And I will rise

Multi featuring Amelia Ward, Esmeralda Stryker and Dominique Van Ressenlaer as written by Nik for Gildedhq

[crownedempire]

@lcvenderfields​ for Astrid

The trek from the Olympic village to where her family had been staying wasn’t a long one. She rather liked Melbourne and was excited to explore more on her days off. Today however, she had something much more important to do. Emotions weren’t really her forte, she struggled enough to understand her own let alone understand others but she did know break ups were rough. Astrid said she was fine, Dom called bullshit. She didn’t know how to help her but she knew how to distract her. Tickets to a private tour of one of the best art galleries in Melbourne would do the trick. Just the two of them. She wasn’t a fan of art but she could deal with it for one day if that meant Astrid would be distracted.

“You ready?” She questioned standing in the door way, smiling at Astrid “Not to late to back out and take one of your friends” 

[crownedempire]

lcvenderfields​:

“long night,” rory stifled a yawn. “but good, yes. you got here early, right?” she wasn’t working tonight, but she would have to remember to set up an interview with her later. “Dominique, right? Van Renesslaer? I went to school with your sister.” rory had been valedictorian of their class, actually. she hadn’t spent too much time with astrid; the blonde seemed to prefer the company of her older friends, and once they graduated mostly kept to herself. “rory vanderbilt. i’m a journalist.” 

“I did, yeah” Dom nodded, she might have been a little eager to get out of the Olympic village and around others she was more familiar with. “Yes, that’s me” she offered her hand out for a firm shake. “It’s nice to meet you. I apologise in advance if we have met before, I’m terrible at remembering people. Are you in Australia to work or just to watch?”

[crownedempire]

Where: Society Dinner To: Everyone!

Finally, Dom was in her element. Competing on the world stage was where she thrived the most. She loved her day job, working at the bank with her parents was something she enjoyed but nothing brought her as much joy as competing. She had thought maybe this would be her last chance at the Olympics, that she wouldn’t return at 40 years of age for the next but after the opening ceremony she was ready and willing to work even harder to come back one more time.

She had brought with her her favourite black slit dress, wearing her team uniform in front of the grand archon just wouldn’t do and maybe just maybe by the end of the two weeks she’d have medals around her neck as a good accessory for it. She wasn’t usually fond of these dinners but this one...this one she could handle.

Dom moved through the crowd trying to find someone to speak with. It wouldn’t do standing alone in front of the grand archon, not when the Olympics were her stage. “It’s been a good night so far hasn’t it?” She said approaching someone with a smile. “Australia certainly knows how to put on a show.”

[maverickhearst]

location: ward security; chicago featuring: @crownedempire​ ( amelia )

maverick carried lunch in a reusable bag that was slung over her arm next to her handbag. she had about fifteen minutes before she was on royce’s schedule and so she knocked on amelia’s office door after having been let through by the assistants who recognized her.

“hey, amelia,” she said, her smile wide and genuine, though she was still rather exhausted from the drama of the previous couple of weeks. “how’s your morning going?”

[crownedempire]

Amelia was tired. She was tired of working, tired of arguing and tired of the huge amount of stress caused by the whole ‘Royce and Maverick’ situation. Instead of continuing to argue about it she decided extending an olive branch to Mav was the best approach. This meant a quick visit to her office.

“Maverick,” Amelia smiled softly, closing the file in front of her and sliding her glasses from her face “Busy, working through seamlessly endless amounts of paper work. How is your morning?”

[crownedempire]

yasminchatterjee​:

as amelia sat, yasmin reached over to press a kiss to the corner of her fiancée’s mouth. “that exciting then,” she drawled, her london accent mingling with the sarcasm inherent in the words. “your day looks to be productive, if a mite hectic.” yasmin had several meetings with high-profile clients and she was hoping to make a few adjustments to the high-yielding fund itself. “any chance you can fix his mistakes while making him look like the ass he is?” her eyes flicked over to amelia as she took another sip of her coffee. “quite a few meetings with clients and there are a few things i want to work on before the fund expands again.” she set the mug down. “i’ll probably order something in for dinner. are you ready for your dinner, darling? i’m only a phone call away if you need backup.”

“Productive? I’m not so sure of that” Amelia laughed, “Oh I can fix it but I can’t make him look like an ass. Father wouldn’t approve.” She hated she still needed his approval, the man who forced her to do so many different things she hated still had some kind of control over her life was but he had friends on the board still. Friends she’d need to convince to remove Richard Junior from his position. “Sound like your day might be a fraction easier than mine” Amelia said, sipping on her coffee. “To be quite honest with you, I’m not. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to avoid dinner with him like this before. It just...feels off.”

[crownedempire]

lcvenderfields​:

“yes he is,” astrid placed a kiss on his fluffy head. she’d gotten the goldendoodle puppy less than a year ago, but everyone (save perhaps her terror of a younger brother) adored paddington. as they should. he quite constantly demanded attention. “even though he’s always begging for attention.”

“it’s almost olympic time isn’t it?” astrid asked, placing her dog back on the ground and washing her hands. she removed the steeping leaves and padded lightly to the fridge to grab the milk. “are we going to get to come watch?”

“Almost” Dom replied with a sigh, it felt so close yet so far away. “Six weeks to go. I leave for toyko in four. Going over early with the team to adjust to timezones and god knows what else before the games start” She was nervous, it was easy to tell which was odd for Dominique. She was usually very good at hiding her emotions but this was different, this was her last chance to prove herself. “I hope so. It’d mean a lot if everyone was there”

[yasminchatterjee]

location: amelia + yasmin’s place; chicago featuring: @crownedempire​ ( amelia )

already dressed for the day in a pantsuit, her hair neatly pulled back, yasmin stood at the coffee machine and poured herself a mug of the black liquid before she sat down at the table, tablet already open to the stock trading pages of four major newspapers. there were several meetings yasmin had that day and she lifted the mug to her lips as she saw her fiancée enter the room.

“good morning, darling,” she said briskly, taking another sip of her coffee, her eyes flicking up only briefly, lips curving at the sight of the othe woman. “what’s on your agenda for the day?”

[crownedempire]

Some mornings were enjoyable for Amelia, she could take her time getting ready and enjoy breakfast without extra stress. After getting off the phone with her brother for a second time that morning she could tell it wasn’t one of those mornings. “Good morning” Amelia smiled as she entered the room, phone in hand. She moved straight to the coffee machine, pouring herself a mug before joining her fiancée at the table. “Richard called, twice already. A client wants to take their business elsewhere due to his fuck up. I’m expected to fix it.” she rolled her eyes, sipping at her coffee. “and once all that is sorted I have dinner plans with Royce. How about yours? Got many things planned today?” 

[crownedempire]

lcvenderfields​:

a brief glance at the clock had astrid internally wincing at the thought of ‘a few extra hours’, though she kept her expression politely neutral as always. the mere thought of being on the hudson so early made astrid chilly. she clicked her tongue for her dog to come get his food, which she neatly scooped into his bowl, and stood up, glancing back at her sister to answer the question. 

“i have some…work to do,” astrid said hesitantly, moving the kettle onto the heat. “up at the cultural center.” whether her residency was classifiable ‘work’ was a hot debate topic amongst their family. mostly with dom and their mother, though their younger brother gladly took any opportunity to jab at his sisters and their father simply wanted to keep the peace. “did dad leave already?” if dom had the day off the answer was likely yes; without her, astrid knew their parents had to be more hands on. there was no doubting that dom was good at what she did. anything she did, really. 

astrid poured some of the earl gray tea leaves into her strainer and tapped the kettle to check if it was hot enough. satisfied that it was, astrid let the tea seep, picking up her much-too-large dog and cooing. “did you finish your food, good boy?” she asked in a soft tone, hoisting him up to show dom. “look aunty dom, he finished his breakfast!” 

“Sounds.....interesting” Dom replied, sipping at her coffee. She had no interest in starting anything today. Astrid knew how she felt about her ‘work’ and there was no need to ruin the peace to remind her. “Yes, he was gone by the time I got back. Mother too.” She enjoyed her job, would almost go as far to say she loved it and she hated having time way but her want for gold out weighed her want to work. She had to be the best in the world and if that meant not working again until after the Olympics she’d do it.

Dom chuckled lightly and tried not to roll her eyes as her sister cooed at her ‘nephew’. “That’s because he is a good boy, when he isn’t begging for attention”

[thcfinalgirl]

Natalie Dormer & Matt Czuchry Manip

[lcvenderfields]

with @crownedempire​ (dom) ;; 10 West St, New York, NY 10004

astrid had lived in battery park her whole life. she spent her childhood walking along the hudson, and every sick day home from school in the Van Rensselaer penthouse looking at the sights of the new york city skyline. she’d lived on campus for her years at columbia, and they had been the biggest years of growth in astrid’s young life, but once she’d graduated, astrid had moved back home with her big sister, and little brother, and their parents. just like things had always been. 

dominique and her mother were usually out of the house by the time astrid wandered out of her room, and on good days, lucas had made it out to his college classes, and her father usually had followed dom to work by the time astrid finished making tea in their kitchen. usually the penthousehouse was completely empty, save for astrid and paddington (her beloved goldendoodle), by the time astrid set out for her artistic residency at the lower manhattan cultural center. so it was startling, to say the least, for astrid to amble out of her bedroom and find her older sister at the sitting at the kitchen bar. 

“morning,” astrid offered quietly, grabbing one of her mugs out of the cabinet and opening the tea drawer. “day off or late meeting?” it was impossible to tell with her big sister, who seemingly had been put together since the day astrid was born. 

[crownedempire]

Early morning starts were the norm for Dom. Being a competitive rower meant she was out the door before the sun was up and back a few hours after it rose and then quickly off to her day job. It was a lot of work but she loved it. 

Days off were rare for Dom but she did have them occasionally. With the Tokyo Olympics approaching quickly she had been having time off a little more frequently than usual. She was going to do whatever it took to medal this time around, full well knowing it was her last chance to do so. 

“Morning” She muttered back, leaning against a cupboard with coffee in hand. “Day off actually. Got a few extra hours of practice in this morning. Up to much today?”

[userspree-deactivated20250328]

[crownedempire]

maverickhearst‌:

growing up, maverick’s parents had often been absent. they were a bit hippie-ish, more new age than the parents of her friends, and as she’d become an adult, she realized just how much she’d missed out on with their permissiveness. amelia had been more than royce’s mother – she’d been the mother figure maverick had always wished for, and the breakup, and her actions during it, had soured things.

her lips quirked. “i had some work here,” she said by way of explanation. it wasn’t a lie, not exactly, but she left out the fact that she’d booked the work after deciding to visit royce and smooth things over with his mother. “but it was not too difficult for a layover on the way home either way. my parents still maintain a residence at the ritz-carlton.” not that she was staying there either. “how is everything?”

“Oh, well then. It seemed to work out for the both of us” Amelia nodded, it seemed to satisfy her suspicions for the time being. It wasn’t that she didn’t miss Maverick and the connection they had. In fact, she was rather hurt by the break up and even more so by how sour it ended up. She wouldn’t admit to anyone that she had missed her presence since then, despite her anger towards her. “Things are, well they as they always are. Always someone to protect, always someone to complain, nothing new. How are things with you? I have to admit this break in hostilities has come at a surprise. I thought you hated me?”

[ofchryseum]

@crownedempire​​

when the door swung open, archer didn’t even look up, assuming it was royce’s mother who he’d been cursed to share a space with. if he applied any critical thinking he might have realised that it was her who was more likely cursed in this situation, but he was much too excited for the party for any of that.

archie sat cross-legged on the bed he’d selected in the room he’d been allocated at amber’s castle, flicking through his phone as a way to waste time until some of his friends got here and the party could begin. he’d already promised maverick not to cause any trouble with her ex’s mother (only god knew why), but most of his promises were empty these days. “if you admit that royce is your least favourite child, i promise not to steal your stuff while you sleep.” he said in way of greeting, not looking up from his instagram scrolling.  

[crownedempire]

Amelia wasn’t impressed in the slightest. The mandatory vacation and then being forced into a room with Archer Hearst of all people. He wouldn’t have been her last choice, that’s for sure but he damn well wasn’t in her top ten, hell, even her top twenty not anymore.

Amelia entered the room and rolled her eyes at the sight of him, crossed legged on the bed staring down at his phone. She placed her bag down next to the other unoccupied bed in the room. “Bold of you to assume you could even get close enough to my things to steal them” she replied, not bothering to face him. 

[ofchryseum]

@crownedempire​

ètienne knew esmeralda well enough to know her favourite drink better than his own, and he slipped a new one into her hand as he approached. “so, how goes your mandatory getaway in the luxurious town of west sussex?” the frenchman’s tone dripped with sarcasm. he didn’t like being told what to do, especially by the grand archon when that entailed dragging himself to rural england when he had work to be doing. “how long do you think you’ll last being locked in this castle full of initiates?” 

[crownedempire]

“Aren’t you just charming” Esmeralda grinned as her favourite drink was slipped into her hand. “Better than the shit hole that is Surrey, that’s for sure” Her home town was technically bad it was more the people who lived there that made it a shit hole in her eyes. “I think I’ll be fine, in the same place as Ivy? I’m not so sure”

[iceafterdeath]

[crownedempire]

(  adrianne palicki, female, she/her  ) — a member of the  [  VAN RENESSLAER  ]  family claims membership to the society !  [  DOMINIQUE ]  is a  [ 36 ]  year old   [  BANKING EXECUTIVE ]  who hails from  [  MANHATTAN, NEW YORK  ]  ,  who call them  [  THE ACADEMIC ATHLETE ]  .  although their peers know them for being  [ AMBITIOUS ]  and  [  EVEN-TEMPERED ]  ,  their reputation for being  [  FUSSY  ]  and  [  TACKLESS  ]  might prove intimidating for new initiates. while the  [  VAN RENESSLAER  ]  family is known for  [ OWNING ONE OF THE OLDEST BANKS IN AMERICA  ]  ,  the society’s own  [  HERCULES  ]  is better remembered by  [  glass of whiskey sitting on an oak desk, three piece business suits, red bottom heals, ]  .  having been a member for  [  ELEVEN YEARS ]  now,  [  DOMINIQUE  ]  has managed to attain  [  A spot on the American Olympic rowing team ]  —  no doubt through the help of the society, wouldn’t you think ? 

Nik back at it again with the milfs

Dominique “Dom” Van Renesslaer is the oldest of three children. 

She is incredibly ambitious, like incredibly ambitious 

Studied Business and Mathetics & Computer Science at Oxford University.

Dom is super super athletic, like she loves sports of all kinds. The one she fell in love with the most was Rowing. She has never been much for early mornings (much preferring to be up late at night) but knowing she had rowing in the morning always made going to bed early and waking up early worth it. 

Dom tries to be supportive of her sister but just....can’t see a point in her hobby. I wouldn’t say she is against the arts as such but doesn’t see the point of them when you come from the family line they do.

Dom first got a spot at the 2012 Olympic games, placing 6th overall she was pissed at herself and worked her ass off to earn her spot once more in 2016 and placed 4th. This crushed her, thinking her chance to win a medal was gone due to age. With help of the society she managed to get one last chance and is determined after her fails to secure gold.

Very Very Very gay and very very very open about it. not caring for what others think of her, with her bank account it doesn’t matter.

[crownedempire]

@gildedward​ asked Send me a “📱” and I will answer the following:

What was my muses 5 last sent texts yours?

[ text: little prince ] baby why is maverick being so kind? [ text: little prince ] i’m meeting her for lunch today [ text: little prince ] it feels fishy [ text: little prince ] has she said anything to you? [ text: little prince ] I’m not sure what to make of it

What was my muses 5 last unsent texts yours.?

[ text: little prince ] i’m at my wits end here [ text: little prince ] I can’t keep dealing with him [ text: little prince ] he’s cocky and annoying and so incredibly stupid [ text: little prince ] you are the only reason i don’t just kick him out the board room window [ text: little prince ] even then it’s tempting 

What was my muses last snapchat to yours

I will be happy when i never have to see her on the Prince’s arm ever again.

What my muse saved your number as?

Little Prince <3

What contact photo my muse has set for yours?

What ringtone my muse has set for yours?

You are the Sunshine of My Life by Stevie Wonder

How many times my muse has called your this week? Oh at least 10 

How many calls has my muse missed from yours?

maybe 3? usually due to meetings