#Hope he gets many presies

[the-one-teapot]

@spearxwind

Happy day of borth to the biggest eel goober, hope he has a gud chill day

Also please go and check out spearxwind’s art if you like the sea, monster beasties and cool arts - they be an awesome artist who has inspired me a bunch!!

#teart #fanart #eel #OCs #Odin #Catch #Big Borth Boy #Hope he gets many presies #also thank you spearxwind for liking and reblogging my art

[ravenkings]

The Kremlin stage-managed Russia’s presidential vote over the weekend to send a singular message at home and abroad: that President Vladimir V. Putin’s support is overwhelming and unshakable, despite or even because of his war against Ukraine.

From the moment the preliminary results first flashed across state television late Sunday, the authorities left no room for misinterpretation. Mr. Putin, they said, won more than 87 percent of the vote, his closest competitor just 4 percent. It had all the hallmarks of an authoritarian Potemkin plebiscite.

The Kremlin may have felt more comfortable orchestrating such a large margin of victory because Mr. Putin’s approval rating has climbed during the war in independent polls, owing to a rally-around-the flag effect and optimism about the Russian economy. The Levada Center, an independent pollster, reported last month that 86 percent of Russians approved of Mr. Putin, his highest rating in more than seven years.

But while the figures may suggest unabiding support for Mr. Putin and his agenda across Russia, the situation is more complex than the numbers convey. The leader of one opposition research group in Moscow has argued that backing for Mr. Putin is actually far more brittle than simple approval numbers suggest.

“The numbers we get on polls from Russia don’t mean what people think they mean,” said Aleksei Minyailo, a Moscow-based opposition activist and co-founder of a research project called Chronicles, which has been polling Russians in recent months. “Because Russia is not an electoral democracy but a wartime dictatorship.”

In a late January survey, Chronicles asked one group of Russian respondents what they wanted in key policy areas and a different group what they expected to see from Mr. Putin — and documented a substantive difference between desires and expectations.

More than half of respondents, for example, said they supported restoring relations with Western countries, but only 28 percent expected Mr. Putin to restore them. Some 58 percent expressed support for a truce with Ukraine, but only 29 percent expected Mr. Putin to agree to one.

“We see that Russians want different things from what they expect from Putin,” Mr. Minyailo said. “Probably if they did have any kind of alternative, they might make a different choice.”

Compelling alternative choices, however, have been systematically eliminated over the near quarter century that Mr. Putin has been in power in Russia.

Opposition figures have been exiled, jailed or killed. Independent news outlets have been driven out of the country. And a wave of repression unseen since the Soviet era has led to lengthy prison sentences for simple acts of dissent, such as critical social media posts.

Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition figure who carried the hopes of many Russians for an alternative to Mr. Putin, died under mysterious circumstances in an Arctic prison last month. After declaring victory late Sunday, Mr. Putin called Mr. Navalny’s death an “unfortunate incident.”

The war has only further closed what little space used to exist for alternatives to Mr. Putin’s agenda to gain traction in public.

“There is a sophisticated case to be made about why this war is so much against Russia’s interest, and that part of the spectrum is missing,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “It is now happening in exile, and the government is erecting a lot of barriers to people tapping into this content.”

By casting those against the war as saboteurs, he said, Mr. Putin’s regime has succeeded in making “the opposition something that is really unattractive — more for outsiders, not for mainstream people.”

In years past, Russia’s so-called “political technologists” allowed a semblance of competition and open debate in presidential elections to drive turnout and give the race a patina of authenticity. But this year they took no chances.

Yekaterina S. Duntsova, a relatively unknown TV journalist and former municipal deputy from a city 140 miles west of Moscow, tried to run for president on an antiwar platform but was swiftly disqualified. So was Boris B. Nadezhdin, another under-the-radar politician who collected more than 100,000 signatures required to enter the race but could not get on the ballot.

“They deemed both of them dangerous enough not to let them on the ballot,” Mr. Minyailo said. “That tells a lot, to my mind, about the nature of the regime and about how stalwart Putin’s position is. If his regime thinks there is a danger to letting a provincial journalist collect signatures, that tells a lot.”

Russian opinion polling regularly shows that a relatively small segment of the Russian population are die-hard supporters of Mr. Putin and a similarly sized group are aggressive opponents, many of them now abroad.

The majority, pollsters have found, are relatively apathetic, supporting Mr. Putin passively, with no other alternative coming onto their radar. They are particularly influenced by the narrative on television, which is controlled by the state.

“Deep wells of social inertia, apathy and atomization are the real source of Putin’s power,” Mr. Gabuev said. Many Russians, he said, don’t have a sophisticated framework for thinking about certain issues, because there is no public discussion taking place.

And those Russians who do articulate desires that differ from Mr. Putin’s actions are not necessarily willing to fight for what they want, Mr. Minyailo noted. Many Russians believe they have no influence on the country’s course of events.

Still, the increase in support for Mr. Putin among Russians in the two years since he ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine is unmistakable across multiple polls.

Denis Volkov, director of the Levada Center, said that a number of metrics showed consolidation around Mr. Putin.

“We monitor many indicators, not only approval rating,” Mr. Volkov said. “We ask open-ended questions. We ask about the economic situation. We ask about the mood of people. All these indicators are pointing in one direction.”

Armed with a vast propaganda apparatus, Mr. Putin has convinced millions of Russians that he is valiantly defending them against an antagonistic Western world bent on using Ukraine as a cudgel to destroy their nation and their way of life.

“The state narrative has generated this idea that it’s Russia versus everybody else,” said Katerina Tertytchnaya, a comparative politics professor at the University of Oxford. “ It’s very important, this narrative of being under siege. The lack of an alternative is also cited as one of the reasons that people support Putin. People cannot conceive of an alternative.”

It is not only that Mr. Putin seems superior to the alternative candidates that the Kremlin allows to appear on state television. He also comes across as a better choice compared to nearly all his historical predecessors.

Mr. Gabuev noted that despite the war tarnishing much of Mr. Putin’s legacy, his first two terms in particular brought the greatest combination of material prosperity and relative freedom Russians had ever seen — and for those uninterested in politics, good will remains.

“That’s the paradox, they really are the happiest life in the country’s history,” Mr. Gabuev said. “Because the combination of wealth and material prosperity and freedoms being present at the same time was never higher.”

#russia #vladimir putin #news #politics #article

[nahkyl]

hi! I hope you’re having a good day :)

coming for the prompt thing, but maybe rodrygo and kylian future bonding once he comes to madrid? I know rodrygo is one of the most excited players to have him here, and both love to hug and all with others so

Hey Nonny ! Hope you're doing well. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PROMPT?! You're the only one to send one! It makes me very happy. Hope you like it!

Chimère.

The news broke in the evening. Rodrygo found himself sprawled across the couch, with Rayan and Ravy clambering all over him, filling the room with their giggles. Amidst the playful chaos, his phone incessantly pinged with notifications. Curiosity piqued, he glanced at the screen to find a barrage of messages flooding their team's WhatsApp group. Frowning, he unlocked his phone to discover a plethora of capitalized messages.

Vini: VIENE?! IT'S OFFICIAL?!

Carva: Looks like it.

Selu: He told his presi, it's as official as it could get.

Lucky Luka: I think we should wait for Carlo or Pérez to tell us.

Jude: Tchou and Cama should confirm it!

Tchou: I'm not Fabrizio Romano.

Cama: There's no way we're asking him; he hates it when we bring up his club career.

Rodrygo furrowed his brow. What on Earth were they talking about?

Rodry: What are you guys talking about?

Vini: RODRY! IT'S MBAPPÉ! VIENE!

Rodrygo nearly dropped Rayan in his haste to sit up. "WHAT?!" he exclaimed.

Rodrygo: WHAT??? HE'S COMING????

Tchou: [link]

The link directed him to Fabrizio Romano's post, confirming Kylian's decision not to renew at the end of the season. The news hit Rodrygo like a bolt of lightning.

"Holy shit!"

"Papai said a bad word!" Ravy giggled.

Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid. It wasn't officially announced where he was headed, but everyone could guess. Rodrygo beamed.

Rodrygo's admiration for the French player ran deep. Despite being a few years older, Rodrygo had watched every single one of Mbappé’s games since his UCL debut with Monaco. He remembered being absolutely mesmerized by his efficiency, hoping to play just like him one day. However, as Mbappé's career flourished, Rodrygo had come to terms with the fact that some players operated on a different level. When rumors swirled about Mbappé signing with Real Madrid in 2022, Rodrygo had been convinced he would join. So, like everyone else, he was disappointed when he chose to renew. Mainly because Rodrygo had longed to play alongside him. Now, it seemed that chance might finally come.

Mbappé's rumored arrival came with a flood of speculation, but one rumor troubled Rodrygo more than the rest: the idea that Mbappé would poison the locker room. Initially dismissing it as baseless speculation from haters, Rodrygo's perspective shifted when Neymar liked a post essentially accusing Mbappé of pushing him out of the club. Neymar, whom Rodrygo respected, wouldn't lie. Yet, Rodrygo had also found Mbappé to be pleasant company during their encounters. Conflicted, Rodrygo turned to his phone for answers.

Scrolling through social media, Rodrygo was surprised by the volume of hate directed towards Mbappé, especially from PSG supporters. Many criticized his attitude and accused him of disrespecting the club. Rodrygo struggled to understand the situation, relying on automatic translations that only added to his confusion. Could it be a cultural issue, as Neymar had suggested?

He recalled Neymar's frequent complaints during Brazilian national team gatherings. "They’re not appreciative enough. And they specifically shit on their best," Neymar would often lament. While Rodrygo respected Neymar, he recognized the man wasn’t without faults himself. He understood the frustration of supporters regarding a player their club had invested €220 million in, who only played half of each season. However, the tweets judging Mbappé's character left Rodrygo feeling even more confused. Determined to gain insight from those who knew Mbappé personally, he resolved to seek out information.

The following day, during practice, Rodrygo approached Aurélien. "How's Mbappé like?" he inquired. Surprised by the question, Aurélien responded with a smirk, "He's cool. Why? Looking for a date?"

Not one to skirt around the issue, Rodrygo replied honestly, "I've seen a lot of things about him being egotistical and all that. People are worried he might disrupt the locker room."

Aurélien's demeanor shifted as he held the ball at his foot, all traces of humor vanishing. "Tell me one thing, Rodry. When things get tough for you, who do you lean on?"

Rodrygo furrowed his brow, uncertain of the correlation. "My family? My friends? You guys?" he replied.

"Exactly. Kylian doesn’t lean on anyone but himself," Aurélien asserted firmly before forcefully striking the ball towards the goal and walking away. Rodrygo was taken aback by the unexpected reaction.

"Don’t mind him," Eduardo said, approaching Rodrygo. "He’s a bit protective of our national team players. Every single one of them. A born leader, that one."

"I didn’t mean to offend him," Rodrygo admitted.

"You didn’t," Eduardo reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We’ve just been seeing a lot of negativity on social media about Kylian, and it bothers us, but I think Auré takes it personally."

"Why?" Rodrygo inquired.

"Because when he first joined the national team, Kylian was the one who helped him break out of his shell, trusted him most on the pitch," Eduardo explained. "It helped Tchou gain confidence. No one knows this, but during that goal against England, Kylian asked Antoine to pass to Aurélien and then yelled, 'Shoot!' That moment meant a lot to him. Because it was such a big game, the World Cup is such a big stage. It was a great show of trust."

Rodrygo looked down at the ball at his feet, wondering if he had been rude. "You didn’t do anything wrong, Rodrygo," Eduardo reassured him. "It’s normal to be curious and ask."

"What did he mean by 'he only leans on himself'?" Rodrygo questioned.

Eduardo's smile faded. "Kylian has a great support system, but he tends to only believe what his brain tells him. He’s not egotistical; he just trusts himself to be honest about his performances. That's why he’s so hard on himself." "Sounds lonely," Rodrygo remarked.

"Most players of such caliber are lonely," Eduardo agreed.

As the season passed, games were won and trophies claimed. Mbappé's arrival was confirmed, and soon enough, Rodrygo saw pictures of him and the president holding a jersey with the number 10 plastered on it. Excitement and apprehension mingled within Rodrygo as he anticipated meeting and playing with Mbappé. Despite their tight-knit squad feeling like a family, he worried about how they would integrate Mbappé. While it was easy with Jude due to his youth and potential, Mbappé's nine years of experience, world championships, and numerous individual accolades marked him as a veteran of sorts.

Finally, Rodrygo caught sight of Mbappé during the players’ medical visit. He was laughing with the staff, conversing in rapid Spanish. Rodrygo approached him and tapped on his shoulder. Upon seeing him, Mbappé beamed. "Hey man! Nice to see you again!" he greeted warmly. Rodrygo's smile mirrored Mbappé's infectious enthusiasm. "How are you? Traveled well?" he inquired. Mbappé nodded eagerly, his smile never faltering. "Yeah! I’m so excited to be here!" he exclaimed.

Observing Mbappé, Rodrygo sensed his genuine excitement. With his big smile and bright eyes, Mbappé appeared younger than he was. Rodrygo couldn’t help but feel sorry for him; he knew his teammates wouldn’t go easy on him. At Madrid, if you didn't prove your worth, you'd struggle.

"We’re happy you’re here," Rodrygo said sincerely. "Finally," he added with a playful smile, eliciting a hearty laugh from Mbappé.

"That’s what everyone keeps saying," Mbappé responded bashfully. "I hope I’ll meet people’s expectations," he added, pressing a palm to his neck, displaying a nervous tick.

"Of course you will," Rodrygo reassured him. "You're Kylian Mbappé."

During the squad's first training session of the season, Mbappé was met with reserved expressions and tight smiles, except from Aurélien and Eduardo, who warmly embraced him. However, Mbappé remained undeterred, maintaining a bright smile and sticking close to Aurélien and Eduardo. With team gameplay scheduled for the following day, the coaching staff focused on integrating Mbappé seamlessly.

The next day, Mbappé showcased why Madrid had anticipated his arrival for close to a decade. His speed and explosiveness were unparalleled, but what struck Rodrygo was his efficiency. He didn’t waste movements or passes unless they led to a goal opportunity.

"You can’t give this guy any space!" Valverde remarked with a smile as they returned to the locker room.

"How are you not scoring 60 goals per season?" Toni quipped, prompting Mbappé to laugh and shyly duck his face, almost appearing... shy?

"He's not too far off that number," Aurélien smirked, earning a chuckle from the team.

"Is the defense different in France?" Jude asked, and all three French players nodded vigorously.

"They don’t leave any space," Eduardo explained.

"It’s a very low block," Aurélien added. "You play against 11 players the moment you enter their half."

"Except in Paris, the front three usually don’t defend," Vinicius interjected with a grin.

Mbappé laughed at that. "Oh come on! I got better last season!"

"Well here, you’re gonna have to fall back to defend," Toni remarked.

"I know! I trained for it!" the frenchman whined playfully.

Toni laughed heartily. "Awww, sorry I’m messing with you," he said, putting him in a headlock.

"Rodry might have some competition in the cuteness department," Thibault joked, eliciting laughter from the team.

Mbappé's cheeks reddened, and Rodrygo again noticed his youthful appearance.

"I didn’t know he’d have such boyish charm," Jude remarked later as they walked to the parking lot. "He looks like a kid. Younger than me, almost."

"Be serious, you’re the most expressive kid I've ever met. You ARE a kid," Rodrygo teased.

"You're barely older than me!"

Over the next few days, training focused on integrating Mbappé, Vinicius, and Rodrygo. Slowly, they began forming a connection, with Mbappé and Vinicius proving to be a lethal combination. Rodrygo could sense that their chemistry was promising, evidenced by the rare smile on Carlo’s face.

On Mbappé’s first night at the Bernabeu, Rodrygo anticipated the mixed reception he would receive. While his presentation had gone smoothly, many fans still harbored resentment. Walking up to him, Rodrygo whispered, "Are you okay?"

Mbappé looked up, eyes wide with excitement. "Hey! Yeah! I’m so excited!"

"No nerves?" Rodrygo asked cautiously.

Mbappé chuckled and clasped a hand on his shoulder. "Rodry, relax. It’s just football, man."

As they walked out, Mbappé's eyes sparkled with awe, and he went on to score a hat-trick. The whistles from the crowd diminished with each goal until they were replaced by cheers.

Back in the locker room, celebrations ensued, and Mbappé was hailed for his hat-trick. Jude approached him, asking for his autograph.

"A fucking hat-trick on his first day, bro. This man is una locura!" Jude exclaimed.

After a while, Mbappé approached him. "Would you please sign it for me?" he asked, holding out a ball. Rodrygo looked at the ball in his hand. "Of course! Congrats, bro. First of many!" he winked, signing the ball. After signing, he confessed, "It’s an honor to play with you, Kylian."

Mbappé blushed, his eyes wide as he turned bright red, looking down. Rodrygo was astonished. "Thank you," Mbappé said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Rodrygo frowned. "Come on, you must hear that every single day."

Mbappé looked up furtively.

"What?! No?!"

Rodrygo couldn't comprehend how Mbappé wasn't adulated by every player he'd ever played with.

The french player shrugged. "They say it in interviews and all, but no one’s ever said it to me directly. It’s the first time. It feels weird."

"Even the youngsters?!" Rodrygo asked incredulously.

Mbappé shrugged again. "My little brother says I intimidate them."

Rodrygo hoisted his bag on his shoulder, ready to leave. "I can't tell why. You're all meme expressions and eagle laughs."

Mbappé burst into laughter and playfully shoved him. "See you tomorrow, Rodry!"

Rodrygo posted a picture of Mbappé's post about his hat-trick on his Instagram story with the caption "idolo y ahora compañero! @k.mbappe". Mbappé responded with "amigo*", making him smile.

Over the next few weeks, they grew closer through FIFA games and terrible humor. Slowly, Mbappé began hanging out with him and Vinicius as much as he did with Aurélien and Eduardo. Their connection during games became more fluid, and when Rodrygo assisted his first goal, and they hugged like they'd been friends for decades, it felt like their on-pitch bond was sealed.

A couple of weeks later, Rodrygo twisted his ankle, and Kylian was the one who checked up on him the most. One day when Rodrygo was particularly upset about it, Kylian showed up at his door and insisted they played FIFA to distract the Brazilian. Rodrygo couldn’t fathom not liking the guy. And seeing him interact with his twins made him feel like he might be a new friend.

So one day, three months in, when Kylian had broken every record held at the club during that period, when Rodrygo felt they had become actual friends, he asked, "What happened between you and Neymar?" Kylian stopped dead in his tracks. "You don’t have to tell me! Sorry, that was intrusive—"

"No, I just don’t feel comfortable talking about your national team’s captain. Sorry. No matter what happened, I have a lot of respect for him, and I wouldn’t do that."

Even after he humiliated you for all eyes to see? Rodrygo wanted to ask, but he kept it to himself. "I’m sorry."

"Don’t apologize. Just… there are always two sides to a story, and two people to form any type of relationship. So I hold a part of responsibility in what happened, and I don’t want to find excuses."

How the fuck did anyone manage to hate this guy?

In the Champions League Round of 16, Real Madrid was going to face PSG. Rodrygo immediately texted Kylian. He answered that he was excited. When was he not?

"When are you not?" he asked on the phone. Kylian laughed. "Are you kidding?! It’s the beauty of the sport! You stop being excited, it’s time to go! I’m ecstatic that we’re facing them!"

And ecstatic he was. If the four goals he scored at Parc des Princes were anything to go by. Rodrygo saw a side of him he hadn’t seen before. The more he was whistled at, the more lethal he became. He assisted Vinicius' goal, and had Rodrygo not missed his control, he would have assisted his too. 5-0. Kylian hadn’t celebrated any of the goals, but Rodrygo still felt like there was a sense of vengeance there. When the referee finally whistled the end of the game, putting an end to PSG’s misery, Rodrygo ran up to him, followed by Jude. "You’re incredible," he whispered in his ear as he hugged him. "You’re insane." Kylian giggled, like he hadn’t humiliated his old club.

Rodrygo thought the Frenchman was an interesting contrast of killing instinct and joy. A chimera of some sort. Aurélien and Eduardo approached them, and Aurélien put his hand in front of his face to talk to him, now that they were surrounded by cameras. "You’re crazy for not holding back, bro. They’re gonna hurt you with their words." Kylian’s smile suddenly fell before he regained composure. He smiled, but this time, for the first time since Rodrygo met him, it didn’t reach his eyes. It felt sad, somewhat melancholic. "They can’t anymore," he simply said. Rodrygo and Aurélien exchanged a look. He watched Kylian’s back as he walked towards the locker rooms, booed by his old supporters, wearing a white jersey instead of a blue. Sometimes, he forgot Kylian had stayed seven years at PSG.

After their resounding victory at the Bernabeu, they found themselves at Kylian's house, sprawled out on the grass in his garden, taking a well-deserved break from football. It turned out Kylian wasn't one for the club scene; he preferred the comforts of home and a good game. Rodrygo couldn't help but wonder how anyone could label him a diva.

"Why did you stay?" Rodrygo ventured, feeling it was a safe topic to venture on now.

Kylian pondered for a moment before responding, "Because I felt it was my duty. People off the pitch made me believe that leaving would not only hurt the club but the championship, the city, even the country. They sold me on this grand long-term project, akin to what Man City had, with a world-class trainer like Pep coming in to reshape the team and its mentality. And I bought into it. But it turned out to be empty promises. Thank God for my mom; she saw through it. She was the one to come up with the NBA-like contract, with the option thing. She made sure I had an outlet, knowing they wouldn't willingly let me go. She always wanted me to leave."

"Does it hurt you, knowing the supporters of a club you dedicated so many years to now hate you?"

"No," Kylian replied, his tone firm. "I'm not angry with the supporters. I'm frustrated with the direction for not keeping their word and putting us in this situation. I don't need validation from some fans because I know my worth. I've had some of the best seasons in the club's history. We reached quarters, semis, and the final for the first time in the History of the club. No one can take that away from us. No one can erase me being the top scorer. No one can erase the sacrifices I made for that jersey, the literal sweat, blood and tears I poured onto it. I'm angry because they've put the club in this mess. It'll take them years, literal years, to recover. All because they couldn't honor their promise. They just needed to keep their word, Rodry. Just that. I would've stayed."

Rodrygo was taken aback, speechless at Kylian's honesty. "Really ?"

"Fuck yeah I would have." Kylian answer, tone decisive. "Madrid is a dream, but Paris was- is home. Had Enrique come one year earlier, I would've stayed. But I can’t gamble it anymore. I’m 26. For once, I want to think of me. Of the legacy I kept saying I would leave. For once, I’m gonna be selfish."

You'll bring them the UCL one day," Rodrygo said, offering a wink. "As a coach."

Kylian chuckled at the notion. "Maybe. But right now, let's focus on winning ours. Come on, get up!"

Rodrygo groaned but complied. "Hey, Kylian."

"Hm?"

"It's truly an honor to have you as a teammate. And a friend."

Kylian's smile widened. "Same Goes, Rodry!"

"Your humor is terrible."

"You love it."

#THERE YOU GO #This fucking monster #i hope you like it but i know it's WACK #prompts #SEND ME MORE #nahkyl writes (sometimes)

[tetsunabouquet]

Basic Instinct Part 8

A/N: Any of the previous warnings might apply in small mentions, but we're getting to the fluff part of the story, thank heavens.  Masterpost

You words of earlier that day continued to haunt him. 'I sacrificed everything, my childhood and happiness.' Those words felt awfully familiar, and he couldn't help but once more feel like the two of you were kindred spirits. Tomorrow definitely was needed, for the sake of the both of you. Because the two of you seemed to need each other just as desperately. 'She needs someone, like I need her.' So all that truly mattered, was you and his confession. Unfortunately, planning his confession was more difficult then he initially assumed. He wanted to do something to impress you, but if your Shogi muffins taught him anything; it's that something from the heart could be a bigger gesture then expensive gifts, or hiring performers to woo you over with a grand gesture. But what was something what your heart desired, something that he could plan his confession around? For one, something too similar to your idea wouldn't do. He didn't wanted to be lazy and copy your idea, so baked goods were out of the question. Then, he remembered the oldest trick in the book, something timeless that a reader like you would enjoy. A love poem, something he, with the help of Fujioka, could plant along the route he wanted to take you during your shopping trip. Words straight from his heart. His poems either ended up being too formal or too cheesy to his own personal taste, not finding a nice balance in between so he allowed Fuijioka to pick whichever he found the best. Akashi had a slight feeling his butler was enjoying his frustration to a certain degree, in a fond kind of way. It made him smile. As he and Fujioka decided on a way to use the poem, and where, his heart was pounding.

Though that was in no way comparable to when he saw you walk out of the street to one of his father's many cars. Dressed in a long black coat of faux-fur, he could spot you wearing pants in your f/c. He opened the door for you, and let you take a seat next to him. You closed the door with a slightly uncertain look on your face. "How bad was she?" He asked. "She's currently on silent treatment mode." You sighed deeply, and he laid his hand on your shoulder. "She'll be back to her good mood soon enough. Focus on yourself for now. Relax, y/n." You smiled dryly, trying to snap out of your sad state. It tore at his heart, he has never seen you look so tired and vulnerable. So he reached out to his bag. "Have you had breakfast yet? My cook made some croissants." He pulled out a bento box, and opened it to reveal two small croissants with a delicious looking chocolate coating. You accepted them gratefully, and took a bite. It was so good, you were unable to surpress a small moan. He did not want to think about the sound too much, but he wondered, if you'd sound like that if he got to kiss you. You hungrily devoured them, and seemed to relax a bit with the delicious food. You smiled softly, a bit more warmness in your face, much to his relief. "Well, I have made a bit of a schedule for us. I hope you don't mind," Akashi's voice was gentle and you shook your head. "Good. I remember you mentioning you wanted some new markers. We'll visit an art supplies store first, if you'd like that?" "Oh yes! Me and Mari-Chan are doing the new art designs for the school's newspaper but neither of us have great materials for it. I'm buying the markers, she buys the rest. That was our agreement." You said, your mood getting a bit more cheerful at the thought. "You're always eager to lend a hand in school projects. Why did you never tried to join the Student Council?"  Akashi asked, curiously. "I tried to join the one in Middle School, but I always lost the voting. The most popular kids got elected, and the one time where I did had enough votes to join, my position was still given to someone else because he was the best friend of our Vice President and teachers thought they'd have an easier time working together. In the end, even classroom politics revolve around nepotism and popularity, rather then who actually has the best ideas for the school. So why apply for something so meaningless?" "That's unfortunate. That position was rightfully yours, it shouldn't have been given to someone else." You smiled at his words, happy someone was siding with you. The fact he actually was the Student Council President somehow made it feel even better. He was acknowledging your hard work for the school, something no one else ever did except Amari. It made you feel slightly fuzzy on the inside. So you already felt a bit better by the time the car halted. You stepped out slowly, Akashi behind you. You gawked when you saw you were at the front of not just a regulart art supplies store, but the most expensive, top-notch art store in Kyoto, where all the local, high-profile artists shopped. Akashi couldn't help but smile at your expression. "After the way your mother treated you, you certainly deserve the best markers we can find." He said, slowly escorting you inside. Unable to speak, you just stared at all the expensive art supplies you could lay your eyes on. A wall filled with Caran d'Ache products at the entrance of the store greeting you with their bright pigments, another one with various types, and brands, of ink. It was definitely worthy of its reputation. It didn't took long to find a wall with markers of brands used by illustrators, which was a whole lot different then your old set of markers-  A 12 piece Stabilo scented set which left you obsessed with your lemon-yellow marker (which was obviously the first one to be used up). It made you feel a little flustered, as Akashi went over each one. They were so expensive and looked great. Was this really okay? Akashi then held up a set of 36 markers. "I think this one looks nice. What do you think?" He examined the look on your face, the hesitation. It was clear you didn't wanted to be seen as a financial burden as your line of sight kept hovering over the prices, which he found utterly ridiculous. "That one looks nice, and there's definitely enough color variation. You sure you want to pay, I brought my wallet, you know?" You said, even though you couldn't really afford it with your own pocket money. Akashi scoffed. 'I'd buy her an island if she'd be safe and happy there.'  He thought as he opened his mouth to speak, "I said it's on me. Allow me to use my money to make it actually mean something." He insisted, and you were touched. Without a word of further stubborness, you followed him to the cash register and allowed him to pay for your markers, a small smile playing on your trembling lips. 'He's so kind.' You thought as he accepted the bag which contained your new markers and hoisted it over his shoulder. 'Wait, he's going to carry it too?! He's really a gentleman, isn't he?' As you exited the store, you wondered what you were going to do next, and Akashi guided you forward. "Our next stop would be my personal favorite sports shop. I noticed the shoes you wear during P.E are getting rather old, I want to buy you a new pair." He said, and you were once again shaken by just how much he seemed to notice. "Really? But you already bought me all those wonderful markers." You said, smiling shyly. "Really. I want you to have everything you need." "You're really too kind Seijuro," you gave him a quick hug, and he was certain his heart skipped a beat. Your arms were so soft, he missed them around his figure the moment they left. As the two of you went to the sport shop, Akashi swore he could die from the anxiety, and the strength it required to keep it hidden. Every step closer to the store made him feel like he wanted to run away and abort this entire plan. But you marched on at his side, and thus, he couldn't. Though he certainly felt like he could faint as the store appeared, and felt more tense as the two of you walked inside. It didn't take you long to find a pair of shoes to your liking, size and the school's dress code. Akashi held his breathe as one of the store clerks escorted you to a changing cubicle he had them reserve especially for you. You found it slightly funny he had reserved one for you, but you figured he might have been preparing himself for if you spotted sports wear to your liking. What you didn't expect, when you entered the cubicle, was for there to be a white sheet hung up, with big letters in a handwriting familiar to you and an adorable panda plushy seated on the chair in the changing room underneath the poster.

Most start with roses are red, violets are blue But I'd rather like to think your pressence set my world anew

Dancing sunlight blinded my vision Could there be such a thing as gentle passion? I felt hot yet serene Like the reflection of water capturing light made with kerosene Your voice sings at the back of my mind Gentle warnings and whispers, so kind I don't wish for this feeling to end. Will you be my girlfriend?

#basic instinct #akashi #knb #akashi seijuro #akashi seijuurou x reader #akashi x reader #kuroko's basketball #love confession #shopping #comfort #art supplies #shoes #student council #school newspaper #akashi seijūrō #knb x reader #fluff #knb fluff

[yorit1]

Aaron’s 28th Birthday

It was midnight on the 5th of January and his mum finally allowed him to head home. She called him a couple of hours ago and asked for help. He walked to the door and saw his husband's handwriting wishing him a happy birthday and that his first gift was upstairs. Aaron ran upstairs and got to their bedroom and was excited to see what awaited him up there.

Their room was transformed to look like a hotel suite in a Parisian hotel. Their window was covered with an image of the Paris skyline including the Eiffel Tower as if they were in Paris and not in Yorkshire. On the table, there were macaroons in different colours laid out to spell happy birthday. And special chocolates that spell out Aaron. Little mugs with real hot chocolate were sitting there. Aaron absolutely loved that his husband was extra when it came to his birthdays. He also thought that a few days away would be nice.

“Bonjour,” Aaron said in the little French he knows, his french always turned on Robert even if it was broken.

"Happy birthday, husband. This is how we will be spending the next few days. You and me in Paris."

"I love it.”

Aaron kissed Robert to thank him and things got heated between them. Aaron was really enjoying his 28th birthday so far.

The next thing Aaron heard was a pair of tiny footsteps, then small knocks on the door, and then two small voices giggling.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!" Aaron heard his children yell out simultaneously.

The twins then climbed into their daddies bed and got in the middle between them. They had presents in their hands that they were excited to show their dads.

"DADDY DADDY WE MADE THESE PRESIS FOR YOU1"

"HERE is mine DADDY."

"AND CARD"

Aaron received a birthday card where happy birthday was cut up on different coloured paper and glued together. Then Daddy was written below it. Then he got a gift from Annie Grace that was a small pillow that said I love my dada. And the gift from Jacob was a picture frame with a picture of their family of five, with colourful fingerprints all around the frame. Aaron felt all this parental love swell up for his beautiful children, and knew that he was incredibly lucky to have such wonderful children.

“I love you,” Aaron said repeatedly while he gave them hugs and kisses.

“Why don't we put on one of your films and watch it together,” Robert suggested

"Yay!” the twins exclaimed and snuggled in between their dads.

Robert was hoping that that would give his mum and mother in law enough time to prepare the breakfast downstairs. Robert wanted to help but they said that since they were going to Paris for a few days they should spend as much time as possible with the twins before they left.

Robert received a text message that everything was ready downstairs. That was perfect timing as there were about 10 minutes left in the movie. Robert is so happy so far Aaron’s birthday was going exactly as he hoped, and that was what made him happiest he wanted Aaron to have the happiest of birthdays. He hoped that he liked the birthday brunch they prepared for him downstairs.

When the movie ended, Robert turned off the tv. He heard the twins complain.

“Hey we get to have fun birthday brunch with dad and daddy isn't that fun, and see granny Sara and nana Chas,” Robert said to the twins.

"YAY” the twins let out excited shrieks and excitedly got off the bed. Aaron and Robert followed them and Annie Grace took Robert’s hand and Jacob took Aaron’s so that they could go downstairs.

When Aaron arrived downstairs he saw his mum and her partner, his dad Paddy, his sisters Liv and Eve. He also saw his mother in law, his best friends Adam and Vic and their new baby boy. His uncle and his partners' Charity and Moira, and their young children were there. Debbie and her children came by for a second to say hello and left. Andy was not there. Robert’s best friend and business partner Priya was also there with her daughter Amba. Aaron was happy that it was only immediate family here at his birthday and people that he had spent a lot of time with as he did not like big celebrations where he was the center of attention. It was also a brunch more than a birthday party, so the attention was not focused solely on Aaron. The gifts were also to the side so that Aron did not have to open them during the party.

Aaron next looked at the tables that were set up with the food. He saw an assortment of different types of toasts, his favourite breakfast food. There was the classic toast, cheese toast, beans on toast with an assortment of other breakfast foods such as eggs, sausages, and vegetables, There were also sweeter toasts available such as cinnamon toast and french toast. The side table had the cake and an assortment of Sara’s special cupcakes in many different colours and flavours.

Robert took Aaron’s hand so that they can go sit at the table to begin the brunch. Everyone wished him a happy birthday as they sat down. Aaron loved all the food that was made. He got to enjoy his birthday with his favourite people and eating his favourite foods. It was nice having them all over but it was also in a way that kept within his area of comfort.

After the breakfast was eaten the cake and cupcakes and some chocolates were brought to the table.

“Speech, speech, speech,” everyone called out.

Robert tickled Aaron's side and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

“Daddy, daddy, daddy,” the twins cheered.

“Ahm, thanks to everyone for coming. Thanks, mum for making the toast, and Sara thanks for making the cupcakes and cakes. Robert thanks for everything, and Annie Grace and Jacob your beautiful gifts mean everything to me.”

“I did have some help, Robert made the macaroons and helped me with the chocolates that you had last night. The twins made these chocolates that we are having today with my supervision,” Sara said.

Aaron bent down and tickled his children and asked: “Is that right, you helped granny Sara make chocolate?”

"YES, DADDY! WE MADE CHOCOLATE. Here eat okay?” the twins said

Aaron tried some of the chocolate that they gave him.

“Mmm, this is good. You guys are mini granny Sara. Can I have more?”

The kids were ecstatic when they heard that they gave more to daddy Aaron and gave some to daddy Robert.

The candles were set and it was time for Aaron to blow the candles out on the cake. Aaron heard make a wish. In his mind, as he was blowing out the candles he was thinking of how he had everything he ever wished for and things that he never thought he would have. That he was excited that their family would have an additional person in early summer. He was truly thankful for everything he had. When the candles were out, Robert gave him a hug and another kiss on the cheek.

Aaron spent time talking to his friends while the cake was being eaten. After that friends and family slowly left, after each one wished him a happy birthday. Currently, only his immediate family was here. It allowed them to say a proper goodbye to them before they had to leave for the airport. They also wanted to show him the gifts before they left. Their mum would each stay over a night while they were away. Liv was nervous about being in charge for so long and did not want to be alone with them, especially since she has had two seizures in the last 3 months. This way Aaron and Robert knew that everyone was safe and they could enjoy their holiday.

They were now sitting on the sofa with the twins between Aaron and Robert. They wanted all the cuddles before they left for a few days. They were each sat on one of their dad’s laps.

“Presi, presi, presi.” Annie Grace said excitedly.

Liv was the first one to hand over her gifts. She made a calendar with different family photos that she took, each month had different images of their family. The second gift was a painting that she made of their family of five. Aaron absolutely adored the gift that she made him. He reached over and hugged her tightly.

“I love you,” Aaron told Liv.

“I love you too, and I love that we are all family,” Liv said

When she sat with them on the sofa one of the grandmas took a photo of the family.

Eve was excited to show Aaron the gift she made him. She has a canvas where she wrote Dr. Aaron Sugden-Dingle and a drawing of him at his desk. Aaron loved it.

”This is beautiful, did you make this yourself, ” Aaron asked his 4-year-old sister.

”Mum helped, ” Eve said.

Aaron hugged her tightly and she gave a shriek of delight.

His mum got him a new robe and towels monogrammed with a Dr before his initials. She also put together photos of them through the years and for the photos over the last half a year it said my son the fully trained psychiatrist.

”We also have everything covered while you two enjoy your holiday.”

Paddy got him a new VR set that he really wanted.

”thanks Pads.”

"I uh have to go uh but thanks for today.”

Now that it's just them and their mums and children it's time for them to say bye and head to the airport.

He hugged his children close and said to them ”you will be good for nana Chas and granny Sara?”

"Yes," they said.

“Good your dad and I will be back in a couple of days. We love you so much.”

"Love you dad love you, daddy," the twins each said as they hugged each of their dads and gave them a kiss on the cheek.

Next, they went over to liv and gave her a hug and told her they will see her in a few days.

“Be good you, and call us if you need anything. I love you,” Aaron said as he hugged Liv.

Next, he hugged Eve and his mum.

“Thanks so much, mum, I’m so lucky to have you.”

Then next came Sara. “Thanks so much for looking after the kids. And the cakes and everything.”

“Anytime love,” she said as she hugged and kissed him.

Robert came over to him and took his hand.

“Ready to go to Paris?”

“Yes.”

Aaron and Robert walked out hand in hand laughing. They sat in the taxi on the way to the airport. Robert gave Aaron a kiss and wished him a 'happy birthday husband.' Aaron and Robert, we’re excited to spend a few days in Paris.

#aaron dingle #emmerdale #robron #original child character #robert sugden #Liv Flaherty #sarah sugden #Chas Dingle #robron fanfic #robron fics #robron fanfiction #robron fic

[spidersmiceandeverythingnice]

I’m starting a new job soon and have a lot of free time on my hands so you bet your ass I made an entire Servant profile for a Saber Lafayette concept. 

Name: Lafayette

Alignment: Lawful Good 

Attribute: Star

Rank: 4*

Class: Saber

Class Skills: Riding (A) 

Traits: Human / Servant / Brynhildr’s Beloved 

Active Skills: Charisma (B) - Increase the attack of all allies for three turns. / Golden Rule (A) - Greatly increase NP gain for three turns. / Unshakable Ideals (A+) Apply invincible and self-heal for three turns.

Character Information: 

Gilbert du Moutier, Marquis de Lafayette - young revolutionary of the enlightenment era, a French nobleman who became a hero for the United States when he was just nineteen years old. His Noble Phantasm recreates the Battle of Yorktown, when the British finally surrendered to the Continental Army.

Bond 1: “Lafayette is normally a member of the Rider class. However, due to the strength of his ideals, he is also capable of this manifestation.”

Bond 2: “Volunteered to fight in the American War for Independence when he was a teenager. Due to his nobility in France, he was quickly given a high rank and distinguished himself in battle. The sword he wields is a gift commissioned by the Continental Congress to thank him for his services after the war.”

Bond 3: “CHARISMA - He seemed to the Americans ‘a knight in shining armor,’ proof that the ideals enshrined in the revolution were possible and supported by European allies. He was able to successfully rally and command troops even when he had been injured.

GOLDEN RULE - One of the richest nobles in France, at a time when French nobles were among the richest people on Earth. However, he famously endured the hardships of winter at Valley Forge along with the American troops.”

Bond 4: “UNSHAKABLE IDEALS - Lafayette’s personal skill, which affects his manifestation in a way similar to Marie Antoinette’s Beautiful Princess. A student of the liberal enlightenment era, an opponent of bigotry and oppression in all forms. When the War for Independence ended, Lafayette declared, ‘Humanity’s battle is won - liberty now has a country!’ because he genuinely believed that the United States would become a nation exemplifying the best of human freedom and equality.”

Bond 5: “It’s possible that his idealism is not simply naivety. He was given great responsibilities at a young age due to his family situation, and endured hardships during and after in the war. He greatly missed his wife and children while fighting. However, he simply believed that fighting in the revolution was the right thing to do, for the sake of all humankind. For his contributions to the fight for freedom, he was made an honorary citizen of the United States and is known as ‘the Hero of Two Worlds.’” 

EXTRA: “After returning to France, Lafayette took a leadership position and continued to practice politics, hoping to bring democracy and human rights to his country. When the revolution came to France, his ideals were shaken and challenged in many more complex ways due to the different circumstances, and as a result of his actions there, his reputation at home is very different from his reputation in the United States. In the Saber class, he becomes the ‘heroic’ Lafayette, who represents the founding dream of the American nation, a dream where all humans are created as equals and are able to freely express their rights. It is not possible to summon this Lafayette in France.”

BONUS CHARACTER INTERACTION IDEAS!

Marie Antoinette: “Your Majesty! I don’t know if you would remember me... Oh, so you do remember? Ahaha, well, in that case, if you’ll excuse me...”

Thomas Edison: “Presi-King? What does that even mean!? It doesn’t make any sense! Pick one or the other!”

Napoleon: “Listen, it’s fine now since we’re all here, working together for the benefit of all mankind. But please don’t ask me to try and get along with him. It’s not that I hate him. It’s just the principle of the thing.”

Billy the Kid: “You know what’s funny? Many of my old friends said that the revolution began as an act of treason against the British Empire. So it seems to me that maybe being an outlaw is an American tradition!”

Jeanne d’Arc: “The patron saint of my country! You’re just as I imagined you!” 

MY NOTES: 

So, I feel like the profile is pretty self-explanatory... He’s deliberately designed in a way that I’m sure would’ve gotten him ripped to shreds in the first five minutes of Fate/Zero because we ALL remember how that one turned out. But I think, looking at the members of the Saber class, qualifying requires a bit of idealism or perfectionism. Think Saber!Diarmuid personifying chivalry and the purity of honorable battle; Nero becoming uncomplicated and charismatic due to her own narcissistic belief that she was a superb and generous leader; even Lancelot, who openly believes that his natural class is Berserker due to his flawed personality, represents “King Arthur’s ideal knight” as a Saber. Personally, I really like the symbolism in parts of what I imagine Lafayette’s character kit to be like - a Noble Phantasm that acts as a sort of Reality Marble that recreates the final great battle of the Revolution, an act which Lafayette believed would seal the deal on the first step to a more enlightened and free world; his Star attribute, his third skill that explicitly compares him to FGO’s idealized Marie Antoinette; he uses a sword that was meant to be ornamental as a weapon; etc. 

Basically I think that FGO isn’t going to add a lot of American revolutionary heroes because a) that doesn’t suit their primary target audience, which is not made up of Americans or even nerds who like the Enlightenment or learning about the ideas in the French Revolution; b) they basically opted out of it already by giving “the power of American presidents” to Thomas Edison as a “Mystic Code that represents America.” But I also L O V E Lafayette and think he’d make an excellent Heroic Spirit/addition to the game just in general, so I want them to find an excuse for him to be added.

However, I would also argue that BECAUSE Thomas Edison’s character is being used to represent “American leadership,” or even “the American Dream (of hard work and success paying off)”, then Saber!Lafayette should be added because he represents “American idealism.” He’d play that role a LOT better than anyone else in the pantheon of “potential American heroic spirits,” and especially when you consider the other major figures of the Revolutionary War; and he also fits in with the 18th Century French gang that Chaldea’s already got going on; AND they added Napoleon as a Star-attribute Heroic Spirit when Napoleon was like, objectively a worse person than Lafayette even when Lafayette was making the most problematic and complex decisions of his life. (Not to mention, like, everything about Marie Antoinette - who to be fair, I really like as a character in FGO! But we can’t pretend that she counts among Least Historically Accurate personalities.)

Anywho, I just really like Lafayette. He was good and I love him.

#fate grand order #fgo #servant oc #servant profile #fate servants

[palaugranetes]

Geri changed the subject from “Amigos” to “Amigos💙❤”

💬 Leo: Wow.. such a difference in the name

💬 Luis: 😂

💬 Rafa: And why the change?

💬 Geri: We need to find a solution to this crap. This has gone way out of hand

💬 Jordi: What do you suggest Geri?

💬 Ivan: Yeah Presi what do you have in mind..

💬 Geri: I was hoping you guys have some ideas…

💬 Leo: Oh my.. even he is stomped…

💬 Geri: I have ideas @Leo but the thing is.. I was kinda wondering if you guys have ideas of your own..

💬 Sergio: what if we all tipped the press that we are planning on leaving.. each to a different team.. 💬 Sergio: Geri you go back to Manchester, Leo goes to Chelsea, Luis tries his luck in Germany at Bayern, Ivan can maybe go to Juve, Jori to Lyon.. and so on

💬 Andres: Umm.. that would cause so much panic.. 💬 Andres: the fans will burn the club down??? 💬 Andres: I see your point though… but it still is 🙃 💬 Andres: say we do that.. where would I go?

💬 Sergio: You stay put.. You should never go anywhere.. If we could keep you here until you are 60 I would not mind

💬 Rafa: Can I go to Paris with Neymar?

💬 Geri: 😒

💬 Rafa: Since we are only pretending

💬 Sergio: Masche can go to Atleti… when their ban ends

💬 Masche: Guys… how about none of us leaves.. how about that.. 💬 Masche: How about we do a Coup. We infiltrate Barto’s house. Take him. And send him to Antarctica.. And send the rest of the board members to remote Islands. Then on the next day, Geri issues a Statement in the Club’s name that Bartomeu quit and is going to disappear for a while. And since he quit, the rest of the board was dissolved. 💬 Masche: 🤔 💬 Masche: And then we have a new election, and maybe this time the socis will get it right?

💬 Geri: Can we ship Madrid and Espanyol with him? Ijs

💬 Rafa: Geri focus. That is not possible

💬 MAtS: Because everything else is?

💬 Rafa: you, go back to fixing your hair

💬 Andres: You guys have been watching to many movies.

💬 Geri: Yeah Masche, what world are you living in? What is wrong with your life...

💬 Masche: You shut up boludo. Not a peep.

💬 Luis: 😂😂😂😂

💬 Sergi: You guys lost me at we are planning on leaving.. That ain’t happening even in fiction.

💬 Leo: What @Sergi said. Other ideas..

💬 Masche: fine.. I’ll cancel the intervention squad..

💬 Jordi: You already had the plan going?!😳

💬 Masche: I have them on speed dial

💬 Sergi: Oddly, I am not surprised.

#lionel messi #luis suarez #gerard pique #andres iniesta #rafinha alcantara #marc andre ter stegen #jordi alba #javier mascherano #sergio busquets #sergi roberto #fc barcelona #inspired by the group chat #you girls are amazing thank you #don't kill me #boredom struck again #a joke.. self dragging is healthy

[ujustgottalaugh]

A little change

Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime) Rating: General Audiences Characters: Yuri Plisetsky, Jean-Jacques Leroy, Mila Babichiva, Sara Crispino, Otabek Altin, Michele Crispino, Emil Nekola Relationships: Yuri Plisetsky & Jean-Jacques Leroy 

Was supposed to be for day 4 of @rarepairsonice week but I didnt have anything for it at first but then the inspiration hit me first last night so I wrote it all day today and I thought I might as well post it since the week isnt over yet. I really enjoyed writing this there were some parts I didnt like but oh well. i just hope y´all like this. Just a heads up, there are hints of milasara so I hope you guys enjoy that too ;)

Yuri Plisetsky was busily hurrying through the hallway while simultaneously staring at his phone to check his schedule, occasionally glancing up to avoid bumping into someone. He groaned when he realized he had English next. Languages had just never been his strong suit, not that he was better at any of his other subjects but they were currently analyzing poetry and that was just not something he wanted to do. Like really it wasn’t like he was going to analyze poetry for a living in the future so why even bother.

He suddenly heard squeals accompanied by laughter and what sounded like a lot people all talking at once. Yuri immediately realized and dreaded what he was about to encounter once he rounded the corner.

The sight that met him once he did, didn’t disappoint. It was something he was growing accustomed to and he really didn’t want to because the more he got used to it the more he hated it and his hatred just grew stronger with each passing day. He can still remember when he first came to school a few months ago that he only used to see it as a mild annoyance, an inconvenience, but from there it grew into a full scaled hatred and it was still going strong.

Wondering what could be pissing Yuri off so effing much? What he dreaded everyday him everyday when he walked down the hallway? What terrorized his thoughts everyday? (Okay this might have all been a bit of an exaggeration but Yuri still stood firmly behind his point that it still pissed him off every single day)

The cause behind all this exaggeration annoyance and hate was none other Jean-Jacques Leroy or just JJ for short which he always insisted on everyone calling him. He was the school’s star football player and has won several competitions in honors of his school. This in turn earned him a quite high reputation among his fellow students which resulted in him having a lot of supporters, admirers who all worshipped him like he was some kind of god. It didn’t really help that he had the looks to match his amazing sportsmanship, it just about made him even more popular.

While all this was amazing and all Yuri always wondered how so many people could just look past his awful personality. Yes that’s right mister super star wasn’t all perfect but was in fact the most arrogant and obnoxious person Yuri had ever met his entire life. Everyone somehow just justified his arrogant and obnoxious behavior saying that he had earned it. Like it was somehow okay for him to be a jerk just because he was a little good at shoving balls into a net. Like come on.

No wait, JJ just being JJ wasn’t what Yuri dreaded every day and plagued his every waking thought every time of the day because he could actually live with that. He wasn’t that obsessive, no it was more what JJ brought to the school every single day. And that was his fans.

JJ always has hordes of people following everywhere and they always ended up clogging up whatever space they were occupying. And that space they so happened to clog up every single day of the week just so happened to be the hallway of the school. This made it nearly impossible for anyone to get through and get to their classes or wherever they were going. It was a nuisance for everyone but neither JJ nor any of his “followers” seemed to be able to take the hint, even after Victor Nikiforov, the school body president warned him several times. Nothing ever changed and the so called school body president never followed up on his warnings which was probably because he was snuggling up with his secretary somewhere in the very school which was a rant for another time.

When nothing changed everyone opted to just avoid the group and take longer detours to their classes completely giving up but not Yuri, there was just no way he was going to let this obnoxious jerk win and get his way. Just no way. And he let him know every single day by calling him names and force his way through his groupies as he tried to fight his way to his classes not hesitating to elbowing or kneeing someone if they refused to move out of the way which was what he was doing at that exact moment.

“Get out of my way!” Yuri roared making several of them glare disdainfully his way. He heard several of them whisper punk under their breath as they moved out the way. Yuri smirked triumphantly as he moved easier through the cloud as people continued to make room for him. Well would you look at that so you can change an old dog a new trick or maybe he should say old dogs in this situation?

JJ, who had been aware of the disturbance among his groupies, smirked knowing full well who it was despite not being able to see due to how small he was and also because of the abundance of people surrounding him. “Yuri Plisetsky, is that you? It’s so hard from all the way up here.”

He got his answer in form of a finger that was raised far above the heads of the crowd. How he managed to do that given his small stature was beyond him but it made him break into a wide grin. “Nice to see you too!” He hummed happily to himself as he watched the finger disappear into the crowd again and what looked like the Red Sea parting as his groupies all pressed together to one side in fear of receiving an elbow to the side or getting kneed in the groin. “Late for class?”

“Fuck you, Jerk Jackass!” Yuri swore at him as he emerged from the crowd and gave him one last withering look before disappearing down the hallway.

“So lethal and sharp,” JJ mused to himself as he watched him go. “Yet so very pretty.”

“What was that?” Someone asked which startled him so much that he almost broke his neck because he whirled around so much only to see Isabella Yang, his recent ex, sidle up beside him with an amusing glint in her eyes. He always dreaded the look in her eyes because he knew exactly what comes with it.

Yuri slumped down irritable next to Otabek Altin who was comfortable sitting in a bean bag in the abandoned gym of the school. He wasn’t alone, Mila Babicheva and Sara Crispino were cuddling together on a gym mattress just a few meters away both intently watching something on Mila’s tablet. They glanced briefly Yuri’s way when he came in but quickly returned to whatever they were watching with Sara waving at him in a quiet greeting.

“What’s up?” Otabek greeted looking up from his phone. “I thought you were going to class today because you had too much absence, what happened?”

“Mister McJerk face is what happened,” Yuri replied heatedly as he crossed his hands broodingly. “Always blocking that fucking hallway.”

“You have to learn to act less aggressively towards your crush,” Otabek said before going back to fiddle on his phone.

“How many times do I have to tell you that hE ISN’T MY CRUSH?!!” Yuri roared at full volume making the girls pluck their headphones off and look his way.

“Oh please,” Mila answered in Otabek’s stead looking very amused and entertained while doing so. “You’re so obsessed with him. He’s the only thing you have been talking about lately.”

“I can affirm that,” Sara agreed raising her hand which made Mila intertwine their hands. Sara shook her off before she went on gesturing her hands as she talked. “Dude he has literally taken over your life. The other day you threw away your ice cream because it looked like JJ’s face???”

“Shut up both of you,” Yuri snapped feeling embarrassed and fighting the blush that was slowly creeping up his face. “It’s hard not to talk about him when he taunts me every single time he sees me! Just today he dissed me calling me short.”

“Did he now?” Mila mused. “I remember you accusing him of insulting for just looking at you.”

“He was literally looking down on me,” Yuri defended. “And no it wasn’t just because he was taller than me but he had a really condescending look on his face! You wouldn’t understand!”

“Sure,” Mila said rolling her eyes.

“I’m surprised you could tell from way down there,” Sara added with a snicker which just earned a venomous glare from Yuri and a high five from Mila. Yuri narrowed his eyes at her, he didn’t really like the way she was getting mouthy at him lately. He could still remember how much of an angel she was when she first hung out with the three of them but guess that’s what happens when you hang out with Mila Babicheva for so long. She wasn’t exactly a role model student unlike Sara’s elder brother Michele Crispino. Speaking of elder brothers…

“Are you sure you should be hanging out here with us?” Yuri mused, his mouth curving into a smirk. “You wouldn’t want to worry your dear older brother by skipping class, now would you?”

Sara narrowed her eyes unappreciatively at his condescending tone but then she just giggled as she stretched across Mila’s lap as though she found the whole thing hilarious. “Oh don’t worry my brother won’t have to worry if he doesn’t know about anything besides today he’s pretty occupied so he won’t have time to worry about me at all.”

Otabek suddenly groaned as Yuri was about about to ask Sara what possibly could be occupying her brother so much that he wouldn’t think about her since practically unheard of. Everyone in school how overprotective Michele Crispino was of his little twin sister Sara Crispino.

Yuri turned towards his best friend. “What’s wrong? Did you lose at one of those stupid block games again?”

“No, it’s Catherine, my history teacher,” Otabek replied. “She’s only giving us two days to write our end of year history paper.”

The other three gasped in horror, all muttering about her monstrosity and cruelty. Like how was that feasible, there was just no way anyone could do that.

“Oh wait, you have Catherine as your history teacher too!” Sara suddenly exclaimed almost crawling over Mila to swap stories with Otabek about how stuffy and snobby their history teacher was. “The other day she singled me out of everyone and bombarded me questions in front of the whole class! It was so embarrassing!” She empathized the last part by burying her face in her hands.

Mila aww'ed at her as she soothingly ran her fingers through her hair. “She’s such a bitch.”

“I know right!” Sara agreed as she lifted up her head to look gratefully up at the redhead for understanding. “That was such a crappy thing to do.”

Then they suddenly just disappeared into their own little world completely forgetting about Otabek and Yuri only talking to each other, giggling and laughing. Sara seemed to be doing most of the talking while Mila listened attentively to her with a fond smile on her face and twirling Sara’s hair around her fingers. As far as they were concerned they were the only ones here.

“I really hate it when they do that,” Yuri said rolling his eyes. Girls.

Otabek just shrugged not at all minding your that his issue was dropped that fast and just went right back to using his phone. Yuri leaned closer to him to watch him play but quickly lost interest and opted to watch cute and hilarious cat videos on his own phone.

They were all just doing their own phone when suddenly someone bursted into the gym startling all of them except for Otabek who heard him coming by his enormous and hectic footsteps. In the doorway stood none other than a red faced Michele Crispino but he wasn’t alone. Behind him towered a tall guy with light brown hair and blue eyes. He smiled excitedly at all of them seeming happy to be there. Michele? Not so much.

“Sara!” He thundered angrily while his companion pleasantly said. “Dobrý den!”

Yuri looked skeptical up at the stranger. “Is that supposed to be a greeting or something?”

“Oh yeah, apparently,” Michele replied getting momentarily distracted. “No wait! More importantly what are you doing here skipping class?!”

“Relax I’m not skipping class,” Sara lied. “We have self study right now, more importantly, Micchi, why don’t you introduce us to your new friend.”

Sara purposely dragged out her last word as she devilishly smirked up at him making Michele blush.

“He’s not my new friend,” Michele retorted with a glare knowing exactly what she was trying to insinuate. “He’s just some new transfer student from abroad that the teachers decided to saddle me with. His name’s Emil Nekola.”

“Mickey, you wound me,” Emil said sorrowful putting his hand on his chest in pretend hurt. “And after everything we just did together.”

Mila roared with laughter at the implications. “I like this guy and Mickey really? You’re already nicknames basis.”

“No we’re not,” Michele snapping and turned towards Emil for making the others misinterpret his words and stop calling him that stupid nickname already.

Sara rolled her eyes good naturedly at her brother as he heatedly scolded a grinning Emil who didn’t seem to mind. “Sorry about my brother,“she apologized as she got up and slung her bag across her back. “Well I have to get my next class, call you later?”

“Sure,” Mila yawned as she stretched already missing Sara’s warmth. “Go and kick Catherine’s ass for me.”

Sara laughed. “I wish it was that simple.” She said wistfully before bidding them all goodbye and then ushering her brother and his new friend outside, slamming the door shut behind them.

Mila sighed as she stared up the ceiling which drew Otabek’s attention and made him lower his phone. “So…”

Mila turned her head questioningly towards him. “So?”

“So what exactly is going on between you two?” Yuri asked in Otabek’s stead. The perk of being best friends was that you could pretty much guess what the other was thinking. Okay that was a total lie they had been extensively talking about Mila’s recent crush right behind her back but she didn’t need to know that.

“Eh… it’s sort of hard to tell,” Mila confessed not even bothering to ask them how they knew. Even she knew how transparent she has been as of late. Usually she’s really good at keeping things under wraps but Sara was really making that difficult. Damn her and her beautiful captivating eyes. “The line between best friends and girlfriends is really blurry when it comes to girls. It’s impossible to know if a girl likes you as a friend or a lover since they pretty much treat you the same. Which is both nice and horrible at the same time.”

“That sucks,” Otabek sympathized with her.

Yuri snorted. “And you called me obsessed, you were practically all over her today.”

“Well at least I can own up it,” Mila retorted and packed her tablet and headphones away before she got up. “Well later losers, I’m going to ask Georgi to give me a ride home.”

“I’m not obsessed!” Yuri yelled after her as she sauntered away. She just waved dismissively at him without even stopping or turning around. “You old hag!”

“Bye!” Otabek called after her which made her turn her head a bit to smile back at him just as she exited the gym.

“Everyone is just so infuriating,” Yuri sulked. “Why can’t they all be like you?”

Just then Otabek’s phone suddenly rang and he smiled apologetically at Yuri. “Sorry gotta take this and it might take a while.”

He then jumped up from his sunken bean bag and exited the gym hastily as he answered the phone in his mother tongue, Kazakh.

When Otabek answered a phone call and said that he was going to take a while he really did mean he was going to take a while. He received lengthy international phone calls from his family all the time and he never minded talking to them at all. It seemed nice and Yuri even expressed to Otabek as much but he had told him as nice as it was at times it came with its own complications.

Yuri was just lying there in the gym, his thoughts wandering in every direction and just contently enjoying the silence when suddenly Yuri heard shouting coming from the outside. Curious as to what happened he climbed up the wall to the gym’s high window to peek.

The windows were situated at the far back of the gym and they facing the huge football field which was located just behind the gym. There he spotted someone angrily kicking the grass.

“What’s that idiot?” Yuri murmured and realized upon closer inspection that it was JJ no one else had such a stupid haircut and stupidly broad back. Okay maybe Otabek had somewhat same hairstyle but he pulls it off. He’s way cooler than this stupid jock that was now kicking at air.

Yuri snickered, hopping down from where he climbed up and went outside to have poke some fun.

Once outside he noticed Otabek was nowhere to be found, he had a terrible habit of wandering while talking on the phone, Yuri just hoped he hadn’t wandered seeing as they needed to head home soon. Seeing as both Georgi and Mila were already gone he was his only ride home. He wasn’t too worried though, there was just no way he would leave him hanging. That was the one thing he could always rely on.

When Yuri rounded the corner onto the football field and the back of the school gym, JJ was still there. He had stopped kicking the grass however and was just standing in the field with slumped shoulders looking very dejected. What brought him down? Did someone finally finally put him in his place?

“Hey!” Yuri greeted cheerily startling JJ. “Why did you massacre the grass? What did they ever do to you?”

JJ didn’t answer, he didn’t even bother to turn towards and instead sniffled. Sniffled?!

Yuri’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Are you actually crying?”

Any other person would probably be concerned or something but not Yuri he fed on the misery of others. He was about to mock JJ, walking around his back so they could be face to face when he did but the look on JJ’s face when he saw it dwindled that urge a little bit. Just a bit.

He looked miserable and both his eyes and nose look puffy and red from crying. He was cry from the handsome football star that every student body fell in love except for a selective few which included Yuri.

“Go on,” JJ suddenly urged Yuri breaking the awkward silence between them which Yuri had barely since he had been too busy staring at his face. “Go on and laugh. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To laugh at me. Go on I probably deserve it anyway.”

JJ then just stared at him waiting for Yuri to start laughing at him and mocking like the pathetical idiot he was but Yuri just stared back confused. “What happened to you man?”

JJ sighed and slumped down on the ground not caring how hard it was and how it hurt his ass. None of that really matters. “I got a C.”

Yuri exhaled a breath he didn’t even know he held. So that was what got his panties in a twist. He scared him for a second there.

“Wow so you got a C, big deal,” Yuri replied offhandedly. “I get C’s like all the time. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”

JJ glared up at him like he was stupid which he probably was if any of what he just said was true. “I can’t go to the nationals.” JJ deadpanned.

“Natio-” Yuri oooh'ed as the realization dawned on him. His memories was always fuzzy when it came to sports but he has probably heard of that before, and he might or might not have wished that JJ got a failing grade out of petty one time he got into a fight with one of his groupies because of him. In Yuri’s defense he had no idea his wish would come true.

“Yeah oh,” JJ rolled his eyes. His eyes softened. “Now my team will have to go to the nationals without me, they’re going to be so devastated by this. I can’t believe I’m letting them down like this. And coach is going to be so disappointed in me.”

“Wait,” Yuri said sitting down. “You’re not because you can’t go to the nationals but because you’re afraid of letting your team down?”

“Well yeah!” JJ replied in a duh tone. “They all depend and rely on me, I can’t just let them down! I’m a star football player for a reason.”

“Yeah, but they’re football players too, right?” Yuri countered. “Surely they can survive without you, they aren’t babies.”

“Yuri, we have a system in our team, every player has a special function and that system can’t work if one of the players aren’t there especially if it’s the most essential part and it just can’t be replaced that easily,” JJ said in one breath.

“And will the other parts of the system blame the missing part,” Yuri asked feeling like kicking himself for going along with JJ’s stupid analogy but it made disturbingly a lot of sense. “Or will they wait for the missing part and try to go on and function without him.”

They stared at each for a long moment.

“That last part didn’t make sense,” JJ noted. “But I think I understand what you’re trying to say, it isn’t the part’s fault that it isn’t there so it can’t be blamed for it and the rest of the system will just have to make do without the part and it might not work but there’re times that systems work even when they’re missing some parts.”

JJ sighed this time out of relief and not disdain. A small smile formed on his face, it wasn’t one of those stupid fake grins he wore around his ‘friends’ and groupies but a real genuine smile. His eyes despite how puffy they were weren’t red anymore and for the first time Yuri noticed that JJ’s eyes weren’t black but were in a fact a dark blue which just made him even more attractive.

Yuri blushed at the realization of his thought process. What was happening? There was just no way he had a thing for this jerk. Was it because he was being less jerky now? He wasn’t being his usual obnoxious and arrogant self, this was the most real and vulnerable had ever seen him. It was so surreal that Yuri felt his breath catch in his throat once JJ turned toward him.

“Thank you, Yuri,” JJ said. “You’re actually good at cheering people up, you know that?”

Some his usual bubbly energy returned but Yuri didn’t mind that.

They just stared into each other’s eyes in comfortable silence.

“You know what I’ve always wondered?” JJ suddenly blurted breaking the silence.

“What?”

“What’s the color of your eyes? Blue or green?”

Yuri thought about the answer. “What does your idiotic brain tell you?”

“Both?”

Yuri gasped. “How did you know?”

“You’re a jerk.”

“Anymore than you are?”

JJ just laughed at his retort not even finding it offending he reached out for Yuri which suddenly made his heart pound really hard. He caught one of Yuri’s hair. “Why’re you growing your hair out?”

“Because I like it,” Yuri exhaling sharply as it suddenly became a little hot and a little hard to breath.

JJ hummed in approval. “It’s very pretty.”

“No shit,” Yuri replied a little too harshly as he wondered what was wrong with him, why did he suddenly feel so sweaty, but he deep down knew the exact reason which just made him want to make some distance and at the same time like shuffling forward.

Suddenly without so much as a warning JJ leaned forward and Yuri watched in horrified terror as JJ slowly closed the distance only for him to just as suddenly stop midway.

JJ’s eyes didn’t look soft anymore and he was nowhere near his relaxed self he was just a few moments ago. Instead he had a mortified and ashamed look on his face. “What am I doing? I’m sorry I didn’t-”

As Yuri watched JJ beating himself up for suddenly coming onto him he realized that what he felt wasn’t terror but an emotion just as strong but very different. It was excitement. It was swelling up in his stomach and the realization somehow calmed him it was also the reason why what he did next didn’t surprise him.

He roughly grabbed JJ’s collar and pulled JJ into a hasty but chaste kiss trying not to think about what he was doing before he chickened out.

JJ stiffened against the kiss at first but then he slowly relaxed into it, slipping his hands smoothly into Yuri’s hair. He ran his hands through it lightly which made Yuri hum into the kiss and JJ smile at his reaction.

Yuri was the first to break the kiss. He tried to look mad but it was really hard especially since he’s breathing really hard. “What’re you doing moron?”

“Enjoying this?”

“If you tell anyone about this I’m gonna kill you.”

“Ah is my little Yuri acting all shy now?”

Yuri just continued to glare daggers at him. He was not amused at all.

“Okay, no telling anyone, but can I at least continue to kiss you?” JJ hooking his arms around Yuri’s waist who had somehow ended up on his knees between JJ’s legs during their kissing. “Please?”

Yuri replied by letting go of his collar and slung his arms around JJ’s neck. He was still looking down at him since he was still on his knees. He liked the view from up there. He leaned their foreheads against one another not breaking eye contact as his hair framed his face and kissed JJ again. Yuri doesn’t know for how long they made out for but he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy every single second of it.

#rarepairsonice #rarepair on ice #pliroy #yuri on ice #yuri plisetsky #Yurio #jj #jean jacques leroy #jjyurio #jj x yurio #milasara #sara crispino #mila babicheva #emil nekola #michele crispino #victor nikiforov #viktor nikiforov #emimike #my fanfic

[seniorbrief]

This Was Jackie Kennedy’s Incredible Mark on History

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This article was originally written by Carl Sferrazza Anthony and first appeared in the June 2001 issue of Reader’s Digest.

“I’m sixty-two now, and I’ve been in the public eye for more than thirty years,” Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis told a friend in 1991. “I can’t believe anybody still cares about me or is interested in what I do.” How wrong she was.

When she stepped into our lives, she was just 31, the youngest First Lady of the 20th century. She lived in the White House only from 1961 to 1963, yet re­mained an object of admiration, and even obsession, until the day she died. Part of the fascination with Jackie was due to timing: television exploded as a mass medium at the precise moment she and JFK and their beautiful children became the First Family. We could see them on TV, we loved what we saw, we wanted to see them again. Later, after the assassinations of JFK and RFK, she provided a place to focus the national grief.

She was more, though, than a pretty face on the small screen or the queen in a sad fairy tale. As a modern Supermom, she raised Caro­line and John into exemplary adults, avoiding the potholes many of their cousins hit. Just as feminism ar­rived, she went to work as a book editor, brown-bagging her lunch and sitting in a windowless office until she earned her way up the corpo­rate ladder. She kept on trying at romance, too, marrying Aristotle Onassis and, after he died, settling into a comfortable relationship with financier Maurice Templesman. This spring a tribute to Jackie Ken­nedy— modern American woman­ plus some spectacular clothes she wore in the White House—will be on ex­hibit at New York City’s Metropoli­tan Museum of Art, before traveling to Boston. “It’s an opportunity,” says guest curator Hamish Bowles, “to ex­plore the style and the substance of a woman who defined a generation.” Here, a fresh look at Jackie, and why we still admire her.

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Although she called it Camelot only after JFK’s assassination, Jackie began working on an image for the Administration the moment she and the President moved into the White House. She thought everything through­, especially how things looked.

Take, for instance, the many pho­tographs of the family at play, which appeared in magazines like Life, Look and The Saturday Evening Post. Seem­ingly casual, some of them were in fact professionally lit, and the peo­ple in them styled, made-up and posed. Photographer Richard Ave­don shot a breathtaking series of photographs of Jackie and baby John. The pictures are as crisp and allur­ing as the fashion-magazine covers for which Avedon is best known. “She was aware of what the camera did for the children, and for the fam­ily,” says Jacques Lowe, another pho­tographer who worked with Mrs. Kennedy.

All of her efforts at creating a Kennedy image came together in the 1962 television tour of the White House. One-third of the nation was watching that night—56 million peo­ple. The special, which won Jackie an Emmy Award, displayed her meticulous restoration of the Execu­tive Mansion. But it was the First Lady, not the glorious Empire style of the revitalized Red Room, that riveted the nation. “I remember watching and listening to Mrs. Kennedy more than thinking about the White House,” Barbara Bush later said in an interview. See these rare photos of John and Jackie Kennedy.

Creating Camelot also meant that bad habits were discouraged, at least in public. A lifelong smoker (Marl­boros, Salems), Mrs. Kennedy did her best to veto photos that showed her with a cigarette in hand. Her press policy was “minimum infor­mation given with maximum po­liteness.” Her unavailability, in the end, only heightened her mystique.

Palmieri Tony Machalaba Nick Traina Sal/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock

“I feel as though I have turned into a piece of public property,” Mrs. Kennedy told an acquaintance in early 1961. During the Presidential campaign the previous summer and autumn, the press and the public focused intently on the young Mrs. Kennedy. And small won­der: no candidate’s wife in living memory had looked so good. The blunt cut of her hair, the clean, sim­ple lines of her brightly colored cloth­ing—American women craved the Jackie Look.

Partly it was the sheer novelty of her. Jackie was a new woman for a new time—the ’60s. She waterskied, she danced the twist, she listened to the bossa nova on her White House hi-fi.

Department stores began using models and drawings in ads that looked like Jackie. A movie maga­zine offered advice on “How to Be Your Town’s Jackie Kennedy,” with penny-wise advice on copying her look. The subject of all this atten­tion left her somewhat bewildered. “What does the way I wear my hair have to do with my husband’s abil­ity to serve as President?” she asked.

The scrutiny became so intense that Jackie realized she needed help from a professional. She turned to New York designer Oleg Cassini, a family friend who had once been one of Hollywood’s top costume designers. As she wrote him, “I re­fuse to have Jack’s Administration plagued by fashion stories of a sen­sational nature—or to be the Marie Antoinette of the 1960s.” Cassini re­called his initial meetings with Mrs. Kennedy, when they worked out what she would wear at her hus­band’s swearing-in:

“She asked me to come meet with her in her Georgetown University Hospital room just days after she gave birth to John], two months be­fore the Inauguration. All the other women [ would be wearing] furs, looking like bears. My concept was to make her look divinely simple­ in a beige coat and hat. She came out, and was instantly distinct.

“Immediately a style was established. It was not a French look, not an American look, but a Jackie Look. She said to me, ‘You dress me per­fectly for the role.’ For the role! And what was the role? First Lady of the country. And First Lady of the world, really, at that moment.”

(You’ll want to steal these 7 timeless fashion tips from Jackie Kennedy.)

CONSOLIDATED NEWS SERVICE/REX/Shutterstock

On Friday morning, November 22, 1963, Jackie put on a Chanel suit in the rooms she shared with the President at the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth. The President, Mrs. Kennedy told friends later, had chosen the suit for her. Within hours, the pink wool jacket and skirt had become a part of his­tory. Mrs. Kennedy wore the suit through LBJ’s swearing-in ceremony, on the long, sad flight back to Wash­ington, and finally for the return to the White House.

On the plane coming East, she began to reflect on how she wanted the White House prepared for the return of the President. As White House usher Nelson Pierce recalled: “That afternoon was spent looking up the details so that we could have things as near as possible the way they were at the time Lincoln was assassinated. It was 4:20 Saturday morning when Mrs. Kennedy came with the President’s body, and at 4:10 we had finished putting up the last pieces of crepe.”

Everyone had an opinion about the funeral details. Catholic Church officials in Washington wanted her to hold the ceremony in the grand Shrine of the Immaculate Concep­tion. She held out for St. Matthew’s, which was smaller—but was where the President had often attended church. Some members of the Presi­dent’s family wanted him buried in the Kennedy plot in Massachusetts. She decided on Arlington National Cemetery. The Secret Service ques­tioned her decision to walk behind the caisson from the White House to the church.

Jackie stood firm. Familiar as it is, footage of her long walk behind the riderless horse, Black Jack, a pair of boots tucked backward into the stirrups, has lost none of its awful majesty. Recalling Mrs. Kennedy, and the dignity she showed, French Presi­dent Charles de Gaulle said, “She gave the whole world an example of how to behave.” This is the last thing JFK said to Jackie before he died.

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Even while attending her husband’s burial, Jackie never forgot her obligation to Caroline and John. Just hours after the funeral, the widowed former First Lady hosted her son’s third birth­day party at the White House.

From the time they were toddlers until they left home, Mrs. Kennedy’s children were her priority. Caroline and John drew nearly as much cu­riosity as their parents. “I think it’s hard enough to bring up children anyway, and everyone knows that limelight is the worst thing for them. They either get conceited or else they get hurt,” Jackie said. “They need their mother’s affection and guidance, and long periods of time alone with her. That’s what gives them security in an often confusing new world.”

She relished the role of everyday mom. For Caroline and her class­mates, Jackie managed to get ahold of a pregnant rabbit so that the chil­dren could all anticipate the arrival of a litter of bunnies. Recalled Kennedy friend and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., “On Halloween evening in 1962, the doorbell rang. When my fourteen-year-old daugh­ter opened the door to the trick-or­-treaters, she found a collection of small hobgoblins leaping up and down. After a moment a masked mother in the background called out that it was time to go to their next house. It was, of course, Jackie.”

After the assassination, Mrs. Ken­nedy and the children moved into a house in Georgetown. To her dis­may, crowds of gawkers still showed up daily for a glimpse of John and Caroline at play or on their way to school. The next year Jackie moved to New York, hoping the big city­ and an apartment high above Fifth Avenue would offer a refuge. “I want them to know about how the rest of the world lives,” she told the New York World Journal Tribune in 1967, “but also I want to be able to give them some kind of sanctuary when they need it, someplace to take them into when things happen to them that do not necessarily hap­pen to other children.”

Through the ’60s and ’70s, Jackie made JFK as much a part of her children’s lives as she could. They visited some of his favorite places, such as the ranch of an Argentine family friend, where JFK had spent a spring vacation as a teenager. On that trip, John Jr. was too young to grasp what the visit was about, but Jackie said she believed it would all fall into place for him later. “I want to help him go back and find his father,” she said.

Said family friend Fred Papert: “She raised her kids so that all three locked onto each other in a way that families almost never do. They needed one another. They all came through for one another. She really liked them as friends, and they her.”

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Many people reacted with astonishment when Jackie married Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis in October 1968, just four months after the assassination of Robert Kennedy. She was 39. He was in his sixties. What was she thinking?

In fact, Onassis had been a Kennedy family acquaintance for years. Rose Kennedy, JFK’s mother, gave Jackie her blessing. As she later wrote, “I told her to make her plans as she chose to do, and to go ahead, with my loving good wishes.” Jackie later said: “When I married Ari, she of all people was the one who en­couraged me—who said, ‘He’s a good man. ‘”

One thing Onassis also offered was security. “He was a source of refuge and protection,” said her brother-in­-law Sen. Edward Kennedy. “I think she felt safe with him.” Jackie mar­ried Ari on his private island, Skor­pios, and had at her disposal homes in Paris and Athens, helicopters, a yacht and Olympic Airways—all of it heavily guarded.

Transformed from the Widow Kennedy to Jackie O, she became a sort of irreverent, naughty figure in the American imagination. She with­drew, but people still wanted to see what she was up to. Paparazzi from all over the world obliged, once even photographing her sunbathing with no suit on.

The marriage grew cooler as the years went on, and Onassis went into a slump after the death of his son, Alexander, in 1973. Two years later, he was dead. Jackie and Ari were together for just seven years. For her, it was a healing interlude. ”Aristotle Onassis rescued me,” she said, “at a moment when my life was engulfed with shadows.”

Peter Simins/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock

The period that began in September 1975 was perhaps the happiest time of Jackie’s life. She was doing exactly what she wanted––and not what parents, husbands, family, friends, and the public expected. Now 46, she took an editing job at Viking Press. She had no previous professional editing experience. She was assigned a tiny office, which was what she also got when she moved to Doubleday as an associate editor in 1978. “Like everybody else,” she said, “I have to work my way up to an office with a window.” She finally got a view when she was promoted to senior editor in 1984.

She was an intense, hands-on ed­itor. Colleagues could tell when she was pleased—she would rub her hands together and say, “Hot spit!” Variety was the only consistency of her projects: photography books like Egyptian Time by Robert Lyons and Allure by Diana Vreeland, biogra­phies of Czar Nicholas II and Jean Harlow, recollections by friends of Fred Astaire and George Balanchine, and even a collection of articles from Rolling Stone. Says Doubleday colleague and friend Lisa Drew:

“Part of the joy of publishing is that you learn from every book. Much was made in the press about how she got her own coffee and did her own xeroxing. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was written about as if a mira­cle had occurred. It amused us how people outside were dazzled by this celebrity. Brighter, funnier, nicer than many, yes—but she was just another person.”

In February 1994, when she was 64, it was announced that the former First Lady had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, often a treatable form of cancer. Five years earlier, she had re­sponded to my written questions and then corrected the manuscript for one of my books, First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power, 1789-l990. Judging from her notes, I sensed she was able to view the notion of being the world’s most famous woman with detach­ment. In the middle of a sentence that read “If there was one sphere where Jacqueline had great influence, it was fashion,” she scribbled, in blue ink, ‘Much to her annoyance!’”

She was pleased with the book because she felt it would move peo­ple’s opinions of her beyond mere style: “I hope now that people will realize,” she said, “that there was something under that pillbox hat.”

Now, take a look at these rarely seen photos of Jackie Kennedy.

Original Source -> This Was Jackie Kennedy’s Incredible Mark on History

source https://www.seniorbrief.com/this-was-jackie-kennedys-incredible-mark-on-history/

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[enchantingsheepexpert-blog]

CBSE Class 12 Biology Commentary, Prep work Tips

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Ukraine Conflict Monitor, Jan. 10-17, 2017

Ukraine 101:

No significant developments.

West’s leverage over Russia:

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will keep U.S. sanctions against Russia in place "at least for a period of time," he has said in an interview, adding that he would consider lifting the sanctions once Russian President Vladimir Putin proves he can be an ally. "If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?" Trump said in the interview published in The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 13, a week before his inauguration. In an interview with The Times of London and German magazine Bild, published on Jan. 15, Trump said: "They have sanctions on Russia—let's see if we can make some good deals with Russia. For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that's part of it." The Kremlin will not discuss making policy concessions in order for U.S. sanctions on the country to be lifted, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has claimed. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia never raises the issue of sanctions in talks with its foreign counterparts and doesn’t intend to do so because it’s not up to Moscow to scrap them. (RFE/RL, 01.15.17, The Washington Post, 01.17.17, The Moscow Times, 01.17.17, AP, 01.16.17, Reuters, 01.17.17, RFE/RL, 01.17.17)

Ukraine’s leverage over Russia:

Ukraine has filed a case against Russia at the United Nations’ highest court, accusing Moscow of illegally annexing Crimea and illicitly funding separatist rebel groups in eastern Ukraine. (AP, 01.17.17)

Russia’s leverage over West:

Russia’s embargo against Western food imports may come to an end in the near future, according to Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. Legally, the sanctions end on Dec. 31, 2017. (The Moscow Times, 01.13.17)

Russia’s leverage over Ukraine:

Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Jan. 17 that it had charged Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz with a $5.3 billion bill for gas it did not buy under a take-or-pay clause. (Reuters, 01.17.17)

The Russian government has confirmed that its 2010 agreement with Ukraine on building a third and fourth reactor at the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant has been cancelled. (World Nuclear News, 01.16.17)

Casualties and costs for Russia, West and Ukraine:

In a move that appears designed to make it harder for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to roll back sanctions after President Barack Obama leaves office, on Jan. 13 Obama extended  all U.S. sanctions on Russia through March 2018 over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its backing of separatists in the eastern part of the country. (RFE/RL, 01.14.17, RFE/RL, 01.15.17)

A Ukrainian government official said on Jan. 11 that the nation’s forces have captured new positions in the rebel-held east. Olexander Motuzyanyk, presidential spokesman for the operation in the east, said on Jan. 11 that one soldier was killed and three injured in fighting in the conflict zone during the past 24 hours. (AP, 01.11.17)

The Ukrainian defense ministry released astonishing statistics from what it calls the "anti-terrorist operation" against Russian proxies in the east. In 2016, 211 Ukrainian servicemen were killed in action—and 256 more died from other causes, such as suicide, murder, traffic accidents, drug overdoses and alcohol poisonings or accidental shootings. (Bloomberg, 01.17.17)

Red lines and tripwires:

Lithuania on Jan. 17 signed an agreement with the United States formalizing the presence of U.S. troops in the small Baltic country bordering Russia and Belarus. (AP, 01.17.17)

Following a Russian military buildup in Kaliningrad over the past few months, Lithuania announced on Jan. 16 that it would build an 80-mile-long fence equipped with surveillance cameras on the border with Kaliningrad, scheduled to be finished later this year. (The Washington Post, 01.17.17)

Polish leaders welcomed U.S. troops to their country Jan. 14, with the defense minister expressing gratitude for their arrival and calling it the fulfillment of a dream Poles have had for decades. The first of 3,500 American troops began rolling into Poland for a nine-month-long mission starting on Jan. 8, 2017. (AP, 01.14.17, The National Interest, 01,15.17)

The U.S. Marine Corps has touched down in Norway. The first 300 Marines en route to Vaernes military base in the Scandinavian country have arrived as part of a temporary, six month stay. (Foreign Policy, 01.17.17)

Bloomberg columnist Leonid Bershidsky: “A negotiating process based on clearly drawn lines, which are backed by readiness to apply force, is not equal to support for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's human rights abuses and cross-border escapades. It can't be the beginning of a beautiful friendship; there are too many deeply rooted differences. But it can be the start of a more realistic, more predictable relationship—the best both nuclear powers can hope for given their current irreconcilable differences of ideology.” (Bloomberg, 01.12.17)

Russia is bolstering its anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities in Crimea with the addition of the potent S-400 Triumf air and missile defense system. The addition of the S-400—which can be armed with the 250-mile range 40N6—would afford Moscow the ability not only to keep the peninsula safe from attack, but also threaten airspace deep inside Ukraine should the Kremlin choose to do so. (The National Interest, 01.14.17)

Factors and scenarios that could cause resumption of large-scale hostilities or lead to accident between Western and Russian forces in Europe:

No significant developments.

Arming and training of Ukrainian forces by Western countries:

No significant developments.

Strategies and actions recommended:

No significant developments.

Analysis:

When asked whether the U.S. would ever recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state Rex Tillerson said during his recent confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate: “The only way that that could ever happen is if there were some broader agreement that was satisfactory to the Ukrainian people. So absent that, no, we would never recognize that.” “We must also be clear-eyed about our relationship with Russia,” Tillerson said. “Russia today poses a danger, but it is not unpredictable in advancing its own interests. It has invaded Ukraine, including the taking of Crimea, and supported Syrian forces that brutally violate the laws of war. Our NATO allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent Russia,” he said. Tillerson said the U.S. and Russia are "not likely to ever be friends," adding that U.S. and Russian value systems "are starkly different." Tillerson urged an “open and frank dialogue” so that “we know how to chart our own course.” Tillerson also faulted a lack of U.S. leadership for Russia’s aggressiveness. He said it’s a “fair assumption” that Russian President Vladimir Putin knew about Moscow’s meddling in America’s 2016 presidential election and that “there's no respect for the rule of law in Russia today.” (Senate.gov, 01.11.17, AP, 01.10.17, Bloomberg, 01.10.17, AP, 01.10.17, Wall Street Journal, 01.11.17, Just Security, 01.11.17)

Mike Pompeo, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), said that Russia had reasserted itself by invading Ukraine and "threatening Europe." In the opening statement of his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 12, the Congressman also said that Russia had done nothing to defeat Islamic State militants. The CIA under his leadership, he said, would provide ''accurate, timely, robust and clear-eyed analysis of Russian activities.'' (RFE/RL, 01.12.17, CNN, 01.12.17, RFE/RL, 01.12.17)

Bloomberg columnist Leonid Bershidsky: “[Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko's hope is that Putin will have little enough to offer to Trump that the deal-oriented approach will fail. Then these allies will help Ukraine recreate the special position it once held on a far friendlier U.S. administration's agenda.” (Bloomberg, 01.17.17)

Fiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy of Brookings Institute: “Vladimir Putin is a fighter and he is a survivalist. He won’t give up, and he will fight dirty if that’s what it takes to win. He didn’t give up as a kid in the Leningrad courtyards. He didn’t give up in Chechnya. He won’t give up in Ukraine or elsewhere in Russia’s neighborhood.” (Brookings, 01.13.17)

Other important news:

Making his final visit to Kiev after eight years as U.S. vice president, Joe Biden urged the international community to stand against what he called Russian aggression and urged the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to be a strong supporter of Ukraine. Biden also urged Ukraine to keep demonstrating its commitment to the rule of law and fighting corruption. (RFE/RL, 01.16.17)

Ukrainian government officials tried to help Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and undermine U.S. President-elect Donald Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. They also helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found. (Politico, 01.11.17)

Ukraine’s leader Petro Poroshenko dismissed talk that Donald Trump’s presidency will damage U.S. backing for Ukraine and said he expects to receive the next slice of a $17.5 billion bailout within weeks. Poroshenko said he was one of the first world leaders Trump called after his victory in November. “We had quite a promising conversation,” Poroshenko said. “We agreed the date of my visit to Washington D.C. immediately after the inauguration and the agenda of our negotiations will be quite big.” (Bloomberg, 01.17.17)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has warned that Ukrainians may become disillusioned with their pro-European path if the European Union further delays closer integration with Kiev. (RFE/RL, 01.17.17)

In an interview with London’s The Sunday Times and German newspaper Bild, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump called the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) “obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror” and said member organizations aren’t paying their “fair share.” Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Jan. 16 that Trump's comments had aroused concern across the 28-member alliance. NATO reacted on Jan. 16 to Trump's statement by saying it has full confidence in the U.S. security commitment to Europe. In contrast, Moscow has welcomed Trump calling NATO "obsolete.” Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Jan. 16 that "NATO is indeed a vestige [of the past] and we agree with that." (AP, 01.15.17, Reuters, 01.17.17, RFE/RL, 01.16.17)

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, after he was ousted from the presidency in a popular uprising in early 2014, requested that Russia send troops into Ukraine, official United Nations documents show. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko published part of a letter from the United Nations on Jan. 17 confirming that on March 1, 2014 Yanukovych requested that the Russian armed forces intervene to “restore order” in Ukraine. (Kyiv Post, 01.17.17)

French presidential candidate and far-right National Front leader Marie le Pen said in an interview with Russian newspaper Izvestia that she recognized Crimea as being part of Russia and would push to drop sanctions against Russia if elected. (TASS, 01.17.17)