it as much as he gives. He enjoys 69 as a way to tease each other for hours before you actually do anything more. He learns through your time together how to please you, and you learn to please him. 

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Slow and sensual. He takes his time, and if he can be romantic he will be.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Only done in his office, he is actually grateful for the quick romps as not only does he spend his morning with you, but it reduces great stress off his shoulders knowing the secrets done in his office.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Anything that doesn’t involve disgusting acts, pain, or reputations. He is open to about anything as long as limits are met and talked about well before doing anything that is outside your comfort zones.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

His training provides him with great endurance for long hours. This is well applied in private. He can last rounds and rounds before he is actually tired. His partner might get tired before him! He prefers that as he enjoys knowing he has thoroughly satisfied his lover. 

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He keeps a few teasers for his lover. One in his likeness, only to watch you use it when sitting on his desk or laying on his bed. It provides him a way to tease before he does anything. 

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Aymeric loves to tease. A subtle touch, he can be sitting next to his partner at a party in a corner and has his hands and fingers toying with them till they beg to find a private spot. Those long legs of his are perfect for sitting across and using a foot under a table. He has a very good poker face, but the wry grin he gives you seeing you about to lose yours. You have to wait till later love.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He’s quiet most of the time save for a few groans or subtle moans when he is in charge. Receiving oral, he is a mess. His voice carries out and sweet words follow in praises or begs for you to actually suck him. There are ways to get back at his teasings. 

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Fond of c*ck warming. Where you are just seated in his lap and not moving. He loves doing this during sex and post. He can’t get enough of being inside that he doesn’t want to leave your body.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

I am one of those that does headcanon a large penis. 9 1/2 with a lovely girth of 3 1/2. His lover will be happy on him. Curves upward nicely towards his stomach all you know is how nice it feels.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Once he has had a taste for it, he finds himself wanting more. His drive is high for his partner. Otherwise he is able to control himself well.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

His lover will fall asleep before he does. He spends post coital rubbing their body or cuddling into them. 

July 20th-July 26th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from July 20th, 2020 to July 26th, 2020.  The chat focused on Ring Spell by Artem Ficta.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Ring Spell by Artem Ficta~! (http://ring-spell.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until July 26th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Feather J. Fern

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I like how it seems lighthearted at first, but knowing Artem it's going to drop the ball on us really soon haha.(edited)

Also I always love how the backgrounds are, they look great.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Hahah, it's a shame I didn't get one more update up XD Thank you so much, Feather~!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

well, the CTP is gonna run for the rest of the week...

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I can't finish the next 8 pages by then XD

My guess is they'll be up the week after next

RebelVampire

For the beginning, I'm with Feather and I like how quickly the comic transitions from just lalala happy school to oh wait there's weird shit going on. I really like stories where the status quo is quickly ripped out from under your feet. My favorite moment in the comic so far is probably the most recent scene when we get to see Lyall's apartment and ya know, Claire starts dropping all these bombshells on us. The scene is the epitome of "Well that escalated quickly" and its just loaded with so much info to unpack. My favorite character right now is Claire. One because she seems the most sensible and mysterious, and two because I love Claire's hair so much and I'm so jealous and want such floof beautiful hair. ;3; As for characters I like see interacting the most, probably Claire and Lyall and they have some really good banter and a relationship, insofar, that's just kind of hilarious in its brutal honesty. A close second for me is Claire and Tasha as it quickly switches from happy smiles to probably most likely to have a catfight in the hallway.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Catfight in the hallway, lolol. Makes me want to draw them dressed like cat girls XD

RebelVampire

No not that sort of catfight

probably

O_O

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

comic turns into a catgirl fetish comic

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

1. I like how the first word is Zenchav which was the title of the comic this is a hard reboot of XD 2. My favorite moment was Lyall sticking his hands up Damon's shirt XD I really like how it was drawn and it's the most Lyall thing ever to do. 3. My favorite character overall is Damon, although it's probably Lyall at this point in the story. But I like them all of course XD 4. Damon and anybody, lol. I like when I get to draw him XD 5. I've been trying out a new shading style with this since I almost exclusively just hard shaded before, so it's nice to be branching out a bit and trying some new things. The Intro page is probably my favorite atm.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Theory: Lyall sticking his cold hands up Damon's shirt is how he drains Damon's energy, because secretly he's the witch.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Oh no! XD that would be a twist!

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Oh snap!

mathtans

Hmmm, so we ship Claire and Tasha then?

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I don't not ship Tasha and Claire >v>

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Drew that picture of them

RebelVampire

We should indeed all suspect Lyall. I mean no parents, lives alone, yet somehow affords everything? That's witchery.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

How does he afford all that stuff

does he sell drugs on the side or something XD it is suspicious

mathtans

1. I'll mostly echo everyone else here in terms of the start seems pretty straightforward and makes one wonder how the teaser page fits into it all. I'll add a remark on the subtle details of world building, like you've got your digital alarm... and dude straight up has a TAIL, and it's like, no comment, that's normal too.

2. Favourite moment was probably recruiting Claire into the cosplay skit. It's like, hello new person, oh you want to associate with us? Then you need the proper accessories, and Claire's all 'Um, I'm not sure... prop weapons? Uh, okay then...' Cosplay is a force to be reckoned with. (nods)

3. Fave character... yeah, may have to echo Rebel here and go with Claire. Possibly because she's the first chapter name, and like the reader is coming into this new situation, so can get behind her trying to figure it out... but also because I'm big on the time/space bureau stuff and that sounds like a cool job to get.

Damon has a cool cane and has the mysterious ailment afflicting his cosplay though, so he's my fave guy at the moment. (Werewolf blood? Moon thing? Dunno.)

4. I honestly do like the Tasha/Claire interactions the most, because each of them seems to have something to hide, and so you're kind of wondering if and when one of them might slip up. The other girl interrupting with the paint was classic, and I felt it helped break tension. The ship picture (which I imagine won't show in the log) is kind of representative of that with the chessboard too, like they're making moves against the other (though I'm not yet convinced that one is a witch, could be a setup).

Of course, I'm very biased towards the yuri, so grain of salt for my opinions and all. And while the ship was a humour comment at first, I think I'm more into it after seeing a "catfight" could play out.

All that said, the Lyall/Damon interactions are equally good. Lyall's perversion sometimes saying the quiet part out loud.

5. I recognize the art style, have read some of the work before (under different name). Always find the hair impressive, like here you get the impression of each individual strand except that's not actually what's drawn... you can still see the neat ears, Claire having some strands that fall in front of her too. The shading is really good too, like definitely shades of grey, not just black and white.

Kind of echoing the author there, but I can see it.

I'm so bad with themes and need to charge computer, will be back later. o.o

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I love all this input Math, thank you ;3;/

RebelVampire

@mathtans You have no idea how happy I am that someone noticed the tail that nobody seemed to comment on.

RebelVampire

What I like about the art is how clean and crisp everything is cause mmmm that sexy lineart you can just paint bucket when needed. <3 I like that the comic explores the idea of having someone you've known your entire life possibly be evil. Cause it opens up a lot of questions. Like should you doubt? Should you trust? And at which point have you hit the point of betrayal? So I'm glad we'll get to see a bit of this tackled as Lyall and Claire look for evidence. As for the overall story, I like that there's just lots of questions going on. It's a theorists dream. But I find the more mysteries a comic has, the more engaging it is. Because even when you know the answer, it's interesting everytime to see the characters reach that answer. As for the comic's strengths, see the above and the art. It's super pretty and clean to look at, has some fantastic emotive faces during the more comedic moments, and there's just lots to theorize and look forward too. ;3;

Now I will proceed to weep as someone who beta read the script and actually can't theorize cause I just know .

mathtans

Others may have noticed but not been sure what to say? (Does the tail turn into the cane?)

6. Ok, themes... could be a theme of belonging in there. Like Claire being accepted into the group, like Lyall wondering if she's only talking to him to get to Damon, that sort of thing? Then there's the idea Rebel raised of thinking you know someone but not necessarily knowing them.

Of course, there's also credibility, like maybe Claire is simply an escaped mental patient with really good hacking skills to get herself in the school and apartment. Because that's quite the tale she spins. (Though Lyall had heard of the organization? Or he's pranking her, bit hard to know for sure.)

7/8. The story's been setting up a number of things in the background, I feel. Which can be a strength, as we're learning more character items first. Though Claire's latest revelation I'm really jazzed about, because the idea of time travel (times when demons weren't supposed to be) and personification (Earth as a female entity) are right up my alley. So that's cool.

Also Lyall apparently has a strange aura to go with Tasha's strange energy? Maybe the witch is jumping bodies. Maybe we should ship Lyall/Tasha.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Oh my gosh, loving these ideas!

I don't want to give spoilers but I think I'll answer the tail thing cause I never really meant for it to be a mystery It's just tucked into his pants when he's in public is all. That's why he's wearing the track suit for the school and not the standard school uniform, cause the pants are looser.

although it turning into the cane could have been hella cool(edited)

now I'm a little bummed I never thought of that

But the cane has other purposes

mathtans

I didn't really think it was a big mystery, and that explanation makes sense. (So I suppose it could be not normal, only normal for Damon's friends... demon prejudice otherwise?) Ok, so the cane is where he hides his stimulants to keep awake until the full moon.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. What are your theories about Damon’s past? Why is he concerned about when the full moon is? Additionally, what do you think was meant about Damon and Xerfonos being the same age but not being twins?

10. Do you think Claire is right that Tasha is the witch Cadence? If so, how will she prove it? If not, who else could it be? Also, what might this all have to do with Tasha’s concern about Claire being the mysterious Draco’s student?

11. What do you think Cadence ultimately wants from Damon? Why would this compel the Earth, and by extension Apus, to protect him? Also, even if the characters find Cadence, can she actually be stopped?

12. Why do you think Lyall reacted so strangely to Claire mentioning Apus, and why do you think he’s so sure Apus wouldn’t care about protecting Damon? Do you think Lyall can trust Claire even for the long term?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

9. I mean, Damon seems to be a demon, but he's cool with being in our world, so... maybe he was born of a human/demon pairing? Or he was adopted by humans when he was a baby and simply given the same birthday as Xerfonos. I'm guessing the full moon has more significance than merely to werewolves (unless Damon needs to bite a werewolf to regain strength idk) and so it would help him.

I will say that initially the "same age" thing didn't phase me because there's more than 9 months in a year, plenty of time for having a second kid born in the same year. But now that I'm debating the adoption angle, maybe there's more to it.

They're not twins... they're TRIPLETS! Dun dun dun. Anyway.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

they could also just not be twins due to a date technicality like one was born right before midnight and one was born right after

but yeah the adoption angle would explain a lot

mathtans

10. I don't think she's right about Tasha, or if she's right, not in the way she thinks. Because we've seen some from Tasha's perspective and she didn't seem to be the person in charge of whatever. In terms of proof, I guess she could see if Tasha would cosplay as a witch? And if the shoe fits? But yeah, maybe the witch is jumping between people like I mentioned earlier, or is not actually there yet, like APUS got the date wrong or something. Maybe Tasha's also trying to protect Damon from the witch (hence trying to give him that new name) but it's a rival organization?

I mean, technically still twins in that case, just not having the same birthday. (If Feb 29th enters into it, it gets even weirder.)

Actually, why wouldn't Claire use Damon's given name? Maybe her organization doesn't know everything it thinks it does?

Anyway, just had time for some random thoughts. Back later tonight.

mathtans

11. Cadence may just want him to keep living so that she can keep siphoning off energy. (Thus perhaps APUS wants him dead, it's not about protection?!) Or maybe Cadence wants a sweet cosplay. (Probably not.) Of course, it might be that if she's a free floating witch, she wants his body. Maybe she can't be stopped, but could be redirected?

The Earth aspect is one I haven't really been able to figure out yet. (Are pavonis a type of pasta?) But maybe there's a destiny or something that Damon needs to fulfil first.

12. Lyall could have been pranking, but maybe he knows a different organization like that... or maybe that's the name of some mystery file on his computer that he hasn't been able to open because the Cadence inside him hasn't revealed the password, oooh. I think Lyall can trust Claire (assuming she's not a raving lunatic) and she might even need him to provide better cover (she didn't seem to even know what apartment she was in)... but that's short term. Long term is another question, if she starts getting Apus directives saying to do things he wouldn't agree with.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

This is all so interesting ;3;

Pavonis as a type of pasta, lolol

mathtans

I'm glad it's more interesting than rambly.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Nah, I love it XD I'm afraid I'd give spoilers if I said anymore lmao

RebelVampire

My theories about Damon's past are that he's a werewolf. And that something about being a werewolf has changed how he ages compared to Xerfonos - thus why they're the same age but not twins. Granted I guess they could also just be half brothers who have a shared father who said, "Man I should knock two girls up at once." But werewolf sounds more interesting. No I think we've established Lyall is clearly the witch. He is too suspicious. Tasha probably is a super secret agent or something, hence the suspicion. Maybe Apus is into some shady shit that Tasha knows about, especially Draco, so she doesn't want them jumping in on everything. As for how proof, she won't. Cadence will reveal she's Lyall when the most damage can be caused and Claire will weep her career as a detective is through. Cadence might just think Damon is hot. Although I think Damon has a grand destiny ahead of him, and Cadence wants to interfere with that destiny while also bulking up on some of that tasty werewolf energy. Also, can Cadence be stopped? Probably. But definitely not by these chumps right now. XD Lyall reacted strangely cause that was the Cadence in him going oh shit and kind of taking over. And sure, Lyall can trust Claire to never figure out its him. Sorry Claire, you hot, but clearly aren't noticing some stuff.

mathtans

I hadn't considered the "same father different mothers" angle. O.o Maybe it was a sperm donation sort of thing though?

As to Claire, maybe Tasha will be nice enough to buy Claire ice cream and give her snuggles once she realizes the error of her ways.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Tasha and Claire will get to snuggling at some point I'm sure XD

The same father with different mothers sounds most probable

of what's been mentioned at least

mathtans

I mean, time travel could also be involved. What with Apus.

Maybe Claire is Damon's daughter and she's trying to protect her own existence.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Maybe Claire is Xerfonos' mother

Wait, I don't think that'd work out lmao

Daughter would be way more probable

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I look forward to getting a bit further into the story XD it's still pretty early on atm and there's a lot of really good scenes later. I don't feel like we've really gotten to know Damon yet either

RebelVampire

I am looking forward to seeing people's theories as the story continues and pieces fall into place. It will be interesting to see the routes people take with the ideas of what the answers are going to be. My final words are just read the comic. O_O

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I didn't end up having any brain power to write responses over the week, but I really enjoyed Ring Spell. Damon and his brother are cuties, Claire seems very capable, and I can't wait to find out what Tasha's motives are. I'm real excited to see how the themes of magical marital vows come to the forefront :3

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Thank you~!

mathtans

Busy weekend was busy. Looking forward to seeing how the Apus thing fits in, like is Claire even from their time period? Will Lyall spill all the secrets? Will the ships happen? I'm so behind in all my reading but I've flagged it to check back when I can.

There was also the bit at the start implying knowing people from other lives, but the time travel possibilities make that weird. And I guess there's also the question of whether a Ring will have a Spell on it. Like, maybe the witch doesn't know she's the witch while she's wearing a ring? Or they have to get her to wear a ring? Here I am guessing again. ^^

14. To conclude, all the best with it, looks like a good setup. I do enjoy the art style too.

Also I guess congrats on being the finale CTP? Nice that you got it in there. Good initiative.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Thank you so much Math~!

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Ring Spell this week! Please also give a special thank you to Artem Ficta for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Ring Spell, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://ring-spell.com/

Artem Ficta’s Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/artemficta

Artem Ficta’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtemFicta

Hamilton: Ranking Every Song from the Soundtrack

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Imagine the experience of being one of the first individuals to see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s now-classic Hamilton: An American Musical live. 

The first thing you notice is the spartan, largely empty stage. Then as Leslie Odom Jr. takes the stage as Aaron Burr followed by Miranda’s Hamilton, you realize that this production about America’s founding fathers is made up almost exclusively of People of Color. That’s a lot to take in from the start. At a certain point, however, you’re bound to realize that the play is about 40 minutes in and The. Music. Has. Not. Stopped. 

In addition to its many ingenious quirks and hooks, Hamilton is truly a musical musical. Miranda’s book and lyrics about one of the country’s most colorful and impressive founders has a lot of ground to cover. And it does so at a musical sprint with almost no expository time-wasting in-between.

As such, the Hamilton soundtrack is a staggeringly impressive piece of recent culture. At 46 tracks spread out over nearly two and a half hours, this album closely replicates the experience of a show most could never get a ticket to live. A passionate, thriving Hamilton fandom rose up out of that soundtrack and it continues through to this day.

Now, with Hamilton about to be more accessible than ever by joining Disney+, we decided to rank all 46 of those tracks.

46. Hurricane

The hurricane that ravaged Alexander Hamilton’s Caribbean island home of St. Croix was a crucial part of his life and led to him securing passage to the United States. But the song “Hurricane” uses the storm late in the play as a tortured metaphor for his turbulent public life. It’s undoubtedly the least energetic and weakest full song on the Hamilton soundtrack.

45. Farmer Refuted

“Farmer Refuted” does well to capture a young Hamilton’s rhetorical brilliance early on in the play but doesn’t hold up well against other, more fully crafted tunes. Hercules Mulligan mumbling “tear this dude apart” is certainly a soundtrack highlight though. 

44. The Story of Tonight (Reprise)

What would any Broadway musical soundtrack be without a reprise or two? “The Story of Tonight (Reprise)” is certainly fun. But, ultimately, tales of Hamilton’s legendary horniness would have been better suited with a full song. 

43. Schuyler Defeated

Just about every line of dialogue in Hamilton is sung… including heavily expository moments like Burr defeating Hamilton’s father-in-law in a local election. The subject matter and lack of true musical gusto makes “Schuyler Defeated” one of the least essential tracks in the show.

42. We Know

It’s a testament to how strong the Hamilton soundtrack is that a song like “We Know” could appear this low on the list. This account of Jefferson and company informing Hamilton of what they know is quite good; it just pales in comparison to the song in which they uncover Hamilton’s misdeeds. 

41. It’s Quiet Uptown

This is sure to be a controversial spot on the list for this much-loved ballad. “It’s Quiet Uptown” is indeed composed quite beautifully. It also features lyrics that seem to be almost impatient in nature – as though the song is trying to rush the Hamiltons through the grieving process to get back on with the show. 

40. Take a Break

Part of the miracle of Hamilton is how the soundtrack is able to turn rather mundane concepts and events in Hamilton’s life into rousing, larger-than-life musical numbers. “Take a Break” is charged with dramatizing the notion that Hamilton simply works too much with a sweetly melancholic melody. It does quite a good job in this regard but naturally can’t compete with some of the more bombastic songs on the list. 

39. Stay Alive

Set in the brutal dredge of the Revolutionary War, “Stay Alive” is a song about desperation. And between its urgent piano rhythm and panicky Miranda vocals, it does quite a good job of capturing the appropriate mood. It also feels like one long middle with no compelling introduction or conclusion. 

38. Best of Wives and Best of Women

Talk about “the calm before the storm.” “Best of Wives and Best of Women” captures one last quiet moment between Alexander and Eliza before Aaron Burr canonizes his one-time friend to the $10 bill. It’s brief, lovely, and effective. 

37. The Adams Administration

Hamilton wisely surmises that the best way to introduce audiences to new eras of its title character’s life story is through the narration of the man who killed him in Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.). Odom Jr.’s real flare for showmanship turns what could be throw-away intros into truly excellent material. It also features a hilarious nod to Sherman Edwards’ 1776 musical when Hamilton says, “Sit down, John” and then adds a colorful, “you fat motherf***er!”

36. A Winter’s Ball

Again: Burr’s monologues are always a welcome presence in these tracks. And in “A Winter’s Ball,” he does some of his best work by setting up Burr and Hamilton’s prowess… “with the ladiessssss!”

35. Meet Me Inside

Despite a brief running time, “Meet Me Inside” is able to establish George Washington’s general bona fides and Hamilton’s daddy issues in equal measure. 

34. Your Obedient Servant

“Your Obedient Servant” is Hamilton’s loving ode to passive aggression. In just two minutes and thirty seconds, you’ll believe that two grown men could somehow neg themselves into a duel via letter-writing. 

33. The Reynolds Pamphlet

You know that old adage of “he could read out of a phonebook and it would be interesting?” Well Hamilton basically does that with “The Reynolds Pamphlet.” The ominous music injects real import into the simple act of writing that would upend the Hamilton family’s lives. 

32. That Would Be Enough

Eliza’s refrain of “look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now” recurs at the beginning of “That Would Be Enough” in a truly touching way. This song is a real tonal whiplash from the revolutionary battles and duels that precede it, but it is ultimately strong enough to bring the focus back to Alexander and Eliza and not just the hectic world they inhabit. 

31. The Story of Tonight

“The Story of Tonight” is both a clever drinking song among bros and a subtle setup for the show’s larger theme of one’s story being told after they’re gone. The song is both affecting and effective, just a little too short to stand out and make big waves on our list. 

30. Blow Us All Away

“Blow Us All Away” is a fun, jaunty little ditty from Anthony Ramos’ Philip Hamilton. It rather ingeniously incorporates the young Philip’s own musical motif before ending in tragedy. 

29. Stay Alive (Reprise)

It’s hard for any song to emotionally contend with the death of a child in under two minutes but “Stay Alive (Reprise)” does a shockingly good job. There’s a real sense of urgency to the music before it settles in for poor Philip to say his final words. 

28. Burn

Musically, “Burn” is not one of the better ballads in Hamilton. Lyrically, however, its power is hard to deny. Phillipa Soo does a remarkable job communicating Eliza’s pain at her husband’s betrayal. More impressive is how she communicates the only way to work through that pain, which is through burning all of his personal correspondences and writings to her. 

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27. The Election of 1800

Hamilton is the rare musical where one character can sing “can we get back to politics please?” and the audience’s response is “hell yeah!”. The show is uncommonly good at dramatizing boring political processes, and “The Election of 1800” is no exception. The song builds up to a pseudo-reprisal of “Washington on Your Side” in a shockingly effective and cathartic way. 

26. History Has Its Eyes on You

“History Has Its Eyes on You” is a powerful recurring phrase through the entirety of Hamilton. Each and every time the concept comes up in a song, it truly stands out. Strangely though, the song that bears its name is only in the middle of the pack in terms of the show’s numbers. Perhaps it’s because it occurs near the middle of the first act, before we can properly appreciate its heady themes? 

25. Aaron Burr, Sir

One of Hamilton’s most charming traits is how readily it acknowledges what an annoying pain in the ass its lead character can be at times. “Aaron Burr, Sir” is literally the second song of the entire musical and helps establish its playful tone as much as the bombastic opening number establishes a deadly serious one. 

24. Guns and Ships

Ballads are nice. “I want” songs are nice. Recurring motifs are nice. But sometimes you need a song that just goes hard. Thanks to “America’s favorite fighting Frenchman” that’s what “Guns and Ships” delivers. Lafayette actor Daveed Diggs faces an enormous challenge in Act One by filling out the character’s growth in bits and pieces. “Guns and Ships” is the reward, where a fully unleashed (and English-fluent) Lafayette makes it very clear what hell he has in store for the British army. 

23. Washington on Your Side

Thomas Jefferson is such a dynamo of a presence in Hamilton that one could be forgiven for forgetting how infrequently he turns up. Jefferson (and Daveed Diggs) is operating at an absurdly high capacity in “Washington on Your Side.” Meanwhile the music has a ball keeping up with the increasingly incensed backroom scheming of Jefferson and his “Southern motherfucking Democratic-Republicans!”

22. Right Hand Man

Thirty-two thousand troops in New York Harbor. That’s uh… that’s a lot. While the second act of Hamilton has to work a little harder to capture the drama of the inner-workings of a fledgling government, the first act is able to absolutely breeze through some truly epic and exciting songs covering the Revolutionary War. “Right Hand Man” is one such ditty that really captures the frenetic urgency of a bunch of up-jumped wannabe philosophers trying to topple the world’s most powerful empire. 

21. The Schuyler Sisters

Honestly, “The Schuyler Sisters” deserve better than its placement on this list. It’s just that everything that comes after is such a banger, that it’s hard to justify moving up the dynamic introduction of Angelicaaaa, Elizzzaaaaa… and Peggy.

20. Ten Duel Commandments

Imagine how insane you would sound in circa 1998 explaining that there would one day be a musical about the founding fathers that uses the framework of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments” to describe the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Then imagine how insane you would sound when explaining that it was great. “Ten Duel Commandments” doesn’t cover the “big” duel of Hamilton. It’s a teaser for what’s to come. Thankfully it’s a hell of a good teaser. 

19. Cabinet Battle #2

Hamilton’s two cabinet battles run the risk of being the cringiest part of the show. Every concept has its stylistic limit, and a rap battle between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson should absolutely fly past that limit. Somehow, however, the novelty works and the creativity of Miranda’s writing shines through. 

18. Cabinet Battle #1

The two Cabinet Battles are pretty interchangeable on the list. #1 gets the nod because of “we know who’s really doing the planting.”

17. What Comes Next

The trilogy of King George III songs is some of the most purely joyful songwriting on the Hamilton soundtrack. We can dive into the specifics of what really works about the songs in a later entry. For now, know that “What Comes Next” falls the lowest on our list due to featuring only one round of “da-da-da’s.”

16. I Know Him

“I Know Him” also features only one burst of “da-da-da’s.” But it still gets the nod over “What Comes Next” for King George III calling John Adams “that little guy who spoke to me.” 

15. Dear Theodosia

Perhaps more so than any other character in Hamilton, Aaron Burr works best on his own. The character (and the man he was based on) plays things close to the vest by design. It’s only through his musical soliloquies that we get a real sense of the guy. That’s what makes “Dear Theodosia” so powerful in particular. Burr wants the same thing for his daughter that Hamilton wants for his son: “Some day you’ll blow us all away.”

14. One Last Time

George Washington owned slaves. Yeah yeah, you can bandy around the usual “bUt He ReLeAsEd ThEm AlL lAtEr In LiFe” all you want. At the end of the day, it’s an inescapable fact for the country to confront. It’s a hard thing for Hamilton, however,  a show realistic about America’s flaws but still reverential to its founding story, to deal with. Hamilton presents the George Washington of American mythos for the most part and he strikes an undeniably impressive and imposing figure. To that end, “One Last Time” is one of the most unexpectedly moving songs in the show. Washington is committing one of the most important and selfless acts in American history by stepping aside. Yet there’s a real sense of sadness as the cast chants “George Washington’s going hooo-ooo-ooome.”

13. Non-Stop

“Non-Stop” is an extremely atypical choice for an Act-ender. Hamilton could have just as easily chosen to wrap up Act One with the rebels’ victory over Great Britain. Instead it takes a moment to process that then deftly sets up the rest of its story with “Non-Stop,” which is simply a song about Hamilton’s insane work ethic. The key to the track’s success is how relentless it is, as if it were trying to keep up with and mimic the title character’s pace. Then there are all the usual exciting Act-ending reprisals and recurring motifs to boot. 

12. Say No To This

Just as was the case in Hamilton’s life, Maria Reynolds has only a brief role in the show, but her influence casts quite a long shadow. “Say No To This” is a real showcase for both Miranda and Maria actress Jasmine Cephas Jones. This is a devastatingly catchy jazzy number about marital infidelity…. as all songs about marital infidelity should be. 

11. Alexander Hamilton

“How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore / And a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot / In the Caribbean by providence impoverished / In squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?” our narrator Aaron Burr asks in Hamilton’s superb opening number. A play with so many moving parts, and such a high-concept needs an indelible opening track to convince audiences that the madness that is about to follow is worth waiting for. “Alexander Hamilton” is more than up to the task. This is an exhilarating starter that introduces its audience to all the important characters, themes, and sounds of the show. It also has its lead character spell out his full name in a rap, which somehow ends up being awesome and endearing rather than corny. 

10. Wait for It

Just like the rest of us, Burr is the main character of his own story. And the show allows him to tell that story in songs like “Wait For It.” “Wait For It” is an exciting, downright explosive bit of songwriting. It’s every bit the “I want” song for Burr that “My Shot” is to Hamilton. And just like Burr and Hamilton are two sides of the same coin, so too are these two songs. Burr is alone once again in this powerful number. And he uses that privacy as an excuse to loudly… LOUDLY exclaim his modus operandi. He comes from a similar background as Hamilton and he wants mostly the same things as Hamilton. The difference between the two of them is that Burr is willing to wait for it all.

9.  The Room Where it Happens

Bless this musical for having a song as brilliant  as “The Room Where it Happens” only just being able to crack the top 10. There are hundreds of musicals in which “The Room Where it Happens” would be far and away the standout number. For Hamilton, it’s ninth. “The Room Where It Happens” is another example of the show taking a seemingly bland topic (backroom deal-making) and turning it into something transcendently entertaining for its audience and something transcendently illustrative for its characters. This is the song where the borders between Aaron Burr: Narrator and Aaron Burr: Vengeance-Seeker come down.  Burr starts off as a patient observer of what kind of nefarious negotiations go into the building of a country before his frustration slowly builds into the recognition that he needs to be in the room where it happens. 

8. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Truly there is no more fitting ending to Hamilton than “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” At its core, this is a play not only about legacy but about the fungible nature of legacy. Alexander Hamilton is gone and we know his story lives on. But who will tell that story? Like any good closing number, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” knows the importance of bringing back many of the play’s core concepts and characters. And none of those are more important than Eliza’s assertion that she is ready “to write herself back into the narrative.” In the end, it’s not the revolutions or the pamphlets but the love. And that’s how one finds oneself in the absurd position of crying over the guy on the $10 bill.

7. What’d I Miss?

Lin-Manuel Miranda has described Thomas Jefferson as the show’s Bugs Bunny. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the ludicrously jaunty track that opens up Hamilton’s Act Two. There might not be a more joyful or outright hilarious three minutes in any of the soundtrack’s 46 songs. After several years spent living it up in France, Daveed Diggs’s TJ returns to the United States. The rest of his fellow revolutionaries have moved on to R&B and rap, but Jefferson is still stuck in full on jazz mode. “What’d I Miss” serves as the perfect introduction to a crucial character and the themes of the show’s second half. 

6. The World Was Wide Enough

If “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” is designed to make the audience cry, then “The World Was Wide Enough” exists to make them gasp. This penultimate song is a truly stunning piece of work. This is a sprawling performance that brings back “The 10 Duel Commandments” in expected yet still emotional fashion. Then at the play’s climactic moment, it cuts out the music entirely to make room for Hamilton’s internal monologue – his one last ride through all the pages he won’t write. Finally it covers the grim aftermath of Burr and Hamilton’s duel as the survivor grapples with what he has done. There is a lot packed into these five minutes of song and each moment is more compelling than the last. 

5. You’ll Be Back

If absolutely nothing else in Hamilton worked – if the characterizations were off, if the costumes were too simple, if the “Founding Fathers rapping” concept couldn’t be executed – the play’s two and a half hours all still would have been worth it for this one, tremendously goofy song. King George III (portrayed by Jonathan Groff in the original Broadway production) pops up three times throughout the show to deliver pointed little reminders to the American colonists about how good they used to have it. The first time around is by far the best, in large part because it’s so charmingly unexpected and weird. By the time King George III gets to the “da-da-da” section of his breakup song with America, it’s hard to imagine anyone resisting the song… or the show’s charms. 

4. My Shot

While “You’ll Be Back” may go down as the most enduring karaoke song from Hamilton, “My Shot” is almost certainly the play’s most recognizable and iconic tune. Every musical needs an “I want” song in which its lead articulates what they want out of this whole endeavor. Rarely are those “I wants” as passionate and thrilling as “My Shot.” This was reportedly the song that Miranda took the longest to write and it’s clear now to see why. Not only is “My Shot” lyrically and musically intricate, but it does the majority of play’s heavy lifting in establishing Hamilton as a character. Just about everything we need to know about Alexander Hamilton and what drives him is introduced here. And the work put into “My Shot” makes all of its recurring themes and concepts hit so much harder in the songs to come. 

3. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)

In many ways, “Yorktown” benefits from the precedent that earlier songs like “My Shot” established. This is a song that puts energetic renditions of previous lines like “I’m not throwing away my shot” and “I imagine death so much it feels like a memory” to grand use. But for as much as “Yorktown” deftly invokes Hamilton’s past, what makes this song truly special is how solely focused it is on the present. To put it quite simply: “Yorktown” goes hard. It is fast, harsh, chaotic, and thrilling. This is the song that captures the moment that American troops defeated the British empire and “the world turned upside down.” It’s to the song’s immense credit that the music and lyrics capture the enormity of the moment. Also, there’s “stealing the show” and then there’s what Hercules Mulligan (Okieriete Onaodowan) does here in “Yorktown.” We’re in the shit now, and Hercules is loving it. 

2. Helpless

“Helpless” might be pound for pound the best musical moment in all of Hamilton. It’s a simple, seemingly effortless love song that, even removed from the context of the show, would sound beautiful coming out of anyone’s car radio on a lovely summer day. Within the context of the show, it’s even better. It acts as a rare moment of celebration for all the characters involved before the Revolutionary War really gets churning and before a young America needs capable young Americans to guide it. What makes “Helpless” truly great, however, is the song that follows it…

1. Satisfied

Wait, wait… why is Angelica saying “rewind?” Why do we need to rewind? We had such a lovely night! The transition between “Helpless” and “Satisfied” is Hamilton’s greatest magic trick. The former presents a night of unambiguous love and celebration. Then the latter arrives to teach us that there is no such thing as “unambiguous” in Hamilton. In a truly remarkable performance, Angelica Schuyler (Renée Elise Goldsberry) teaches us what really happened the night Hamilton met the Schuyler sisters. Angelica will never be satisfied, and it’s because she’s “a girl in a world in which (her) only job is to marry rich.” Hamilton and Eliza’s story is a love story. But it’s also a story of Angelica’s loss. “Satisfied” imbues the musical with a sense of subtle melancholy that it never quite shakes through to the very end. “Satisfied” is the emotional lynchpin of Hamilton, and as such also its very best song. 

The post Hamilton: Ranking Every Song from the Soundtrack appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Best works of Russian classical literature: TOP 15

The works of classical literature are undoubtedly the basis of the foundations: they contain the culture, history, philosophy of the people about whom the authors told in their works. In the niche of world classical literature quite a significant place is occupied by Russian literature: a huge number of works of domestic authors are happy to read abroad. We will try to consider the 15 most significant works of Russian classical literature, with which everyone should be familiar.

A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" The most famous novel in verse tells us an unusual love story between the main character, Eugene Onegin and Tatiana. Their feelings are born at different times and affect the characters in different ways: the first lover, Tatiana, after an explanation with her lover, closes herself in, but, in fact, remains herself. Onegina, who flashes much later, changes it beyond recognition. He appears before a reader full of passion and tenderness, who has lost his former coldness and pride and is capable of real, sincere, human feeling. Against the background of the main plot line unfolds other actions of the novel, during which the Russian poet puts a huge number of important problems, such as social, domestic and cultural way of life of all Russian society in the early 19th century.

A.N. Ostrovsky "Besprydannitsa" An immortal play telling about the sad fate of Russian women, the heartlessness of rich people and the bourgeois nature of small people. It was beautifully filmed by E. Ryazanov.

Tales by A.P. Chekhov Chekhov has written many stories, both funny and tragic. The protagonist of Chekhov is an ordinary man with his daily affairs and concerns. The stories "The Violin of Rothschild", "Ward No. 6", "Drinking cure", "Man in a Case", "Tears Invisible to the World", etc. tell us that no one else understood the soul of the Russian man, as Chekhov. Despite the genre, the stories of Chekhov are a precious stone of Russian literature.

A.S. Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit." The main idea of Griboyedov's comedy is expressed in the title of the work. The main character, Chatsky, who has returned from abroad, comes to the house of the nobleman Famusov to see his daughter Sophia, his former lover. Here he encounters a rather unpleasant meeting with the entire "Famousov society": Famousov himself, Sophia, Silent, and Skalozub, who live in a world of stereotypes and outdated views of the world. They instantly mistake Chatsky, a progressive, educated man who has taken a different view of the world, for being crazy and dangerous to society. The problem of a person who stands out from the stereotypical crowd and is so acutely misunderstood by society is still topical today.

L.N. Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" The main plot line of the novel - a tragic love story between a married Anna Karenina and an officer Vronsky. The meeting of her true love changes Anna's life, she is ready to sacrifice everything for her, but she does not see the return gesture in her direction from her beloved. The heroine, forced to fight her own feelings and public contempt, decides to throw herself under the train. The problems of the work are the questions about marriage, love and family, which concern modern society as much as at the time of writing this novel.

L.N. Tolstoy's War and Peace. Tolstoy's novel epic describes the life of Russian society during the Great Patriotic War with Napoleon, from where the name of the novel. Scenes of war are replaced by scenes of peaceful life, where hundreds of active heroes reveal to readers their character, their mental qualities and life values. Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky, whose names are known even to those who are not familiar with the novel, stand out among the huge number of heroes. The first is a gentle, fearful of doing the wrong thing, non-conflictual in the future becomes a Decembrist. Bolkonsky, presented at the beginning of the novel as cold, tired of all the society around him, reveals himself as a subtle nature, capable of a feat for the sake of his homeland and a strong feeling for the woman he loved. The novel certainly deserves the attention of any lover of literature with its variety of problems raised and all the brightness and contrast of the described social life.

F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment". The plot of the social-psychological novel is based on the murder of an old woman by Rodion Raskolnikov and his further state of mind, looking for an answer to the question "a creature he trembles or has a right. The reader immediately sees the problem of poverty raised by the author, which, in part, pushes on Raskolnikov's terrible act. But here, too, borders the author's idea of belief in good and love, in the ability to forgive and those bright feelings that should suppress the cruelty in the struggle for power.

M.A. Sholokhov "Quiet Don" The novel by Sholokhov touches upon the pictures of Cossacks' life, their traditions, customs and life values. Their cruel, strict life mores make Cossacks special, and the forbidden love of Gregory and Aksinya unfolding against this background is extraordinary, contrary to all rules, rebellious, but sincere to the core.

N.V. Gogol "The Inspector"... Everyone knows Gogol's comedy "The Inspector" sets as its primary goal to ridicule the city authorities, who, learning about the arrival of the Auditor, was not jokingly concerned, and then, in his presence and began to reprimand him frankly, missing only one important detail - Khlestakov, which they took for the Auditor, was the most common trickster and cheater from the street. The problems of bribery, neglect of their duties, pettiness and cowardice are brought to the fore in Gogol's comedy.

N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"... The book tells about the adventures of Pavel Chichikov, the protagonist of the poem, a former collegiate councilor posing as a landowner. Chichikov comes to an unnamed town, a provincial "city N" and immediately tries to enter into the trust of all the important residents of the city that he successfully succeeds. The hero becomes an extremely welcome guest at balls and dinners. The citizens of the unnamed city have no idea about Chichikov's true goals. And his goal is to buy up or buy free of charge the dead peasants, who according to the census were still listed as alive at the local landlords, and then design them in his own name as alive.

M.Y. Lermontov, "Hero of our time." We're talking about the human spiritual world. This theme is well revealed thanks to Pechorin's rosy image. This man is not of the most pleasant character, not always noble deeds, but very difficult fate. Some may judge him for his treatment of Bella, Maxim Maximyche and the Princess, others sympathize with him, especially after his monologue about the uneasiness of his fate in "Princess Mary". Pechorin is a person in deep conflict with society, but at the same time a person who cannot but be admired by that same society by the power of his personality.

I.S. Turgenev, "Fathers and Children". The novel became landmark for its time, and the image of the protagonist Evgeny Bazarov was perceived by young people as an example to follow. Ideals such as uncompromising, lack of admiration for authority and old truths, the priority of useful over beautiful, were perceived by people of that time and were reflected in Bazarov's world view.

I.S. Turgenev "Notes of the Hunter" Classic hunted a lot in Orlov Province. There he met different people, he followed the life of the Russian people, which is described in his book. This is a collection of stories, published in 1847-1851 in the magazine "Sovremennik" and published as a separate edition in 1852. Three stories were written and attached by the author to the collection much later.

M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita". The main subject of the novel "The Master and Margarita" is the search for truth, the search for yourself, your personality, your direction, your life path. The truth is presented here a novel by the Master, but who has befallen and found the truth inevitably becomes mentally ill. One of the main ideas in the novel is also the struggle between good and evil, which affects all the characters of the novel, intertwining the genres of fiction, satire and philosophy. Although the novel was released in Soviet times, it has become an undoubted classic work.

M.A. Bulgakov's "Dog Heart." At the heart of the story "Heart of a Dog" is a story about how Professor Preobrazhensky decides to transplant a homeless dog pituitary gland and human ovaries. His fantastic experiment ends with the transformation of a nice homeless dog into a disgusting representative of the Sharikov proletariat. The problem of the proletariat, by the way, is one of the main problems of the story. The post-revolutionary structure of society, which causes undisguised irritation of the Transfiguration, makes the reader think deeply, too.

Overwhelmed

EVERYONE! I had the distinct pleasure of writing a full scene commission for @lauren-draws-things/@lauren-draws-xxx based off of one of her very NSFW and very amazing drawings! (The link might not work - Tumblr is giving me a hard time, of course)

Thank you for letting me write Lenneth, and I am so pleased that you think I did her justice <3

My Ko-Fi || My Commissions (Slots for February coming SOON!)

Pairing: Solas x Lenneth Lavellan

Rating: EXPLICIT. Content warnings for double penetration, dom/sub dynamics, and inappropriate uses of magic.

**********

Solas was always entirely too controlled, in Lenneth’s humble opinion. He didn’t misplace a single spell or word. He considered each bite of his food, each sip of his drink. He was mild-mannered to the rudest of nobles, quiet in noisy arguments. Of course, she did have to admit that that made it extra fun to rile him up. To be the only one who saw another side of him. To creep up behind him as he stood in front of his desk in the rotunda, wrap her arms around his waist, nuzzle into the space between his shoulder blades, feel him relax into her touch – and then to stand on tiptoe and place a wet, smacking, sucking kiss on the soft skin where his neck met his shoulder. “Lenneth!” He was trying to be scolding, but there wasn’t much use in trying to be scolding when one had just yelped like a dog. “You’ve been at this for far too long. Those oculara skulls won’t get any deader, you know. They will still be here in the morning. Come to bed, vhenan.” She wrapped her arms around him again and cuddled into the crook of his neck. He smelled like ink and lyrium and his own skin and it was perfect, and she wanted to drown herself in that scent. There was already a prickle of heat between her legs, and she would stoke it to a flame before the night was done.

“I am close to done.” He said, gently extricating himself from her grasp, giving her a perfunctory kiss on the cheek. Lenneth looked him over from head to toe. “Really? You don’t even look like you’ve started.” She let her gaze linger on the part of his sweater that preserved his modesty in order to make her meaning clear. He rolled his eyes. “You are more clever than that.” “When I want to be, perhaps. Right now I just want to be underneath you. Or on top of you. Whichever you prefer, really.” She rocked up onto her toes and then back onto her heels, full of her own excitement, her affection for the stoic man before her. She would peel back every layer soon enough. “No,” Solas said breezily, walking around to the other side of his desk. With a lazy wave of his hand, he reignited a candle that had fizzled while they talked.

That gave Lenneth a thought. One that had more to do with said prickle of heat between her own legs, and less to do with actual candles.

“You know,” she said. “You could always try using your magic on me instead.”

The aura of her own magic heightened around her at the thought, as though prickling with a hundred needles. It was one of those things she’d always wondered about when she was younger, and coming into her power. Things were always complicated with other mages in her clan and outside of it. She hadn’t had a chance to try with anyone else.

And Solas - the creativity in his spells, the way he confounded Vivienne and Dorian and Bull with them, the way he always seemed to be holding back some of his power - he was the perfect person to try with.

It helped that he was also handsome, and charming, that he loved her, and that she loved him, of course.

It also helped that goading him into giving it a try would be the most fun Lenneth had had in a long time, and the gods knew she needed the fun after the tension and horror of Halamshiral and Adamant.

She sent one long lick of her mana towards Solas and used it to trace the curve of his ear. She could feel the lightness that always filled her body when she stood halfway between both worlds - Fade and reality - and that only amplified that hunger growing within her. It did good things for Solas, too, from the vibration she felt in his aura at the touch of hers. The way he stood up straighter and breathed in through his nose was a good indication, too. A grin broke across her face.

“I have no idea what you are implying,” Solas said mildly.

“Come on,” she pleaded, following him, draping herself around him, nuzzling against his back and running her hands down his sides, perilously close to the fronts of his thighs. “I know how much you love to show off.”

“Lenneth, I promised this report to your council by the time you have your morning meeting.”

Solas’s tone was exasperated but he did not draw away from her. She knew how much he craved touch, how under that confident, austere veneer he was desperate for it, so desperate he could not even admit it fully, and had to show it in the way he would inevitably take control from her so he could have exactly what he wanted, needed, and from the way he seemed to hate every inch of space between them once they were alone, and bare.

Lenneth liked the role she played in that dance. She liked teasing, teasing, prodding, until she reached the soft, vulnerable center of him, and he had to react. She knew he liked it too. He didn’t know how to let it out otherwise.

“Well, that’s the marvelous thing about being in charge,” she said. “I hereby push your deadline to the afternoon meeting instead.” She traced a line down the front of his left leg with just one finger. He shivered but did not react otherwise.

Solas shook his head. “You know full well that the Seeker asked for the report. She wants to know how it intersects with what she learned from Lord Seeker Lucius. And she will not be present at the afternoon meeting.”

But he was starting to lean back into her now. Lenneth let her wandering finger wander inward, away from the warm muscle of his thigh towards the warmer, softer part of him that she most wanted to touch.

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard for you to amuse me for a little while, and then finish your report later,” she said as she cupped him and felt the beautiful weight of his sex in her hand.

Solas sucked in a breath.

“Lenneth,” he said. “We are in public.”

“And?” she said, cupping him closer, tighter, feeling him start to swell. “Am I not allowed to embrace my lover in public?”

“I believe that you are currently doing much more than embrace me,” he said, voice pitched low. It vibrated in his chest and she wondered if he could make his magic vibrate like that.

“Oh, my mistake then,” she said, withdrawing the touch, stepping back around to the other side of the desk, adding a twirl because she was alive and happy and she knew the dance between them had begun, and she was taking a night off from thinking about anything else. She retreated to the couch, feeling Solas’s eyes on her the whole while, knowing he was eyeing the sway of her ass as she walked.

“I have never known you to be so easily convinced,” Solas said.

“Disappointed?”

“In you? Never.”

It was such an unexpectedly sweet response. His smile was so genuine. Lenneth curled her toes with delight and then slouched down on the couch so she was reclined, and let her legs fall open, and Solas’s gaze was so heavy on the place between them that she could feel it, as real as if it was his hand.

“I must finish this,” he said.

“Would you really have me believe that you can’t finish me at the same time?”

She could see the delicate flaring of his nostrils, the flicker of his gaze from her casually spread legs to the report on his desk. He was weighing his obligations and the challenge she’d just thrown down for him. His parents, whoever they had been, had done well to name their son Pride.

Solas sat down at the desk and picked up his quill, as calm and poised as if their conversation had never happened. Lenneth deflated, dropping her head back against the sofa, and sighing theatrically. But Solas’s timing, as ever, was unerring. At the exact moment that she began to think she really had fallen in love with the most stubborn, unyielding man alive, she felt a row of wet kisses trickling down her neck. They were plush, warm, exquisitely placed. She would have sworn she felt Solas’s breath brushing across her skin with each one, that his weight was braced above her on the couch. But even as she let out a pleased hum and arched up, seeking more, she saw that he was still at the desk.

His left hand was busy with his quill, and his right hand was somewhere beneath the desk, on his knee, perhaps, and that was the trick. That was how he was doing this. He had so much power, so much control, that he could make her feel his presence with just a few subtle, out-of-sight gestures of his fingers.

Lenneth knew exactly what else he could do with a few subtle gestures of his fingers.

The ethereal kisses went lower, between her breasts, towards her navel. She whimpered, then slapped a hand over her mouth. It was late enough that the tower was mostly empty, but there was forever a spy in the rookery above, or one last scholar in the library scribbling notes, and she did have to be some sort of figure of authority at the end of the day.

“I cannot believe I ever found your focus indomitable,” Solas said, a chuckle warming the words.

He ended whatever sentence he was writing with a decisive stab of his quill onto the parchment. She could see the muscles in his right arm tense and before she could respond she felt a wash of sensation all over her body, a rain of a hundred kisses all over her skin, as if her clothes didn’t exist, as if nothing existed except his affection for her. He was kissing her breasts, her shoulders, her earlobes, her thighs, her ankles, the length of her spine. He was kissing her everywhere except her throbbing sex. She felt unbearably hot there, unbearably slick, unbearably swollen, already half undone, and she was still fully clothed, and he had not actually touched her once.

But Lenneth had some pride, too. She bit back the final mewling cry that threatened to spill from her when the rain of kisses faded, the last six or so being placed strategically around her lower belly and the tops of her legs, accompanied with a gentle nuzzling sensation. She propped herself up on her elbows and met Solas’s gaze.

“You know, I really thought your tricks would be more impressive. Is that all you can do?”

“Oh?” Solas said, returning to his writing, looking away from her. “I did not think I had to impress you. I thought I had already won you, my heart.”

And there, again, that disarming sweetness that made her want to melt into the floor, that made her breath catch in her throat. She felt a final ghostly kiss, this one on her forehead. She loved this side of him. But it wasn’t quite what she was after tonight. They could have all of that later. For now, she wanted him to transport her, to shed every pretense, to make her forget they were anything but animals.

“Didn’t you say something to me about Halamshiral? How no victory is permanent?” she replied, sitting up now - but keeping her legs spread wide, her feet planted firmly on the stone floor, and invitation and a challenge alike.

“Ah, so you do listen to my - what did you call them? My ramblings?” Solas continued writing, and now there were gentle fingers whispering up and down the outside of her legs, hands kneading the tension from her shoulders and running through her hair. Lenneth moaned in spite of herself, widened her legs further.

“Occasionally. And if I didn’t?” She did not bother to hide the breathlessness in her voice, even if she did not yet beg for him to stop teasing and fuck her already.

“That would be your choice. But I do so enjoy talking to you. You have the loveliest voice, you know.”

And that was when his magic placed a sloppy, open-mouthed, hungry kiss right on her cunt.

Lenneth arched, keened, scrabbled for purchase on the sofa, tried to press forward into a touch that wasn’t there. Other sensations joined that of his mouth - she felt hands spreading her legs, pushing them onto the sofa, felt the bulk of his shoulders, and even if she stared at the empty air in front of her, even if she stared at Solas, whose eyes were lowered demurely to the report, she could not convince herself that the feelings were anything less than utterly real.

“Oh, please, oh, more, yes, more -” she cut off her own babbling, felt her face go flame red, rode against the shape of his jaw and the press of his tongue. Her clit twitched, grew, ached for more.

“More of what?” Solas said. “I thought my talents were not impressive.”

That was, of course (of course) when two fingers slid inside of her, when he sealed his lips around her aching clit and sucked, when she had to bite down on her wrist, and even then her desperate whimpers still echoed off of the stone walls, and even then the ravens in the rookery rustled and clucked.

He kept working her. Lenneth’s smallclothes clung to her body, each stroke of his fingers and his tongue bringing a fresh wave of slick welling up from within her, and she was pulsing with her own need, writhing against the couch, shuddering every time he fluttered his tongue around her clit and calmly continued writing. The space between them was an ocean now, a gap so vast it took her breath away.

“Please, please - I want you and this, you and this, you and this.” She babbled her own refrain, not even really sure of her own meaning, just knowing that she needed all of him, every last scrap of Solas she could have, that she needed to be totally and utterly overwhelmed.

She opened her eyes. Solas had stopped writing. He was staring at her, hard, the muscles in his jaw working, like he really was there between her legs, eating her like she was his last meal. They locked eyes. He guided her closer, closer, closer to that precipice, she felt all the pleasure gather in one place, felt it about to explode outwards, felt a scream building in her throat - and then all the sensations stopped. She hovered, locked, at that precipice, panting, her throat raw.

“Upstairs,” Solas said, that one word a command. Then, smiling slyly: “If you can stand.”

Between the two of them and their ability to warp the Veil around themselves for speed and silence and cover, they made it up to her bedroom relatively unnoticed. Lenneth started shucking off her clothes on the stairs. She wasn’t sure who reached for who first - if it was Solas who clutched at her, or she who clutched at him, but before they ever reached the bed they were wrapped up in each other, clawing, biting, kissing. There was no magic now, other than the magic of their own connection, of how they bent and swayed together.

“More,” Lenneth said, reaching between them, cupping and grasping him, already ramrod straight and painfully hard in her hand. Solas made a muffled, gutted sound against her throat, where he was leaving sucking kisses behind. His hips rocked forward and so did hers.

“Bed,” Solas said.

And like that, Lenneth knew she had him. He had gone from his usual eloquence to single words, to ripping the hem of his tunic as he drew it over his head, to dropping his jawbone necklace with a clatter against the stone floor instead of setting it gently aside - he had gone from carefully controlled forays with his magic to a crackling power that seethed around him as he followed her onto the bed, crawling over her, his eyes all hunger and his hands all need.

“More,” she begged again. “More, vhenan, please, more -”

She was still soaked from their earlier play, and that had to be the only reason it didn't hurt when Solas drove himself into her, filling her up. She looked down the length of their bodies to watch his cock pumping in and out of her, the steady, driving rhythm of his need, the way her body parted for his, the shine of her slick on his rosy, rigid flesh.

“More,” she whined again. “I can't ever have enough of you, give me more.”

“Patience.” Single words again, this one little more than a growl.

“No.” Lenneth nipped at his chin, his throat, the corner of his mouth, squeezed herself around him.

And like that, she was on her stomach, and he was hauling her hips back, keeping her legs spread, pressing down between her shoulder blades, spreading her with two fingers. She ached with her own emptiness, leaned towards him, utterly wanton now.

“I am going to fill you with my magic,” Solas said. She could not see his face but she could hear his harsh breathing. “Will that satisfy you at last?” He stroked the length of her spine. It was a soothing, gently touch that made her skin prickle.

“No,” Lenneth said. “I want you, too. I want you everywhere.”

Solas's hand paused in its journey on her back. Lenneth turned her head so she could see him. His blue eyes gone black with desire, the flush on his high, sharp cheekbones, the angle of his jaw, his parted lips.

“I do,” she said, raw in her own need, her own vulnerability. She was spread before him, needing him, opened up to the most primal parts of her self. Nothing else mattered but this. She had wanted that tonight. After everything she had given for others. She just wanted this and all it meant.

Solas slid two fingers into her, curled them down, and her belly hollowed out with pleasure. He pressed on that rough spot within in her over and over again.

“I want all of you, too,” he said. “Will you give me that?”

“Of course,” she said. A wave of pleasures rippled through her, made her wetter, made Solas groan, finger her harder. “Please, gods, Solas - fuck me.”

Solas pulled her up by her waist - their bodies were flush together - he turned, they stumbled a bit, they ended up against the headboard of the bed, Lenneth spread wide between his legs. Another moment of fumbling, hands and legs - a lifting - and he was inside her again, but still this time. It was his mana that was stirring, rising, thickening from the ethereality of the Fade into something she could truly feel. Something pressing against her opening, close against Solas's length, rubbing shyly, teasingly, not quite breaching her.

A shiver ran through Lenneth's whole body.

“Oh, please, please, please -”

“You beg so prettily,” Solas said. She could feel his grin against her cheek.

The magic pressed inward by the smallest margin, stretching and burning her. She was full of Solas's body and she would have his magic now too, the essence of him, every ounce of him. She thought of him coming like this, filling her up the way she liked best, how he would groan and shudder behind her. Her cunt clenched. The magic slid in further. It was heavy, thick, blunt, pulsing with energy. Solas muffled a sound into her shoulder. Lenneth squeezed around him again, whined high and loud at the fullness, the vibration coming off the magic, the flex of Solas's own flesh within her.

“Wicked thing,” Solas murmured, rocking his hips, easing the magic in further.

“More, more, more,” Lenneth begged, and probably more besides that. She was not really in the business of paying much attention to what she was saying at the moment. All of her focus was reserved for swiveling and grinding her hips against that all consuming pressure within her.

“Needy thing,” he murmured.

And then he thrust hard, up into her, and she was so full she could not breathe or speak at all.

She burned, she ached, she felt herself on the verge of coming, her core so hot and so wet and so built up that surely all that pleasure would spill over soon. Solas seemed to sense that. He withdrew.

“No - no no no, please, vhenan, I need you, I need you to fuck me, right now, please, fuck me -”

She was being loud (as usual) and she did not care (as usual). Solas chuckled. The sound reverberated between their sweat-slick bodies. Lenneth looked down between them, caught a glimpse of the swollen red head of him, leaking clear fluid, the way his cock twitched and bobbed and the way he held back his own need.

“Noisy thing, too,” he said. “Perhaps I shall find a way to silence you. Would you like that, my heart? To be so full of me you cannot even speak?”

“Yes, please, yes -”

“Then have -” he paused, inched himself in, nestled his head into her folds. “Patience.”

Then Lenneth watched as the magic swelled beside him, a pale, shimmering phallus that found its own way into her body. They slid in together. She tried to watch but her eyes rolled back and it was good, so good, so overwhelming in the best way, there was nothing but sensation, pressure, friction, closeness. Her own magic hummed with the touch of his, the core of her connection to the Fade swelling at the same time as her clit, the walls of her cunt. She started up her sounds again, her noisy cries and moans and pleas. Solas worked her, held onto her hips to give himself stability, bounced her up and down and both the cocks filling her up. It was too much and not enough, when she came she would only get tighter and tighter, and she was going to come, her skin was all sparks and she was shouting now, feeling the wave building, her head tipped back -

And that, of course, was when her mouth was filled as well.

If she had not watched Solas’s own cock disappear inside her body, if she could not feel the slow, powerful pumping of his hips beneath hers, she would have sworn that that was what happened - that he had pushed himself into her mouth and was fucking her there, too. The cock that filled her mouth was smooth, thick, heavy, warm, as urgent in its movement as the two inside her sex were.

Lenneth only shouted all the louder. She was sweating. Solas was too. Beneath the sound of her own pleasure (trapped in her throat as it was) she could still hear him grunting his own joy. It was perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect - the rough jostling of their bodies, the ecstasy of feeling him everywhere, of not being able to think of anything but how fucking good it all felt, how wet she was, how tight - tighter, tighter, tighter, she’d come so close the first two times, this time would she tip over the edge, would all that pleasure spill out in wave after wave, would that make Solas come too -

Solas nuzzled against her ear. He pinched her nipple. How did he still have a hand free? He went slower, harder with each thrust, and the sheer power, the power in him - he had such control over his magic and over himself -

“Do you think you will ever doubt me again?” he crooned.

The cock in her mouth slid further, teased the back of her throat. She tasted salt. She wanted it to spill all over her mouth. She wanted him to spill all over her belly. Her clit twitched, twitched, twitched. She wanted to come. She was babbling all of that but he couldn’t hear it, of course. Although - maybe he did, because he bit down on her shoulder and resumed one last driving rhythm, filled her, filled her, filled her, sent a spark of magic down to the place between her thighs and then -

And then her whole world was light, and sound, and pleasure.

She was coming, coming, coming, jerks and spasms, long keening cries, her whole body shaking, and she felt the ethereal shaft in her mouth jerk and spasm too, felt Solas’s whole body go tense - felt the magic dissipate, suddenly, half of the fullness leaving her body just as the last pulses wracked her - and then he pulled himself free from her body just in time to splash her with his spend, groaning and shaking all the while behind her, and he had been full, too - he went on and on, rope after rope, until he too was weak with the force of his pleasure.

Lenneth lay back against him, trembling. Solas barely held her up. He was panting. Lenneth was sore, and exhausted - and alive, so alive, and in love, so in love. She did not ever want to move or think again.

“Are you well?” Solas asked some time later. Lenneth wondered if she had dozed off and worried him. But, then again, he was like that - solicitous, caring, aware of her needs, perhaps even to the detriment of his own.

“I am perfect,” she said. He hummed and kissed her shoulder in response.

“Shall I clean you off?”

“After you worked so hard to make a mess of me?”

He laughed. She burrowed against him, determined not to let him move her off of him. She could not see his face this way, but she could feel every part of him - could feel him softening against her thigh, could feel the rhythm of his heart - and that mattered far more.

“Oh, Lenneth,” he said, absently. Maybe he was falling asleep, too.

“Are you well?” she asked, no mockery in her repetition of his question.

Solas was quiet a moment before answering. She wondered if it disconcerted him when she pushed him to lose control, or even if it just drained him. She waited for his answer, attentive.

“I am more than well,” he said. “As always, vhenan, you - transport me.”

She wondered what he meant by that. It was an odd choice of words. A careful one.

“I hope I transport you somewhere good,” she said. “Especially when we play like this.”

This time she had to turn around to see his face, to be sure. She flopped over inelegantly, so that she was still lying on top of him, but face to face this time. He was more flushed than she expected, but his face had a dreamy relaxation.

Solas cupped her face in both his hands, like she was something precious.

“Always,” he said, kissing each of her cheeks. “Except, perhaps, when you refuse to clean up, and then roll over on top of me, and make a mess of me too.”

Lenneth laughed, and that made her more sore, but once again it was the best kind of soreness - the kind that came from connection, from happiness. From feelings that overwhelmed.

Word Vomit Wednesday - Romanticizing Rejection

Welcome to Word Vomit Wednesday! A series of blog posts where I attempt to process thoughts and feelings around a specific topic or current events that I, and sometimes the rest of the Internet, ruminate obsessively about. All thoughts/opinions/experiences are my own (unless otherwise indicated); I don’t claim anything that I write to represent anyone other than myself.

Recently, I’ve made some more deliberate efforts to create community and meet people now that I’m more settled and steady in Tucson. This need to venture out and start testing the waters led me to sign up for a three-month virtual community that was being beta-tested by my life-coach. The calls were scheduled to happen once a month for two hours with a max of up to 30 people. They began with an exercise to ground us and any anxieties we might be bringing into the call, a brief ice-breaker to get acquainted with one another, then a specific topic that the majority voted for would be presented, either by my life coach or a volunteer from the group that we would build a conversation around. On the last call that we had in November, the topic was about rejection. Mostly around intimate or romantic relationships, although we also got into the ways we’ve felt rejected by others in often small, subtle ways that resulted in big impacts on our lives. Other than discussing those smaller moments I admit, I was not interested in the topic. I couldn’t quite figure out what was so compelling about rejection.

Then, as I do, I started thinking about it. I read a Refinery29 article that talked about the man who invented “Rejection Therapy,” a game where the aim is to get rejected by others to build resilience to the fear of rejection, and watched a TedTalk where another man who took the game and challenged himself to vlog getting rejected for 100 days and how it changed his life for the better. As I thought, and read, and watched I came to an understanding that underneath the blanket of “rejection” seems to be where the issues actually lie. Fear of putting yourself out there. Not wanting to open yourself up to potentially painful situations. Anxious/avoidant/dysfunctional attachment issues. Asking for help or for something that you want or need. Tapping into your own creativity. Setting a boundary. The rejection itself doesn’t seem to be the actual issue. The underlying issue is showing up in the world fully as yourself and the reality that you may have to make some tough decisions regarding your relationships when certain people are not so accepting. Sometimes the fear of rejection is also about how a rejection is relayed. Humans are notorious for responding to others in a multitude of fucked up ways. Ghosting, public humiliation, abuse, torture, condescension/belittling/minimizing, interrupting, ignoring, attacking, defending, stonewalling, projecting/deflecting, lying… the list goes on and on. Given all of this, I feel like rejection and the ways it can be demonstrated is more telling of the source and is imperative information to have for our own health and well-being.

Pain, in and of itself, is important. Not in the bullshit “no pain no gain” way, but in that it is a part of the human condition in the same way that joy, sadness, excitement and other emotions and sensations are a part of the human condition. When feelings come up for us, they present us with data based on internal and external stimuli and it is our job to interpret that data as accurately as possible to then take any action that may be required of us. We can have a tendency to have difficulty when thinking about our feelings this way because in this society we are essentially conditioned to cut off communication between ourselves and our emotions and other physiological sensations our bodies use to relay important messages to us. It can make it very hard, scary even, to retrain ourselves to listen to ourselves. Instead we choose to ignore feelings when they come up, maybe become annoyed with ourselves when uncomfortable feelings arise, binge eat to try to physically shove discomfort down, shop compulsively because we think something external will quiet or “fix” the internal, and develop a variety of other coping mechanisms because we don’t know what to do with them and probably had never been given the space to safely explore what they could be trying to tell us. When pain gets activated either physically or emotionally, it usually means a major boundary has been crossed, or something is wrong and needs to be checked out right away. When we stub our toe walking into the couch going from one room to the next in our house, we learn to pay more attention to our surroundings and adapt. When we’ve been running around from errand to errand all day and our body begins to ache, we know we’ve reached our limit and need to take a break. And when we come down with some illness and are coughing so hard that it hurts to even breathe, we go to the doctor. Because we feel pain, we are able to take charge and make any number of possible necessary changes to our lives. It can become trickier to know what action to take when our feelings get hurt (because it’s both a physical and  largely internal response), but really the same principles apply. When someone says or does something that hurts your feelings you figure out what nerve that hit and determine if this is a person you keep in your life and to what extent based on your particular boundaries and needs. Easier said than done, I know. 

On the flip side of this, and as the title of this essay indicates, we are not only a society that teaches us to fear pain and any “negative” feelings but we are also one that is OBSESSED with suffering. Everything from our narratives about tragic “starving artists,” the 24-hour news cycle, the internet, the romanticization of drama in our relationships, violence permeates almost every aspect of our culture. There is a huge difference between pain and suffering though. Pain, like I said before, is there to relay a message to us that we then interpret, take action on, and release. Suffering, on the other hand, is something we do to ourselves. We replay old narratives on loops that keep us trapped in emotional purgatory and we take our issues out on others instead of tackling them head on and making difficult but necessary changes in our lives. And sometimes we even allow and cause the suffering of others because we benefit from the exploitation of others. So, it’s entirely possible that it may not even be pain from rejection we’re all trying to avoid, but all pain because we’re already so overloaded with so much pain AND suffering. We are so desensitized to pain in a variety of forms, no wonder our relationship with it is dysfunctional. We may honestly, be too tired to even think about engaging with it. Unfortunately, when we ignore it we allow injustice to flourish and we lose out on so much. Not only do we not see all the choices and opportunities laid out before us, or take risks in relationships, we are so used to fear that we end up rejecting ourselves. Our worlds become so small and we do this to ourselves. And this is the main difference between pain and suffering. Pain releases when we recognize it and take action, suffering is what we do to ourselves by choice even when there are so many other options available to us.  

We will often choose to reject and betray ourselves before stepping into the unknown. I am no stranger to this myself. There have been so many times that I had an inkling to do that thing or talk to that person or allow myself to want something and I never would. I would make up some excuse or other and not give myself a chance. “Well, if they’re interested they’ll say something. I don’t want to bother them.” “That sounds like a really cool job, but I don’t think I’m qualified.” “I’m not going to submit this project for the competition, I probably don’t have a shot at winning.” This year I’ve been recognizing many of the ways in which I reject myself, often so subtly, that I barely even know I’m doing it. Because it’s typically modeled and learned behavior and unless we start doing healing work, rejecting ourselves just seems normal. It takes a lot of work just to hear the whispers: “Don’t go out tonight, everybody sucks so it’s not like you’d meet anyone decent anyway,” “Don’t speak your truth because everyone you care about will abandon you,” “You have to hustle or you’ll never be worthy of success or love.” There are probably millions of examples and they’ll show up differently for different people. Not only do we adopt these behaviors and narratives, we let them drive everything we do because we believe they are part of our identities. It’s a lie. The fact is, you get to decide who you want to be and how you want to show up in the world. It takes practice, work, and a lot of self-discovery. We also face many obstacles and various forms of systemic oppression that are so much larger than any one individual, which can also be another reason why showing up as yourself can feel dangerous. As difficult and scary as it may be, it’s also worth it even if you don’t initially know  how you’re going to do it or where it’s going to take you. 

There’s this game I really like to play on my phone called Flow. It’s kind of like a connect-the-dots puzzle. You have a shape with multiple pairs of dots inside that you have to connect without impeding the other paths of the other connecting dots. What I like most about this game is that once you get one path, the other ones start to become more clear. Flow is all about taking that first step on one path and connecting the dots as you go. The paths are not always linear and straightforward. Sometimes there are twists, sharp-corners and backtracking. But once you start toward something; an idea, goal, etc., worlds you never knew existed start to open up. Toward the end of my studies to get my certificate in audio engineering and production the faculty held a competition for the post-production projects we’d been working on. I hadn’t planned on submitting mine even though I loved it and was really proud of the work I did and how it turned out. The moment I was aware of the competition I heard a whisper that said, “It’s probably not as good as other people’s.” Flash forward: I won first place. After seeing my project, a friend in my class said I should submit it. For whatever reason, I decided to internalize his belief in me and my talent and I went for it. Had I not done that I would have missed out, not only on winning the top prize, but on being asked about my process and being celebrated for something really cool that I did and integrating more self-confidence and the message that I deserve to be in the running for the things I want into my psyche. What I learned from that and other experiences since, is that on the flip side of rejection is courage.

Katie Louchheim would like to wish everyone a very Merry Impeachmas!

Kidge ( Keith and pidge)

Thank you for the ask! I really enjoy Kidge, and I thought a rival hackers AU would be a lot of fun for them! I hope you enjoy! :)

The first time Keith heard the name Pidge Gunderson, he barely gave it a second thought. Like most things in life, it didn't affect him or anyone he cared about. Pidge Gunderson was just another new recruit looking to make a little money and a name for himself. Keith had been doing this for years, and he didn't exactly mesh well with many people outside of his core team, so the chances of him running into Pidge again after the initial welcome thread was slim to none.

Unfortunately, Pidge obviously had no idea how to stay in his own lane.

Keith had spent months working on the job Pidge finished overnight, which was frustrating enough, but Pidge's assurance that really, it hadn't been that hard only made it that much more infuriating. He vented to one of the few people in charge that he could stand, and thankfully Shiro agreed to talk to the new guy about it.

Pidge Gunderson had the nerve to come back with a simple, "I thought we could work on any job. There's no rules about claiming things."

Which was technically accurate, but also technically rude.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it," Keith sent in a private message to Shiro, despite about twelve messages urging him not to.

The next day, four jobs Pidge Gunderson had expressed interest in were done by none other than the Red Paladin.

Keith never was a fan of being subtle.

Katie was still somewhat new to the world of being a white hat. After years of dabbling on the less legal side of things, her brother had introduced her to a friend of his who ran a group that did things within the limits of the law. Matt assured her it would be a safer and more lucrative way to spend her time. Given how expensive colleges were, she couldn't exactly argue with that.

Shiro gave her a crash course in how to do the work, meeting her a couple times in person to help answer any questions and make sure she felt comfortable with the group.

Of course, that was all before the Red Paladin issue came up.

Honestly, it was Red’s own fault for not doing his homework and missing the obvious shortcut she found in about ten minutes of research. Besides, Shiro never told her any rules about people claiming jobs. It was first come, first served.

Red, however, seemed to have a different understanding of how the system worked, because finishing four jobs in a row just because she was interested was a pretty clear declaration of war.

"Listen, don't worry about it. I'll talk to him," Shiro assured her in a private message.

"It's fine. Really." She smirked as she responded. "Let me handle this."

Katie staked an unofficial claim on a job that she knew would take months before quietly working on at least twelve more that Red had commented on. If Red was trying to scare her off, he really had no idea who he was dealing with.

Keith was almost impressed. Pidge really knew his stuff, but so did Keith. Sure, misdirection worked in Pidge's favor once, but Keith only had to make sure it wouldn't happen again. After all, he had years of experience on his side, and Pidge was new to this.

He took to working on jobs in the hours he noticed Pidge was usually offline, even communicating through private messages with his fellow paladins to consult on some of the more difficult projects. Yellow Paladin was especially helpful, offering up suggestions and resources that often made the difference between rubbing another win in Pidge's face and losing to him again.

Red was smart, she'd give him that. He worked out her schedule and his was so erratic that she didn't have a chance to repay the favor and work during his off hours. So, she tried something decidedly sneakier.

She made friends with his inner circle.

As it turned out Blue Paladin had a bit of a grudge against Red, and he was happy to feed her some information about what Red was working on. Apparently, Red had a knack for making enemies, which really didn't surprise her at all.

With Blue helping her out, Katie started evening out the score, sniping a job or two minutes before Red was finished. One time, she managed to finish a second before Red did, and that victory was probably her favorite so far.

Keith had no idea how Pidge was doing it. Somehow, she was honing in on every job he started, including several he never even mentioned in public. Someone had to be telling her what he was sharing in private, which meant it had to be a fellow paladin.

Yellow Paladin would never help her undermine him, and neither would Shiro, which really only left one possibility.

Honestly, he should have realized it sooner, because Blue had always bragged about being his rival, always ranting about how they were always neck and neck. Really, he was barely in the same league as Keith, and they both knew it, but normally Keith could ignore him without a second thought.

Now, he could finally use Blue to his benefit.

Red must have figured out her source, because overnight, everything Blue told her turned out to be wrong. That put her back at square one, but luckily she had a few months of work under her belt now, so she was a little more familiar with the system. Even better, she was a little more familiar with Red now. She knew what kind of job he liked best, and she knew what he tried to avoid.

Katie waited a week, pretending to follow all of the bad advice Blue sent her way, letting Red get just a little too comfortable, letting him think he'd managed to trick her.

Then, she sniped a job from his favorite client right under his nose.

Pidge was clever, but he definitely wasn't smart. Keith hadn't exactly held back before, but after losing the perfect job, he was ready to break some rules.

He was halfway through the plan when Shiro called him. Shiro never called him.

"We need to meet."

"In person?"

Shiro was quiet for a moment. "Yeah."

Keith's stomach dropped, and he swallowed back a rush of anxiety. "Okay."

"What's Kerberos?"

Matt sighed. "It's a top secret project. Dad and I were both asked to join in. It's supposed to last a year."

"And you're going where?" Katie asked, frowning.

"That's confidential," her father answered, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "But, we'll check in whenever we can."

"This is a huge opportunity for us." Matt smiled. "Shiro's going, too."

"But..." Katie shook her head. "What are you doing?"

"Confidential. Sorry." Matt made a face. "I wish we could tell you."

"Can I go, too?"

Matt and their father shared a look. "No." Her father sat back. "I'm sorry."

"But, we'll tell you all about it when we come back!"

"That doesn't make any sense." Keith scowled, his grip on the lukewarm mug of coffee tightening the more he and Shiro talked. "You're going to a secret place to work on something secret for a year?"

"This is a once in a lifetime chance," Shiro explained, patient and gentle as ever. "I wish you could come with me, but-"

"Why did you say yes?" Keith snapped.

"Because I want to go."

Silence filled the space between them, and Keith could hardly breathe past the pain and pressure building in his chest. "Fine."

"Keith-"

"It's fine."

Shiro grabbed his hand. "Listen. I'll check in, okay?"

"You just said you can't communicate with anyone on the outside," Keith pointed out, perhaps a little harsher than he meant to.

"You think that's going to stop me?" Shiro's lips quirked into a familiar smile, and Keith finally relaxed.

"Okay. But, who's in charge of the paladins while you're gone?"

"I think we both know the answer to that." Shiro leaned forward. "Try to go easy on Pidge while I'm gone, though, okay?"

"No promises," Keith grumbled.

Matt checked in a few times a week, often with a quick text from an unknown number. Katie treasured every word, happy to hear from them, and relieved to hear that Matt was enjoying the work.

Red even seemed to have forgiven her for stealing his work. They stayed out of each other's way, which meant a steadier stream of work and less wasted time. Overall, things were going well.

Until the day she received a phone call from an unknown number.

Normally, she ignored calls she wasn't expecting, but she was hoping for some news from Matt, and maybe he found a way to call for once. So, she answered, "Hello?"

Matt's voice barely cut through a burst of static. "Katie?"

"Matt?"

"Katie!" His voice was rising with an undeniable note of panic. "Something's wrong. You have to send help. We're-"

The line cut out, and Katie frantically tried to call back, her fingers shaking and tears building in the corners of her eyes. Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong. The line was out of service, and Matt wasn't answering on the device he'd been using to text her.

An hour later, her mother received a call, informing them that Matt and Sam Holt died in a tragic accident. The details were classified and they were so sorry for their loss.

Katie glared at them, puffy-eyed and shaking with rage. This wasn't an accident, and she had no intention of letting them get away with saying it was.

Keith woke up to over four hundred messages from Pidge Gunderson.

Most just consisted of his screen name, urgently asking him to reply, but when Keith reached the top, his heart stopped.

"My family was involved in a project called Kerberos and now people are saying they're dead. I need your help. This wasn't an accident."

The next message was a link to an article about an explosion at a government facility. Three men had been lost, and authorities were investigating the source...

No remains found...

The fire had destroyed everything...

His chest tightened more with each word he read, but he couldn’t look away. Finally, he skimmed through the rest of the messages before scrolling down to the most recent one, sent as soon as he’d logged in. "We need to talk." Then, there was an address. The same place Shiro had asked Keith to meet him, right before leaving for that stupid, top secret project.

Keith barely took the time to change before bolting out the door and heading to the coffee shop. If Pidge was telling the truth, Shiro was...

No.

Shiro couldn't be. Shiro had to be fine. This had to be a mistake. It had to be a different Kerberos project. Shiro had promised to come back.

Katie kept an eye on the door while she worked. She was on her fourth cup, and her fingers trembled when she reached for another sip. Still, she couldn't stop. Matt and her father needed her. Even if Red didn't show up, at least she could say she tried.

The door chimed, admitting a disheveled man with a red jacket and fingerless gloves. He scanned the shop, finally settling on her and pausing only briefly before looking elsewhere.

"Red?" she asked, just loud enough to catch his attention.

He frowned and approached. "Pidge?"

She nodded.

"I thought you were-"

"I know." She glanced back at the screen. "Shiro thought everyone would take me more seriously if I used a fake name and let people assume I was a guy."

He was quiet for a long moment before he took a seat across from her. "You knew Shiro?"

"He's my brother's friend." She blinked back another irritating wave of tears at the mention. "He introduced me. And they went to Kerberos together."

He flinched and stared down at the table. "So, Shiro's really..."

"Matt called me and said something was wrong." She swallowed, hoping it would help with rough, desperate edge in her voice. "He said he needed help. It wasn't an accident. And I don't believe they're dead."

Finally, Red let out a long breath. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t question her at all past that. He just relaxed and pulled out a laptop of his own that he set on the table in front of him. "What do you need?"

Arplis - News: Everything cruisers need to know about the new Sky Princess ship

It’s been a long time coming, but there’s finally — finally! — a new ship for North American fans of Princess Cruises: the just-unveiled, 3,660-passenger Sky Princess. Yeah, sure, the “Love Boat line” rolled out a fancy new vessel, Majestic Princess, just two-and-a-half years ago. But, initially at least, that ship was aimed exclusively at the China market. It’s been more than five years since travelers based in North America had an all-new Princess ship to call their own. So, if you’re a loyal Princess cruiser, that means you’re probably pretty excited about Sky Princess, which departed from Athens on Sunday on its inaugural voyage. After getting a sneak peek at the vessel over the weekend during a short pre-inaugural “shakedown cruise,” I will say this: There’s more on board than you might think. At first glance, Sky Princess appears to be almost identical to the last few vessels unveiled by the line. It has the same central Piazza lined with cafes, bars, shops and restaurants, and its signature steakhouse, Lotus Spa and namesake theater are all right there where you’d expect to find them. (Photo by Gene Sloan/The Points Guy) But it doesn’t take long to realize that, in its hallmark quiet and subtle way, Princess has made significant changes to this vessel — as compared to Majestic Princess and its two predecessors, Regal Princess and Royal Princess, all of which share the same basic architecture. All four are part of the Royal Class, which began rolling out in 2013. As is always the case with Princess, you won’t see any radically over-the-top new features such as the deck-top roller coaster that Carnival is planning for its soon-to-debut Mardi Gras, or the record-size water slide that Royal Caribbean just added to its Navigator of the Seas. Compared to most of its big-ship rivals, Princess is known for a more serene, almost “old school” sort of cruising that isn’t about a lot of deck-top amusements. The fifth-biggest brand after Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess has none of those upper deck flashes: no giant water parks, go-kart tracks, rock climbing walls or kiddie splash zones. And that’s on purpose. Princess executives long ago decided not to engage in what they call the “amusement park arms race” taking place between lines operating big, resort-like ships. Princess is a line that sticks to the basics, with top decks mostly featuring relaxing pool and lounge zones. But you will find several new elements on Sky Princess that are groundbreaking in their own way, as well as quite a few tweaks to the basic Princess ship design that, for the most part, make it much better. Indeed, for Princess regulars, this might just be the best Princess ship yet. Here’s what to expect if you book a cruise on Sky Princess. How to book a cruise using points and miles The biggest suites ever on a Princess ship Perhaps the most noticeable additions to Sky Princess are the giant twin Sky Suites that lord over the main pool area on the top of the ship. Measuring more than 1,800 square feet a piece, these are by far the biggest suites ever on a Princess vessel, which hasn’t really toyed with big suites. They’re also the first cabins at the line that can accommodate more than four people. With two bedrooms plus a living room with a pullout sofa, they’re designed for up to five people. (Courtesy of Princess Cruises) That said, as I saw during a tour of the two complexes, these aren’t the sort of truly epic suites with huge interior living spaces you’ll find on the latest Royal Caribbean or Regent Seven Seas ships. If that’s what you’re after, Princess still isn’t your line. It turns out, more than half the touted square footage of the Sky Suites is occupied by giant wraparound balconies, leaving less than 1,000 square feet for the interior spaces (which, a bit to my surprise, almost seemed cramped). What the suites do offer is a pretty awesome home-theater experience. From lounge chairs on their elevated balconies, you have an eye-level view across the pool deck to the ship’s massive Movies Under the Star LED screen, which plays films at night. Not only is this the best seat in the house, but (for an extra charge, yet to be set) you can pick the movie that will play on the giant screen. In other words, if you’re staying in one of these suites, you can subject the entire vessel to your movie preferences. My take? Clearly, the balconies steal the show. Princess claims they’re the biggest balconies in the cruise industry, which is a bit of a stretch (the massive Regent Suite on Regent Seven Seas’ Seven Seas Explorer has more balcony space). Still, they’re absolutely stellar for entertaining. If you’re traveling with a big group of friends or an affinity group, we could see booking one of these suites just to use as the ultimate party-at-sea spot — that is, if you can afford it. The Sky Suites also come with the highest price tag ever for a Princess cabin, with fares for seven-night sailings starting around $7,000 per person. New balcony cabins and smaller suites, too Eagle-eyed Princess fans will notice that Sky Princess is a tad bulkier at its front than earlier Royal Class vessels. The line has added a partial deck to make room for not just the giant Sky Suites, but also 52 more cabins. These include 38 new balcony cabins and six ocean-view cabins around the adults-only Retreat area on Deck 17. But the big story (in addition to the Sky Suites) is the addition of six new Penthouse Suites, which are more than twice the size of standard balcony cabins and feature wide balconies. There also are two new forward-facing Window Suites that are even larger. Though they lack balconies, they sit at the corners of the front of Deck 17, and offer spectacular views over the bow. (Courtesy of Princess Cruises) In all, Sky Princess boasts 46 suites: 10 more than earlier vessels in the Royal Class. That’s a big increase, and a sign that suites are in hot demand at the line. If you’re the kind of Princess cruiser who wouldn’t be caught cruising in anything smaller than a minisuite, you’ll be pleased with the inventory on this ship. Of course, there’s a downside to all the added suites and cabins. By ever so slightly increasing the passenger count on Sky Princess as compared to its older sisters, these extra rooms are ever so slightly making the public areas of the vessel a bit more crowded. Sky Princess wasn’t running anywhere near full during the pre-inaugural “shakedown cruise” I boarded, so I couldn’t really get a sense of whether the extra passenger count will be noticeable. But it’s not a huge increase. At double occupancy of two passengers per cabin, we’re talking about an additional 108 passengers across a vessel designed for 3,660 people. That’s only a 3% jump. A revamped pool and sun decks Princess went into big-time tinkering mode when it came to the top decks of Sky Princess. Again, you won’t find any industry-first attractions, but there is more pool, hot tub and lounge space on the vessel than on any of the earlier Royal Class ships. (Photo by Gene Sloan/The Points Guy) At the heart of the change is a revamp of the main pool area on Deck 16, also known as the Lido Deck. There are now two large pools (instead of one large pool and a smaller plunge pool), as well as three hot tubs, up from two on the earlier vessels; expanded lounge areas; and a relocated SeaView bar (which devout Princess cruisers will note no longer has nearly as good a sea view). The additions were made by removing the mid-deck dancing fountain feature found on other Royal Class ships and drastically scaling back the over-the-ocean SeaWalk feature, which was initially touted as one of the signature attractions of the class. Other top-deck changes include a doubling of the number of hot tubs (from two to four) in the sunning areas along the sides of Deck 17. There’s also a new pool at the very back of the ship on Deck 16, dubbed the Wake View. It’s backed by a bar and just behind the Horizon Court buffet in a space that, on earlier Royal Class-ships, is just a bar zone. The adults-only Retreat Pool and extra-charge Sanctuary near the front of Sky Princess have also been reconfigured. Here, Princess hits a home run. It’s great that Princess added more places on the top decks to soak, whether in a pool or a hot tub. On a ship designed for more than 3,000 people, there really can never be too many places to get your toes wet, particularly on a sea day. The changes to the main pool area, in particular, also have improved the flow of people across the deck. New twists on dining and entertainment The interior public areas of Sky Princess have been tweaked quite a bit, too, though not in a way that anyone but a rabid Princess lover might immediately notice. As top executives like to say, Princess is a line that doesn’t do “revolution” when it comes to the design of each new vessel. It’s all about “evolution,” and in a gradual, don’t-upset-the-apple-cart sort of way. Princess likes its (many) regulars to see a consistent product as they hop from vessel to vessel around the world. (Courtesy of Princess Cruises) So, the basic layout of the ship’s main interior public decks (Decks 5 through 7) is pretty much the same as on earlier Royal Class ships, but with a somewhat lighter color scheme palate of neutral creams, browns and blues, with a few splashes of yellow and orange thrown in for good measure. As is Princess tradition, it’s nothing flashy like you’d find on a Carnival or Norwegian Cruise Line ship. Classy continues to be the mantra. What has been added is a French eatery around the Piazza, Bistro Sur La Mer, with dishes by chef Emmanuel Renaut (whose restaurant in the French Alps boasts three Michelin stars). In a location that had been a lounge on earlier Royal Class ships, it comes with a $29 per person cover charge, just like the signature Crown Grill steakhouse. There’s also, finally, al fresco restaurant seating at two of the restaurants around the Piazza (the bistro and a redesigned Alfredo’s pizzeria across the way). Princess is sort of late to the party when it comes to al fresco dining, which has been a growing trend at lines like Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. The Sky Princess designers also tinkered with the layout of one of the hottest places to grab a cocktail on Royal Class ships: The centrally-located bar outside the Crown Grill (named the Wheelhouse Bar on earlier vessels, now the Crown Grill Bar). The rectangular bar for this venue was, notably, moved from the side of the space to the center and reoriented to face the crossing corridor, which is no longer set off with waist-high dividers. This makes the space feel far more open and inviting. The bar also got a new lineup of concoctions dreamed up by mixologist Rob Floyd (of Paramount Network’s “Bar Rescue”). Other changes include the addition of a jazz venue next to the casino; a revamped Gelato outlet; a more contemporary aesthetic in the main dining rooms; and an overhauled menu at the line’s extra-charge Italian restaurant, Sabatini’s. (Photo by Gene Sloan/The Points Guy) In a final piece of the puzzle, Princess also is joining the escape room craze with its first escape room on a ship. Alas, this  still wasn’t ready over the weekend, so I couldn’t test it, and it’s not expected to open until December. I would give high marks to most of the changes to interior spaces, though I might quibble with some of the new menu offerings. Despite being the creation of a superstar chef, the dishes I tasted at Bistro Sur La Mer seemed oddly uninspired. I ordered a filet mignon that was skimpy (read: thin and small) and overwhelmed by a chunky wine sauce and sautéed onion. If you have a good cut of beef, there’s no reason to smother it with so much “stuff.” Similarly, the dishes coming out of the kitchen at Sabatini’s were a letdown, not just to me but other cruise writers on board. That said, it could be that these restaurants just were having a bad day. This was, after all, a pre-inaugural cruise, when it’s perfectly normal to still be working out the kinks in advance of “real” passengers arriving. That’s the whole point of a shakedown. Princess only took delivery of Sky Princess from the Fincantieri shipyard a day before we sailed, which means the chefs in these restaurants barely had time to unpack their knives before we sat down to order. The fact they could turn out filet mignon at all is sort of remarkable. Lots of high-tech features   First, I should say that Sky Princess has stunningly fast internet — at least for a cruise ship. For the past few years, Royal Caribbean’s Zoom internet has been the gold standard for fast internet on ships, way ahead of what other lines offer. But Princess clearly caught up. If you pay the $9.99 per day fee to hook up a device, you really will be able to stream Netflix shows, just like the line promised. Retiring early to my cabin one night, I had no trouble binge-watching several episodes of the French-Belgian thriller “Black Spot” (the dubbed version, of course). (Photo by Gene Sloan/The Points Guy) But fast internet is just the beginning when it comes to new technology on display. Sky Princess is the first Princess ship purpose-built to work with the line’s new suite of high-tech OceanMedallion features, some of which are breaking ground in the cruise industry. Already available on four of Princess’s 17 other vessels, the features include the ability to order a wide array of food and drinks to any place you happen to be on the ship via an app (think: Uber Eats, but at sea) and to find and chat with friends and family via an app no matter where they are on board. In both cases, the technology relies on passengers carrying around a poker chip-size, RFID-tagged “medallion” that lets the ship know his or her location at every moment. More than 7,000 sensors embedded around the vessel pick up the signals emitted by the medallions. (Courtesy of Princess Cruises) Issued before boarding, the medallions allow for a lot of cool things. Perhaps the coolest is that, assuming you have your medallion with you, your cabin door will magically unlock as you approach it: No more rooting around for lost keys. In what might strike some as a bit Big Brother, the medallions also tip off crew that you’re approaching, allowing them to address you by name — and maybe offer a favorite aperitif. Big Brother or not, some of the features, such as the app-based ordering, are game-changing. Sitting in a comfy chair near the ship’s Crown Grill steakhouse, with no server in sight, I used Princess’s MedallionClass app to order my favorite cocktail, a sidecar, directly to my location. A few minutes later, a smiling server appeared with the drink on a tray. Since the ship knew where I was, thanks to the medallion in my pocket, she had no trouble finding me. She could see my location (and a picture of me) on her Princess-issued mobile device. On the flip side, I could track my order from start to finish on the app. It very cutely showed a little ship “sailing” across the screen from “ordered” to “preparing” and “serving.” The app also makes settling bills for such transactions seamless. The server with my sidecar didn’t ask me to sign anything, since the transaction had been recorded electronically. (Courtesy of Princess Cruises) Incidentally, the drink was free. To get more passengers to try the MedallionClass app, Princess is making the first drink you order with it gratis. Which is great, because sidecars on Sky Princess cost nearly $12! In addition to food and drinks, you can order a wide range of retail items such as sunscreen and clothing by app to wherever you are on board. The app also allows you to check your bill, book shore excursions, buy a beverage package and play interactive games. In what could be a dangerous innovation for those who love to gamble, the app also allows for the playing of casino games from anywhere on board, including your room. A handful of hiccups   Princess executives are super excited about the new medallion-related technology — so excited, they’ve made it a core element of recent marketing efforts. But after trying it out for a few days, I think they jumped the gun a tad. I would have waited on the rollout until it was a bit more refined. Perhaps the most obvious flaw is that it takes not one but four different apps to access all the medallion-based features. In addition to the main MedallionClass app, which handles several functions, there are separate apps for shipboard navigation, game playing and casino play. Believe it or not, this is an improvement, as it initially took even more apps to run everything. Princess is in the process of streamlining the system. The MedallionClass app also still lacks some basic functions, like the ability to make dining and spa reservations on board (or even see what options are available in those areas). It can be a bit wonky, too, if you don’t have your medallion close to your device. I struggled to order a drink when my medallion was in my back pocket instead of on a lanyard around my neck — talk about cruise wear. And not to pile on too much, but I also will say the four apps eat up a stunning amount of storage space on devices. On my iPhone, the cumulative count was nearly 2 gigabytes. What it costs   Sky Princess will sail several voyages in the Mediterranean over the next month before repositioning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for seven-night trips to the Eastern and Western Caribbean. The Eastern Caribbean trips will feature stops in St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Princess Cays, the line’s private island in the Bahamas. The Western Caribbean itinerary will bring calls in Belize City, Belize; Roatan, Honduras; and Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico. As of Monday, Eastern Caribbean trips were available from $649 per person, not including taxes and fees of $136.80. That works out to about $112 per night, per person, with taxes and fees for a package that includes your lodging, transportation and meals. The Western Caribbean trips are starting at $789 per person, plus another $150.23 in taxes and fees. That’s closer to $132 per night, per person. Yes, there’s a premium to go to the Western Caribbean. Of course, the rates are just for one person and based on “double occupancy” of your cabin, so the per room rate really is twice that amount. It also doesn’t include extra charges you ring up on board. While meals are included at several onboard restaurants, you’ll pay extra for the Crown Grill steakhouse and other specialty dining destinations. And you’ll also pay extra for drinks. Most beers at Sky Princess bars run from $6.25 to $6.75, and wine starts at $8 per glass ($32 for the least expensive bottle). The aforementioned fares are also for the least-expensive, windowless “interior” cabin. There are all sorts of cabin categories on Princess ships, including those bigger balcony cabins and suites, at a wide range of price points. And pricing for cruises fluctuate week-by-week depending on demand, just as they do with flights. The rates above are for sailings during off-season weeks. You’ll pay more for more popular times of year, such as over Christmas. One other thing for which you’ll need to budget is the automatic service gratuity that Princess adds to bills, which runs $14.50 per person, per day for most cabins. Suite passengers pay more. The best credit cards for booking cruises Bottom line Princess has made significant changes to Sky Princess as compared to earlier vessels in its Royal Class series and, for the most part, they are all for the better. I’ve sailed on nearly all the line’s new ships over the past couple decades, and I have no qualms saying Sky Princess is the best I’ve seen. The technological enhancements on the vessel, in particular, are impressive (if still in need of a little work). Of course, one thing to keep in mind is that, whatever the changes, Sky Princess still is a Princess ship. If you haven’t liked Princess vessels in the past, you’re not going to suddenly fall in love with this one, even if it has more hot tubs and cabin doors that unlock when you approach. Princess also appeals to an older demographic than lines such as Carnival and Norwegian. The average age of passengers is around 57, and you’ll usually see a lot of couples on board in their 50s, 60s and 70s. These aren’t people necessarily craving roller coasters and skydiving simulators at sea. Princess gets some families with kids, too — just not the kind expecting an amusement park experience. Editor’s note: TPG always tries to pay full price for any travel staff and writers take, and usually doesn’t inform companies in advance of plans to review. However, there are times when — especially with cruise lines — we need to work with travel providers to gain early access to products before they go into regular service. To attend this four-night “shakedown” sailing of Sky Princess, which was operated in advance of the ship’s official debut on a non-revenue basis for Princess employees, travel agents, media and others who needed to see the ship for business reasons, TPG agreed to pay a negotiated $400 rate to be on board. This is roughly in line with the starting rates of the ship on a per person, per day basis. TPG also paid all costs to get to and from the vessel. #S-travel #Cruises #TravelTips #Guides

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/everything-cruisers-need-to-know-about-the-new-sky-princess-ship

NBA player Kyle Korver wrote a must-read essay on what he’s learned about white privilege in America.

Kyle Korver’s thoughtful essay on race—and his role as a white man in today’s America—is a must read.

Utah Jazz basketball player Kyle Korver is making waves with his Players Tribune essay in which he lays out what he’s learned about race and racism and his personal role in it all.

Korver starts with his reaction in 2015 to finding out that the NYPD had arrested his black teammate and friend, Thabo Sefolosha—and broken his leg in the process. Sefolosha was eventually found not guilty on all charges and the city of New York paid him $4 million in a wrongful arrest settlement.

Korver describes how his initial response to news of the incident has gnawed at him:

“On the morning I found out that Thabo had been arrested, want to know what my first thought was? About my friend and teammate? My first thought was: What was Thabo doing out at a club on a back-to-back??

Yeah. Not, How’s he doing? Not, What happened during the arrest?? Not, Something seems off with this story. Nothing like that. Before I knew the full story, and before I’d even had the chance to talk to Thabo….. I sort of blamed Thabo.

I thought, Well, if I’d been in Thabo’s shoes, out at a club late at night, the police wouldn’t have arrested me. Not unless I was doing something wrong.

Cringe.

It’s not like it was a conscious thought. It was pure reflex — the first thing to pop into my head.”

So begins Korver’s deep dive into his own unconscious biases, his burgeoning awareness of his own privilege as a white man, and his growing understanding of the racism so many of his teammates and other people of color constantly deal with. His essay represents a thoughtful, honest example of the kind of self-analysis white Americans need to undertake to uproot the racism enmeshed in our country’s foundation.

It really needs to be read in its entirety. Slowly. Without a lens of defensiveness or fragility, if possible.

I’ve been trying to write this for a while. https://t.co/Qkt8aoVtdE

— Kyle Korver (@KyleKorver) April 8, 2019

Korver doesn’t say anything about racism that black people haven’t said forever. But seeing the journey of a white American’s consciousness may help others on their own path.

In a perfect world, all white Americans would listen when chorus after chorus of black Americans tell us how they experience racism. In a perfect world, the voices of people of color would be listened to, heard, and believed.

Obviously, we don’t live in a perfect world. Hopefully, Korver’s voice will reach people who need to see an example of what learning to be an ally looks like. Perhaps his eloquent explanation of how his understanding has evolved will help other white Americans ask themselves hard questions about their own privilege and racial blind spots.

For example, Korver points out how simply having the ability to ignore or blow off race issues is a form of privilege that many of us don’t think about. White Americans have the choice to opt in or out of grappling with racism. People of color have no choice but to deal with it, day in and day out.

Korver also explains that subtle racism—the kind we see all the time but don’t always recognize—needs to be tackled just as much as blatant racism:

“As disgraceful as it is that we have to deal with racist hecklers in NBA arenas in 2019? The truth is, you could argue that that kind of racism is ‘easier’ to deal with.

Because at least in those cases, the racism is loud and clear. There’s no ambiguity — not in the act itself, and thankfully not in the response: we throw the guy out of the building, and then we ban him for life.

But in many ways the more dangerous form of racism isn’t that loud and stupid kind. It isn’t the kind that announces itself when it walks into the arena. It’s the quiet and subtle kind. The kind that almost hides itself in plain view. It’s the person who does and says all the ‘right’ things in public: They’re perfectly friendly when they meet a person of color. They’re very polite. But in private? Well….. they sort of wish that everyone would stop making everything ‘about race’ all the time.

It’s the kind of racism that can seem almost invisible — which is one of the main reasons why it’s allowed to persist.”

Again, this is the same thing black folks have been saying over and over and over again. When are we going to listen?

Predictably, Korver’s essay irked defensive white folks who ironically prove his point. But most responses have been enthusiastically supportive.

Some people just aren’t going to get it, no matter how well all of this is explained. Cue the “white guilt” (which is directly addressed in the essay, by the way) and “no such thing as white privilege” (literally the point of the essay), along with “enough with the victimhood” and “SJW-virtue-signaling-PC-nonsense” commenters.

But thankfully, those voices are being drowned out by the ones that matter most. And yes, some voices actually carry more weight in discussions about racism—namely the people who live it, day in and day out.

LeBron James, Korver’s former teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers, shared his essay with the comment, “Salute my brother!! Means a lot. And like you said I hope people listen, just open your ears and listen.”

Salute my brother!! Means a lot. And like you said I hope people listen, just open your ears and listen. 🙏🏾‼️‼️ https://t.co/qBrd2H27x0

— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 8, 2019

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat offered a simple “Thank you.”

Thank you @KyleKorver https://t.co/5iK9D4OBJv

— DWade (@DwyaneWade) April 9, 2019

Speaker and writer Exavier Pope praised Korver for the example he is setting:

Kyle Korver thank you for saying something many black people innately know and have screamed, marched, and died for but cannot translate to the untrained white ear who refuse to hear. May others follow your example to listen. 🙏🏽

— Exavier Pope (@exavierpope) April 8, 2019

As did Chicago Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks:

Wow, that was huge. It’s what we have always needed. More athletes that are not of color to show support and understanding. I respect his words and hope that more athletes in our league can do the same. https://t.co/VWY1lQaabu

— akiem hicks (@The_Dream99) April 9, 2019

These issues need to be brought to light over and over again until everyone who needs to see them starts seeing them. As writer Doyin Richards wrote when he shared the post on Facebook, “This article from Kyle Korver (a white NBA player) is phenomenal and should be required reading for all white people.”

Seriously, let’s all read the essay. Twice. Then let’s get busy doing the vital work that needs to be done.

Original Article : HERE ; This post was curated & posted using : RealSpecific

NBA player Kyle Korver wrote a must-read essay on what he’s learned about white privilege in America. was originally posted by MetNews

Hey there! Do you have any fanfic recs? I read the vampire!Lance one you made art for (beautiful, btw, like all of your work) and I was wondering what other works you enjoyed

Hey, sorry for the late answer! That fic was a part of the Big Bang but I DID make a fic rec post over here! Here is some more Klance fics though (Only finished) because there is so. dang. many. I can’t keep up no matter how much I’d try

————————————————- All things infinite by MemeKonVLD “I didn’t know Lance was…”“Bi?” Hunk supplied.“Ready to jump anyone sentient and willing?” Pidge offered.“Yeah, let’s go with bi,” Hunk says.(Or: the one where Lance is a Bisexual Intergalactic Flirt, and Keith discovers he has feelings about this.)———-I just really like people having to really sort through their own feelings I guess because it won’t stop showing up in these lists haha. It’s written well from the perspective of someone that is frustrated over their own incapability to understand/control their feelings. WHAT CAN IT POSSIBLY BE.————————————————- Making the Most of the Night by saezutteHaving sex with Keith in order to secure an alliance with an alien species wasn’t how Lance expected to lose his virginity, but it wasn’t the worst way for it to go.(Until afterwards, of course, when it all goes wrong and Keith won’t speak to him. Not that Lance has any idea why. Or why it bothers him so much.)———-This is probably recc:ed pretty often and honestly it’s very well written and for a “ALIENS MADE THEM DO IT” storyline they do manage to sell it pretty well. The positive Lance-voice is refreshing. Warning: Explicit Sexual Themes (obviously)————————————————- A Kiss is a Kiss (But it’s never like this) by GibbousLunation“How does this keep happening to us, every time.” Lance grumbled.“You’d think they’d stop sending us on away missions,” he agreed. Honestly, between the poisonous plants of their last planet, and Lance’s tendency to always end up on the business end of every blaster or pointy ended stick, Allura was just being inefficient at this point.Or, five times Keith kissed Lance but the situation was less than ideal, and one time Lance finally kissed him back.———-Lance keeps pulling dumb self sacrificial stunts and smiling through it, damn it Lance, giving Keith a heart attack. There is a really subtle kind of world building mixed into the emotions of the characters that I like, like the true description from inside the mind of the character that have more important things to focus on than looking at the scenery, but will notice it when it literally or figuratively slaps them in the face.————————————————- so calm, so cool (no lover’s fool) by keithlvnce Here’s how it starts: Lance says “we are a good team,” grinning, and Keith’s heart skips a beat. But he chalks it off to adrenaline and brushes it off, places it away in his head as something to be looked at later, removed and observed like a specimen on a scientist’s lab table.Here’s where it is right now: Lance’s hand is on Keith’s knee, his thigh, his shoulder, moving as he does, as they drink illicit alien hooch that Allura had sworn upon from back when - before Zarkon and the death of a civilization - and Shiro is having a night alone (because he needed quiet, sometimes, when everything became too loud, too much, too overwhelming) and Allura and Coran are off (they found a calendar: in Altea it’d be a festival day, but Altea is dead and survived by a princess and her soldier).———-Keith pines so hard and the embarrassing first crush-racing heart and flushing cheeks is so well written that it puts you there too.————————————————- the electric synthesized pop ballad of why keith can’t have nice things by kay_cricketedKeith can’t have nice things. That’s it. That’s the story.(Or, in which Keith slowly learns that sometimes the best family is the one you make, Pidge has strong feelings about peanuts, Lance has a secret but would’ve spoken up sooner if he’d known it would break Keith’s brain, Hunk is the actual best, and Shiro is just relieved he didn’t have to give anyone the Talk.)———-Ok so this is  an a/b/o fic which I didn’t realise when I started reading it and soon I was very confused, haha, because it honestly isn’t very obvious and just very very well written. This is 100% nonsexual and cute and just a really sweet story about understanding ones feelings. Can be seen as mostly platonic I think.————————————————-  ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSESit’s quite bizarre, and will remain this way by mayerwienFROM THE DESK OF ALLURA ALTEADirectorThe Rex Alfor Memorial Space MuseumDear Mr. Coran, I am writing to entrust to you the care and supervision of the young man who will be working with our custodial team starting this coming Tuesday. The young man’s name, as I’m sure you already know, is Keith.As you also have been made aware, the incident that occurred two weeks ago was his first criminal offense, and thus I have elected not to press charges against him, in the hope that a little community service and a few kind words will go a long way.Please see to it that our new volunteer gets a basic but thorough introduction as to what it is we do here at RAMSM. Unless any more untoward situations arise, there is no need to report to me further. I trust your good judgment, as I always have.(Additionally, I would like to commend you for successfully managing to keep this story out of the press. Your service to the museum over the years has gone above and beyond your job description. We will have to talk about this very soon. When are you free for coffee?)———-SO this storyline is kind of slice of life for a couple of teens working in a space museum, but with a deeper background story woven into it? It’s Very Nice.Warning: Character Death Mentioned————————————————- tropical drink melting in your hand; we’ll be falling in love by jojotxtKeith just wanted a summer job to help pay for college. He didn’t expect to be coworkers with a complete asshole who hated his guts. He didn’t expect to fall for him, either.———-Everyone is working at the beach. Lots of late summer night nostalgia. Warning for alcohol use I guess?————————————————- we have only one story. by disarminglyKeith works at a kickboxing gym and Lance is that asshole on the subway who won’t wear his headphones when he listens to music.———-Story about that strange relationship you have with people on the public transport that always ride the same train as you and you kind of notice and recognize all the time but never actually talk to.Honestly that is exactly the kind of summary that pulls me in I don’t even know what I could possibly say to make it better.————————————————-

AOS McKirk 1-12 -☄

Behind the cut!

- How do they fall asleep? Wake up? Any daily rituals?Len big spoons. Always.Len also wakes first. Unless it’s an emergency, he likes to lie in bed with Jim for a while as Jim’s still sleeping, just looking at him, being quiet, stroking his hair back from his forehead, watching him in a moment of such peace. He likes to wake Jim up with a kiss and a nuzzle and a low voice.It’s the best part of Jim’s day. Always.

- How’s their team work? Do they share well?Exemplary. They know each other’s habits, weak points, strengths, and abilities, and they eagerly play to them. Jim and Len are an extraordinary team together.

- Are they open about their relationship? How do they feel about public displays of affection?They’re actually very quiet about their relationship. It’s an open secret; they certainly don’t hide the fact that they’re together, but they also don’t broadcast it. It wouldn’t be appropriate, with them both in such high leadership positions. They will, however, dance together at weddings and galas.

- First impression of each other? Was it love at first sight?Definitely not love at first sight. Intrigue? Absolutely.Len was too drunk to notice who he was talking to, until he saw the blood spatters on Jim’s shirt and thought, shit, this guy needs my flask more than I do.Jim was mildly terrified, moderately aroused.

- Nicknames? Pet names? Any in-jokes?Bones, obviously. Len can count on one hand the number of times Jim’s ever called him “Leonard” or “Len”; it only happens in anger, mortal peril, or wedding vows.Len calls Jim “sugar” when they’re alone together and “Jim” when they’re not.They have a truly terrifying number of inside jokes, most of them originating from the Academy. These often show themselves in public. (Len sneaks up behind Jim’s chair on the bridge and says “Bub!” and Jim can’t stop laughing; Jim describes a briefing as “very import” and Len groans then snorts laughing.)

- Any tasks that are always left to one person?If it involves manual labor, it’s on Jim. (See question 10.)

- What annoys them the most about their partner? Would they change it if they could?Jim is heartbroken by Len’s low self-esteem. Don’t get me wrong: Len’s perfectly confident in his skills as a surgeon; he can hold his own in defending his actions at M&M any day and is fully aware of his own genius in medicine. But when it comes to his personal life, especially in the aftermath of losing Jo, he’s full to the brim with negative self-evaluations. There are days, more than he can count, where he genuinely hates himself.Len despises Jim’s recklessness. He grudgingly admits that it’s one of those qualities that makes him an incredible captain, but his nightmares are still chock-full of images of Jim getting himself blown up, Jim crucified on an alien world like a sacrificial lamb, Jim dying, Jim hurting, Jim scared.

- What do the like best about their partner?Len loves Jim’s brilliance. He loves the way Jim’s eyes dance when he looks out the viewscreen at the stars twinkling in space, or at the planet they’re about to go survey. He loves watching Jim think on the fly, jury-rig a solution to an engineering problem, and establish peace with warring worlds.Jim loves Len’s compassion. He loves how Len feels, so big and so overwhelming and, yes, sometimes so painful. He loves that no one Len treats is ever just a patient, no matter their species, no matter if he actually knows them off the biobed or not. He loves that Len never, ever gives up on someone.

- Do they discuss big issues? Religion? Marriage? Children? Death?Of course they do. They can’t not, with their histories. One can’t know Leonard McCoy without knowing about what he lost in Joss and Jo; one can’t know Jim Kirk without knowing what he lost on the Kelvin and on Tarsus.With regard to religion: Neither Jim nor Len is at all religious. Len veers more toward agnosticism - he’d like to believe in something bigger than himself pulling the strings, but his actual faith lies in science - theory, evidence, reason. Jim, on the other hand, is an atheist. There was a time, when he was young, that he tried to believe in a god - but then Tarsus.

- Who drives? Cooks? Does the handiwork? Cleans? Pays the bills? Handles the public?Jim’s driving scares the hell out of Len, so Len commandeers the wheel whenever possible.Len is a far superior cook to Jim, though he rarely actually cooks - only when Jim begs and pleads and breaks out the puppy-dog eyes. (Also on Jim’s birthday, which is rough enough.)Jim’s a fully qualified mechanic. Virtually any manual labor that needs doing in their quarters, from fixing a replicator to fine-tuning the showerhead, is his wheelhouse.Len’s office in medbay is meticulous, but he’s a little sloppier at home. Jim’s exactly the reverse. He’s mostly in charge of cleaning.Jim remembers to pay the bills; Len actually does so.Jim handles the public. Obviously.

- Do they celebrate holidays? Anniversaries?Holiday celebrations are kind of a difficult thing for a starship captain and his CMO to arrange. After all, they never have the day off - there’s always, always something that needs their attention. Plus, holidays in space are kind of a tough concept; there are so many cultures onboard the Enterprise that virtually every day is a holiday of one kind or another. So, holidays don’t get much celebration with Jim and Len.Anniversaries are different.Jim remembers them all - the day they first met, the day they first kissed, the day they first slept together, the day he proposed, their wedding…his mind’s a steel trap. Nothing that goes in comes out.However, he keeps celebrations subtle. Dinner in their quarters in civvies. Len’s favorite meal, no bitching allowed about cholesterol and sugar. Talking about what happened X years ago on that very day. How lucky they were that the stars aligned as they did for the two of them.

- Is there a wedding? What was the proposal like? Any kind of honeymoon?There is a wedding. My headcanon for this - proposal and wedding wise - is now intrinsically entwined with @mccoymostly​‘s headcanon for same.Phil leaves them with the keys to his property near Ukiah for the week. That’s their honeymoon. Just Jim, Len, big beds, rich foliage, and quiet.

SSS - 1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 19, 20, 23, 32, 36, 38, 39, 42; Jacob-Verse - all but also 26, 41, 44; Human-Pillow - all from both but also 18

Okay so I’m doing each verse in a separate post, because SSS was 1300+ words alone and took me a good chunk of the day.  SO!  Here is SSS to start with:

1. How do they fall asleep? Wake up? Any daily rituals?

Skye can and will fall asleep anywhere.  Her preferred location is - in contact with Ward.  Doesn’t really care exactly how or where, just she wants to be touching Ward (or actually Ward touching her).  Ward much prefers sleeping in their bed in their room.  He can sleep other places, but never as well, because he constantly feels like he has to be on guard and never sleeps that well.  Whereas, he feels really safe on the base, with Skye, and lets himself sleep deeply.   Waking up, Ward is up with or before the dawn and it’s annoying as hell to Skye.  She wishes he would sleep in, with her, but he’s at least really quiet when he gets out of bed and doesn’t wake her up.  As for daily rituals, mostly going to the gym or some sort of vigorous physical activity.  Without it, you get a very fidgety, restless Skye who usually ends up breaking something.

6. Any tasks that are always left to one person?

Cleaning.  Ward is the cleaner in the couple, much to his own chagrin.  Skye just doesn’t see the point in constantly tidying up.  She knows where her stuff is, it’s all fine.  But it drives Ward up the wall.  So he’s the one who picks up and folds the stray clothes, makes the bed, takes out the trash.  

7. What annoys them the most about their partner? Would they change it if they could?

Same things that have driven them nuts about each other since they met.  Ward is too uptight and focused on the rules and procedures and Skye is too flippant with them and undisciplined.  Things have gotten better as the years have gone on, but it still gets on their nerves.  Would they change it?  Yes, to some degree.  Not entirely, because those things are fundamental parts of the other person.  But sometimes they wish they would tone it down a little bit.  

8. What do they like best about their partner?

How unshakably safe they feel with each other. It doesn’t even have much to do with physical safety.  They know the other person will always have their back.  They know they can depend on their partner for absolutely anything.  They know that they are loved and will not be left alone.  They have literally never had that with anyone else in their entire lives and it took a long time for them to trust each other that deeply.  But now they do and no one can take that away from them.

10. Who drives? Cooks? Does the handiwork? Cleans? Pays the bills? Handles the public?

Drives - Ward.  Skye is in charge of the radio though.

Cooks - Anybody else.  But when they move into their own place, they both cook.  

Cleans - Ward.

Pays the bills - They don’t have too many bills when they’re living on base, so Coulson, I guess.  But when they move out, they actually work it out together.  Ward sets up a spreadsheet and organizes everything, then Skye is the one to sit down and actually pay the bills (since she can do it all online).  

Handles the public - Neither.  They try to keep their actual identities as quiet as they can.  But being super soldiers and one of them with a metal arm, it’s hard not to attain some notoriety.  Skye is prone to talking too much, so Ward just carries her away if a reporter is sniffing around.  So SHIELD PR department handles that.  (I’m somehow doubting that was the original intention of that question, but that’s how I’m interpreting it.)

13. What do they do for fun? Do they have a favorite activity or do they like to switch things up?

They spar, they do target practice, they watch movies, or just read on the couch.  But probably their favorite thing to do is bait Hunter.  It might be as simple as dropping random asides in conversations to rile him up, all the way to literally shooting Nerf darts at him.  But he always rises to it, so they just keep doing it.  

19. What do they fight about? What are their arguments like? How do they make up?

Their fights are loud.  Skye is a yeller.  Ward doesn’t so much yell at her, as much as he shouts or groans loudly in exasperation.  But they fight over the DUMBEST THINGS.  Seriously, it’s appalling.  They once got so worked up that Skye threw a chair - over raisins.  RAISINS.  Who does that?!  Oh right, these dorks.  The most ridiculous part?  They’re still not the worst on the base.  I mean, Hunter and Bobbi still live here.  Which, just…..man, those two.  But back to Skyeward.  They make up just as quickly though and move on as if nothing happened.

20. What does their home look like? Their room?

On the base, their room is the standard grey cinder blocks.  But Skye livens it up with color as much as she can.  One time, she’s sent on a mission for a couple of days with Mack and Bobbi, so Ward enlists Fitz and Jemma and Hunter and they repainted the room.  They picked a soft blue (yes, a sky blue), Jemma and he picked out new bedding, and the room was like new when Skye got back.  The room is all soft blue and dark brown and brushed nickel.  Skye loves it so much that she recreates the look in their new house.  

23. How do they hug? Kiss? Tease? Flirt? Comfort?

So much touching.  Skye loves Ward’s arms, so she’s constantly pulling them around her, or wrapping herself around them.  Ward loves to distract her with neck kissing.  She turns to putty when he does that.  They tease each other about competitions in the gym, who can bench press more or do more squats.  They don’t bother with being very subtle when they’re flirting.  Becuase why should they?  But comfort.  Oh comfort.  That is something they actually do more in private.  It usually involves wrapping the other up in a hug, cuddling in bed, and reassuring them that they are loved, that they are important, and that they are worth it.  

32. Do they ever get into trouble? Is it serious, or are they just mischievous?

This is not a fair question.  You know the answer to this.  (They get in trouble, but not terribly, because it’s never malicious on their part, just some thoughtless mischief sometimes.)

36. What’s their greatest strength as a couple? Their weakness?

Their greatest strength is how well they understand each other.  They have an intuitive understanding of what the other is thinking and how to respond to that.  Their weakness is when they kinda forget about everyone else.  They are so dialed in as partners, they sometimes forget they live in a world and base with other people.  

38. What are they like in the bedroom? Any kinks/fetishes/turn-ons? Anything they won’t do?

They are adventurous, but not crazy.  No need for specifics.  

39. Who initiated the relationship? Who kissed who first?  When did they realize they were in love?

OOOOOOH I LIKE THIS.  

You could probably credit Skye with initiating the relationship.  I.e. she kept flirting and bantering and dropping completely unsubtle “hints”.  But Ward was the one who broke and kissed her first.  And by kissed, I mean, shoved her against a wall and started making out with her.  

As for when they realized they were in love?  It was about two months into dating, and they were lying in bed, it was a quiet morning, and it struck Ward that there was literally nowhere else he’d rather be and no one else he would rather be with.  He didn’t want to move or go anywhere, just stay with her.  Not for just the morning, or that day, but forever.  Skye realized it a little bit later.  Ward was making sandwiches and Skye was being her goofy, teasing self.  They were both laughing and he started hamming up after one of her jokes, and the words just tumbled out of her mouth as she was laughing,  “Oh my gosh, I love you.”  

He kind of paused, looked over at her quizzically.  

Skye flushed a little but squared her shoulders, as if daring him to contradict her.  

He just smiled and walked over to her, grabbing her by the hips.  “Oh yeah?”

She nodded.

“Good. I love you too.”

42. Do they let each other get away with things that would normally bother them?

Oh yes.  Skye can’t stand the sound of people eating around her.  It drives her insane.  Yet somehow, she never screeches at Ward.  And Ward gives everyone crap for not wiping down the gym equipment after they use it.  Everyone but Skye that is.