OH MY SHIT I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS

“We stand in awe, we've created life.” (With Arms Wide Open - Creed)

You know, my commoner grandfather Yuta Hayashi was originally from Nagoya, Japan. Born in 1941. The son of a couple who supported the empire of Japan in every way. He moved to Vancouver and lived there for a few years before moving to Ontario. There in a small Northern Ontarian town he met my grandmother, Jules Towegishig. My commoner grandmother was originally from Long Lake 58 First Nation and was a survivor of residential school. Despite attending those schools, her undying love for her culture was just as strong as it had been before and she continued to speak her native language with the few family members she still had left. 

The Japanese man fell in love with the Indigenous woman and they married. Grandfather Yuta operated a family friendly restaurant known for it’s crispy delicious breakfasts and lunches while grandmother Jules taught at a nearby elementary school. Sometimes, during the weekends, grandmother Jules would help at the restaurant. They lived right above their restaurant, and is the same place where they raised momma and her sisters. The Hayashi girls were uniquely half Japanese and half Ojibwe. But momma considered herself 100% Indigenous and did not think of her Japanese side that much all her life. Momma was like her own mother, she had inherited her beauty and brains. 

My mother was born in Nagoya, March 1974, older than my father by two months. She lived there for the first few years of her life. How quite close she was in Japan to my father in Aewora when they were babies! Grandpa Yuta was also the reason for my siblings’ births in Nagoya. It was his first home and he still had his love for it. “I love living in Canada but Japan is still my land and my roots.” He always said.

It meant a lot to my dear grandfather Yuta, for his daughters and first grandsons (the twins Sebastian and Aidan) and first granddaughter (Heaven) to be born there as well. My brother Damion and I were the only children of what we called our branch of the family tree–the Park-Hayashi–to be born in our kingdom. 

Isn’t it ironic? Long ago our kingdom fought against the Empire of Japan. And many years later, a beloved princess and princes of this kingdom was born in the “enemy land.” Our great grandparents in Japan were imperialist supporters and therefore Aewora’s enemy. If former king Hyunsoo, the Japan-hater, was alive today, those facts would make him lose his mind, I’ll bet!

I love that our family is so diverse and rich, I do not mean wealth, and we actually are, but I mean rich in our identity and culture. That means so much more to us than bags of money or gold. 

As a young girl, growing up in that northern Ontario city, momma had a treehouse beside their building along with swings. It had been built by an uncle of hers. Momma was the youngest, but at times she felt left out by her older sisters, so she had girl friends her age that she considered her other sisters. During weekends, or days when she simply wasn’t helping her parents at the restaurant, she was at her treehouse with her sister-friends. She enjoying seeing the customers coming and going. She also enjoyed swinging on sun-kissed summer days, the feeling of being free while soaring as high as she wanted, her red hair flying back and forth and her colourful beaded moccasins glittering brightly each time she lifted her legs up. It was absolute freedom, free from any struggles. She’d imagine she could touch the fluffy clouds, always wondering what sorts of heavenly, holy things were happening beyond the clouds over her world. Her childhood fear was being on an airplane, and this was her way of flying, believing she can reach heaven. Of course, being the wife of a Prince and having to fly to different places on a private jet, her fear ceased.

My mother and her own mother, Grandmother Jules, had this extremely close bond for as long as they both remembered. Grandmother taught her all these wonderful things. Momma started beading because of her. Beading was a big part of their Native culture. They’d spent hours beading and beading and their fingers would be sore the next morning. They’d sell some of their work and earn extra money. Beadwork is expensive unless you are a special person to the beader. And their mother-daughter relationship had all kind of other things you can put a name onto–but goes way deeper. 

My mother’s father wanted nothing but the best for his only daughter and always held a small party for her every time she brought home an excellent report card: Straight A’s. “That’s my smart girl!” He would always say while serving her favourite chocolate cake.

My mother believed that she was an old soul, she was fascinated with life in the 1800s and early 1900s and kept probably hundreds of books about those times in the large book bin in her bedroom. She also loved taking photographs with her Kodak camera and brought to wherever she went. She’d always looked for a different sight to capture with her camera. And she always found it fascinating about how they took photographs in the old days and how inventive generations before hers had been. She dreamed of using a very old technique called pinhole photography, in which all the light that reaches the film passes through a very tiny hole. There is no glass lens to focus the light, just the natural tendency of the light waves to travel in a straight line takes care of forming the image.

Because of her interests and knowledge, she was always teased by the girls at her school. “Freak! Weirdo! Loser!”

The Park boys were tutored in their early years. Their tutors stayed in the guest rooms in the mansion. The Park boys got along and their teasing never got far above sticking their tongues out at each other. If my mother or father caught them doing this, they’d say “no, no, no! We do not stick our tongues at people! That is a rude thing to do!”

The winter of early 1999, my mother woke up one day needing to throw up. She ran to the toilet as quick as she could, but she wasn’t quick enough, vomiting on the toilet seat and the floor. 

“Annika?” My father called out to her. His voice full of worry.

”I’m okay. But I didn’t make it in time. I’ve made a mess.”

My father walked in and reached for the cleaning supplies. “Drink some water and go back to bed.” My father ordered her.

”But!”

”Go on, my love. You’re not feeling well today.”

”I rarely vomit, even when I’m suffering from the worst cold. What’s wrong?” 

And then she realized. She was undeniably pregnant again. The doctor had told her she couldn’t get pregnant after her third son, but she knew that was a lie. She knew there was a tiny human sitting and growing inside her.

My mother went to a different doctor this time, and she liked this one better than the last. It was confirmed that she was pregnant yet again. She was right. She was always right about these sorts of stuff. If she weren't feeling so icky from the nausea at that moment, she would've run into her old doctor’s office and shove the test right into his face with a smug “YOU WERE WRONG!” 

The day my mother told her growing family she was pregnant, my father was sitting down in the game room with his little boys, watching and cheering on them play video games with the latest Nintendo console (at the time).

“My love...”  My mother motioned my father to come into the hallway. And so he did. 

“Bring out your hand to me.” She softly instructed him. “What’s going on, Annika, my dear?” he asked before doing what she requested. She quickly pulled out the test from the new doctor. “Absolutely and positively.”

”We’re going to have another baby?” my father asked her in disbelief–for a second. My mother nodded her head. “You boys! Mommy’s having another baby!” My father ran into the game room. My mother calmly followed, laughing at his enthusiasm. 

My mother became closer friends with Freya, my uncle Matthew’s first wife. She was also pregnant and in the same trimester. Uncle Matthew and Auntie Freya’s first daughter Princess Millie was thrilled to become a big sister. Months later, the mothers found out their babies were going to be girls. New princesses of the Aeworan Kingdom! It was truly a happy time and no one could miss the light in their eyes, especially in my father’s. He cried with joy when he heard he was going to be a father to a girl.  Our mothers believed their baby girls will be best cousins and were going to be born on the same day. 

The first part was true, the second wasn’t.

7 23 42 <33

ayyy thank you my beloved 🥰🥰🥰

7. do you have any pets?

yes! a florida turtle called tranqui (means "calmed" in spanish)

23. have you ever met any celebrities?

yes i have! off the top of my head i remember being invited to this event in the parque warner (a theme park with warner bros stuff) with a bunch of famous people and influencers and whatnot, i actually got a photo with damion and áfrica from ot 2018; and also during madrid pride 2019 i walked past miguel ángel silvestre. i went to a signing of ot 2017 in albacete and met roi and nerea, and also went to a meet and greet of this famous spanish youtuber called andrea compton and we talked a bit (well she and my sister talked lol i was just there standing) about my hometown cause she lived there for a while. and like my mother is a journalist working for a tv magazine that had its own awards show, and i went to them once and met all these local celebrities (i hate the fact that if they were still going on now the girls from skam españa would probably have gone there and i would probably have met them)

42. are you a good judge of character?

i really have no idea. i'm a bit naïve in that meeting a person for the first time, except if they have a bandwrist with the spanish flag, a green bandwrist or a mask with the spanish flag, i would deem them a good person, and then change my opinion on them as i know them better. although, to be fair, once that first opinion is formed, i'm usually pretty spot on.

get to know me uncomfortably well

Books: March 2020

Realised I haven’t logged my books for March yet (I knew I’d only last a couple of months rip). tbh I only managed two books and a very short reread, but I figure they might be of interest to some people here:

Outcast - Rosemary Sutcliff

The Legions of the Mist - Amanda Cockerell (aka Damion Hunter)

Asterix in Switzerland - Goscinny & Uderzo (reread)

Outcast - Rosemary Sutcliff

Well, it’s Sutcliff, so what can I say beyond asddfghjklsa SO GOOD. Engrossing, atmospheric, emotional. It doesn’t feel quite as rich as the dolphin ring books, but it’s still a wonderful read, and most of Sutcliff’s usual themes of identity, of cultures mingling, of being on the outside, and of finding belonging and home, are very much there. I also think I can see her working towards things she would go into more deeply in other books. For instance, in the way that Beric decides during his slavery to focus on negative emotions like hate, because it hurts less than thinking of people he’s loved and lost, he feels almost like a prototype of Aquila from The Lantern Bearers.

There’s less in the way of a central friendship, but that’s sort of the nature of the beast, since as a slave and a runaway, most of Beric’s relationships with other people are brief and transient. But Sutcliff more than makes up for that by providing plenty of vivid character sketches of the people who do pass in and out of his life. I was very fond of the young Lady Lucilla, in particular, and I rather fell in love with Justinius. He’s exactly the sort of quietly sad, thoroughly competent character I can never resist! 

The book is full of excellent set-pieces - the section aboard the galley especially was gruelling, and I loved the overgrown, half-forgotten garden of the temple of Pan Sylvanus in Rome. The Italian setting is quite a departure for Sutcliff, and I had the feeling even she was quite relieved when the story shifted back to Britain, and we were back to the familiarity of changeful skies, skeins of wild geese, and the green plover calling! The final section during the storm was spectacular, and I absolutely had to hold in tears towards the end, as Beric lets his old life go and looks towards the new. (It was the dogs that did it!)

The Legions of the Mist - Amanda Cockerell (aka Damion Hunter)

I’ve been wanting to read this one for years, but couldn’t get hold of a copy till it was recently released on Kindle. Happily, it was worth the wait! A lively, absorbing adventure peopled with well-drawn and (mostly) endearing characters. The main squad in particular were all highly likeable, as were many of the secondary characters. I particularly liked the new legate and his daughter, and thought it a shame that they weren’t in it for longer. (Though the fact that she was called Lady Felicia just made me want to watch Father Brown again. XD) Without going into details, though, the fact that the novel is about the death of the Ninth Legion means that getting attached to so many of the characters was… unfortunate. >.>

The story is told from both the Roman and the British points of view, allowing for a balanced take on the history of Roman Britain, and the way cultures clashed or intermingled. I was actually less interested in the Celtic side of the story; apart from Vortrix, most of the British characters seemed to be fairly stock types, and the various tribal politics and interpersonal relationships never felt quite as well-developed as those on the Roman side.

Naturally, the book treads very similar ground to Eagle of the Ninth, and even apart from that, it’s clear that Cockerell owes quite a substantial debt to Sutcliff - so much so, in fact, that longtime Sutcliff fans could probably get a decent drinking game out of it (take one drink for for every Hilarion, Cordaella, or Justin you encounter; chug every time the Hispana’s Eagle gets a mention; drain your whole damn bottle when the little dark people (uncapitalised) appear!).

There’s also a lot of stuff about the Picts worshipping a Mother Goddess and honouring a sacrificial seven-year king, motifs which also feature heavily in Sutcliff’s work. I’m not sure how widely accepted they were as genuine archaeological theories at the times these books were written. In any case, it seems quite dated here in a way it doesn’t quite with Sutcliff (possibly because the power of Sutcliff’s work is such that it’s almost like a mythic vision of ancient Britain? I don’t know, it is a mystery).

For all the evident homages, however, this book has its own voice and is very much its own thing. It’s a most enjoyable read, and I ended up tearing through the last quarter or so in one sitting. From the moment the Ninth marches out on its final doomed expedition into the mists, Cockerell builds the tension brilliantly, to a genuinely tense and nailbiting finale - and an emotional aftermath.

Good news: it looks like there’s a sequel due to be released (reissued?) next month, so I’ll definitely be reading that. :)

Asterix in Switzerland - Goscinny & Uderzo (reread)

I was already thinking about going back through some of my Asterix books, even before I heard that Albert Uderzo had passed away. After that, I figured there couldn’t be a better reason.

This is one of the ones I read most often when I was a kid. Not sure why, since most of the jokes about Swiss bank accounts, etc., sailed right over my head. Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that in this one, unusually, Asterix and Obelix are on a mission to save the life of a Roman quaestor. Apparently I’ve just always had a thing about Romans and Celts helping each other out, despite everything! I don’t know. But it’s always been one of my favourites, and it was great fun to read it again.

DAI (DAO) OC Tag

Tagged by @freethemages​! Thanks!! <3

I think I will tag @andrastini​, @captain-savvy​, @anjelica-grey​, @barbex​, and anyone else who might be interested!

Name: Kylara Auria Amell

Race and Class: Human Mage

Specialization: Primal Mage, Shapeshifter, and Arcane Warrior

Age: 19 (when she was recruited into the Grey Wardens), 30 at the time of the Conclave. Born 22 Drakonis 9:11 Dragon

Height: 5’9” (approx 180cm)

Family*: Unknown until she was able to do a bit of research after the Blight. Then she found out her family had once been Kirkwall nobility. She eventually met her two older brothers and two younger sisters – all of them mages (all of them sent to different Circles), although she only became close to her cousin, Garrett Hawke.

Great Aunt: Bethann Walker-Amell, Great Uncle: Astride Amell, Grandmother*: Lottie Smythe-Amell, Grandfather: Fausten Amell, Uncle: Damion Amell, Uncle: Gamlen Amell, Aunt: Leandra Amell-Hawke, Mother: Revka Amell, Father*: Roland Hawthorne, Brothers*: Leland & Augustin Hawthorne, Sisters*: Gisela & Allectia Amell, Cousins: Garrett, Carver, & Bethany Hawke

(* As there are some gaps in the Amell Family Tree – found on the Dragon Age Fandom wiki – I made up and filled in a few of my own names. Also, not really sure why Kylara and her siblings would have the last name of Amell… as that is their mother’s last name. Perhaps it was a nobility thing. So I just made up that the boys took their father’s last name and the girls took their mother’s.)

Love Interest: Alistair Theirin

Personality/Traits: Mostly calm and logical, but she can get hotheaded if someone argues against her core beliefs. She is a very smart, strong and powerful mage. Kylara is also highly passionate. Once she and Alistair had had their first time together, they were nearly inseparable. Heterosexual (possibly bi-curious, as she kissed Leliana one evening when she and Alistair were briefly apart. While Leli claimed that Kylara “wasn’t really into it”, it may have opened up new ideas in her head.) She had only ever been with Alistair until she met the sexy pirate captain, Isabela, at the Pearl… which led to a very steamy threesome between the three of them. After it, she swore to Alistair that it was just a one-time thing… until they met Isabela again a few years later. Now and then she and Ali will comment on finding other women attractive, and what it might be like… but they have not acted upon these thoughts. Both are fully content being with each other.

Background*: Until she found her family, Kylara only remembered coming to the Circle at Kinloch when she was eight years old. First Enchanter Irving had put a memory block on her at the request of her father. The reason for this she found out later, was because when her brother, Augustin, was sent away to a Circle in Nevarra at the age of ten (Kylara was unaware of her eldest brother, Leland – who was already in the Ostwick Circle – because she had only been three when he had been taken by the Templars), Kylara became very angry at her father for sending him away. As she screamed and cried, her own magic suddenly flared, wild and nearly unmanageable. Due to her immense power and her lack of control, her father was terrified of his daughter becoming an abomination. He immediately called for the Templars. They used Holy Smite to drain Kylara’s mana and then gave her some herbs that put her into a deep sleep. As they were in Crestwood at the time, the Templars quickly took her to Kinloch Hold.

Her father was worried that if Kylara remembered her past family life it could cause her to lose control before she was properly trained. He sent a letter with the Templars to the first enchanter of the Circle if there was something he could do to make Kylara forget her past, which Irving did.

As it turned out this was a good thing for Kylara because it allowed her to focus on her studies. She excelled and quickly became a favorite pupil of many of the mage instructors, Irving included. She also made many friends while she was there.

Anders was twelve years her senior, but he loved many of the younger mage students and mentored them as a “big brother”. Despite their age difference, Anders was easily one of her closest friends. She was crushed when he ran from the Circle when she was thirteen. Kylara also had many girlfriends. Her best friend was Sarita – a city elf from the Highever Alienage. When she was seventeen, she also became friends with a young Templar by the name of Cullen.

Sadly, not all friendships turned out to be true. Jowan was a young boy of ten when she first met him. Being close in age, they became friends… but as they grew older they drifted apart. Just after her Harrowing, Kylara not only found out that Jowan was in a forbidden relationship with a Chantry initiate, but that he was also practicing blood magic and had plans to destroy his phylactery so he could escape the Circle with Lily. She reported this to Irving, who then had her lead Jowan and Lily into a clever trap. Once Jowan found out that his friend had betrayed him, he swore that one day he would get revenge…

(* Again, lots of things in here that I made up to cover up any gaps and/or inconsistencies. I also call it a creative license as a FanFic writer… lol!)

Leadership Style and Preferences: Kylara would not want to call herself a leader, despite Alistair deferring to her once she had become a Grey Warden. While they were traveling together during the Blight, she spent the next several months helping Alistair to build up his own confidence and belief in himself. When she has had to step into a leadership role, she does try and listen carefully and have all of the facts before making a tough decision. Has she made mistakes? Sure even the best-informed individuals can still make the incorrect choices.

Favorite Companions (up to 3): DAO – Leliana, Alistair, and Zevran // DAI (Kylara will not be my quizzy… but someone you have heard of will be! Leaving it there to hopefully prevent any spoilers!) Dorian, Iron Bull, Cole

Least Favorite Companions (up to 3): DAO – Oghren, Sten // DAI – Sera, Vivienne, Solas (It isn’t that Kylara and my future quizzy hate these people, but rather that they just tend to disagree with them more often than agree…)

Mages or Templars?: Mages

Who Was Left In The Fade?: Warden Stroud

Who Rules Orlais?: Empress Celene and Briala

Favorite Advisor: Cullen and Leliana

Hobbies: (Back to Kylara now…) Reading, Cooking, Chess, Spending time with Alistair, and practicing her magic.

Familiar: Kylara doesn’t have a familiar, but she does have her beloved Mabari, Winston.

Scars/Tattoos?: Fighting during the Blight has given Kylara numerous scars. Arrow scars – one in her left shoulder and two in her lower abdomen. Desire Demon claw marks on her chest. A dagger scar across her stomach. Werewolf claw marks on her upper back… and many other scars from fighting numerous darkspawn and the Archdemon at the final battle of Denerim. Despite these scars, Alistair tells her every day how beautiful she is and how lucky he is that they are together.

Favorite Flower: Roses (for obvious reasons!)

Favorite Stone Or Gem: (Minor Spoiler if you haven’t read Kylara’s Story yet…) One evening, Alistair had told Kylara that the Joining had taken away her ability to have children. Devastated and heartbroken, she fled from the camp. Alistair found her by the shore of Lake Calenhad and began to comfort her. What then started off as sweet and tender soon turned wild and passionate. Kylara felt her magic flare up inside of her and not knowing what else to do with it, she directed it into a nearby boulder. Once things had calmed between her and Alistair, she touched the rock… and it split open! Inside were strange crystals that mirrored both their eye colors when they fought darkspawn – bluish/silver for Kylara and golden for Alistair.

The next morning, Alistair chipped off a few of the crystals and secretly had them made into necklaces for Kylara and himself. The next time they made love, they found that the crystals were able to hold excess magic (for Kylara) and excess energy (for Alistair). As their journey progressed and their bond deepened even further, the crystal’s magic began to grow and change… allowing Ali and Kylara to communicate telepathically and feel each other’s emotional states.

After the Blight, Kylara was able to finally talk with First Enchanter Irving about their crystals. He said they were called Aventurine (sorry, yes… borrowed from D&D… 😅) and that they were incredibly rare and special. When two people are meant to be with each other, despite numerous obstacles and odds against them, these crystals can form when that bond is born from their love.

Kylara and Alistair still wear these crystal necklaces to this day.

Weaknesses: As mentioned before, Kylara can be a bit hotheaded and sometimes her temper has gotten the better of her… more so when she was younger. The years have mellowed her quite a lot, but she can still get up in someone’s face if they say something that truly angers her.

Summer of 89′ | 003

Read from the start | Read on AO3

There was an undertone of bleach in the air. Something that didn’t hit Chloe the second she walked through the sliding doors. Instead, it was gradual. Creeping up the back of her throat and clouding her lungs until she couldn’t recognize it at all. It used to bother her, the scent of bleach.

Everything was too clean in the hospital for her liking. She had grown up in a home that wasn’t afraid to get dirty. Mud was tracked against the kitchen floor when a good heaping of rain was dumped on their ranch property. The tub was rimmed with a line of black after every bath as a child- because dirt was natural. Messes were natural, or at least they were when it was anywhere but here.

Chloe closed her umbrella, letting the stray drops of water slide down her hand and past the cuff of her jacket until the cold streak touched her elbow. She dug her boots into the black mat right past the doors, leaving behind the very dirt she was self-conscious enough not to leave tracked against the Hospital lobby.

It was relatively desolate considering the full moon hung in the sky like a golden ornament on a Douglas fir. It wasn’t peak flu season, and Chloe thanked the higher powers for that. But that didn’t’ stop everyone from faking coughing fits and begging her to test for a fever one more time because their temperature was sure to have spiked over the last two minutes.

She punched the code into the worn-down pad next to the second set of doors and was met with another long white corridor lined with shy wooden doors. The sound of machines whirring, and IV’s dripping carried on like white noise. She walked with confidence.

“Doctor-“The voice echoed against the walls as one of her latest interns trotted up next to her. Her magenta scrubs stuck out like a beacon in a white sea. She quickly flipped the metal chart back to reveal a paper. “I’m so glad you’re here. I was wondering if you could take a look at the medications given to 207. Doesn’t seem right to me.”

She was annoyed. She would have been annoyed at anyone at this moment, reminding her of a job she kept for one summer at a sandwich shop. Customers came so frequently that that same disgruntled edge of dissatisfaction pulled at her. Still, she nodded and glanced at the chart.

Sixty-four-year-old Damion Coves. A repeat offender of the Emergency room, once or twice a month if Chloe could remember. A strong reason she had given the patient to her Intern in the first place. Sometimes it was a broken arm, but most of the time it was in relation to a back problem he refused to fix. He had worked as a fisherman for countless years, hauling product and gutting sea life.

“Hydrocodone and acetaminophen?” Chloe mumbled, as she furrowed her brow and looked up at the doe-eyed girl.

“Yes, Ma’am. He’s been complaining about the pain escalating. Demerol hasn’t done the job in quite some time and by the looks of it, he’s refusing the surgery.”

Chloe hummed, “He doesn’t like his odds against the possibility of being paralyzed from the waist down. Switch these to Propoxyphene. Damion Coves is an alcoholic, the second you pump him full of those and send him on his way he’ll stumble off the docks.” She shoved the metal chart back into her hands “Get to know your patient. You can smell the bourbon on his breath from a mile away.”  

She continued her journey until she made it to her office. It was three corridors deep, surrounded by cool cement and filled with old copy boxes that had case files. Ways she would teach her interns with gallbladder removals and that one stomach-churning patient who was almost sawed in half at the old mill.

Chloe breathed in the musty scent and flicked on the light. Her desk was the only clear thing about the office- despite her working here for four years, having the place all to herself. There was one picture of her girls hidden away in the bottom compartment of her filing cabinet. Her computer was covered in yellow sticky notes, and a nametag rested in the center of the surface.

“Ilene” She scoffed before pulling on the white coat slung over the chair and clipping the metal to the collar.

Her rounds started in a few minutes, she left the stuffy office and walked back into the sterilized hallway. She made it the nurse’s desk without another interruption and grabbed the stack of metal charts left by the attending on first shift.

“How are you tonight, Chloe?” her breath caught, she was halfway through the notes on Mrs. Robinson’s chart. She silently cursed herself for not hearing the heels against the linoleum. “Ilene.”

She drew in a deep breath, “Oh, absolutely fantastic, love these overnights.”

“fewer people.”

Chief Mary Saxe leaned against the counter next to Chloe, a smug look on her face. She had pulled her hair from the usual bun and let the curls move over her shoulders in waves. She was graying but in the most flawless way possible. Her jacket was pressed and her shirt was tucked in with professionalism despite the ungodly hour.

She had a point. It was quiet at night, visiting hours had faded away to nothing and the only people Chloe had to deal with were those listed in the charts, and whoever found themselves in the ER with appendicitis or a fever too high to register.

The two of them started walking towards the front of the corridor again, a round of silence plaguing them both before Chloe spoke. “You don’t have to babysit me, I’m fine.”

“I’m going to pretend I believe you.” She stalled before grasping Chloe’s elbow and bringing her to a halt. “I’ve known you for a hell of a long time, practically watched you grow up. You always get weird around today.”

Chloe swallowed roughly “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m here to do my job. Save lives and kick ass. Your motto, remember?”

“No, yes, I remember just. I’m speaking to you as a friend, not a colleague here. If you need to leave, I understand.”

“And I’m telling you as your friend, I’m okay. In fact, I would rather be around other people then shut in my room binge-watching the bachelor with a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream. So, can we please get on with rounds and just drop this?”

Doctor Saxe stared at her for a few moments, trying to figure out if Chloe was being genuine or not. She eventually decided that it didn’t matter if she was. Both of them continued on their way and made it to the first patient behind curtain number one.

It always felt like a game show to her. She never knew what would be behind the thin veil of plastic. Of course, she could always look at the chart before she went in. But that would take the fun and surprise out of it all.

The same intern that had approached her earlier about Damion seemed to have done all the heavy lifting. The little boy that sat on the bed directed his strained attention. His hair was adhered to his head with rainwater and mud. His arm was being placed carefully into a splint, and his mother was pacing a hole into the linoleum.

She stopped mid-stride and turned her hawked expression to the two doctors. “oh thank god, this girl looks too young to be a doctor.”

“Ma’am, I assure you, Stephanie has gone through all four years of medical school.” Chloe said slowly “And she’s doing a fantastic job. Mind telling me how this happened?”

She quickly forgot her anger towards the doctor, switching the string of her own son instead. “I told him not to go outside. Said that there was a storm coming and it was best to stay out of that old treehouse of his. But he never listens. The wood got too slick and he fell, broke his arm.”

She nodded and Doctor Saxe watched the situation unfold. She stayed silent, keeping a lingering eye on Chloe more than anything. Her arms were crossed and Chloe minded herself, directing her next questions towards where the kid sat and kicking his feet.

“Anything else hurt, little man?”

“Nothing does.” The mother answered in a clipped tone instead. Cutting off her son completely.

Doctor Saxe capped her hands together once and boasted a smile. “Okay! Stephanie, ma’am, why don’t’ we go out into the hallway to discuss how to take care of that cast. I know it’ll be hard to keep it dry in this weather- but we’re going to show you how.”

Chloe mouthed a thinly veiled ‘thank you’ as the woman and her intern cleared the room completely so she could do the rest of the exam. She slid on violet gloves and pulled a stool over to the young boy. He seemed comfortable, if not sleepy from today’s events. There was a thin line of blood on his chin and another on his forehead.

“Did you hit your head at all, when you fell?”

He gestured no “I don’t think so, I heard my arm break. Johnny broke his arm at the ice rink two years ago and it sounded the exact same. I didn’t think it would hurt that bad.”

“Oh?” Chloe gave him a smile, gently getting a better look at the lacerations “Yeah, it’s not the greatest feeling in the world but you know what? You’re very brave for getting through it. And look at that amazing cast you have! Is blue your favorite color?”

“Yes! And look, someone already signed it!”

Chloe lifted her eyebrows. Stephanie had just been finishing it up when they walked into the room. His mother must have worked fast, maybe even kept a sharpie in her purse wedged between some hard candies and wet wipes.

“see.”

Dread owned Chloe Beale in that moment. Directed all of her thawed blood to rush past her ears and her vision to fog up. She stared at the words scribbled in silver sharpie against the polymer-coated cast. The lettering was neat and precise, too well thought out to be ignored. Too concrete to be imagined.

Summer of 89, remember?

Rosie as a person is a bisexual and biromantic, with a preference for men, but the way she percieves love and what the qualities to make her love someone varies from case to case. It's all a learning experience to her.

As a whole, Rosie is a very private person. To herself, hesitant to show any kind of love in the open. And it's because she just.. doesnt know how without feeling uncomfortable. In reality, ever since she was young, her perception of love has been horribly skewed from start to finish. Her mother was mentally ill, in denial of it, and suffered through a series of abusive relationships that left her as a single mother of two. Camellia was violent and defensive and refused to admit she was ever wrong in anything, but her expression of love was confusing for Rosie when there were quiet and calm moments between them.. then her mother would be either manic, or depressed. While her father was mentally sound, he was no better in leading an example on how a healthy loving relationship worked. Roland had never loved anyone after Carmelia, insisting he still loved her, but some people were better apart. She would never love him again, he'd grown to accept.

To distract himself from it, he buried himself in his political work and activism, so showed his love to Rosie by simply buying her things to entertain her. He did love Rosie, but he didn't have the time to show it in the way he wanted to. Just like Camellia, he shared moments with her between parent and child like the love of music at breakfast time, but otherwise seemed like he was hardly ever there. When he died, she is left with a gaping hole of hopelessness once again, left with nothing but solitude.

Then there was Nova. Nova is one of the only other older female figures Rosie had in her life at a young age, and Nova was an absolutely off the wall bounty hunter with little to no sense of morality or self conservation. She slept with who she wanted, Took advantage of who she wanted, killed who she wanted, and she convinced Rosie that being taken advantage of was a part of life. Nova, who is simply another example of continuing the cycle of abuse purely because she too was never taught otherwise, molested, humiliated, and pushed at Rosie with a mindset that she was making Rosie a better soldier to take on the world. Nova didnt love(At least not in the typical mindframe that love should be) , she used whatever she wanted or needed to get jobs done, and when better opportunities jumped up she'd dip. Just like she did Rosie, short after Roland's death, because there were better things to do than get stuck with a mopey teenager.

In the Calvary, it's well known what happened to Rosie. More being taken advantage of, more abuse and degrading because shes an easy target. However it was there that she got her first taste of kindness. And it was in that kindness, she would have developed her first crush on a woman. Harley was the only other female in her Calvary unit, the girlfriend of their unit leader, and one of the first people to befriend Rosie when she was fully transferred to the academy. She was a pretty blonde Kentucky girl, with freckles on her cheeks and these sky blue eyes. Rosie didnt really understand her feelings for her, but Harley took the time to befriend her. Taught her how to ride and fight on horseback, treated her like a regular person-- however, the biggest setback was she was somehow entirely oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend(Damion, the unit leader) actively mistreated and tormented Rosie for fun. And when it escalated to outright sexual abuse, no matter how much she screamed, nobody came. Nobody believed her, and for Rosie it turned her crush into something so much more bitter and resentful. Once again, she felt left behind, and the only person to save her was Kasimir.

For years she had her first taste of puppy love, with sweet dreams and promises made, and for once she felt protected in the arms of a man that saved her-- it altered her perception yet again, that she could feel safe in a strong man's arms. Because a man can fight back a man, and for once she could relax and be safe in that hold. It was the same traditional values her father had, that a man should protect their women , and it was the one thing that was right. When she lost Kasimir, when he was forced away, and she was once again left alone, all that internalized agony and hate came to a point, and triggered the psychotic break that changed everything. Like her mother, she took on an unhealthy relationship for the sake of comfort, and like Nova she used him to get her out. She saved herself and burned away everything that she hated and reminded her of the awful feelings of betrayal and fear, and she remade herself as an entirely new person. Still, she didnt really understand love. She didnt even understand herself.

The cycle continues again. Using people for comfort, violently letting out her inner frustrations under fabricated reasoning, lying through her teeth. She only loved one other women, Livvie, and she eventually had to break it off because she looked so much like Harley. And she couldnt even be fully intimate without feeling the violent urge to strangle her. Rosie is trapped in her own mind, associating everything with her own trauma, and it keeps her from retaining any good relationship with women.

Rosie has this kind of.. internalized distrust of women, even a kind of hate specifically towards blondes , light skinned, or blue eyed women. Ironically, despite her experiences in life, Rosie feels this innate betrayal and distrust in women because of Harley. Because of Nova. Because of her Mother. Women are suppose to support each other and give a hand to one another, but in Rosie's experience when it comes to women- she tends to feel this constant memory of being unheard, abandoned, neglected, or outright spited by them. Instead of feeling comfort in understanding, women trigger this idea of competition in her mind, and while she is polite and naturally kind and empathetic, there is still that lingering sense that she will be backstabbed.

A bold women unnerves her, reminds her of Nova or her mother and sets off her fight or flight response to instinctively want to get away from them. A soft woman settles her, but because of her chaotic nature and life experiences, she cant settle too long(especially if they are blonde, light skinned, or blue eyed) without feeling violent urges towards them. To hurt them, because of this subconscious memory that nobody saved her when she was soft and vulnerable in her youth.

Men are just.. easier. While she's had worse experiences because of Men, she also has been equally saved multiple times by a handful of men in her life. And thus, because shes so used to being mistreated right off the back, the one fault in her code is this exhausted part of her just craves to fall into the arms of someone who can take care of her and protect her. She doesn't feel obligated to be the strong protector. With a women, Rosie would be too distrusting to ever give up that role of control and strength.

In the end, love is so damn confusing and fickle to her. She feels like everything and everyone who she loves and who love her, sign a death warrant. Or are bound to leave her. So far, her track record proves so, and she Is absolutely terrified to try again.

Rosie wants to love. She wants to so badly.

But fuck man, the chemistry has to be right, and shes feels like a difficult person to deal with. With a whole lot of baggage, between her kids, her angel project , and her own mental state. Love is a maze and is still one of the most difficult thing she tries to understand. She's tired of being passed off to the next set of hands

Areida Hawke

Race: Human 

Gender: Female 

Class: Rogue

Title: Champion of Kirkwall 

Family: - Aristide Amell (maternal grandfather) 

              - Bethann Walker (maternal grandmother) 

              - Malcolm Hawke (father) 

              - Leandra Amell (mother) 

              - Bethany Hawke (sister) 

              - Carver Hawke (brother) 

              - Gamlen Amell (maternal uncle) 

              - Mara Hartling (aunt) 

              - Charade Amell (maternal cousin) 

              - Fausten Amell (maternal great-uncle) 

              - Damion Amell (maternal first cousin once removed)

              - Revka Amell (maternal first cousin once removed)

              - Four unnamed second cousins through Revka 

              - Anders (husband)

              - Karl Hawke (son)

              - Malcom Hawke II (son)

              - Leandra Hawke (daughter) 

Voice: Jo Wyatt  

Appearances: - Dragon Age II 

                        - Dragon Age Legends 

                        - Dragon Age: Inquisition 

                        - Heroes of Dragon Age

Areida Hawke (born 9:06 Dragon), commonly known as The Champion of Kirkwall, is the main protagonist of Dragon Age II. She is the daughter and eldest child of Malcom Hawke and Leandra Amell, and the older sister of Bethany and Carver Hawke.

Background

Areida was born in 9:06 Dragon to Malcom Hawke, an apostate, and Leandra Amell, a noblewoman from Kirkwall who ran away to elope with Malcom after discovering she was pregnant with Areida, an action that caused her maternal grandparents to disown her mother. At the age of five, Areida was given two younger siblings. A brother named Carver and a sister named Bethany. Areida loved her younger siblings and was very protective of them, even while they were still in her mother’s womb. After her siblings were born, wanting to protect her beloved family, Areida began to practice dual dagger combat fighting. 

When Areida was fourteen-years-old, her family settled on the outskirts of Lothering after being on the run from Templars for several years. Due to her sister, Bethany, being a mage, her father spent a lot more time with her sister than he did with either her or Carver, a fact that Areida didn’t mind at all, understanding that Bethany needed to be trained in using her magic properly.

When Areida was twenty-one, her father became ill and passed away, leaving her as the head of the Hawke household. Three years later, Areida and her brother, Carver, enlisted in King Cailan’s army and took part in the battle of Ostagar. When Loghain Mac Tir betrayed Cailan and left the battlefield with his army, therefore leaving the King and the rest of the army to die, Areida and Carver managed to survive and escape back to Lothering in order to retrieve their mother and sister.

Involvement

Dragon Age II

Around the year 9:30 Dragon, the Fifth Blight has just begun and, following their victory at Ostagar, the darkspawn fell upon the village of Lothering. The Hawke family was among the last to escape alive. Hawke's mother Leandra suggests that they flee to Kirkwall, where her younger brother Gamlen holds the Amell estate. On the road they stumble into Aveline and her templar husband, Wesley, also survivors of the massacre. During their escape, they run into further bands of darkspawn. Though the party defeats many of these creatures, victory comes at a cruel price: Aveline's husband contracts the darkspawn taint and Areida’s brother, Carver, is slain by an ogre. Surrounded by darkspawn and on the verge of death, they are rescued by an attacking high dragon. The dragon turns out to be Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds. Flemeth offers them safe passage to Gwaren in exchange for a favor. Areida had no choice but to agree.

Areida, her mother Leandra, sister Bethany, and Aveline board a ship to Kirkwall but find that the city is filled with an influx of Ferelden immigrants, all fleeing the Blight. The city guard has been turning the refugees away and banning them from the city. Worse, they discover that Gamlen has gambled away the Amell estate and fortune. Gamlen is able to get a contact to bribe the Hawke family and Aveline into the city, but only if Areida and Bethany agree to work off a tremendous debt as indentured servants. Areida had no choice but to agree to be under the smuggler, Athenril’s employment.

One year later, Areida has managed to work off the debt but still lacks the funds needed to properly care for the entire family. Areida then meets a dwarf named Varric, who persuades her to become a business partner in his and his brother, Bartrand's Deep Roads Expedition. Needing a map of the Deep Roads for the Expedition, Areida, Varric, Bethany, Aveline head locate an apostate and grey warden named Anders in Darktown. While trying to make enough money to invest in the expedition, Areida meets and befriends Merrill, A Dalish elven mage who is First to her clan's Keeper, Isabela, A free-spirited pirate captain and smuggler, shipwrecked and stranded in Kirkwall, and Fenris, an escaped elven slave from the Tevinter Imperium, infused with lyrium tattoos by his former master.

In time, Areida was able to make enough to invest in the expedition. Though Bartrand betrayed both Areida, Varric, Anders, and Fenris during the expedition, the treasures found within the Deep Roads brings Areida both fame and fortune. When she returns home however, she finds Templars taking Bethany away to the circle, having discovered her magical abilities. Areida tries to stop them but Bethany tells her to stand down and goes with the Templars quietly. Areida comforts her heartbroken mother as they witness Bethany being taken away. 

Two years later, Areida, Varric, Anders, and Bethany enter a secret Warden prison in the Vimmark Mountains searching for a sect of the Carta who are after "the blood of the Hawke". After investigating the deranged Carta members, the group discovers that the Carta sought to bring either Areida or Bethany's blood to a creature called Corypheus in order to wake him from slumber. After getting to the bowels of the prison Areida chooses to side with the grey warden, Larius who believes Corypheus should be destroyed over the grey warden, Janeka who wants to control Corypheus. Once she releases Corypheus from his prison by using her blood, Areida and her friends destroy him. The Seekers of Truth attempt to investigate some time later, but the prison has been destroyed and they are turned away by Grey Wardens.

A year later, Areida's status in Kirkwall has improved substantially since she assumed her role as scion of the aggrandized Amell family. She has also developed feelings for Anders and started a romantic relationship with him. Areida is asked by the templar Emeric to investigate the mystery of the missing women in Kirkwall. While investigating the murders, Areida's mother, Leandra, is abducted by the white-lily serial killer while on her way to visit Gamlen. Following the killer's trail, Areida finds that Leandra has been murdered and pieced together with parts of other women. Her killer and the instigator of all the serial killings is a blood mage named Quentin. Keeping Leandra alive with his magic, Quentin aspires to recreate the image of his dead wife. Areida battles Quentin and his demon and undead forces. After Quentin dies, Leandra also dies. Her last words were telling Areida how proud she is of her. Areida mourns the loss of her mother while being comforted by friends.

Tensions between the Qunari (who have been stranded in Kirkwall for several years and refuses to leave without their missing relic) and the city's denizens have also been escalating. Areida is asked by Viscount Dumar to intervene with Qunari affairs several times during their stay in Kirkwall but the discord reaches a boiling point when Aveline, now captain of the guard, enlists Areida's aid in trying to arrest some criminal elves who have been granted religious sanctuary in the Qunari Compound. The Arishok, who had to endure a series of provocations from Kirkwall's anti-Qunari sect, takes a final offense to the attempted arrest of his new converts and counterattacks; marshaling his forces to conquer the city and convert it to the Qun. Areida was able to rally the templars and Circle mages and fight back the Qunari. They reach the Viscount's Keep where Areida defeats the Arishok in single combat. Having saved the city, Areida is crowned the new Champion of Kirkwall. 

Two years afterwards, Areida joins a mysterious elf assassin named Tallis, in infiltrating the Chateau Haine and stealing a precious relic. Areida, Tallis, Anders, and Fenris take part in a traditional Orlesian Wyvern hunt. After which they fail an attempt at stealing the relic and are captured. Tallis then reveals the truth about the relic, The Heart of the Many. After escaping, Areida chooses to help Tallis pursue the relic which leads to a fight with Tal-Vashoth and Grand Duke Prosper de Montfort which ends in Prosper de Montfort's death. Though his death at Areida's hands would have normally warranted retribution from Orlais, Prosper's dealings with the Tal-Vashoth against the Qunari, if revealed, would have embroiled Orlais in an impolitic scandal. Areida then lets Tallis leave with the true prize. At some point after returning to the Hawke Estate, Areida writes a journal passage regarding her relationship with Tallis and whether they'll meet again.

Another year later. Knight-Commander Meredith has taken stewardship of the city at the request of the Chantry, but so far has prevented the election of a new viscount. Meredith's stance against the mages has become harsher and much more cruel. After several more mages escape the Circle, Meredith orders more raids, crackdowns, and unwarranted incarcerations. Meanwhile, tales of insurrection from the Mage Underground have been becoming more frequent but have steadily declined to the point of almost utter annihilation due to Meredith's harsh tactics. First Enchanter Orsino accuses Meredith of being a tyrant and urges the citizens of Kirkwall to revolt against her. The citizens of Kirkwall look to Areida to keep the peace between the Templars and the Circle. Meanwhile, Areida is also requested to protect the city from maleficarum apostates. After Bethany is kidnapped by insurgents, Areida becomes embroiled in a conflict with rebel mage-templar conspirators seeking to overthrow Meredith.

Things reach a boiling point when Anders blows up the Kirkwall Chantry in order to remove the chance of peaceful compromise. Meredith immediately orders the Rite of Annulment and demands that the Champion stand with her and her templars in executing every mage in the city. First Enchanter Orsino pleads with the Champion to defend them against the templars, citing that the Circle had nothing to do with the attack on the Chantry. Knowing that the mages had nothing to do with the Chantry explosion, Areida chose to support First Enchanter Orsino and the other mages.

The final battle ends in the Gallows. Desperate to defeat the knight commander's forces, Orsino uses Blood Magic to become a harvester. Meredith, driven insane and paranoid by her Red Lyrium forged sword, also becomes an enemy. Both are eventually defeated by Areida to restore the peace. After the battle, Areida and her friends escape Kirkwall before templar reinforcements arrive. Areida's name became a rallying cry for oppressed mages everywhere. 

On the Run 

Fearing that Divine Justinia V was planning an Exalted March on Kirkwall, Areida and her companions left Kirkwall to spare its denizens and also to divide the Divine's forces should she send them to hunt for them. Areida went on the run with Anders, living under the name Marian and cutting her hair a little bit to avoid being recognized. A month after they left Kirkwall, Areida discovered that she was pregnant with her’s and Anders child, the baby having been conceived a week before Anders blew up the Chantry. Several months later, she gave birth to son named Karl, named after Anders’ friend and former lover who was mercy killed by Anders after being made tranquil. Two years afterwards, she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son named Malcom, named after her father.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Eventually Areida contacted Stroud to help with the investigation into Red Lyrium. Stroud however was concerned about corruption in the Grey Warden ranks and went into hiding. Areida was later contacted by Varric Tethras who introduced her to Inquisitor Rosabelle Trevelyan. After answering the Rosabelle's questions about Corypheus and how he may be related to missing Grey Wardens, Areida and Rosabelle rendezvous with Stroud in a smuggler's cave in Crestwood to see what his investigation uncovered.

Stroud explains that he was investigating if Corypheus could have survived fatal wounds just like an Archdemon can. Yet in the middle of his investigation, every Grey Warden in Orlais began to hear the Calling which he believes is being elicited by Corypheus. Believing that their end is near, Warden-Commander Clarel planned on using a blood magic ritual that would end all Blights before they all perished. Stroud was branded a traitor for protesting Clarel's plan and went into hiding. Stroud, Areida, and Rosabelle scout the ancient Tevinter ritual tower in the Western Approach to investigate a Grey Warden congregation.

At the tower, the party witnesses Grey Warden mages sacrificing their fellow Wardens to summon demons. They are being led by Lord Livius Erimond, a Venatori Magister who convinced Clarel to use his blood magic techniques to raise a demon army to invade the Deep Roads and kill the Old Gods before they wake. The demon binding rituals Erimond taught the Grey Warden mages, however, has the side effect of enslaving them to Corypheus, who will use them to conquer Thedas. Erimond escapes to Adamant Fortress while the party confronts the enslaved Wardens of the tower.

Areida and Stroud join the Inquisition as they lay siege to Adamant Fortress. They confront Erimond and Clarel about the truth of the demon binding ritual and attempt to sway the Wardens against Erimond. When Erimond summons Corypheus' dragon to deal with the Inquisition, Clarel has a change of heart and betrays Erimond. The dragon attacks and a massive battle ensues after which, the Inquisition pursues Clarel. Clarel inflicts her wrath on Erimond but is killed by the dragon he has summoned. Clarel's last act is casting a spell that subdues the dragon, but its crash causes the ground beneath them to crumble, resulting in the party falling off the ramparts. Rosabelle uses her mark to open a rift to transport the party to the Fade.

The party finds a spirit posing as Divine Justinia V who briefs them that they are in the realm of a Nightmare demon and that Rosabelle must recover the memories it took from her. As Rosabelle recovers these memories, she remembers how the mortal Divine was bound by Grey Wardens and sacrificed to power an orb -- an orb which Rosabelle picked up and which gave her the mark, and how the spirit in the Divine's form was the one who led Rosabelle out of the Fade after the creation of the Breach. Once Areida realizes that the Grey Wardens had a hand in sacrificing the Divine to further Corypheus' schemes, Areida becomes incensed and accuses the Grey Wardens of being out of control and needing to be checked. Stroud is defensive about the accusation, and argues that the Wardens were most likely mind controlled by Corypheus and that Areida herself has caused much chaos by causing the mage rebellion which Areida retorts that she did so to protect innocent mages.

The spirit leads the party to a rift but the Nightmare is preventing their escape. The spirit sacrifices itself to weaken the Nightmare, and the party defeats the Aspect of the Nightmare blocking their escape. The party reaches the rift but either Areida or Stroud must stay behind to distract the Nightmare for the party to leave. Areida wants to sacrifice herself to atone for freeing Corypheus but Stroud takes the sacrifice instead to atone for all the harm the Grey Wardens have done. After the party escapes from the fade, Areida travels to Weisshaupt to brief the Grey Wardens on what has transpired. 

Trespasser

In 9:44 Dragon, Varric mentions that Weisshaupt has apparently deteriorated into 'the special kind of mess that only happens when Areida shows up'. A year before the Exalted Council, Areida became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter she and Anders named Leandra, named after her mother. The epilogue states that some time later, Areida, Anders, and their children returned to Kirkwall and that Areida is helping Varric rebuild Kirkwall's damaged infrastructure.

My whole collection of rambles about Universo and other things related to him

Universo is secretly pansexual...

He just doesn't know how to come out about it.

If you were to anger Universo to the point where his eyes were glowing and they seem to stare into your soul, he would not only be fucking pissed but if he gets angry enough he forgets how to speak English...

Same goes with if he is sad enough...

Universo pronounces his name two ways.

One: like universe with an "o"

Two: Ooniverso, like an oo sound...

The second one is how it is pronounced in Spanish...

Universo prefers both but when it comes down to it, he prefers it with the u sound if your not his family...

Mafia Universo makes a shadow covering one of his eyes and wears a fedora to cover it because his eye is messed up and he can't see out of it. This happened because instead of going into a coma like his original self he and his mom got kidnapped by a gang...

If he were to remove the fedora and get rid of the darkness his eye would be cracked and foggy like.

Mafia Universo also witnessed his mother getting murdered as well. That is what made him snap. He gave in to his dark thoughts and became heartless...

Universo and Damion used to live far from the city. Where they lived, if they walked a bit, there was a creek.

Universo and Damion used to go there and pick up rocks and throw them into the creek.

Universo was almost strangled by a snake near there too.

There was also a bridge that went over it. Universo and Damion taught themselves how to fly by jumping off of there and trying.

In fact Universo once broke his wing trying. He did manage to heal himself. It's why he keeps his wings folded up.

Universo's wings are the most sensitive things on his body.

If you grab him right in the middle of them he is partially paralyzed until you let go. Another reason he keeps them folded up

Universo isn't supposed to fall in love with Anyone. But he did anyways. He is willing to risk getting his wings ripped off for Anthony.

Universo has a halo. He just hides it. How? It's his earring that he hides underneath his hair. You might get lucky to see it if you can ruffle his hair.

Jardín and Reina Mariposa were never supposed to be together.

Jardín gave up his high class to be with her...

Reina Mariposa was an orphan and had no one except for another fellow orphan who she calls her sister.

Jardín was a boy with a high class because he was an element and his parents were respected.

Karma was aware that Jardín feel in love with Reina Mariposa and he fully supported it, unlike their parents. Jardín's father tried everything to keep them separated but it never worked...

Jardín eventually just ran away and left his parents as a teen and gave up everything to be with Reina Mariposa...

Jardín hasn't spoken with his parents since...

Reina Mariposa was the one who showed Jardín how to dance...

She showed him when they were out in the middle it the night, after Jardín had snuck out of his room and met up with her.

Universo had a hard time as a kid. Other than losing his sister and his father and Damion having to leave, along with Líder disappearing, his mother and him had to live in the streets.

He had to resort to stealing food and water, getting caught want fun either.

Pastel, the baker, was normally nice to Universo since he was a kid and let him get away with stealing food from him.

Metálico caught him once and didn't give a damn. Broke both of his wrists and... Had a little fun...

Metálico just so happened to catch Universo again, stealing milk this time, and just after his wrists were healed, broke them again. And messed up his wings as well.

He only got caught twice.

Reina Mariposa made sure it wouldn't happen again. She couldn't get a job, so she decided to be the one stealing food for them. She had been doing it for years before then.

Without Jardín, she didn't even count as a being.. that's how low her class was...

Plus her and Universo were labeled as traitors, making it impossible to get a job.

YOOOOO MY FELLOW GAYS it me :p I’m baaaack with another set of conspiracy theories for @altruistic-skittles’ In Our DNA Because I love driving myself insane by thinking in circles XD

That and I’m determined to figure out the Macy Mystery(tm) before it’s revealed, it’s practically a matter of pride at this point XD I mean, I probably won’t but I’m having a blast piecing different hints and details together. Like Game theory, with about the same track record too!

ANYWAYS SPOILERS AND POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW :P

First to recap! From my last theory post

- Patton having emotional power (CONFIRMED!)

- Roman being Subject 89 (CONFIRMED!)

- Patton, Logan, and Macy (Still in the air, probably Jossed XD)

- Virgil’s history with Logan (Still in the air)

- The whole thing being a test (JOSSED)

...which is not to bad actually, huh. ANYWAYS I’m gonna be focusing on the biggest mystery at the moment: Macy so buckle up it’s about to get weird

To start off with we need to narrow down the list of suspects which goes thus:

Roman, Virgil, Logan, Patton, Damion, Ms. Spencer, Emile Picani, Remy, Hobo (yes I’m including the cat, I did say that it was going to get weird), and finally Macy herself!

Pleeeeease let me know if I missed any important characters! I’m not including the parents or Flora because the ages just don’t match up at all, and if I start trying to add them to this equation I really will go mad. 

ROMAN

I’m crossing Logan off this list off of one thing alone: the ships listed for this fic. XD Logince. Need I say more? No? No. Go get your man, Ro

PICANI AND REMY

I mean, they’re in the tags. They’re gonna show up at some point. However, I’m doubting the existence of a third sibling. Neither Patton nor Logan has mentioned the existence of one. Plus I’m inclined to think that Skittles has already introduced us to Macy, and is just making us all suffer at this point

MS. SPENCER

...ok I don’t actually think that Ms. Spencer could be Macy but I really, really wanted to point out that Damion disguises himself as her at least once. How else would a supposed elementary school teacher know that people would be after not only Patton but Roman as well? Why would she time her running into Virgil so suspiciously well that Virgil doesn’t meet Patton at the theater? She’s surprisingly gentle with Roman, whom Damion would know

Hence at least in the theater scene Ms. Spencer = Damion 

aaaaanyways moving on

HOBO

I mean at this point, the cat could be a person and I would not be surprised. Virgil even points this out himself, that the cat could be a mutant and following him around for some reason. The two year timeline is rather suspicious as well. I’m leaning Hobo = Remy at the moment but WHO KNOWS Hobo could be Macy XD (and believe me, the moment that cat makes a return I’m starting a whole new theory board for them)

DAMION

(First off, gdi, Damion adds a whole new layer to the Unreliable Narrator tag, Skittles I’m going to go mad XD)

Damion is not Macy but he’s definitely involved somehow. My current theory? He’s the kid that broke his arm and led to Logan being taken. Chapter 7 opens with a flashback of someone who’s broken their arm, and is met with icy blue eyes. Logan. They leave and then they return to reassure him that everything will be alright.

But

They do it softly, in a way that helps him catch his breath. Which sounds an awful lot like Patton to me. “It’s going to be okay”

So

Damion breaks his arm, Logan sees it and tells Patton, Patton heals Damion’s arm and leads to Logan being taken. Which is why Damion is looking out for them. They helped him out and in return, one got his mind twisted and the other got taken to a facility and experimented on for years.

(Also note the ambiguous pronouns I’m going to bring those back up)

Also Chapter 9, with Damion being disguised as a scientist and helping Roman and his mother escape, leads me to believe that all the files about subject 89 were corrupted and/or deleted by him

PATTON

Ah, the story that Skittles wants us all to believe, the most likely to be true shhhhh I’m in tin hat denial land right now, the red herring, the bright spotlight that Skittles wants us to pay attention to so that she can pull of her magic trick in the shadows

WELL I WILL NOT BE FOOLED

Patton may look just like Logan, Patton may be trans, Patton and Macy may both have hints at having healing powers, Patton’s mothers may have locked him up in order to keep him from being taken as well, Patton may have memory problems that point to Logan messing with his head, but look

...

...

The story of Patton being Macy goes as thus:

Patton/Macy (from here on known as Patcy) heals Damion’s broken arm and gets noticed by Dr. William. After a period of time, Logan notices that people are trying to take their sibling and alters people’s memories into thinking that it was him who healed the broken arm. They alter Patcy’s memories for...some reason, and Logan lets themself get taken to the facility in Patcy’s stead. Patcy’s mothers, lock them up to keep from losing another child. A few years later Pacty realizes their gender, Patton chooses his name, Roman saves him from his mothers and we hit the present day. Makes sense no?

W R O N G XD

There are a few details that stand out that this doesn’t answer: Patton’s bracelet and his habit of messing with it. Why Damion- disguised as Ms. Spencer- kept Patton and Virgil from meeting. Why did Logan need to erase Patton’s memories of him in the first place?

Patton as Macy makes the most sense and yet, when I think about it, it doesn’t feel right. I can’t shake the doubt and conviction that he’s not Macy

Which leaves us with Virgil or Logan

VIRGIL

I doubt Macy is Virgil.

There are a few things that could mean his is Macy: the fact that he’s gender fluid, the normal life he got to lead (s u p p o s e d l y there’s still the question of how he meet Logan, which means he isn’t all normal), Virgil’s family being connected to the facility somehow, the way that the two just click, that strange moment where Patton notes about two of his students looking alike but not being related, and Virgil insistence that Logan gets to live their life

And one other vague hint that Skittles has told me that I’m not sure I’m allowed to share that could swing as support or something to disprove Virgil = Macy I haven’t decided yet

But I don’t think he’s Macy. For a couple of reason. Logan claims that Macy would look like them, and it’s one of the few things that I trust. Virgil has an entire documented family history. Virgil has time based powers when Macy is connected to healing powers in some form. And then well

Moxiety is listed as one of the ships XD With the build up of Logan and Patton’s connection they have to be connected in some way which could make Moxiety a little,,, squicky depending on what that connection is. :p 

Which just leaves:

LOGAN

Yeah, you heard me. I think Logan is Macy. I know it’s probably not right but GDI I’m attached to the idea now that I have to lay my clones theory to rest, at least for now

Do I want it to be a complex conspiracy? Why yes, yes I do, I know it’s not likely but it’s fun to think about and I hope it amuses Skittles. Look I watch Game Theory for fun, I love MatPat but I doubt 90% of his theories are right XD They’re fun anyways. *coughs* I’m rambling back to my thoughts

I already established in my first theory post that I don’t think we can trust Logan completely about their own past. They erased something from it. The question is what? They remember Macy obviously, and taking her place.

And that’s what interests me the most. They took Macy’s place. The fist couple of files we see about them is a search for healing powers. Why? Why would they expect healing? I said family lines before but they clearly don’t show any knowledge of Logan having siblings until they slip up about Macy.

And then there’s the fact they couldn’t erase memories until they were about eleven. Which means that everything they did before that was alteration and not erasures. Whoever Patton was to Logan, they couldn’t have erased things completely, only changed them. And you know what’s interesting about that?

Patton’s comment about Damion

“He was almost like a brother to me”

That on top of Damion trying to keep Royality separate from Analogical, it makes me think that things are going on. Things(tm)

So the Logan as Macy story goes as thus:

There was a pair of twins, both of them female. One heals people with the touch of her hands, and the other can dip into their memories like a pool. One day they meet a boy who’s broken his arm. The one who can heal gets caught healing him.

They’re young, they don’t know what to do. Her sister panics, and refusing to let her sister get taken, swaps both of them. She writes away her existence from her sister’s mind, filling in the gaps with the boy they had helped or just plain emptiness. And then, to make sure that they cannot find her sister, she changes her own mind, putting herself in the place of her sister.

Macy guarantees her sister’s freedom by making sure that they’ll never learn the proper name and information about her. But she keeps the idea of her sister close, to take with her. And leaves her sister a bracelet, maybe not to remember her by, but as a hope that maybe one day they’ll meet again

The only thing I can’t figure out is the whole gender issue, which I figured Damion would help Logan hide but IDk about the rest BUT COME ON The rest of it makes sense!! 

So I stand by Logan is Macy XD

Though it still leaves

MACY

There are two options with this. Macy is simply herself, and Patton is himself, a coincidence that everyone built up. Or Macy doesn’t exist. And was simply someone Logan imagined in order to help him cope. Neither of which are likely at all 

BUT STILL POSSIBILITIES

ANYWAYS thanks for joining me in tin foil hat land again XD I hope y’all are enjoying this fic as much as I am and SKITTLES I’m excite for where you take it no matter where it goes!!

Keep up the good work and have an awesome day! <3

I run into a hard chest. "Watch it," I snap, stumbling back as I steady the scrolls I hold. "Sorry," The voice is deep and rough. And clearly unapologetic. I glance up and straighten, ready to start a squabble with this arrogant male, and find a startlingly bright pair of green eyes watching me. The gaze is not a hungry one, but it is indeed heavy as it surveys my body, my existence. For a moment, I am taken aback by the intensity of his expression. Shining skin on a beautiful frowning face. Sharp edges and molten gold softness all at once. He is perhaps only a few years older than me, but he holds an air of superiority and knowledge. As if he has seen things people our age do not see in their entire lifetime. A clearly dominant man, with his graceful posture and the entirety of his bulking body. And then his face melts into a grin, and all intensity is gone. "My name is Damion Hander," He nods a greeting, as if bumping into each other consequences an introduction. "I don't care," I move to side step him, but he moves with me. I glance irritably up at him as he blocks my path and grit my teeth. "Can I help you, Mr Damion Hander?" He watches me carefully before speaking, his finger poking the scrolls in my hand, "I was just wondering what these are, Miss...?" I do not give him my name. Only look down at the scrolls, "These," I announce, "Are none of your business." I move to side step. He moves with me. "What do you want, truly?" I snap, done with this little game. He grins again, almost as if he cannot help but find my temper amusing. Seeing a grown man with such a dominant essence grin like a school boy is disorientating, and I have to blink to clear my head. "I want to know your name," He says. Honest. Open. "If I tell you my name will you let me pass?" He shrugs casually, winking, "You'll have to find out, won't you?" I clench my jaw before heaving a small sigh, "Lila." Something washes over his face for one single moment. An emotion that I cannot decipher. Shock or surprise or awe. And then it is gone, and his eyes clear from that strange soft state. "A lovely name for a lovely lady," He almost purrs his words, and I do not fight my snort. I move to pass. He moves into my way. I glare before stepping again, not in the mood. He steps even closer, staring down. I do not move away this time. I felt the shift in his energy; playful to stern. I have a sinking feeling that if I step away one more time he might very well grab my wrist and yank me back. I blink up at him, and he is so tall and large that he blocks the sunlight from hitting my face. He glances around us, studying the lush gardens of the academic court. He seems to watch children play in the distance, and a soft smile twitches at his lips. "Mr Hander," I say very slowly, careful. He catches the wariness in my tone and glances down at me with raised eyebrows. Surprised and impressed that I caught onto the shift in his mood. "Is there anything else I can help you with before I go?" He chuckles, a low and breathy sound, "Miss Lilanna Greevery," He addresses me, and my stomach drops. How he knows my full name, I do not know. But something like fear begins to coil in my gut. "I would like you to help me verify a few facts. First, where were you born?Second, were you an orphan? And third, when did you come to this nation?" Words fail me for one moment. Who is this man? Someone who knows my full name, despite the fact that I have not uttered it to one living person in this country. Dread sits heavy within me.  "I-" I gulp, deciding whether to lie or tell the truth. It is likely he already knows the truth. "Don't lie," He whispers a mocking warning. I have no trouble catching the danger in his smile. I steel myself, "I was born in Hale, was taken in by an adoptive mother at the age of three, and move to Ponda three weeks ago." I gulp, "Who is asking?" He studies me for a long, endless moment. I do not back down from his stare. "You have very interesting eyes," He whispers to himself, "Not Idal bright, but they aren't dull like Ponda's." I blink, "I beg your pardon?" He clicks something into my neck; so fast and swift that I doubt anyone saw him move. My hand slaps to the tender skin there, and I gape at him as my entire world starts to swim in blurry colours. I begin to lose feeling in my body, and I can feel the flow of unconsciousness idly drifting closer. The drug he injected into me stops me from screaming, or fighting, or even panicking. I can only stare at him as my body slowly loses control, and rest my head on his shoulder as he wraps an arm around my waist to hold me up. He does not look down at me. Only checks his watch. "What-" I try to scream the words, but they come out as a murmured whisper. He meets my gaze, and assumes I am asking him about his earlier mumbles. "Your eyes," He clarifies, "They should be normal. But they're brighter, somehow. They shine." Everything goes black. ------------------------------------------------ I wake from my deep slumber with a small gasp. My chest heaves, and my skin is coated in a layer of sweat and grime. Beside my bed sits Rafeal. I flinch when I catch sight of his chestnut waves. When his eyes meet mine, I scowl instinctively, drawing the blanket up around my almost bare chest. Under the thin sheets, I wear nothing but a bra and pants. I could not handle the layers upon my skin. "Rafeal," I almost growl in my daze, "What are you doing in my tent?" He shrugs, his expression still slightly hazy as he finds his way out of my head. "Making sure you dreamt." "Why?" "General Hander's orders." I roll my eyes, slumping back onto my damp pillows. I let go of my blanket when I realise no one is in the tent but Raf and I. I know he does not care for my body. "You gave me that dream?" I croak, rubbing my eyes. "Not really," He shrugs again, eyes on some distant point in the tent, "You already had it in your memories. I just found it buried deep and let it swim to the surface." Silence. I should get dressed and help the medics again. But this is the first time I have slept well in four days. I remain where I am, listening to the noises of the camp around us. "Why that one?" I ask finally. Rafeal is an interesting boy. My age. An Idal of dreams and memories, and a mind that is never in the moment. "Because you were thinking of General Hander," He shrugs. Again. "So I delivered your first ever memory of him." I am quiet. Fair enough. "Why were you?" He asks finally. I frown, "What?" "Why were you thinking of General Hander?" "Because he sent me to sleep, and I was mad at him," I admit reluctantly. Rafeal laughs. A sound I have only ever heard once or twice in the months that I have known him. I savour the music of his amusement. "You're always mad at him." "He truly is an insufferable man," I admit yet again, hoping to coax another chuckle. Nothing. Blank face again. I fight the urge to sigh and roll off the bed. Rafeal does not even glance over at me as I stand in my undergarments. A black pair of panties and a black bra. I put my hands on my hips as I watch him watch nothing. "How are you going?" I ask gently. I know I have a soft spot for Rafeal and his lost mind. Jeremy teases me endlessly for it. "Hmm?" "These past few days," I explain, "How have you been?" "Oh, good." Quiet. I do not move. Do not even feel slightly exposed in front of this man. "What have you been doing?" Another gentle tone. I try to scold myself for being so soft. I am not soft. You do not survive this war by being soft. "Chief Pron has had me staying in the soldier's tents. Ensuring no nightmares leave them gasping for breath." He meets my gaze finally, and does not even notice that I am barely dressed. "He says that after battle the night terrors haunt them for weeks." My heart goes out to all of those soldiers. They have seen more blood and death than any man should see. I nod to Rafeal in agreement, and he turns back to watch the far wall of the tent. I open my mouth to speak, to say something to distract him from his  nothing, but the usually locked flaps to my tent whip open as someone enters. Before I can dive for the sheet, Damion is striding into my tent as if he owns it. "Rafeal," He calls, "It is almost starfall. Chief Pron requests you-" His words sputter into nothing as he glances up and catches sight of me. In nothing but my panties and bra. My entire body flushes with heat, but I refuse to cover myself now like an embarrassed little girl. He raises his eyebrows, studying my nearly naked body and Rafeal's presence. I watch him connect the dots and come to a conclusion. Shit. "Chief Pron," Damion repeats, "Requests your presence in the main bunks." Rafeal nods once before slipping wordlessly from my tent. Damion watches him go before turning to face me. His skin has found it's usual tanned shine, but his hair is still a dishevelled mess. I refuse to look away or hide. I clear my throat as his eyes trail down my body, noting the slim curves and muscles that have developed over the months of training. "How long have I been asleep for?" He meets my eyes, "I don't know, Lila. How long were you asleep for?" I catch the hidden question in his words, and this time I cannot fight the blush that blooms. He watches the rosy red flush through my cheeks. "I was not sleeping with him," I snap, "You are the one that sent him in here to monitor me like some prisoner!" He does nothing but raise an eyebrow, unimpressed, "I sent him in here to ensure you got rest. If I'd known you were sleeping in this attire, though, I would have done the job myself." I roll my eyes and stride for the hooks that hold my clothes, ignoring his usual flirting. He knows I hate the comments. I know that's why he makes them. "You're a pig," I scoff as I pull the leathers on. He shrugs and turns to leave, unoffended and uninterested in the conversation, "I try my best. Once you're dressed, find Jeremy and assemble in my tent." I raise an eyebrow, intrigued, "Why?" He doesn't answer before disappearing from view. I huff. At least I know Damion is back to normal. --------------------------------- "What's up, champ?" Jeremy greets as he enters Damion's tent in front of me. I try not to roll my eyes at the sudden easiness in Jeremy's tone. Damion is two years older than Jeremy and I, but I swear Jeremy looks up to him like a father. Weird. I do not greet Damion as I follow Jeremy into the wide and bright tent. It is littered with bandages, weapons and war reports. Unsurprisingly. Damion is bent over the messy table in the middle, feverishly studying  a list of casualties. When he glances up, his face is a frown of stern control and seriousness. Sometimes I forget that this flirting and grinning male is the General Commander of Ponda's armies. I am so used to his winks and chuckles that I forget he is the second most influential Ponda in the nation. Today he is not Damion. He is General Hander. He straightens when we enter, stretching his back and wincing as his shoulder gives him strife. I freeze for a moment, monitoring the wound for blood before he waves away my worry. "You are both late," He announces. Jeremy shrugs as he throws himself onto the cushions in the far corner, "Lila decided it was a good idea to stop and check up on nearly every soldier we passed." I roll my eyes as I make my way over to the table. Damion glances at me in surprise. "You talked to soldiers?" I glare, "I hate you. Not them.'' He nods his grim approval, "Noted." "Why are we here?" Jeremy calls again. Damion's eyes flicker between me and Jeremy, his gaze so dark I almost cannot see the green. The hardness of his expression makes my spine pull tight, and I stand to attention as I study his serious face. Behind me, I hear Jeremy rise from the cushion pile and make his way over. "What I am about to say it not to be repeated to anyone," He demands, voice unusually harsh, "Are we clear?" I gulp once. Jeremy nods beside me. Damion watches the two of us for a few more moments before letting out a breath, "We are sending you two on a mission." Silence. Shock. Jeremy and I have not been let out of Pron or Damion's sight for months. "You two are the most powerful Idal's with a trusting connection to Ponda." I don't fight my snort, and Damion sends me a heated look. "Don't," He warns me, "You know you possess more power than anyone in this nation." "Doesn't make me powerful," I reply easily, "I cannot use a drop of it." "You healed me," He reminds, "That's a drop. I do not respond. "Both of you know that so far, we are winning this war with the Kinal's. But there have been whispers amongst the camp. Whispers that have been started by the returned prisoners of war," His expression shutters into darkness for a moment, "They say that they have witnessed a growing power in Kinal. They lack the words to describe it, and when they are pressed for more information they simply break down, lost in their traumatic memories of their time in the enemy territory. But from the information we have retrieved," He gulps, "It is clear that Kinal is gathering and hiding a powerful sort of magic. The likes of one that can wipe out entire armies, apparently." The breath is knocked from my lungs in a slow exhale. Jeremy simply blinks in surprise. I gulp, "The people of Kinal do not possess magic," I counter, "How is that possible?" Damion sighs, running a hand over his face, "We don't know yet. We have sent our spies to investigate and find out, but it will take a month for them to gather enough to satisfy." Quiet. "What do you want us to do?" Jeremy asks finally, slightly confused. I am confused, too. I do not understand how Jeremy and I fit into this puzzle of plans. Damion watches us carefully, "We do not have that long to wait for information. By then, there may be another battle. One in which that hidden magic is used and our people are killed. We need more power; enough to rally the secret they will eventually reveal." He is quiet for a moment, "You two have been chosen to find that power." We both openly gape. "How?" Is all I say. "We have..." He struggles for a word, slowly becoming flustered, "We have heard other whispers. Words on the wind that speak of a power deep in the Idal territory." "And you want us to find it?" "I want you to find her," He corrects. "Her," Jeremy echoes before snapping to attention, "You want us to retrieve a girl in Idal that supposedly has enough power to shift this war in our favour? How could she possibly have enough power for something so extreme?" Damion meets my eyes and gulps, "She is like Lila." Oh. "She possesses all of the Idal abilities?" Jeremy's jaw drops, shocked that more than one person can hold so much power in their blood. "How is that... How is that possible? Something so rare cannot possibly happen in TWO bloodlines!" Damion does not take his eyes away from mine, "We don't think the power resides in two bloodlines," He says quietly. Oh. Oh, shit. Jeremy frowns, the understanding not having dawned on him yet. But it has dawned on me, and my mind races. "How do you know?" I croak, "Why do you guess?" He swallows, "We have heard more than whispers lately. Detailed descriptions. Age, appearance, power. We have enough evidence to assume." "Assume what?" Jeremy asks softly. None of us blame him for not understanding fast. He has spent the past three days interrogating our enemies, draining his power with his torture. He has hardly slept, and his mind is working slower than ours. "Assume that this mysterious girl and I share heritage," I fight back the lump in my throat. I hardly let myself consider the possibilities. Damion sighs, "Assume," He repeats, tired, "That this mysterious girl is Lila's sister." Sister. The word barrels through me quick and sharp, knocking every single one of my bones. I whip my head to stare into Damion's steady gaze. Sister. I had not considered that. "There's no way," I breathe, "No way that my parents had two children and abandoned each of us to different parts of the world." Damion does not look away from the emotions shining in my eyes, "It makes more sense to separate powerful children than keep them together," He says softly. He is right. He is always right. Oh, god. "Are you certain?" I force out through grit teeth, fighting the trembling in my body. I have lived my entire life an orphan. No family save for Matilda; the strong and brave woman that raised me. No memories of my seemingly loving parents, or any siblings. I had not even thought of siblings. Damion hesitates before nodding, "I do not know about the others, but I am." I release a slow and shaky breath. Damion is certain. That is all I need to know. "Okay," I nod slowly, indicating my belief of his words. Jeremy watches me carefully, something like an amused smile twitching at his lips. I remember his words yesterday, and mine. I clench my jaw and ignore Jeremy's searching gaze. I stare only at the General Commander. "When do we embark on this mission?" Jeremy asks finally, turning to Damion with a serious and determined expression. Damion runs a hand through his hair and releases a long sigh, "Pack your bags tonight. You leave at first light." -------------------------------------- I stare into the woods surrounding the camp as Jeremy talks to Pron behind me. It is so cold I can feel it in my bones, but the light shining through the trees is soft and warm. I do not say a word as soldiers pass across the border of camp, travelling on their own missions. Sister. Sister. Sister. Warm and callused fingers find my chin and lift my face up. I let Damion move my head and stare silently back at him. His green gaze searches my eyes closely, as it always does. I am reminded of the first time I met him, and his words whispered in my dream the night before last. He was fascinated by the shine of my eyes. I wonder if he still is. If every time he looks into them, he takes a moment to appreciate the colour of the light brown depths. "Two weeks," He reminds, voice hard and stern, "That is all you are gone for." I gulp, my chin still in his firm yet gentle grip, "What if we don't find her by then?" His eyes are a stone wall, "Then you come home." Home. Not the war camps. Him, and Pron, and Rafeal, and Sapphire. I guess they are my home now. I barely nod. He does not let go, and just keeps studying me. I watch him. A very strange man. Damion has trained me in combat for the past few months. He has also worked closely with Jeremy and Sapphire to summon and bring forth the powers that lay dormant within me. I spend the most time with him and Jeremy, and each of our lessons are long. I have argued with this man in front of me more times than I can even begin to count, and I do not remember the last time I was genuinely enjoying myself around him. Damion, despite his personas of control and power and youth and joy and cockiness, has a delicate way of rubbing me the wrong way. His words ignite sparks in me no matter how hard I try to fight my temper, and I think he is more used to my snarled voice than any other sort of tone I use. But sometimes, sometimes there are singular moments of calm between us. A deep and unending sort of calm that settles every thought in my mind and the restless buzzing under my skin. These powers that lay within me do not unleash themselves upon the world, but that does not mean they are silent. The powers make my skin tremble more hours of the day than I am awake. They swim and rumble and buzz just beneath the surface. Damion is the only one that can make it stop. And as we stand there in the cold of the dawn, with the sleepy sun shining through the trees and catching alight in his yet again messy hair, my body becomes quiet. The restlessness ceases. I refresh. "Stay safe," His voice is quiet, "Stay low, stay hidden. Be fast." I cannot help myself from asking, "Why?" He watches me for one more moment, as if memorising something before he steps back. His hand falls away from my skin, dropping almost uselessly to his side. "Because," I can tell he forces the grin to his face. He is worried for us. The General Commander of the Ponda armies, worried for two orphan Idal's. "I'm not sure how long I can last on just the memory of you in your undergarments," He croons, "I will need you back to refresh the image as soon as possible." I know he is joking, but I reach out and try to punch him anyway, "Pig." He catches my hand before I can make contact with his arm. Just as Jeremy and Pron turn to us. He holds my gaze for one moment before letting my fingers slip from his. I shiver. From the cold. "Ready?" Jeremy breathes, bouncing on his heels to fight the morning frost. My Jeremy is back; the one full of light and joy and movement. I do not know where the darkness has disappeared to. I tear my gaze away from the General Commander and his green eyes, "As ready as I can be," I sigh. "Let's go find your sister, then." And we set off. After twenty feet, as we reach the edge of the surrounding forest, I cannot help but halt and glance back. Damion and Pron remain on the edges of the war camp. The Chief Leader of a nation and the General Commander of Ponda's armies ignore their duties for a few brief moments to watch us disappear into the woods. Even from the distance, I can see the green of Damion's eyes. As I turn back around and disappear into the forest, I realise that the leaves above remind me of his deep gaze. I do not glance at the ground for the rest of the walk.

unrequited 

i made a big doc on what my ocs are insecure about, so i’ll just copy and paste it here. more trivia! cw for uhh child abuse and self hatred.

Kimverse

Kim - a bit obvious, but mainly her breasts and stomach. There’s self harm scars covering almost all of her body as well. She aims for the body parts that have the most fat distributed on them or can be seen as “sexual” during breakdowns. As she gets older she learns to not hate her body as much.

Beta - it flip flops all over the place. sometimes he wishes he had a more masculine appearance. She gets angry over her genitals a lot due to being hypersexual and traumatized. She is proud of her muscles tho :)

Damira - breasts and hips, but mostly breasts. Hates that they are seen as sexual and is overall embarrassed by her body and wishes she was smaller and looked like a child a lot. :(

Felidae - her amblyopia (lazy eye) and heterochromia. The blue eye is often out of focus. She is quiet about her insecurity towards it, but grows angry when people point it out in a rude way. She was bullied as a child for her eyes, a lot. Who ever was mean to her needs to stfu

Giza - the incomplete cleft lip (shock) Giza is very insecure about his mouth :( he sees it as “scary” and “ugly”. His teeth are also crooked so there’s that. He started wearing the mask around middle school, as kids get meaner around then lol

Kyouko - kyouko is generally apathetic about her body, but she can’t help but feel sad or even disgusted by her burn scars. It not only is a physical scar, but has given her a deaf ear as well. She will never see out of her right eye again. If she thinks too hard about her physical appearance she’ll dissociate or have an angry breakdown. Im sorry kyouko

Florino - his entire face, honestly. If he’s already in a bad mood, he’ll break mirrors. He hates that he resembles his dad.

Francis - not too insecure, but hates his health and wishes he was healthier and stronger.

Dria - another to the face scar crew! Dria has learned to ignore her scar the best she can, but that doesn’t mean she won’t trigger herself if she thinks too much about it. Bad memories.

Peter - The scars on his back. He sobs over them frequently. Like dria, It’s like a constant reminder of what happened.

Edgard - his weight. He shows off but does grow disgusted with himself due to being a csa victim and wishes he could just curl up and not exist, not be seen by anyone. He’s shy about people pointing out his stomach. Or his big nips, sorry edgard

Chrys - her entire body and face. Reasons she’s had plastic surgery! Yet she still isn’t satisfied, however she doesn't continue to pursue more. She thinks if she was prettier then Drake would love her more. :(

---

Demons

Mark - everything. His weight and tummy is something he focuses on when in a bad mindset. Mark believes he’s ugly and has trouble finding anything attractive about himself. God im sorry mark

Gerard - his crooked nose specifically, but he does grow insecure if he thinks about the similarities between him and his mother for too long.

Damion - his BIG teeth LOL thats it!! His self hatred is more-so to his personality than how he looks. He’s pretty content with his appearance other than the dracula teeth.

Camille - ...everything, again, but not as bad as mark. He focuses on his weight which fluctuates a lot. He’s very keen about having a ‘good appearance’ and   ‘never being too overdressed’ this comes as a shock to most people as he tends to accept compliments yet also brushes them off when it comes to his physical appearance.

Javier - wishes he was taller. He’s very self conscious about being a short trans man. So he decorates his body with piercings and dyed hair so it’s not the first thing people notice!

Aldric - he’s missing an entire fucking eye but he’s mostly fine about his body. He’s just happy to have survived, yet he does get depressed if he thinks about his scars for too long.

Naharai - has no eyes. She can see with her wings, yeah, but they aren’t always out. She misses sight, but has accepted being blind.

Rae - Everything, yet she focuses on her teeth (braces :( ) and long legs. Battles between wishing she looked mature vs wishing she was even smaller.

Etc

Raven - everything. She’s self conscious about being underweight, but goes into bouts of apathy on her appearance. “I’m gonna die soon so what does it matter anyway”

Zoey - everything, so she tries to hide it with dyed hair and bright clothes, like javier. (his clothes aren’t bright but u get the point)

Autumn - the fact that breasts and genitals exist. Sorry autumn

Ana - Ana is incredibly self conscious of her body and believes everyone is judging her and watching her every move. she sometimes wishes she was shorter and more feminine, wondering if she looked different than she wouldn’t have been abused / girls would be attracted to her / etc. sorry ana

SOLANGELO FLOWERSHOP/TATTOO SHOP AU WHERE WILL'S THE TATTOO ARTIST AND NICO'S THE FLOWER SHOP OWNER/WORKER- His converse dragged along the floor behind the counter as he made his way from the back room, Hazel shoving him towards the cash register. “Hazel~” he whined at his half-sister, trying to keep himself from moving forward at all. Hazel however was relentless, “Go help the old woman,” she pointed at a woman with silver hair picking through a bouquet of pinks and purples, “you love the old folk.” True, Nico did enjoy old people. There was just something about them, he wasn’t sure if it was there kindness or the fact that they would die soon (Nico always seemed better with half dead people), or maybe it was simply because they where older (he’d always felt like he didn't belong in this generation). Either way he always had a soft spot for the people with greying hair that came through picking around the shops bouquets. He shot his sister a meaningless glare, “Fine.” She smiled and clapped her palms together in that weird way she did when she was excited or happy. She was bouncing up and down slightly too, her feet never left the floor but her frizzy hair still moved up and down. Her perfect teeth gleamed back at him, “Great!” Nico rolled his eyes, “Oh yes! absolutely wonderful! I'm so excited.” His sister glared at him and lifted her finger to point at the woman who had wandered over into the next row of flowers. Nico put his hands up in defense and stuck his younger out at the younger girl, before walking of towards the lady. Turned out her name was Margret and she was this little town in Canada where it snowed in July. Her daughter, Anna, had moved to America with her fiancé and had decided to stay. Margret had eventually come, her daughter hadn't wanted her to grow old alone (she was a widow). She had stumbled upon the reviews for their shop online, and had decided the little flower shop was good place to look for a graduation bouquet for her grandson, Damion. He had just completed middle school and she wanted to give him flowers to make it memorable. “He’s always enjoyed the more… girly side of things,” she had told him. Nico nodded at the woman in acknowledgment, as she took a pink flower out of the bouquet and began rolling it between her fingers. She looked out at the store over her left shoulder, her eyes where glassy as though she wasn't really seeing the store in front of her. Nico reached out and set his hand on the woman's opposite shoulder, “I have just the thing, give me a moment.” She nods but her eyes are still a bit glossy and she doesn't look back at him. He turns and walks the opposite way from the direction she’s looking. He picked up a bouquet full of small blue, yellow, and white flowers inside of the plastic. He had no idea what they where called, that was his step-mother, Persephone’s job. Walking back towards Margret, Nico clutched the bouquets against his chest. Cradling the living things like a baby, he didn't mind if his arms got wet. He glanced out the window for a split second, it was nice day out but that wasn't what caught his eye. No, instead it was the boy in teal shorts and a white tank walking down the pavement. His blonde hair glittered in the sunlight almost like gold, he had turned his body a bit- almost like he was yelling at someone behind him. He started laughing and his smile revealed perfectly straight white rows of teeth and his blue eyes sparkled with a childish glee. Nico smiled softly to himself, before allowing his eyes to trail across the blondes body. What was the harm? No one was around, and Nico knew he wouldn't look in the direction he was watching from. His body was covered in stunning tattoos in various shades of the rainbow, there was everything from pastel blue to neon yellow across his body. A series of Pride Flags where tattooed firmly on the inside of his wrist. From Nico’s point of view he appeared to only have a pansexual flag and the standard rainbow flag. Long story short, he was beautiful. “Nico, dear?” A woman's voice called from the front of the shop. Cazzeo. He practically sprinted back to the woman, however he did stop to spare the blonde haired blue eyed beauty a second look. Before sighing and continuing to the front of the shop. “Coming Margret!” Nico called out as he brought the bouquet to the woman. Addio, Bello. ************ Nico sighed and tapped his fingers on the counter, long story short he was bored. He didn't hate working in the flower shop necessarily, however he definitely would have prefers working in the back with Persephone, organizing bouquets. I mean he had a good eye for detail, and his people skills weren't the best so why was he being tortured to watch the shop. Even if no one had come through yet (they opened only fifteen minutes ago) Nico wanted nothing to do with this area of the shop. The bell above the door let out a musical jungle and Nico inwardly sighed. “Welcome, how can I help?” Nico said faking a smile and barely trying to make his voice ridiculously pleasant (those people at the grocery store where ridiculous!). “Yeah,” a male voice says from the general area of the doorway. Nico finally looks up towards the costumer who just walked in. It was the guy from the window, he wore a T-shirt that was so faded Nico could not longer make out a single word on the pink fabric. His cargo shorts fell to his knees and had patches sewn in the pockets, his flip-flops where lime green. “Oh, um..” Nico stuttered, “I- uh…” The blonde didn't seem to notice Nico’s reddening face, or was to polite to acknowledge the fact. Instead the blonde just flashed Nico his heart stopping grin. “What type of bouquet would you give someone you'd like to confess some feelings too?” The blonde ask biting his lip. The blush leaves Nico's face, he's taken… Accidenti! Nico takes pride in the fact that he managed to recover from the blow so quickly, “This way.” The blonde follows him towards the wall of flowers they have. They are all arranged in color the red, the orange, the yellow, and so in in the shades of the rainbow until the color violet was over. After violet the bouquets became mismatched and itching lined up exactly the way it should, it annoyed Nico to no end. “These are often what people purchase, and you can write a card to go with them,” Nico said punctuating his sentence with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. “Thanks,” there's blue eyes and a smile again. “No problem, do you want me to help you? Or is it okay if I go back to the front?” “Oh, um.., I think I've got this! I think…” The blonde seems a bit unsure about his ability to pick out the proper bouquet. “Alright well, I’ll be at the front just call for me if you need help, alright?” “Yeah, um, what's your name just so I can be sure I get the right person and I'm not standing here screaming ‘help’ like some idiot.” “Nico,” The brunette says in a shyer tone of voice, “Nico.” “Alrighty then, Nico.” Nico made his way back to the front inwardly cursing himself for not bothering to her the blondes name, and for making an absolute fool of himself by being some hormonal teenage mess. Dio… Then again Nico wasn't entirely sure why he even cared. The other boy was buying a bouquet to go and declare his love to some pretty girl from somewhere and they would get married and have a nice little family and settle down somewhere. And then he'd forget about Nico, he was just the boy who sold him a nice bouquet to win some pretty girls heart. It wasn't to terribly long before the blonde can back a simple red and white bouquet in his arms. The white Lilys drapped elegantly over the side of the wrapping and the red flowers (Nico didn't know the names of half the flowers in the place). The blonde placed the bouquet on the countertop nicely giving Nico a chance to ring it up. “Do you wanna write your card out now?” Nico asked as he punched the numbers into the IPad they used to check people out. “Yeah I need that,” “Oh, alright,” Nico says handing the other the little card and a pen, “Cash or card?” “Card,” the other says reaching into his pocket for his wallet. Nico turns the white IPad around and shows the other where to swipe the card. He probably knows how but Nico is one of those people who'd rather be safe than sorry in some cases. A blue and green cards swiped through and the other signature is signed on the devices screen. Nico hands him the bouquet that's been re-wrapped with better paper during the time he was signing his name and writing out the card. Nico's handed the card and he efficiently slips it on the bow that's holding the new wrapping on around the flowers. “Here you are,” Nico says handing the bouquet to its hot blonde tattoo covered owner. “Thanks,” the guy says smiling at Nico, “It's actually for you though.” “Huh?” Nico says honestly confused, “but you said you where confessing to someone that you liked the- oh… uh..” Nico's cheeks and ears began to heat up, cazzeohe was acting like a hormonal teen again. He finds himself and the blonde just staring at each other for a minute like in one of those romantic movies his sisters like. And then the blondes phone dinged. They snapped out of there little staring contest thingy as the blonde pulled out his phone to check it . “Crap!” The blonde says looking at the device, “I have to go, but my numbers in the card ok?” Nico numbly nods along, still a blushing mess from a bit ago, “o-okay..” The blonde smiles and shoots him a quick wink before walking out the door. Nico doesn’t manage to snap out of whatever just happened until the little bell above the door rings again. He mumbles a rather late goodbye before glancing down at the flowers in his arm. He grabs the card and opens it, inside the card there's a phone number and an address, along with a quickly scribbled name. Will. ######################### WHOOO-HOO!!! Finally done! Ok so here's some quick Italian translations (hopefully in order); Cazzeo- Shit or Crap Addio, Bello- Bye, Beautiful (masculine) Accidenti- Damn(it) Now I know I didn't really get into Will's job, but hopefully him being covered in tattoos will make up for that some? I also didn't mention it however the adress scribbled on the little card was the address to the tattoo parlor where Will works. I'm not super proud of this but I'm finally complete with it so! WRITTEN FOR LIVSIG

Shocking Adventures of Futuristic Culinary Employee Spencer Truman

Start time by 519 pm Sunday June 2 2019

Completion time by 558 pm Sunday June 3 2019

Shocking Adventures of Futuristic Culinary Employee Spencer Truman

 Hi My Name is Spencer Truman and I work as a culinary assistant to university chefs in the Hampton Roads Virginia area in the Year 2105 cooking for Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia, Tidewater Community College in Norfolk Virginia and sometimes assisting my brother Damion Truman at some of the events he is asked to set up for on the University of Maryland College Park campus. I reside in a completely paid for home that is a mile from the Norfolk Virginia naval base that cost 99000 American dollars in early 2000s money. I was born June 14 2070 and I have an older brother named Damion Truman born June 13 2060 who currently resides in a paid for home less than a block away from the College Park metro station in College Park Maryland. Damion Truman paid 100,000 dollars in early 2000s American money for his home.  He works as a caterer on the University of Maryland College Park campus and he sometimes invites me to help set up events with him on a volunteer basis once or twice a week. I Spencer Truman am about purchase a car within the next two weeks. We are able to easily see each other at least weekly because of a high speed train station system that was built by the year 2065 that opened across various parts of the United States. This changed the U.S. economy a lot because a person living and residing in the Washington D.C. area could now go from taking a train from downtown Washington D.C., northern Virginia andor certain parts of Maryland and be in let’s say California in the span of just an hour andor even all the way across England andor Iceland in the same timeframe more on that in a future session.

 I Spencer Truman have been asked if me and my brother are direct descendants of President Harry Truman and/or members of his family. To be honest, both my brother and I have yet to know because we were both adopted by the time we were 5 years old and by the time we both worked up the courage to ask both of our adoptive parents (by the year 2090) they both mysteriously died the same day as our biological mother who died a year before (in 2089). This is important because we both have been told by our adoptive family members that only our adoptive parents know the complete information on who could be our father because our late biological mother was a popular prostitute who mingled with men of various backgrounds and socio-economic classes by the time prostitution was legalized across the United States by the year 2060. Neither my brother or I judge her for her lifestyle, however we have yet to find out our full backgrounds on our full racial ancestries because we found out through a past boyfriend of our biological mother that she was still immersed in the field of prostitution before and after she gave birth to the both of us averaging at least 8 to 20 clients a month that netted her an income of at least 2000 dollars a month in early 2000s money. However, yesterday before this interview someone who says they were one of the coworkers and a relative of one of the regular clients of  my late biological mother contacted me after seeing me and my brother featured on a popular newspaper article of high society in the Hampton Roads Virginia area and interviewed on a news channel. My brother and I were featured as part of a summer camp teaching other adults psychic abilities and cooking demonstrations at a week long summer camp that is available for men and women of ages 17 on up by the year 2080. We were both interviewed because of our side business that we were offering both as matchmakers to traditional couples and matchmakers to non-traditional couples for a fee to 500 dollars in early 2000s money. We grew in popularity because we had a high rate of success in matching people who were mutually attracted to each other after just one try (i.e. over 90 percent of our clients only had to invest 500 dollars). Over 80 percent of those pairings resulted in long term relationships andor partnerships andor long term love affairs spanning at least 10 to 15 years and at least 60 percent of them resulted in marriages. We both became millionaires in the span of just 5 years because of the high demand for our services particularly from people who controversially it would have been considered taboo for them to seek out such services, i.e. a high percentage of married women and men of various ages ranging from 21 to 120 of various incomes and backgrounds and men and women of various ages backgrounds and income looking to discreetly meet these women. Yes many of these successful pairings were at our Virginia Beach summer camp along with our traditional couple pairings and oddly enough in a positive way many people got along with each other. A coworker who is connected to my potential father noticed the physical similarities of my brother and I to one of his friends that he knew and at first he admitted to not wanting to contact us until the late friend’s sister insisted that he at least lets me and my older brother know for closure even though my rumored biological father already passed away (the sister is offering up her dna). Both I Spencer Truman and Damon Truman decided to stay working in our culinary fields for now for the enjoyment of it. Apparently the rumored biological father kept my late biological mother a secret from many of his friends and family members not because of her profession but because he was married and worked in a field that necessitated he keep relations with my late prostitute mother a secret (he was a high ranking navy intelligence officer). The sister offering up her dna to see if her married brother was our father has worked as a food publicist both across the Norfolk Virginia and Virginia Beach Virginia areas in addition to multiple parts of the metro Washington D.C. area (College Park Maryland, Arlington Virginia, Wheaton Maryland Mclean Virginia etc.)Anyhow, I Spencer Truman plan to speak with you more on the feature on this exciting summer camp that opened in Virginia Beach by the year 2080 and rumor has it that a similar camp is going to open in College Park Maryland by the year 2108. I Spencer Truman admit that both myself and my brother have been told that we resemble  Sting from the Everything She Does is Magic era which helps in our side business as matchmakers. However, I must be on my way because one of my career psychic coaches just texted me and is letting me know that he thinks that we both won a 200 million dollar lottery that we both purchased and shared lottery tickets for.

Resources

https://www.randomlists.com/boy-names

Washington D.C. area and Hampton Roads Virginia area stories

 9  Virginian Pilot

I have eaten at Shake Shack in at least 3 different locations within the metro D.C. area since Shake Shack came to the metro D.C. area after the May 2011 timeframe. My favorite burger is the shack stack burger which comes with a hybrid of a cheeseburger and a fried mushroom burger stuffed with cheese. I am guessing that the new Shake Shack location in Virginia Beach is probably going to be popular for at least a while if their food is just as good as the locations I have been to in the metro D.C. area. I admit that I intend to eventually try the Virginia Beach location Shake Shack.

https://pilotonline.com/business/consumer/article_1eb4e6d0-7c81-11e9-b682-6326ddaa780c.html

Shake Shack Fans  Early To Line Up For Famed Burgers and Fries by Robyn Sidersky staff writer May 22, 2019

https://pilotonline.com/business/consumer/article_1eb4e6d0-7c81-11e9-b682-6326ddaa780c.html

online Virginia schooling college network

https://onlinevirginia.net/onlinelearning/

A six dollar pricing for a cranberry meat and brie sandwich sounds fine. The fact that a new chef is going to test out their foods each Monday sounds interesting.

https://pilotonline.com/life/flavor/article_ee758982-35f1-11e9-8401-b3d0d1a9aed8.html

At One Norfolk Space, Diners Can Try A Brand New Restaurant Every Month by Matthew Korfhage Staff Writer February 25 2019

https://pilotonline.com/life/flavor/article_ee758982-35f1-11e9-8401-b3d0d1a9aed8.html

I am taking a wild guess that these coworking spaces referenced in this article are going to become even more popular by the July  2019 timeframe especially with the multiple businesses referenced: Old Dominion Norfolk State Novel Coworking City Center etc.

https://pilotonline.com/business/real-estate/article_77539218-7c05-11e9-8b68-0b2ebca27592.html

Co-Working Office Space Continues To Pop Up In Norfolk Here’s Why by Briana Adhikusuma updated May 28 2019

https://pilotonline.com/business/real-estate/article_77539218-7c05-11e9-8b68-0b2ebca27592.html

Novel Coworking City Center

https://novelcoworking.com/locations/virginia/norfolk/city-center/

The Poketastic place seems pretty unique from the detailed description of the eating experience and sounds to have a combination of nourishing and tasty ingredients with the references to scallop salmon  pineapple seaweed salad cilantro mixed greens salad  etc . I pre-ordered the book Classic Restaurants of Coastal Virginia by Patrick Evans Hylton back in April 2019 and I wonder if there are any restaurants similar to Poketastic that are going to be referenced in the Classic Restaurants of Coastal Virginia book.

https://pilotonline.com/life/flavor/restaurants/peake-eats/article_874480d6-7aa4-11e9-a273-f3225a3fc867.html

At Poketastic, Possibilities Abound With Tender Toppings From Raw Seafood To Seaweed Salad by Patrick Evans Hylton

https://pilotonline.com/life/flavor/restaurants/peake-eats/article_874480d6-7aa4-11e9-a273-f3225a3fc867.html

I unexpectedly saw the University of Maryland College Park Robert H Smith school of business ad advertised online via the Patrick Evans Hylton Poketastic Virginian Pilot story

University of Maryland College Park Robert H Smith School of Business

https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/programs/part-time-mba/?utm_campaign=f17-ptmba-choozle

http://virginiaeatsanddrinks.com/

https://barryartmuseum.odu.edu/

This article that showcases a multiple number of items that are available in the Barry Art Museum of Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia and from the collection of Richard Barry and Carolyn Barry is informative. However, the only caveat I feel is that I wish that at least a few pictures of the art available in the Barry Art museum were included with this Virginian Pilot article.

https://pilotonline.com/opinion/editorial/article_5c4beb0e-e84a-11e8-8be3-c7c4ce9c5275.html

See Artworks At ODU For Free by The Virginian Pilot Editorial Board November 15 2018

https://pilotonline.com/opinion/editorial/article_5c4beb0e-e84a-11e8-8be3-c7c4ce9c5275.html

I do feel that it is both worthwhile and helpful to discuss broadening the increase of grocery stores in modest income neighborhoods across the country. I am fortunate in the sense that I have enough free time in my schedule to travel to certain grocery stores for necessary food items where I live. However, I have been in areas within the U.S. that Warner refers to that could benefit from more grocery stores with affordable foods.

https://pilotonline.com/opinion/columnist/guest/article_58fa07a6-824b-11e9-8984-b37945cf96b8.html

Congress Food  by Mark Warner U.S. Senate

https://pilotonline.com/opinion/columnist/guest/article_58fa07a6-824b-11e9-8984-b37945cf96b8.html

 Washington Post

This Washington Post article helps remind me to eventually check out the International Spy Museum sometime before the end of this year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/05/09/things-do-dc-area-this-weekend/?utm_term=.4a2025859e8f

17 Things To Do In The DC Area This Weekend by GoingOut Guide Staff Friday May 10

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/05/09/things-do-dc-area-this-weekend/?utm_term=.4a2025859e8f

Each of the Events in this Washington Post article seem interesting in their own way. However, I admit to being curious to research more information on the By The People Festival referenced in this article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/the-best-things-to-see-drink-and-do-in-june-in-the-dc-area/2019/05/29/2ec3bea2-7e2f-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.e73864f7e0f5

The Best Things To See Drink and Do  In June In The D.C. Area by the GoingOut Guide Staff May 31 2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/the-best-things-to-see-drink-and-do-in-june-in-the-dc-area/2019/05/29/2ec3bea2-7e2f-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.e73864f7e0f5

The Washington Post features a good mix of concerts in this article. However, I respectfully disagree with the Something In The Water Festival being in the Washington D.C. Area not having a note listed of the transportation arrangements to make because it is actually in the Hampton Roads Virginia area with the festival taking place in Virginia Beach. Something In The Water Festival affiliated with the talented Pharrell Williams is actually connected with the Hampton Roads Virginia area. Both the Hampton Roads Virginia and the Washington D.C. area are fascinating places to live. However, the well meaning inclusion of the Something In The Water Festival must accompany a note that such a festival would most likely need to be accessed via taking an Amtrak train, airplane or greyhound bus even with the inclusion of a Delaware festival in the article for Washington D.C. readers who might have resided in the Washington D.C. area their whole life and might be led to believe that all of these festivals are public transportation accessible.  I am adding that note with also admitting that I do intend to eventually attend the Something In The Water Festival in Virginia Beach in ideally 2020.Still, I am a proud Washington Post subscriber and I intend to be for years to come especially because a multiple number of the Washington Post articles are fascinating to look at andor read.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/music/summer-music-festival-guide/2019/04/17/2734977a-4fda-11e9-8d28-f5149e5a2fda_story.html?utm_term=.f69c84cf35a0

Dozens of Music Festivals Are Vying For Your Attention This Summer by Chris Richards Hau Chu Rudi Greenberg  Stephanie Williams April 18 2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/music/summer-music-festival-guide/2019/04/17/2734977a-4fda-11e9-8d28-f5149e5a2fda_story.html?utm_term=.f69c84cf35a0

Obviously as an Amazon fanatic, I do believe that Amazon moving to Arlington Virginia is a good move both for the overall state of Virginia and for the metro Washington D.C. area. The Hampton Roads area of Virginia would have been the next best area for Amazon. However, I can understand why the Crystal City Arlington Virginia area was chosen because of the top notch public transportation in both Crystal City Arlington Virginia across the metro Washington D.C. area  that helps even car-free male and female career professionals easily get around.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/awaiting-the-amazon-influx-crystal-city-savors-its-urban-feel-and-dc-views/2019/01/24/4099b834-0f62-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?utm_term=.b3aed7163377

Amazon Influx Crystal City Arlington Virginia

https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/awaiting-the-amazon-influx-crystal-city-savors-its-urban-feel-and-dc-views/2019/01/24/4099b834-0f62-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?utm_term=.b3aed7163377

I feel lucky that I came across this honest/truthful Washington Post article. My husband and I both have a goal to own a completely paid for home ideally by the time we are in our 50s and this article helps me understand why I must try harder towards that goal. However, I hope that the seniors featured in this article go on to prosper andor find a place andor area/region within the U.S. that they both like to live and is affordable for the money that they have.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/05/28/middle-income-seniors-risk-falling-through-cracks-housing-market/?utm_term=.94ee9a7f0025

Middle Income Seniors by Tara Bahrampour May 28 2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/05/28/middle-income-seniors-risk-falling-through-cracks-housing-market/?utm_term=.94ee9a7f0025

Congratulations to Manuel Franco for his lottery won and his newfound millionaire status. I believe that this was the same person referenced in another article who bravely/courageously admitted that he was just trying to save up at least 1000 dollars or more when he unexpectedly won the lottery.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/23/how-winner-million-lottery-jackpot-nearly-lost-his-ticket/?utm_term=.693a010f5aca

How The Winner Of A $768 Million Lottery Jackpot by Michael Brice Saddler April 23 2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/23/how-winner-million-lottery-jackpot-nearly-lost-his-ticket/?utm_term=.693a010f5aca

    Youtube Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

I am fortunate to have had the chance to visit the National Air and Space Museum in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area multiple times within the past few years.  One of the visits that influenced me to check out the National Air and Space Museum multiple times was when my husband and I visited around the November 2014 timeframe for my birthday. We also have had a chance to recently visit less than 2 to 3 months ago.

I admit that the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. is another museum that I have been to with my husband multiple times. There are  good mixes of a variety of exhibits there. However one of  the few caveats is that on each visit I have yet to find anything related to the Menominee Indian Tribe. I was naturally a little curious to see if there was anything about the Menominee Indian Tribe because my late biological mother, my late maternal biological grandmother and multiple members of my biological mother’s family have Menominee Indian ancestry.

youtube link of  National Museum of the American Indian via Cspan   One of the multiple beneficial/positive things to living in the metro Washington D.C. area are easy proximity to public transportation and places to go to including the malls. I happen to find out that the Tysons Corner Center mall (in Mclean Virginia) is easy to get to after  a friend told me about where Tysons Corner Center mall is at by the 2014 timeframe. Despite this mall being a distance from where my husband and I live this mall has a great mix of places inside it. Youtube link The New Tysons Corner Center via the youtube channel the Tysons Corner Center   My husband and I are both at least somewhat familiar with Arlington Virginia because since around the 2010/2011 timeframe we have at times went to the Pentagon City mall in Arlington Virginia plus some of his college classes that he attended between the 2010 to 2012 timeframe were in Arlington Virginia. However, I still found this youtube video of Arlington Virginia Exploring Memorials Events Dining and Neighborhoods Near Washington DC (via the Visit the USA channel) very informative. I am glad to have spotted this video on youtube featuring the Westfield Wheaton mall in Wheaton Maryland. There are a strong variety of grocery shopping places to go to with the inclusion of Costo, Giants and Safeway plus multiple options of places to eat and shop at. Youtube channel of Wheaton Mall Lara Findeisen   This youtube video is pretty brief though it does capture a good view from above the University of Maryland College Park campus. I feel fortunate that I have been a University of Maryland College Park staff employee for 2 years and 9 months.   Maryland From Above via UMD youtube channel  

Songs for me to keep in mind: Case of Loving You by Robert Palmer, Rebel Yell Billy Idol, Move Along by American Rejects, Natural by Imagine Dragons, Ocean Avenue Yellowcard, Riptide Vance Joy, High Hopes Panic at the Disco, Fame David Bowie, Everything She Does is Magic Sting,Wheel In The Sky Journey

Gif Synopsis of Claiming the Prince: Book Three

Please read Book Two Before Continuing! Spoilers Ahead!

Read it? Great. Now for the epic conclusion to Claiming the Prince. At the end of Book Two, Magda fled back to the mortal world, having saved the Pixie Lands from the Elf King. But she lost both her loves, Endreas and Kaelan. Endreas became the Elf King. And Kaelan was claimed by Sagara, Radiant of the Green Ways.

Back in California with her cousin, Damion. Magda struggles to find the peace she had prior to Kaelan and Endreas. This isn't helped by the fact that Damion has found himself a kickass mortal girlfriend, Ciara, and made something of a happy life for himself.

But then, Damion is taken by red caps. An army of tiny little men who have to keep their caps soaked in the fresh blood or they die.

They've been sent by the genderless god, Eris. They try to take Magda too, but she's helped by the hag who lives in the trailer next door. When the hag removes her cowl though, her crone disguise vanishes. She reveals herself to be Kaelan and Endreas's long-lost mother. The former Elf Queen, who everyone believed dead.

The Elf Queen helps Magda get back to Alfheim to find Damion. But Ciara shows up right as Magda is leaving and throws herself through the portal with Magda.

Magda arrives on Eris's island, where the god has been imprisoned for thousands of years.

Eris has a job for Magda. Long ago, when the other gods imprisoned Eris, they did so by stealing Eris's crown and staff. But what the gods didn't realize was that by weakening Eris, they were also weakening creation. Eris was the one who created Alfheim and all the magical creatures within. After all this time, the god is finally weakening. To save Eris and Alfheim, Eris needs Magda to find the crown and staff and return them to the god. The hitch? These objects were given to the most powerful people in Alfheim. The crown was broken apart.

Each of the seven rays of the crown were given to the seven Pixie radiants. They are known to Magda as the Enneahedron, the object her cousin Lavana tortured her to recover.

The band of the crown went to the Pixie Queen. It is the Crown. The one all of the Radiants are about to fight to the death to take in the Pixie capital of the Spire.

As for Eris's staff, that was given to the Elf King. When it was plunged into the floor of the palace and became the Elf King's throne.

Eris commands Magda to steal the Enneahedrons, vie for the Crown, and somehow convince Endreas to return the Throne/staff to Eris. To which, Magda replies...

But Eris, weak as the god is, promises to help Magda. The god, when it killed her on behalf of the former King, by taking Endreas's and Kaelan's heart-places from her, salvaged small pieces of each heart-place. With them, Eris splits Magda and makes her two separate, nearly identical people. Except one has Kaelan's heart-place and the other, Endreas's.

The half with Endreas's heart-place, called Magdalena, goes to the Spire to contend for the Crown and to find Endreas (who is with Lavana, still trying to fullfill his prophecy of bringing peace between the Pixies and Elves.) Magdalena, suffering none of the soft-heartedness and misgivings she experienced when she was joined with her other half, travels immediately to the Spire and kills Lavana at once. Finally becoming the Radiant of her family's province.

Endreas is there and seeing that Magdalena has returned, taken control of her family, and will now vie for the crown with the other seven Radiants, tries to make amends.

Magdalena, no longer torn between Kaelan and Endreas, wants to forgive him, but he did lay seige to Metis, kidnap and hold her prisoner for a year, and used magic on her.

Meanwhile back on Eris's island, Magda the thief, is attempting to figure out how to steal the Enneahedrons and save the world. She has Ciara to help her, but the magic of Alfheim is quickly transforming Ciara into a magical creature known as a dhampyr. Like a vampire, but who can go out during the day and has many more magical powers.

The only way for Ciara to keep from becoming a dhampyr permenantly is to return to the mortal world. But Eris is holding Damion as insurance that Magda doesn't run off and leave Alfheim to its destruction. Ciara decides to stay to help Magda and save Damion (and the world.)

Meanwhile, Kaelan has been claimed by another Pixie Radiant Sagara. But in the six months since then, he regrets the decision. He goes to Eris to help him forget Magda once and for all and make Sagara happy. But the god offers him another deal. Instead of forgetting her, maybe he can break the claiming magic binding him to Sagara. Then he'll be free to be with Magda again.

Kaelan agrees, but there's a catch.

In order to break the claiming magic, Kaelan will have to transform into the thing he hates most. That is, the form he was forced to live most of his life... an imp.

As an imp, Kaelan can help Magda in her mission to steal the Enneahedrons, but in order to free himself from Sagara, Magda must see that it's truly Kaelan beneath the imp-skin. Of course, Kaelan can't say anything and if Magda doesn't see the truth before the end of month, Kaelan will have to remain an imp forever. The deal's a little like this, without the singing or ball gowns...

So, back at the castle, Magdalena begins fighting for the Crown...

And Magda the thief, aided by Ciara the dhampyr, Kaelan the imp, and Hero the rat, starts traveling across the Lands to steal the Enneahedrons...

But when she almost dies, Hero takes her to Endreas to heal her. And he begins to suspect something, since Magdalena is in the Spire and healthy and there's a second Magda dying in his arms.

When Endreas discovers the truth about the two Magdas, he also learns the truth about Kaelan, that he's an imp. He captures Magda the thief and Kaelan. Fearful that Magda the theif will ultimately be rejoined with her other half and that he may lose her to Kaelan, again, Endreas tells Magda the truth. That the imp who has been helping her is really Kaelan. This means that Kaelan will have to stay an imp forever. Kaelan is crushed.

Endreas isn't convinced that saving Eris will really save the world. He's heard another story about the god, that saving Eris will actually bring about the destruction of the world. Magda the thief tries to covince him otherwise, but he's unmoved. He's guarded himself against the magical rebel attacks by doning a magical object called the cross. Slowly, it's turning him cold and heartless.

When Magdalena learns that Endreas has taken her other self prisoner, she goes to Magda's rescue.

Thinking Magdalena has betrayed him, Endreas takes the heart-place back from her, putting Magdelena out of comission right before she has to vie for the crown. Also, it's the last piece of his heart. The cross is slowly destroying it.

With time running out, Magda the thief is forced to go to the Spire and fight Sagara for the Crown.

At the same time, Ciara and Hero use a hag's cloak, a gift from Endrea's long-lost mother, to force him to face his inner demon, who takes the form of a dragon.

Though she nearly dies, Magda wins the duel with Sagara and claims the Crown.

She takes the reassembled crown to Eris, but it may be too late.

But Endreas removes the Cross and brings the Throne/staff to Eris just in time.

Eris and Alfheim are saved. And the two Magda's remain separated. Magdalena and Endreas are reunited.

But Kaelan is still an imp.

But Eris, restored to full godly status, tells Kaelan that if he leaves the magical world of Alfheim, the magic forcing him to be an imp can be stripped away. But then he'll be mortal and never able to return to Alfheim.

So Magda and Kaelan return to the mortal world, leaving Endreas and Magdalena to rule over Alfheim.

Read all three books in the Claiming the Prince trilogy now. Only on Amazon.com READ NOW

:V: Queen of the Damned: (with @fcllenstcr's Lucifer)

- Damion Morningstar (Nicknamed: D )

After thousands of years apart and reconnecting, Rosie and Lucifer settle down into a cozy life on Earth where Lucifer builds them an empire right out of Las Vegas. The new Hell on Earth. In that time, Rosie felt Lucifer needed a taste of responsibility, and with Lucifer's desire to have a child, she granted him that wish.

Damion is the natural heir of Hell, and lives with the weight of that inheritence on his shoulder. The biggest strife between Rosie and Lucifer with their son is Rosie's stress of wanting her son to be a Fair Guardian and keeper of Hell ; at worst, at the very least a Lawful Evil as Lucifer should have been. Rosie carries a heavy fear that if her son did become out of control, she would be sent to stop him just as she had to do Lucifer, and she can't bare the thought of having to slay her own child.

As of now, Damion is a rambuctious, sneaky little boy that knows well he's spoiled rotten. He wants to be just like his parents, namely his Father, and is diligent in learning the ropes of everything. He's incredibly sweet when he wants to be, but naturally a little trickster with a mean streak as the son od the Devil would be. Rosie is trying her best to be certain he's a well mannered boy.

:V: Iniquitous Essence: / Main Canon

- Malakaid Blagrove ( Nicknamed: Mal, Hybrid )

*The same Bio as in the Brock family, with some alterations* In the canon timeline, Malakaid is the first child in which Rosie adopts with Rocky. In the same as above, She found him in Toruga's lab, however in the canon timeline she had previously suffered a miscarriage and still birth. In her delusional state, she took Malakaid as a way to sooth the son that never came to be, but what resulted from it was her eventual illness with the Uxoru virus. In the canon verse, he's hardly ever away from Rosie except for when he's at school, or being put to bed. She struggles to teach him how to be independent.

- Mia Carmellia Blagrove ( Nicknamed: Zeus, Little Sun )

The only child Rosie ever had with Rocky, Mia was entirely unplanned and the pregnancy was distressing for Rosie. To some extent, Rosie originally resented Mia in the womb because Rocky had not wanted kids and thus, with added stress of illness and delusion, when Rosie dies of the illness Mia would be the unwanted child. However, thanks to Vassago's sacrifice and Rosie becoming an Angel to cure the illness, she is able to give birth to the health Mia, whom she fell in love with the moment she held her for the first time. Mia is best known for her outgoing, curious personality, and being packed with energy. She inherited her Mother's feline features, as well as her paren't wings. Mia wears them openly, and Rosie does not make her hide them despite the backlash and looks they get in public. Mia remembers Rocky faintly, because he dies while she was only a few years old, but what she holds of him is the fond memories Rosie tells her of him, and that from Rocky's side of the family who came to visit her.  Mia holds her parents in the highest regards, especially Rosie as her hero, even if she could not understand her Mother's seemingly eternal state of sorrow. Because of Rosie, Mia also wanted to grow up to be a hero.

Mia did not inherit abilities linked to her parents, but rather gained abilities based on her soul as a future Sun ( as inherited from her mother being a Moon.) She has a combination of Electrokinesis an Pyrokinesis, with both her flames and her electric a super-heated white/blue shade. She is more in touch with her electric abilities and tends to use them in her state of excitement without realizing it. She has those heightened angel/feline sense, agility and balance, coupled with strength above that of the average child. Though, she remains highly clumsy because of her eagerness. She wants nothing more but to make her mom proud. Mia also inherited Rocky's former familiar, Crocky the baby looking crocodile, and eventually would inherit her dragon cousins as her fellow familiars as well; Cadreinth and Kemoth

- Caradox Blagrove  (Nicknamed: Thursday, Son of the Earth.)

The product of a sexual assault on Rosie by a crooked Angel named Nathair, Thursday was intended to be used like cattle since Nathair could not take the angel fruit from Rosie. If he could not kill her, then he would have a child who could inherit her abilities. At this point in time, Rocky had passed away a few years prior, and thus she was alone in the pregnancy with Thursday. She couldn't bring herself to abort it, nor could she bring herself to give him up. In her mind, Thursday didnt have a say in how he was brought into the world. If she gave him up, Thursday would no doubt have angel abilities and would likely be tormented or mistreated because of them. Because of her previous miscarriages, stillbirths, and fear of the doctors, Rosie could neither bring herself to end the little life. In the end, she felt she could be the only one who could love him as he deserved, despite the circumstances of his creation.  Rosie fears, despite the fact that Nathair was thought to be killed, the bastard would come back and kill her son, and thus she is the only one who can protect him,

Thursday grows to be a highly skittish and meek boy in comparison to his siblings. The exact opposite of the madman that made him. He is quiet and to himself, interested in the wonders of nature from the plants and animals, to the very ground they walk on. He often hides behind his older siblings, especially if Rosie isn't around. He has no idea the circumstances of his birth, and he never understood why he looks so different, but Rosie makes certain he never knows the truth of his birth. Thursday's abilities, like his sister, aligns with the nature of his soul as the 'Earth'(The first of his kind, the middle ground) Thus, he has abilities pertaining to the controlling of vegetation, altering the Earth elements beneath the feet, and communicating with all sorts of animals. Although he's not very open about his abilities, he's more of a pacifist than a fighter. His powers get used for making a garden for his family, and have been shown to react violently only in self defense ( which he often didnt mean to happen.). Like his sister, he gains his dragon cousins as familiars as well; Sleek and Cain.