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Bucky doesn't say 'I love you.'

It takes awhile for Sam to notice that he does not miss it. His own 'I love you' will spill out easy as breathing. Heart flutters in his chest as Bucky replies in any way he can.

"I love you," Sam says before he goes out for his run and Bucky will kiss his cheek, hold him back a moment to grab a jacket if the weather calls for it. A bottle water is always waiting on the table by the door.

"I love you," Sam says as they fall asleep. Bucky will hold him close and kiss his brow, the corner of his mouth, the curve of his neck.

Sam cannot end a phone call without it. He has to; he needs Bucky to hear it just in case. And there is always a heartbeat's pause and Bucky will say "I miss you," quietly and in a way that makes Sam feel like he really is missing apart of himself.

Bucky's hand finds a place to settle on Sam whenever they are together - the small of his back, his thigh, hands clasped loosely. On mission or in briefings, Bucky leans close when they speak and drapes his arm over the back of Sam's chair.

And when Bucky can't sleep or wakes in the middle of the night, shaken by the things he has done, Sam eases him back to bed and assures him that he is loved.

#sambucky

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“So, er, for the non South Asians in the audience who perhaps didn’t understand why there was applause, the British built a really extensive railway system throughout India before they left, and it wasn’t so much for transportation for the Indian people, it was because it’s really hard to plunder on foot.”

Hari Kondabolu’s joke about the British colonisation of India [x]

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Fraser is all like…excuse me, but he’s mine

#due south

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can I have a badass picture of a wolf howling at the moon please

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The real reason Bucky didn’t recognize Steve until he’d beat his face in.

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““The world is rated R, and no one is checking IDs. Do not try to make it G by imagining the shadows away. Do not try to hide your children from the world forever, but do not try to pretend there is no danger. Train them. Give them sharp eyes and bellies full of laughter. Make them dangerous… and when they’ve grown, they will pollute the shadows.””

—

N.D. Wilson.

This reminds me of one of my favourite quotes from G.K. Chesterton:  “Fairytales don’t tell children that dragons exist.  Children already know that dragons exist.  Fairytales tell children that dragons can be killed.”

(via doctorcrusher)

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i think it is important to recognize the ways in which your favorite thing sucks. i think it keeps u normal

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Watched a great talk today about web/technology accessibility, and the speaker pointed out that yes, accessibility is important for people with permanent disabilities, and we should definitely care about that. But also accessibility helps EVERYBODY, because everybody will, at some point in their lives, find themselves in situations that accessible technology can help with. Here are permanent, temporary, and situational disabilities that accessible technology can help with:

Remember that whether something is disabling or not depends on the situation, the environment, the technology, etc. We’re ALL disabled at some point. It is important to support permanently disabled people, but it is also important to remember that accessibility helps us all!

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Hana Lee: Cordonia's Most Influential Courtier

Title: Hana Lee: Cordonia's Most Influential Courtier

Pairing: Hana Lee and Kiara Theron

Book: The Royal Romance

Rating: G

Word count: 1,522

Tagging: @choicesficwriterscreations for fics of the week, @hanaleeappreciationweek, @lizzybeth1986, @cassiopeiacorvus, and @thecapturedafrique

Globe Cordonia

Hana Lee: Cordonia's Most Influential Courtier

Since she stepped on the scene, few have attracted more interest than Hana Lee, whose rise to notoriety has been unparalleled, rising from obscure suitor to a plum position on the Royal Council. I sat with her to discuss her upbringing and elevation to the upper echelon of Cordonian high society.

By Larkin Andoh

Dame Hana Lee GotR, RC glides into the room a few minutes early, before I’ve even gotten the chance to settle myself.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting,” she apologizes politely, despite the fact that she’s early (Cordonian aristos are famously punctual). While she explains that she was on a phone call relating to some work she’s been doing, I give her a quick one over. As usual, she’s dressed impeccably, wearing a smartly tailored jumpsuit in her signature floral print.

I compliment her attire and ask her who designed her jumpsuit, and she suddenly becomes very shy, reminiscent of when she first made her debut. “Oh, I did. I still have to modify it a bit though,” she says completely self-effacingly, though from where I’m sitting, I see nothing wrong with it.

Despite a few stumbles in her debut season, it’s easy to forget that Dame Hana Lee was not born in Cordonia, and that her debut season was the first time in her life she’d spent extended time in the country.

Born and raised in Shanghai as the only child of The Rt. Hon. The Viscountess Cleosia (a famously reclusive and enigmatic figure) and Lee Xinghai, a Shanghainese tech billionaire, she was raised “like a good Chinese daughter, but to know I was Cordonian too.”

For the Lees, this meant ensuring hours of Cordonian etiquette training and Greek tutoring (they exclusively spoke Mandarin, Shanghainese, and English at home). Her Greek is flawless, and blessedly, Cordonian, not Continental. However, I note that her Greek lacks the cutesy intonation of Cordonia’s nobility. She nods. “My Greek tutor was a former literature teacher, not a noblewoman. She was a lovely woman who never allowed me to feel insecure about my accent,” she reveals, before pausing a moment. “She’s always found a way to keep in touch with me and we send each other cards quite frequently. I’m actually working on a set of clothes for her grandson.”

This was a distinct departure from the childrearing practices followed by of the nobility. Most women of Lee’s background would be given a governess or au pair as soon as they could walk, before attending the best schools in Cordonia, or studying abroad at the best boarding schools in Europe or in the United States. They’d attend the best universities, then leverage their refinement and sophistication to marry a noble of equal or higher rank (or lower rank, if their family was wealthier). They’d have 2-3 children and spend the rest of their lives as charity patronesses and society matrons.

Despite being raised abroad, being raised as the daughter of a noblewoman also meant being raised with one goal: marriage. It’s partially why the right schools are emphasized so much for the nobility. Most marriages within Cordonia’s aristocracy are between individuals who’ve known each other since childhood.

Though her path was distinctly non traditional, marriage was still the goal; she was trained for years to be the perfect Cordonian wife. When her engagement to Peter Foredale-Harper, Viscount Foredale, an English nobleman and heir to the Earl of Edgewater was announced, it seemed as though her parents’ aspirations had succeeded and that she was fated to become just another well-married courtier. But fate can often be fickle.

"It has always been our shared wish to marry for love, not convenience. As we approach our planned wedding date, we have concluded that our wish will not be made by our marrying each other. While we will always be best friends, we cannot and will not marry each other. We wish each other the best and express regret towards anyone disappointed by the cancellation of our wedding."

That was the statement announcing the end of her engagement to Viscount Foredale. Despite the fact that the former couple remained on good terms (and English high society still speaks highly of her), it seemed as though the social embarrassment of a failed engagement would keep her from making a successful match. Until Prince Leo announced the end of his engagement to the Countess of Fydelia, Lee’s failed engagement was the leading issue of gossip at high society parties; a cautionary tale against the unorthodox parenting methods of her parents and a cautionary tale about forgetting one’s duties.

Then, as though fate itself gave her another chance, Hana Lee entered the courting season of the new Prince of Stormholt, the now King Philip VI. Perhaps owing to her diminished social standing, or maybe just the shyness that dogged her in those days, Lee ceased to be considered a legitimate contender for Philip’s hand before it even became apparent that the courtiers were now vying for the title of Queen, not Princess.

Despite her early elimination, Hana demonstrated the skill that’s led her to astonishing heights, rapidly becoming a close friend of the future Queen Kaela, perhaps as a case of two outsiders sticking together. She rejects this framing emphatically: “I’m not really an outsider, and I’m not sure I could have called myself one even back then. My mother is noble, my father is wealthy. Cordonia’s social graces are ingrained within me; every courtship dance, dining etiquette, and even equestrianism. Her Majesty was an outsider. She didn’t have the advantages I had and she still triumphed, despite some very nasty, unfair, and untrue things being said about her by several publications, including yours,” she says.

I’m forced to acknowledge the truth of her statement. After the infamous Applewood leak, Globe Cordonia was one of several magazines to rush to judgment in a scandal that ultimately resolved itself once Lord Tariq Khouri publicly cleared the air and took full accountability for what he called a misunderstanding. Though I try to gently prod for more information, she won’t share any more than what she’s already said.

If it wasn’t a case of two outsiders bonding, what was it?

“Her Majesty cared. Not just about my social standing, but about me as a person. Her success is my success and my success is hers.”

Perhaps it’s this earnestness that’s powered Cordonia’s most iconic friendship, and everything that’s come from it; Lee was made a Guardian of the Realm and Royal Councilor and is a godmother to Princess Yvonne. She has been publicly praised as a driving force behind Queen Kaela’s efforts to expand arts programs across Cordonia.

I ask her about her influence behind the scenes, and she shakes her head bemusedly. “I don’t think I work behind the scenes. I definitely use my influence to help move the country towards what I hope is a better direction, but I do that openly. It’s no secret that the Queen and I are strong supporters of the arts and arts education.”

The Queen isn’t the only strong supporter of arts education. So too is her girlfriend, Kiara Theron, Marchioness of Bellmere. It’s another relationship that sprouted during that first courting season, though from all accounts, their relationship postdates Hana’s friendship with Queen Kaela. I ask her if there was any early difficulty in forming a same-sex relationship when there was already such a deep connection with another woman, and she takes a moment to respond.

“Not for me, because there are different kinds of love. I love Her Majesty. She is the best friend I never thought I deserved and the sister of my heart. But I love Kiara, who is everything I could imagine in a life partner and more,” she begins, her eyes sparkling. “She has never given me a reason to question why I love her or whether I should, and she has never asked me to explain my feelings for her. Our relationship is secure because she makes it secure.”

It certainly can’t hurt that the Marchioness is the heiress of a Great House, a Royal Councilor, and set to inherit one of Cordonia’s largest fortunes, can it?

She laughs heartily at the suggestion. “If it were about status and wealth, I’d have tried harder to become Queen. You’ve already referred to me as Cordonia’s most influential courtier. I’m a member of the Royal Council. I'm surrounded by the love of my friends and the love of a very spectacular woman. What more could I possibly need?”

That’s an apt question, and I sit with it for a moment. Despite her unorthodox upbringing and severe social setbacks, she has reached heights most courtiers can only dream of. She has formed genuine connections, not just in her sisterhood with the Queen but in her romance with Kiara Theron. She is able to use her platform to advocate for her passions and make a difference for Cordonia.

And truly, with friends, love, the ability to promote one’s interests, and the influence to be taken seriously, what more could anyone need?

><><><><><><><><><><><><

Notes:

Larkin Andoh and Globe Magazine are featured in Book 2 of The Royal Heir.

This is set in the time between the time jump in Book 3 of TRH.

Hana's post-nominal letters (GoTR and RC) are abbreviations for "Guardian of the Realm," the honor Liam gives her in TRR 3, and "Royal Councilor," of which she also becomes a member in TRR 3, respectively.

“Continental” is how Cordonians in my HC refer to Modern Greek.

Lorelai's title and Tariq's surname are never stated, so I had to make them up.

Similarly, I chose to have Xinghai prefer to use his family name first.

As always, thanks for reading!

#hanaleeappreciationweek #hana lee #the royal romance #kiara theron

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A hummingbird thought a man’s orange hat was a flower [x]

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The student protests for Palestine have been an amazing show of solidarity and support and seeing thr way that so many young people are willing to stand up for their values is admirable when so many others stay silent. But this is all to say that we are entering a pattern of glorifying these white “martyrs” from the global west to put all of this effort and resources and media coverage into instead of the actual cause they are fighting for.

I saw the same thing happen with Aaron Bushnell, when his self immolation was being talked about more than the actual genocide in Gaza (which went against everything he said he was self immolating for in the first place).

And again this happened with the prisoner from the US who worked 136 hours just to be able to donate his $17 check to Palestine aid efforts. In response to this, people wanted to help him and ended up raising over $100,000 in a gofundme for him. This feels almost satirical, as every gofundme to help Gazans evacuate Palestine and get to safety has a goal of less than $100,000 and most of them are not even close to reaching it.

And now, there are more and more posts on how to get aid to the college student encampments, and the “urgency” of getting enough bail funds for the students who have been arrested during them. Talking about Palestine itself and getting resources to Palestine has almost been put on the back burner in favour of making all Palestine related news about college students in the United States.

It think it is valuable to recognise the selflessness and importance of these protests, and getting these students resources but what is MORE important, and what these people are truly fighting for, and protesting, and make a statement about is PALESTINE. We have unsurprisingly reached the point where there are people who care much more about the white people fighting for the cause from the comfort of living in the global west than they care about the Palestinians undergoing a genocide in Gaza. It’s become almost blatant racism, the way people begin to drop everything the second a white/usamerican person does something in regards to helping Palestine, but will not put the same effort into a Palestinian IN Gaza who is telling their story or asking for help. I respect anyone who has done absolutely anything to help Palestine, but I hope people are starting to see the pattern of how the media gravitates towards the “white saviour/perfect martyr” instead of the first hand accounts coming from those in Gaza.

Anyway FIND A GOFUNDME AND DONATE TO HELP FAMILIES IN GAZA ESCAPE GENOCIDE

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Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

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If millie fits millie sits

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Just Sam and Bucky, doing little tricks for the Avengers TikTok.

#the daily sambucky fluff diary #🥹🥹🥹🥹

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