I wonder if it’s any good for her, my dear, reading quite so many novels.
Northanger Abbey (2007)
Show & Tell
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Xuebing Du
$LAYYYTER
Keni
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda

ellievsbear
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Cosmic Funnies
Jules of Nature
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Cosimo Galluzzi

shark vs the universe

Love Begins
Monterey Bay Aquarium

tannertan36
RMH
Claire Keane
we're not kids anymore.
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@ninamurray
I wonder if it’s any good for her, my dear, reading quite so many novels.
Northanger Abbey (2007)
Russkiy kovcheg (Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002)
— au!james:
This was not the first time James had done this. He’d been married before to the princess of England a few years back that resulted in his beautiful four year old daughter but he needed a legitimate and proper male heir. When his wife died two years ago, he’d expected to be married off already, but then the war with Russia broke out and James could not find the time to marry a suitable wife.
The defeat against Russia was along and hard one, almost all the resources of France had been depleted but the king was dead and when his son surrendered, he propositioned that James marry his sister, Princess Nina. He’d never met the woman before but he knew that she was quite young, much younger than he was and unmarried.
His people were angry and displeased. How could he marry a woman whose family caused such problems in France now? France may have had the military power Russia didn’t have but they have the food and resources France needed. There was no other way and James knew that he had to marry the woman.
So here he was, dressed in his regal military outfit, waiting for his bride-to-be to make her way down aisle towards him. Casting a glance at his brother who stood beside him, James nodded his head and when the piano started to play, James stood straighter and waited. He was admittedly nervous as he wondered what his future wife was going to look like.
The sky, dark and gloomy, seemed indicative of the mood as Princess Nina Ilyinichna Rostova stood basking in her reflection. Her stomach wretched a little as she thought of the day ahead, sinking into her shoes at the thought of leaving everything she knew and loved behind. As Tsar Alexei’s only daughter, she had been educated in such things as finding a suitable match, prepared herself for the inevitability of securing strong foundations between her country’s allies yet that was before everything had fallen apart.
Her gender had played an intrinsic part in her ignorance, as her father and brother would say ‘little girls didn’t get to go war’ so she remained safe inside her castle walls, free from the pain and anguish of battle. Although, when she was younger, their advice had remained unheeded especially as far as the midnight bouts with her fencing master were concerned, hidden away under the guise of her lessons on diplomacy. As the war with France didn’t seem to be drawing to a natural end, the Russian princess remained dutiful to her people, caring for their every need as best she could, drawing upon her own lessons in charity to keep them fed —... until things took a turn for the worse.
When news came of her father’s death and Russia’s inevitable surrender, the princess drew upon the strength and resilience of her people to keep from falling apart. They had lived through their own personal wars, shared in her grief and still, they persevered. Although her country’s surrender carried its own sacrifice, especially for its own princess. Determined to heal the wounds between Russia and France, the new Tsar, her own brother, decreed an alliance be made among the two warring countries — of the matrimonial kind. At twenty-five years old, Princess Nina seemed too old a maid to be married off but there were no other solutions to be found for the sake of diplomacy so the match was made.
At mere minutes later than expected, Princess Nina was finally considered by her strange new chorus of ladies-in-waiting to be “an enviable vision”. Letting the skirt of her dress of the prettiest kind of creamy satin skim way past her ankles, she stepped across the marble floor of the church carefully before meeting Tsar Nikolai, holding onto his arm just as she was supposed to do while the gentle swell of music set the definite pace for the two of them.
‘For Russia..’ She thought, bracing herself along her brother’s confident arm. It seemed all the countries of the immediate world had gathered to witness such an alliance being made, a spectacle she was sure they would not want to miss. Still, that thought alone wasn’t enough to quell the butterflies settling in the pit of her stomach as she looked ahead of her, trying to make out the beginnings of her new husband. Hidden underneath the delicate, paper-thinness of her veil, another symbol of her heritage, a gentle slither of tears cooled her cheeks as she finally got the chance to see him, the seriousness of such a situation finally sinking in. Handing herself off with her brother’s whispered blessings, she gave the King her warmest of smiles, a minor consolation for stealing him away for the rest of his life. From her diminished height, he looked handsomely dressed in his nation’s regal uniform and nothing at all like she pictured. Still, a few more stolen glances and the ceremony was more than ready to begin.
james:
“Ah yes but you’re not much older than me now are you,” he teased, shivering at the feel of her index finger running along his jaw. Her answer to his drawer question didn’t even seem to phase him, James just played along with what she was saying. “Oh yeah, I’m ready for my big boy drawer,” he teased and winked at him before a soft laugh left his lips. This was not normal for him, it was something that James would make him run the other direction but here he was laughing about with Nina as if it was the easiest thing in the world. The feeling was as if they’d been dating for months now and James having a drawer was the most natural thing in the world even though they didn’t even define their relationship. Truth be told, James didn’t want to define their relationship as the more thought he put into it the more he knew he would pull away from Nina and that was the last thing he wanted to do. “Definitely whiskey and success,” he said with a chuckle. “And hopefully soon with something else,” he whispered in her ear suggestively, his hand moving up towards her inner thigh. Placing his other hand on her waist to pull her closer to him, he leaned and captured her lips for a quick kiss. “Definitely not the Nina musk playing tricks on me,” he teased kissing along her neck. James then continued to move down her body stopping once he was at her breasts. Kissing along her soft mounds, James moaned as he took one of her nipples into his mouth as he caressed the other one before continuing down her body until he was kneeling. Gripping her waist, he pulled her closer to the edge of the counter before smirking at her and kissing along her inner thigh, trying to gauge a reaction out of her.
“ — Mm, if that’s what helps you sleep at night, babe” Nina hummed, peppering slow, tender kisses along his jawline before settling back into his eye line, a soft, reflective smile already gracing her lips as she drank him in. Her heart started to beat a little faster as he seemed surprisingly cheerful over the prospect of having something of his own at her home, quietly hoping the deep rush of pinkness wouldn’t give away her stance on this smallest of developments. She had promised herself to take care of her heart a little more fiercely to save it from getting broken again but here she was almost tempted to hand it over perfectly in tact. Not that she would ever build up the bravery to say so to the man in front of her. “Good, good...” was all she could muster before she felt the heat reach her cheeks all over again, biting down hard to conceal the bright white grin already starting to break free. A drawer seemed uncomplicated enough but what happened afterwards? Would she be ready for whatever came next? Only time would tell. Her eyes flickered downwards as his dominant hand graced the pale skin of her thigh while his provocative whispers curled around her ear, sending her body into a strange sort of anticipation. “Mm, I plead the fifth” She felt a smile inch along her mouth as his lips reached her neck, stretching effortlessly to the gap between that and her shoulder, surpassing them further until a few soft, languid whimpers rolled along her tongue. As his hand, strong and steady, tethered itself to the curve of her breast, she held it in place, marrying their fingers together a touch while the warmth of his lips ghosted over her nipple, slowly teasing out her own sensitivity. Closing her eyes to any other distractions, wanting to keep herself within the moments of pleasure, Nina anchored herself to the counter with her other hand, fingers spreading into the sink. As the last lingering pulses of sensitivity rolled down her body, light green eyes quivered open, catching the smirk with a soft smile as she felt the pull of him, not only from the physical touch of James reaching for her, gripping at her waist until his lips were decorating the inside of her thigh but from her craving his every touch. Not wanting to leave him in suspense, although she was a little more than tempted to keep him on his proverbial toes as well as his real ones, Nina resisted the urge as she slowly began to drape her leg over his shoulder, plying him with one of her more inviting smiles.
tessa:
It was a pretty slow night. Perhaps it was because the first night of great weather makes people not want to sit in a dimly lit and seedy bar when they could be outside sitting alfresco, enjoying the warm breeze. Everyone else had gone home, which left Tessa to close up all by herself. “What can I get you?” the brunette asked dryly to the new patron who had just wandered up to the bar as she was polishing glasses. “Better make it quick, we’re closing up soon.”
Nina told herself weeks on end that these nights weren’t going to become a permanent fixture in her routine but it was far easier said than done. Her reasoning behind these visits were consequential to her work — she drank to forget her worse days and to celebrate her better ones and today happened to be the former of the two. Almost tripping into the bar, she frowned softly at the voice coming from behind the bar. “Oh, you know my style, Tess. Just something to take the edge off an otherwise terrible day...” Nina smirked, taking a pew right in front of the familiar girl. “Whiskey, double. No rocks. I’m easy on what kind. I’m not feeling very fancy tonight. Speaking of, how was yours? Not too stressful I hope”.
lila:
Lila was heading back home from picking up a cupcake for herself from one of the local bakeries, not paying a lot of attention as she walked down the street back to her car, the cupcake falling onto the ground when someone bumped into her. “Well, that was nice while it lasted…” she said with a sigh as she licked her fingers.
Nina winced as the cupcake, delicious as it looked, fell to the floor. “I’m sure it’s still salvageable...” was all she could offer along with a soft smile. “Or well, at least you’re giving the birds of Boston a nice weekday treat? I’m sure they’ll appreciate the chocolatey deliciousness” She carried on, sidling up to her fellow single parent with a bashful glee. “Where’d you get from? Maybe they’ll have another one? I’ll even use it as one of my good deeds for the day”.
text @ nina
Owen: Im getting married. you have someone new. its too late for us
Owen: there was a time i thought id be marrying you
Owen: too late
Nina: I guess you're right.
Nina: I'm sorry to be such a disappointment to you then.
I don’t know how to forget you
sex // EDEN
@ninamurray
text @ nina
Owen: i meant its too late for me
Nina: why is it too late for you?
text @ nina
Owen: well it's too late now
Nina: i'm not saying all this to win you back, you arsehole. i'm just letting you know that these past couple of months have been really hard to stomach.
text @ nina
Owen: u never said anything
Nina: surprise?
Nina: what was i supposed to say, owen? with the way we left things i didn't know whether you wanted to hear anything i said ever again.
text @ nina
Owen: idk u just felt like th right person to tell
Owen: and im a little fucked up and thats our m.o., huh?
Owen: wait u were upset?
Nina: i guess you're right about that. thanks for trusting me enough with this.
Nina: of course i was. i knew what i'd done to you was so wrong that i started trying to make myself better for you — for us. it took awhile and i thought i was there and then your fiance decided to break the news and well the thought of you being with someone else forever stung a little. so yeah, i was upset but you weren't supposed to know that.
text @ nina
Owen: i just had to get it out. i cant tell anyone bc u know prison and shit
Owen: im marrying her bc shes my friend and im trying to help. is that bad?
Nina: so you thought you'd tell your ex? because she's nice and won't send you to the big house?
Nina: no it's not. it's actually pretty admirable. i just feel silly now for getting so upset over it.
text @ nina
Owen: my idea. her dad is sick and needs insurance benefits. she gets married to me and we can work on the visa and insurance and getting her and her dad everything they need. only thing i could think of to help
Nina: that's a lot of information to process in less than sixty seconds. so you're marrying her purely because of the insurance benefits? am i meant to be applauding your philanthropy?
text @ nina
Owen: gwen is illegal. she needs citizenship
Nina: and getting married to you is the only way that can happen?
text @ nina
Owen: no it's not real, none of it is real. we aren't in love
Owen: like i was a friend?
Nina: then why are you getting married then? last time i checked 'being in love' was a big part of the reason to get married in the first place.
Nina: no you were different.
text @ nina
Owen: the wedding, the marriage, all of it. fake as fuck
Owen: then who is he???? you said he was ur bf
Nina: is this the cold feet talking? because you're not making any sense.
Nina: no you assumed he was and i didn't correct you. he's a friend.