Georgia Washington, OC Of Legume_Shadow On AO3

I love so much these two

‘—until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old—’

as i see it, arthur and a lot of people may have naturally looked to alfred—his eldest son, the heir, the industrial colossus—for deliverance. but it’s matthew who is by his side from the start. matt’s the second prince; the one at times overlooked and taken for granted by arthur. but it’s matt who steps into the breach in 1940; sending men and women and food and weaponry, so disaster doesn’t turn into annihilation. matt, reliable and grimly prepared to do the crucial job of holding the line, whilst america’s interventionists contended with its isolationists. in my headcanon, he’s quieter and cuts a seemingly less bold figure than his brother—but when the time calls for it, he’s icily steadfast and ruthless. the new world stepping forth to the rescue and liberation of the old? yes, but in more ways than one. 

who wants to see a great political cartoon from ww1 I found while looking for references of Vimy Ridge?

When Nico and Will announced their quest to the camp, their reaction wasn’t all that surprising: everybody had thought they’d gone mad. People didn’t just go to Tartarus and come back with all of themselves intact. In fact, most didn’t come back at all. So for them to willingly go there? Nobody took it well.

Despite that, the campers still bid them goodbye with encouragement and “good luck”’s. As per tradition, the Apollo cabin prepared a shroud for Will. Since Nico didn’t have any siblings at camp, they made one for him, too. As days go by, the campers all wait in silent anticipation and worry for the return of their head medic and the child of hades they’ve grown fond of.

It was on the two week mark when they returned. The campers had a capture the flag game that night, when suddenly, Nico slipped out of the shadows, drenched in blood. Will wasn’t faring any better. They were rushed to the infirmary, where they were taken care of.

The next morning, Nico disappeared into his cabin and didn’t come back. Will brushed everyone off with a reassuring smile, explaining that Nico needed some alone time after what happened at Tartarus. Nobody thought much about it– the son of hades had a lot of demons to deal with after all.

Whatever progress Nico did before their quest was ruined. He reverted back to his previous self, to the Nico who refused to stay with others, to the Nico who hid in his cabin. He barely talked to the few friends he made at camp, either. With every passing day, his eye bags got darker, and his skin more pale looking. Nowadays, he was either in his cabin or reluctantly talking to Dionysus.

It was clear to everyone that Will tried his best to help Nico. He reminded him to eat, to sleep, he was there when he had night terrors, he often urged him to the infirmary if he got a little bit sick. Although Nico wasn’t in the best place mentally, he still managed weak smiles and tight hugs to convey his gratitude to his boyfriend.

Everyone tried their best to make Nico feel comfortable at camp, and not to cross any boundaries. They made sure to pay attention to his mood and what not. So much so, they didn’t notice that Nico wasn’t the only one who changed.

One moment nobody knew, and the next, the entire camp was whispering about it. It started when Austin received a camera from his mother for his birthday. He urged his siblings to pose for a family photo together, under the sun. When the photo was printed, he stared at it with a smile, admiring their happy faces and their shining eyes. That is until he noticed Will.

Will, just like everyone else, was smiling. His grin was wide and almost split his face in half, his left dimple popping out. It would have looked endearing, if it wasn’t for the fact that his blue eyes were dull, devoid of light. If Austin were to cover the bottom half of his brother’s face, his eyes looked even more… unsettling.

During dinner, he noticed it too. His brother talked and laughed just as usual, however, his eyes looked dull and almost… dead. They didn’t hold any emotion whatsoever, as if his laughs and teases were only for show… was it?

Austin talked about it to Kayla. Then Kayla mentioned it to her buddies at the archery range.

Next thing they know, the entire camp would subtly glance at the head medic’s eyes, and their worries were confirmed once they saw the dark and lightless blue staring into the horizon, as if he simply wasn’t there.

Victor’s Remarkable Evolution

I was watching (okay okay rewatching for the billionth time) Yuri on Ice, and something struck me. Specifically something about Victor. Namely, the slow and soft march of Victor’s evolution in the series, from the self-absorbed icon to a vulnerable and loving partner and coach.

At a press conference, when asked about whether Victor went off to become Yuuri’s coach, Yakov shouts: That man only thinks of himself!

And honestly? I agree. I think that the show’s creators wanted us to view Victor through that lens. He was bored. He was stagnant. He decided he wanted to try out coaching because that sounded kinda fun and cool. Yuuri Katsuki idolized him, and skated his routine beautifully. Victor could combine seducing the gorgeous Japanese skater who idolized him with taking the mental break from skating he needed to return refreshed.

Image quote: So, a magic spell to change the little piggy into a prince…

This… is not the attitude of someone who is taking the coaching seriously. He presumes he can waltz into Japan, take this cute little Japanese skater under his wing and transform him into… a prince, all the while getting laid.

It’s why Victor squealed at the challenge that Yuri Plisetsky put forward: choreograph both programs and watch two skaters battle over… him. He got to choreograph the two skaters: one who represented his youth and one who represented his lust. 

Victor wanted to watch Yuuri seduce him on the ice (in one of his old costumes), and decided the way to score more points was to put all jumps in the second half. Even Nishigori called that choice spartan.

Yuuri suspected, talked to Minako about it, and decided even if this was some sort of Victor vacation, he was going to take full advantage, and Victor is lucky that Yuuri was the type who devoted everything to this experiment, to Victor as his coach, even knowing that Victor’s heart was maybe not entirely in it.

Indeed, throughout the beginning, Victor was enjoying playing coach without really being one. He teased Yuuri enough that Yuuri started to avoid him. Finally, Victor actually made an effort to connect. And… Yuuri let him in.

This is also one of the first times in the animation that Victor’s face is that soft. He’s having a real moment, not a manufactured one here. Talking to Yuuri does that for him, and for the first time, alone and out of the spotlight, you have to wonder if that felt kinda good. It makes it pretty clear that Victor was entirely serious about being Yuuri’s boyfriend, though that moment was probably also to put Yuuri off kilter, because that’s what Yuuri had done to Victor.

Unfortunately, by the regional qualifier, Victor is a little back to some of his bullshit, picking a flashy suit to advertise his debut as a coach. He made that moment about himself, not about Yuuri. Yes, thankfully he had moments where he actually gave good advice (that Yuuri needed to… pay attention to his fans), but mostly it was still Victor thinking mostly about Victor.

That though… started to change. When Yuuri did his free skate, he openly rebelled. He changed triples into quads without asking, and… Victor found himself watching Yuuri with interest. He started to see Yuuri, noting that he skated in time with the music, and that there was something about his impatience on the ice that meant Victor couldn’t look away. He even internalized that Yuuri’s rebellion to his instructions was a whole lot like him. This was the moment that Victor finally started to take coaching seriously.

He stopped thinking of it as a performance, and starting thinking about himself and Yuuri as a team. He’d wear suits (he’s Victor Nikiforov after all), but it was no longer only the Victor show in his head.

Then Yuuri declared his love for Victor on a televised event. Victor’s facial expression says it all.

Yeah, he heard it. Ugly tie and all. Victor succeeded in scoring the adorable Japanese skater. Thankfully though, he’s in a much different headspace now than he was when he showed up naked in the onsen.

It does mean that the next time we see Victor, he is much more affectionate. On the way to Beijing, Victor is draped over Yuuri on the plane. He’s holding him while they watch the other skaters or run to hold each other at the kiss & cry.

China is also where Victor’s biggest breakthrough happens. Yes! He finally takes being a coach seriously. Yes! He roots for his pupil to win and believes in him. Yes! He tries to do his best for Yuuri, forcing him to nap (with snuggles of course, Victor’s self-control only goes so far…) before his free skate.

Then… Yuuri being on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Victor… doesn’t know what to do. He gets Yuuri away from other skaters to warm up, he forbids him from doing jumps in warmups (Yuuri rebels). And then…

Boy screws up big time. Trying to shatter Yuuri’s heart to motivate him. Victor admits he has no idea what to do when someone is crying in front of him, asks if Yuuri wants him to kiss him. (Um, no Victor. Not right now). Yuuri tells him what he needs.

It was probably one of the first times in Victor’s life that he really messed up, and really hurt someone he cared about. He feels stupid for not asking Yakov what to do, and looks pretty broken when they return for Yuuri’s free skate.

Luckily… Yuuri seems to be driven extra hard by Victor screwing up, deciding he’s going to add a quad flip to the end of his program. Something not even Victor has done. And well, we all know what happened next.

Before this moment, we see a lot of “fake Victor.” Even around Yuuri, he threw on that fake charm. But, after Beijing? Around Yuuri, the mask came off.

Victor and Yuuri were a team. Victor was Yuuri’s coach, and he loved it. And the change in the animation is stark. The fake looks were only when Victor was forced to mug for media. When he was looking at Yuuri? His face was as soft as when he said “you’re not weak.”

JJ Leroy ignores Yuuri and walks straight up to Victor? We see open hostility. Yuuri skates another wonderful one? Victor gets down to kiss his skate. Yurio shows off true agape? He’s genuinely excited.

And then Yuuri sends him back to Japan to be with Maccachin (who got into the buns.) Victor doesn’t even hesitate to run up to Yakov and ask him to coach. No ego, nothing. (I don’t think we need to ask why Yakov said yes. Because he recognized Victor as a coach now too… and Yuuri deserved it.) Just… doing the best he could to make sure Yuuri got through his free skate.

Yuuri did. And… this was their reunion.

You cannot tell me that the Victor we met at the very beginning would have done this. This is a Victor who lives for someone other than himself, who has found someone he loves more than skating. The person who opened him up and accepts him as he is… and runs just as fast and just as desperately to get back to him too.

Yuuri is the reason Victor changed, evolved, grew better. Yuuri is why Victor took coaching seriously enough to fall in love with it. Yuuri is the person Victor is entirely himself with.

It means we get to see his soft side. We get to see what a man on top of the world is like when he falls uncontrollably in love. Who’s opened his heart enough that it might break.

Yeahhh Yuuri is an idiot… (I wrote about that already), but if Victor were not this Victor, open and vulnerable, Yuuri would not have skated the program he was capable of (rising to the occasion and scoring higher than Victor’s WR), and would not have committed to staying in skating.

Victor is not going to give up coaching. He loves it, just like he loves Yuuri. He is less afraid of trying to climb to the top again, not when he’s found things that make him truly happy.

Victor changed, evolved, and in the process, he found the happiness and meaning he was always seeking. And in the process of that journey, he found a husband and his next calling.

I actually don’t think Victor ever wins gold again. But I also don’t think he cares. Yuuri getting a gold medal would mean more to him than 10 more for himself. It’s that sort of growth that makes this series so beloved. Because the growth was organic and natural, even as it was extremely profound.

We Just Won A Victory, Then This Hanging Happened (Benlivia)

‘Twas was a heavy rainy day later that evening when Colonel Bradford and Sargent Hickey were sent to the gallows to be hanged. They had won the Battle of Monmouth hours earlier against the British.

 “Now we know that you’ve received upwards of 100 pounds from Mr. Mathews, the so-called mayor of New York.” they were inside a wood house in camp with Ben interrogating the two assassins, Caleb off to the side; ready to jump in at any given moment, Olivia keeping one eye on her two childhood friends and the other eye at the traitors, and General Washington’s hiding in the shadows; watching it all go down.

“And Governor Tryon. Your pulse beats high in the Torie’s game, gentlemen.” Caleb chimes in. “Now, tell me, who else in this camp is under British pay?” the Major asked, getting the task back at hand.

 Bradford indirectly answers the question, “So there are others.” Ben concludes. 

 The drums keep bringing Ben back from the flashbacks from the moments before. 

 Caleb is the executioner, he wears a full black uniform, complete with a black mask that covers his face. He quickly adjusts the rope and moves on to Bradford, who was talking to Worthington.

 “The offer is that you hang for counterfeiting, not for treason,” Ben says to Bradford. Hickey intervenes saying that he wants to be hanged for the latter, “To mutiny against you traitors in an act of honor,” was his explanation. The head of intelligence slaps him and explains that his family would be safe if he would be hanged as a forger, if it was for the attempt on Washington’s life, then he can’t-” We aren’t going to hang. You’re going to trade us-” 

 Olivia speaks of the first time, interrupting him, “And why is that?” she scoffed at Bradford, “If you think that we are bluffing, then you are wrong.” The man looked at the Madame General in the eye, “-For Culper,” finishing his sentence.

 The last name alias of Abraham Woodhull hung in the air. Dread filled Ben’s stomach. “Where did you hear that name?” Caleb asked. When Bradford didn’t answer, he settled for violence, harshly pulling the former Colonel by the braid, “Where did you hear that name?!” Olivia didn’t intervene, despite the fact that it was technically her job to keep the two in line.

 Washington stepped out of the shadows, suggesting that Hickey must have overheard it when he was standing guard outside his tent. “The first man to tell me the real name of our Agent Culper will be traded to safety on Saturday. The other man will hang tomorrow,” was the million-dollar question.

 But neither man answered, “They don’t know.” Washington concluded. “A hanging then, I’ll inform everyone,” Olivia told the room, “Since the two of you didn’t answer, tomorrow turned into today.” She pointed at the traitors.

 “The accused...Colonel William Bradford and Sergeant Thomas Hickey having being found guilty on the charge of attempting to pass counterfeit bills-

 “-My aim was to kill Washington, Putman, and other-” Hickey didn’t get to finish his sentence because he was pushed off by Caleb, along with Bradford. His head was quickly decapitated. Bradford’s head was, thankfully not severed, but he struggled against the rope around his neck. 

 Gasps rang everywhere, but a heart-wrenching scream caused Ben to look at his left. Olivia Hamilton. He quickly hugged her and held the Madam General tightly. The Head of Intelligence heard Worthington yell at Caleb and could hear them fighting, but he paid no mind. He then looked at Washington, who signaled an officer to shoot Bradford, ending his life.

 The Major could feel the younger Hamilton and the Marquis’ gaze at him like they wanted to burn a hole in his skull with their eyes. The former wanted to protect his twin sister at all costs, even though it’s supposed to be the other way around. Olivia had expressed this one too many times, about Alexander fighting with the new recruits when they looked at her the wrong way. Ben knew that Lafayette harbored a romantic love for Olivia, he too had one, but it was not one-sided. He knew that the two had to make their relationship a secret because the young aristocrat had a wife in France, it would cause a huge scandal that could cause the American-French alliance to dissipate. Because of this, Ben was determined to make his love for Olivia, a platonic one.

 The Major put the elder Hamilton down on his cot and quickly stripped her down to her smallclothes. He looked at the knife wound Olivia had gotten when someone tried to assassinate their Commander in Chief during the discussion of the Battle of Monmouth. Olivia had quickly pulled Washington out of the assassin’s way and took the knife meant for him. General Arnold knocked him out and Henry Key was hanged the next day.

 “You are not sleeping on the floor, Benji.” Olivia said, loud and clear, “That is a direct order from your General.” With burning cheeks, Ben laid down next to the woman he had first loved.

Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

______________

Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on the 14th of July each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale (The National Celebration) and commonly Le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth of July). It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789; the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation, and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution. Festivities and official ceremonies are held all over France.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France

Lyria’s room in the Apollo Cabin.

Olivia and Alexander Reunion

Olivia POV/1st Person

I walked to the edge of the camp looking for a somewhat high-ranking soldier to take me to the commander of the Continental Army.

“Halt! Who goes there?” a blue coat announced loud and clear. Bingo. I was wearing a simple light blue dress with a cloak, the hood covering my face.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” he questioned in a commanding voice. “Hello, my name is Olivia Hamilton and I need to see General George Washington,” I answered him.

“Why do you need to see his Excellency?” he asked, now cautious and suspicious. “Please, sir, it is urgent. I can only say it to his presence and no one more.” I pleaded.

“Miss Hamilton, I have been expecting you,” a man said with the same uniform, but with a blue sash and grey potato hair. Seriously what is up with that? He is the only one with potato hair. I looked around and the entire army with their guns out, but thankfully not pointed towards me.

Their expressions however are mixed with shock, confusion, and apprehension. I looked to the right of Potato Hair Man and saw someone that looks almost exactly like me. Vibrant red hair, violet-blue eyes, a little bump on the nose, cream skin with peach blush covering the freckles on each cheek, nose, and ear, and looks about 5’7 frame.

The only difference between us is that I was a few centimeters taller than him, while he had coily curls, I had more soft curls, my hair was longer than his and braided into a plait hanging on my right shoulder, while he was tied into a ponytail with a blue ribbon and a single curl that rested on the side of his face.

I took off the hood to show my face, violet-blue met violet-blue.

“Via?” he said in a small voice.

“Xander?” I said in the same tone.

We ran towards each other, not believing that our half was right in front of us. I trapped him in a hug that a mother does to her child. After our own died due to Yellow Fever, I had to take care of him all by myself. He still smelled of mint, ink, and parchment, now accompanied by coffee.

I flicked his forehead, “Ow! Via what was that for?!” he yelled at me, clearly in pain. “Where have you been! I received a letter back in ‘72 that the ship you were in sank and you died! I am your older sister and I demand you to tell me what happened.” I ignored his retort saying I was only older by 30 seconds.

He huffed and stomped his foot on the ground like the child he is, “Fine, I will tell you later.” I examined his face again, not liking the fact that his face was a few shades lighter than mine and the dark circles under his eyes.

“And pray tell, brother dearest,” I said in a cold, chilling voice. He knew that whenever I use this tone, he was done for, “Why is your face paler than usual and why does it look like you haven’t slept in days?”

He fidgeted under my stare and after a while, I got impatient, “Alexander George Hamilton!” said 22-year old stood up straighter at the commanding voice. “All right! I haven’t slept in weeks and not eat a lot in order to do the paperwork for His Excellency!”

I was furious, but also confused. “Hold on, the man who has the potato-like hair is George Washington?” Snorts and muffled laughter were heard from the soldiers, clearly not wanting to anger him. Speaking of him, I ran to him at a fast speed and flipped him over my shoulder. Lucky for him, we were on grass not pavement, and I dragged him by the leg to a nearby tent. I glared at any soldier who was in my way.

In the distance, I heard someone speak. “Should we…” trailed a man with blonde hair and a ridiculous helmet. “No, you should not, because once you make my sister angry, you are done for. But do not worry, she would just yell at him. I hope.” he added the last sentence in a hushed tone, but everyone heard.

Once we were inside, I did exactly what my brother said, yell at him. Once I was satisfied, we got out of the tent, and into the General’s office.

“I believe that you wanted to speak to me, Miss Hamilton?” he asked in a calm, but wary tone. “Yes, I want to be a spy and only you and your most trusted advisors can only know about this. I have already thought of a cover name; Denise Melody. Her background information is that her father and brothers are sick and in order to make money, she needs to become a maid. I will somehow turn my red locks black and speak with a Dutch accent. I will board a ship to England and be hired by the King. There I will write you letters about what I have learned.” He looked intrigued about my plan and asked for more details about it. In the end, he agreed.

But now, I need to force my younger, very stubborn brother to take more care of himself.