#[NEW VERSE IDEA DM ME DUDE!!]

[whosxafraid]

"Did your mother have an affair with a skyscraper?"

          “Dunna ye know, e’ery Oi’rishman be o’goi’ant? So’s we can see o’er English proi’de.”

There’s a…singular pause, before the man starts chuckling. Tapping the cigarette between his fingers against the pack, before he’s placing it into his mouth. Green cast around them in a habitual way, like he’s ensuring their surroundings were just as safe as they were thirty-seconds before.

          “M’feckin’ wi’d ye…” A mumble around the process of lighting up.

            “Honest d’ough…oi’ remember me da bein’ bigger d’an loi’fe when oi’ were o’kid….n’oi’ sure  o’shoi’te didna ge’ i’ from me ma.”

[claraxbarton]

MCU Bucky Barnes

So here’s the thing.

I’m a costume designer by trade, and one thing that I actually really love about Captain America: The Winter Soldier (okay, among the things I love) is the costume design and the rhetorical value given to the clothes and, well, costumes in this movie. 

For example - when Sam and Steve have their heart to heart on the bridge that ends with Sam saying “but he doesn’t even know you” and Steve saying “he will” before going to steal his old uniform - the one Bucky last saw him in when he was Bucky. There are some other great costume points in this movie, actually a LOT of them (costumes, not wigs, don’t at me because I KNOW).

But one thing that has always stood out to me, and not in a good way, is the “I’m with you til the end of the line” flashback.

Now, here’s the thing, it’s not JUST about the clothes. We’re in MCU verse, so it’s MCU canon - obviously, the Steve and Bucky duo is drastically different in Marvel comics canon so - and Bucky starts this scene by saying his folks wanted to give Steve a ride to the cemetery.

Which is super cool and nice. So one, we know Bucky’s dad is still alive - and his mom, but two, we know they have a car.

So this is supposed to be when Steve is around 16? So it’s... 1936 (according to MCU wiki it totally is)

So cars.

Crazy popular ever since they started having closed bodies and all that. BUT, were they crazy popular in CITIES in 1936? Especially in the middle of the Great Depression?

There’s some evidence that actually no, that car ownership in a city like NYC was something like 1 car per every 43 people. Then again, looking at the NYC.gov 2015 Mobility Report we see that the population of NYC in 1936 is something like 7.2 million, and the number of registered vehicles in 764,000... or roughly one per every 9.4-ish persons. Which is a pretty drastically different number. This doesn't, of course, account for taxis or fleet cars being registered - so the number might seem inflated. I still think it’s probably something closer to 1 car per every 20 than every 43 but... I’m too lazy to dig that much deeper at the moment. Plus I'm sick, which is fueling this in the first place.

So, anyway you slice it, Bucky’s family was in 11%, 5% or 2.33% of New Yorkers who own cars in 1936. Which says something, I think, about Bucky Barnes that we don’t always - ever? - think of in fandom.

I’m not going to say that Bucky Barnes was loaded. Maybe his family owned a garage or a grocery store or a delivery service or a funeral home...?? or something. So, the vehicle could be occupational as opposed to private usage - but either way it’s a statement. Bucky’s family has money and/or Bucky’s family has steady employment.

I’ve been there. I’ve read the fics where Bucky works at the docks to put Steve through art school and get him his medicine. I love those fics. I love that head canon.

But I... don’t think it’s realistic in light of some evidence showing us that, actually, Bucky wasn’t doing too badly for himself.

Let’s now actually look at CLOTHING. Here’s the whole scene via youtube, if you want to follow along with what is about to get RIDICULOUS.

Actually, before I dive in, who is the costumer for this movie? And should I be like... reading into all this as much as I am?

Judianna Makovsky - fellow New Jersey..Ian?ite?no clue - 3 time Oscar nominee and designer of 5 MCU films and a lot of other big budget movies, including quite a few period pieces dealing with issues of race and class (The Legend of Bagger Vance, Seabiscuit, The Little Princess.. and also like Harry Potter and The Quick and the The Dead.) So, should I have some faith in Judianna Makovsky’s designs? I’m gonna go with yeah, yeah I should. 

So, back to the movie. The scene.

This is post funeral. We’re in 1936. As a general rule, the dress, colors and style of mourning wear was pretty much formalized in the early Victorian era. There was a great - read PHENOMENAL - exhibit at the MET a few years back on Mourning-wear and I’m still reeling from how lovely everything was - but the gist of it is this: you wore black when someone died. If you were a lady, and especially if you were a rich lady, you then went through a few different colors (dull black to SHINY black to purple/mauve and gray and white and then back to color within six months to one year). By the 1930s only the really rich were sticking to the actual rules of mourning - or like, really old people. And, of course, really old rich people. Really old rich WHITE people. Because it needs to be said: these are WHITE customs. I'm not saying people of other ethnicities didn’t follow them, but these are basically British Victorian practices that were assimilated into American culture.

I’m not going to go off on a huge sidebar about American fashion following in French dressmaking and British tailoring, but I need to say at least that much. Everyone who was anyone knew you got your dresses made in France or in the French style and you got your suits made in England - Savile Row in specific. I am NOT implying Bucky’s got himself an English suit, fyi. I just... have to be thorough.

BACK TO THE SCENE:

We’ve got our boy Steve. STEVE. Who just buried Sarah Rogers and what is he wearing...?

For starters, he’s wearing a windbreaker, check out the 1933 ad below, he’s the guy almost giving us the Fonz finger gesture, or maybe guy in the fedora on the end.

This thing isn’t falling apart at the seams, but it’s a very nondescript not really gray, not really blue - maybe was at one point. It also doesn’t FIT Steve. It also, in the ad above, would cost about $165.40 in today’s money.

My guess? It’s Bucky’s old windbreaker. Because it’s not cheap and because it’s just a bit too big on Steve. 

He’s also wearing a shirt that is maybe tan? And a brown tie and maybe - MAYBE black trousers. And if those trousers are black, it’s the only black thing he’s wearing. Not even a black tie, or a black arm band (which I’m pretty sure - but also pretty aggressively atheist so I don’t know - the Catholic Church would have provided for chief mourners and pall bearers right?). We also have our depressing as all shit Depression surroundings to clue us in: Steve Rogers ain’t loaded. Steve Rogers is poor as dirt. Side note: boys. Hiding a key under the ONE FUCKING BRICK on a walkway is not like... a smart idea???

So we can guess a few things here, we can guess that Steve and Sarah were really struggling - this checks out with the rest of MCU canon (wearing newspapers stuffed in his shoes, even when he had nothing he had Bucky, etc.) - and that all money probably went towards Steve’s numerous ailments, food and then the TB medication or treatment, as it was, that was available to Sarah.

We can maybe guess that Steve and Sarah weren’t very religious -but I don’t feel qualified to impart anything except my own agenda here so I’m not taking that stance. But like, real talk, not even an arm band?? 

But, well, let’s move on to the point of this whole long ass thing anyway?

--

Then we go to Mr. Barnes, looking dapper AF. Also, hey, check out this ad from 1933 featuring... pretty much exactly what Bucky is wearing down to the god-damn two-tone shoes:

If you’re curious, yeah $24.98 in 1936 is $475.44. I'm not suggesting Bucky Barnes went out and bought a brand new suit for Steve’s mother’s funeral - for one thing, this ad is from 1933. BUT, that suit fits Bucky. Quite well, and it’s in good shape. He’s also sporting that super stylish mid-late 30s into 40s deeply angled collar shirt - as is our dude up in the ad - and so we know these clothes are at least new-ish. We also can see that the suit is definitely of the mid-30s moving into the boxy silhouette of the later 30s and early 40s and NOT the look of the 20s and early 30s, which has an almost bell-bottom fullness to the legs instead of our straight-leg here (though we can debate nuance if you want to hit up my DMs.)

I should note, Bucky’s shirt is not bright and pristine white - it’s kind of grayish? And I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be an old-timey sepia thing or an indication that Bucky can’t afford to... bleach a white shirt? So that’s an odd choice for sure because we’re still in an age when a crisp, white collar shirt means something (Hey, if you want to hear me go on about the democratization of men’s fashion via shirt collars and 19th century Victorian suits, let me know because I am READY).

All this is to say: I don’t think Bucky Barnes is a poor dock worker. I think Bucky Barnes of MCU canon. Okay, so the MCU wiki on Bucky/The Winter Soldier is an actual mess (because it tells us that Sarah died in 1936 and that’s FINE but I’m not going back to change my math because I’m SICK so just... I went back and changed it. She died in 1936. Fine. The damn wiki also says that “a year later, during their art class, Barnes and Rogers found out that the United States of America had joined World War II. Which, like, I’m sick, but there are a few years between 1936 and December 8 1941... just... I’m no rocket doctor but...

ANYWAY. Bucky is a three time YMCA welterweight boxing champion by this “year later”/ 1941-1942. He and Steve are also in an ART CLASS together. Bucky also trained Steve in boxing at Goldie’s gym before the two of them went to enlist - Steve rejected and Bucky, again quoting MCU wiki, “drafted” (which I'm gonna take to mean he didn’t try to enlist when Steve got rejected, they went home and Bucky got called up later but... hey, who knows?!).

So, I can’t easily find the prices of gym memberships in NYC in the 1930s right now because I don’t feel like wading through all of the articles complaining about Equinox pricing in 2019. But I do know that part of Roosevelt’s WPA (Works Progress Administration) building projects included building more public gyms - as well as libraries, auditoriums, pools, parks etc. Check out your local public buildings - if they are WPA projects they will have a cool plaque like my local NJ library does! All that is to say, there were free or very cheap PUBLIC options where Bucky could have trained Steve.

Bucky trained Steve in a private gym. Do I like to think that this is the same gym Steve and America’s ass are working out in in The Avengers? Yes, Yes I do. Do I like to think that Steve likes to box because it reminds him of Bucky? Yes, yes I do.

But moving on: it’s another sign of wealth.

So is this “art class.” Whether we are in 1937 or 1941 - we’re still in the Depression. Steve still has all of his health issues and presumably accompanying “medication” (wanna talk 1930s medicine? Again, slide into my DMs or shoot me an ask). So Steve either has a side job making enough to cover all of that, rent? and enrollment in an art class.

OR maybe Steve is teaching the art class and Bucky is his model for life drawing instruction (yeah, it’s a fic bunny I’m sharing with the world).

OR maybe... Bucky is paying the rent and other things or Steve is living with Bucky and can afford the class and meds... somehow or...

OR I'm not saying that Steve is Bucky’s kept man because Steve Rogers would punch anyone who dared to say such a thing.

All I’m saying is, Bucky Barnes was not a poor dude. Bucky Barnes... had some money.

And also I’m about to be late for my doctor’s appointment so I gotta run.

At me with your thoughts!

[feebledetective]

☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀- SoaringPilot-and-LittleWing

|| Flowers Are Nice || No longer Accepting ! ||

[ Oh wORM OKAY THAT’S A LOT BUT!! I’ll do my best to try to keep this as short as I can if I have to, and we’ll start with you, Icy! ]

@soaringpilot-and-littlewing

[ Icyy, you’re as cool as ice!

My pal, my dude- I love you! I honestly think your OC’s are amazing, especially with the backstory you told me through our DM’s. I didn’t think Shoichi’s backstory could be so. Angsty but- I honestly appreciate him more now that I know more about his backstory. Tomoyo too! I like how she gets along with people like Tanaka and Komaeda, possibly even Seiji in an AU of somesort but she’s p cute!!

I have seen a bit of your art and I wanna say it’s cute! It’s old-school, and nostalgic to me, which is really neato! Keep up the great work okay! I enjoy chatting with you whenever I get the energy and time to, you’re really nice and fun to chat with. The antics the siblings can go through with Shuichi is always a nice thing to talk about! You’re a great person, and you deserve a lot of good things to happen to you!

I want to thank you for understanding my situation when I wasn’t feeling too well about a ship. I appreciate that you listened to me and you were really considerate of it, not a lot of people actually do that and I honestly admire that of you.

I know your situation isn’t going well, but I hope for the best, I’m proud you made it this far and don’t give up okay! I’m here for you and I’ll do my best to support you if needed. Thanks for being part of my life, Icy! ]

@subserviiient​

[ MCDONALD’S SNAKE- FOUND THIS ONE IN MY HAPPY MEAL!

Snake, I know we haven’t done a lot just yet, but you’ve?? Been so kind to me?? Listen you’re!! Really easy to approach, and you’re really funny honestly ! I’d love to get to know you more because you really do seem like a nice and fun pal! A grimace stan too!

I can never ever stop my McDonalds joke with you and I’m really sorry in advance if it gets old- I can stop if you want kjHNMK

I may not know a lot about Ensemble Stars, but I really like your portrayal of her. Let her mom Shuichi because he needs a mom…Whether it’s in his normal verse of Idol AU- I love the things you write about her too and she does make me laugh from time to time!

Honestly, you make me laugh, I’m so glad that we got to talk at some point and I’d love to get to know you more! So far you made me combust from the sweet things you said and I’ll die one day. 

Keep up the great work and thanks for everything, Snake! We got Grimace to thank for our friendship~ ] 

@pressmyluck​

[ Okay, I know you’re likely not going to see this now but I hope one day you’ll see this. I know your situation right now is probably not good, especially since I haven’t heard from you in a while but I am hoping you’re safe and okay because you really do deserve it!

You’re a sweet angel, you’ve supported me throughout the summer and so forth, and you made me learn a few things about myself? Honestly, I think my summer would have been a bit boring without you. I know I met lots of people but you!! You made it fun for me! We made lots of memes together, we supported each other, we talked about Seiji and Ko and just- Fun stuff! I love you!!

Your writing is amazing, this goes for all of your muses. Whether it’s Ko, Hinata, Yoosung…It’s clear that you care for them a lot! I want you to remember that roleplaying is a hobby, if people don’t like your portrayal, they’re a lost for cause. Don’t push yourself a lot, you’re good okay!!

I swear to God if I could I would have given you the biggest hug because you deserve it! Please don’t be hard on yourself for not talking to me, I promise you’re good!! I fully understand your situation and I don’t want to drain you. 

Thank you so much for everything, you precious cinnamon roll, I really hope things are going to be okay on your end and I can’t wait to hear from you again! Take care and stay safe~ ]

@rollingsnowsmasher​

[ Who is this cinnamon roll. 

Becky, please have a seat. You’re?? So nice?? Excuse mE- But for real, you have really helped my mood at some point and seeing your art is really cute. I love it! They really inspire me to try to draw, even if they’re just sketches! I may not know a whole lot of your muse’s fandom but I…I love the child…SHU-BRO IS NICE A AA,,,

Also, I know we only just started talking about this but. Do you wanna know the lvl of excitement I felt when I found out you like/know of one of my special interests- lISTEN YOU AND I ARE GONNA HAVE LOTS OF SILENT HILL TALKS OKAY…I GOT SO HAPPY WHEN I FOUND OUT YOU ALSO ROLEPLAY AS HEATHER!! A AAA YOU ARE A BLESSING TO THIS EARTH- You also know of LISA the Painful I think and I’m just. Combustion. You are a veteran if you played that game, you have my utmost respects- 

You’re such a sweetheart though, for real, you are so nice and I don’t know how or what I did to have someone like you come to my life?? lISTEN I MELTED WHEN YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO HUG ME,,,,SWEETHEART,,,, I’ll send you lots of hugs okay!! 

Beck, you’re wonderful and you are loved plus a huge blessing in planet earth, I don’t want you to ever forget that. It’s a huge pleasure to have you in my life and I’d love to get to know you more and do more with you! ]

@fvkasc​

[ hello new phone, who’s this stinku?

kJHBNSJ I KID I KID BUT- FUKASHAY!! FUKASHE!! I LOVE YOOU, YA MOOF!! This is where I don’t know if I should be serious or be fooling around but I’ll be doing both for the sake of this meme child. 

I LOVE WRITING WITH YOU….IT’S NICE….Honestly I can’t wait to write with you again and you’re getting me midly motivated to try out Hatsune Miku/Calne Ca but I’m too much of a wuss to make a blog for them so they’re exclusively private but ah. 

You’re such a sweetheart though, you made me laugh numerous times and all of the jokes we have together are honestly wild and I LOVE….. You’re a great pal, and I’m really happy to have you around! Love you so much, you egg! ]

@omghoshii​

[ Hey hey, you you, wanna ship 10 boxes at my home-

Bepsi, Bepis, Bep- You’re great! Like, holy hell I feel bad for being dead silent again because I genuinely appreciate your support and your kindness, and I want to apologize about that first. Secondly, have I ever told you that I love your Ryoma? 

It’s nice to finally find someone who also loves and appreciates Ryoma…He’S A GOOD BOI AND DESERVES SO MUCH!! Seeing him happy/feeling okay in our threads are so nice and sweet like you don’t even know how many times I smiled whenever I see him having a nice time!! He deserves a lot!! I can hear his voice in my head when readin the dialogs and you’re doing an excellent job roleplaying him. I love reading your stuff and your writing is- :insert okay hand emoji: :insert 100 emoji:

As mentioned above, I love your support and kindness. I enjoyed chatting with you and I stated this 1000000 times now but I love your hUMOR KAJSHD– I also love your art too!! It’s really cute and unique!! Would love to do more with you and I hope you’re having a proper sleeping schedule. Because I swear sometimes you would sleep when it’s 1-3PM or 11PM I– I think once I saw you went to bed at 10AM??? I COULD BE WRONG THO DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT BUT- SLEEP……

I love ya, dude! ]  

@liersymphcny​​

[ Ichiii you’re gR8-! 

We don’t have lots of threads going on and we haven’t spoke a whole lot as of recently but you’re great and I appreciate you! I love the dedication you put with your muses like- god damn that’s a lot of them how do you manage man– They’re all really good, and don’t think for a moment that your portrayal isn’t good because it iS!! IT IS AND THAT’S WHY I WANNA ROLEPLAY WITH YOU!

Your edits are also rEAL gud!! I love seeing them so keep up the excellent work okay!! You’re a really sweet and fun friend too, I enjoy chatting with you and I hope you’re doing well, hang in there, pal! It’s real nice having you around and thank you so much for everything, Ich! ]

@its-all-in-the-cards​​

[ scree lENA!! MY CHILD!! 

We haven’t done a lot yet, but listen, your interpretation of Celeste and Junko are spot-on!! I love how well you write them, and sorry in advance that we don’t have lots of threads going on-?? I’d love to have our muses interact more even if I’m clueless when it comes to ideas but it’s always nice to see you!! 

Talking to you is also really nice, you’re thoughtful, you’re caring and you’re just a lovely person okay!! I saw your cosplays and I LOVE….15/10 LISTEN I- YOU’RE DOING A FASCINATING JOB KEEP IT UP OKAY!! 

I appreciate you, Lena! Thank you so much for the nice things you say and take care! It’s Love On Lena! ]

[powerwordsleep]

naruto!DnD au

the team 7!DnD verse that nobody @baasama asked for

and because there’s already some stuff out there that’s completely terrible not only for team 7, but also DnD, so i felt the need to do right by both.

Three travelers stand alone on a vast cliff, a smoke-darkened sky above and an endless drop to death below. Blood, dirt, and weeks worth of grime litters their skin and clothes. Their journey has been long, perilous, unrelenting, but they finally made it to the end. Victory beckons them. The promise of peace, happiness, and a not ungenerous sum of gold is only one more fight away. One more dance of kill or be killed.

The horizon dances red with the flames of the nearby villages burning below them. They had managed to evacuate most of the civilians before the attack began, but they had passed by more than a few charred, burned beyond recognition bodies on their trek up the mountain. Each fallen they passed only hardened their resolve.

The sound of an earth-shaking roar escapes from the mouth of the cave in front of them. The ground quakes as the footsteps of something giant stalks forward to meet its challengers. A large red snout appears first, shining like the blood running in the streets below, and the lips spread in a bloodthirsty grimace, revealing a row of sharp, glistening fangs. The creature growls in what is meant to be a chuckle, a plume of smoke shooting out of its nostrils and into the faces of the three tiny figures before it.

“So, you’ve arrived at last.”

One figure steps forward, seemingly unafraid even in the face a would-be god. “Yeah, we’ve come to put an end to your stupid reign of violence and bloodshed and… stupidness!” The man puffs out his chest in bravado. “Believe it!”

“Idiot,” his companion scoffs from behind. “It’s not a great idea to threaten a dragon right to its face.”

“Shut up, Lucien!” the first man whips around to glare. “What are you, scared of some lizard action?”

The man called Lucien seethes. “No, Markus, I just don’t have a death wish!”

Markus turns to face Lucien completely, the large, foreboding, capable of ending the world as they know it enemy front of them forgotten.

“How many times do I have to tell you, my name is Markus Ultimate!”

“As if I would use that ridiculous name -”

“Do you wanna fucking go? Do you wanna fucking brawl right here Lucien because I swear to god-”

“Will the two of you shut up!” the third member of the party interrupts. “We do not have time for petty squabbles when there’s a dragon to fight!”

“Aww, but Nila, Lucien is being a dick again!” Markus Ultimate whines.

The woman called Nila sighs, having heard this song many times before. “Sorry, Markus Ultimate, but Lucien kind of has a point. We should have gone with his idea and tried to find a back entrance and sneak in, rather than face this thing head on.”

Lucien raises his chin in triumph and Markus Ultimate, eyes daring him to make another snarky remark. Markus Ultimate pouts and mutters, “You’re just siding with Lucien because you’re sleeping with him in real life.”

A cacophony of groans, sighs, and indignant shouts ruin whatever slim illusion of in-game fantasy they had managed to immerse themselves in. Kakashi sighs and rubs at his exposed eyebrow, his headache sure to make a reappearance.

“Naruto, that was completely uncalled for! You know what we said about breaking character like that, and besides, I do not give special preference to Sasuke just because-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Naruto cuts of Sakura’s rant. “You boning Sasuke on the regular isn’t affecting Nila and Lucien’s relationship at all.”

“Why are you so fixated on our sex life, deadlast?” Sasuke accuses, one eyebrow twitching in both anger and disgust. “Stay out of our business.”

Naruto turns red and ignores Sasuke’s comment in favor of shouting at Kakashi, as if all of this was somehow his fault, “Let’s get back to the game already, Kakashi-sensei! We got a dragon to fight!”

“Everyone roll initiative,” Kakashi says before the argument can get any worse. Like addressing whatever weird tension that last comment had triggered.

Kakashi is getting too old for this.

“14,” Sakura says.

“Aww, man, I got a 12,” Naruto groans.

“It’s not a competition, Naruto,” Kakashi reminds him. For the 100th time.

“But if it was I would kick your ass. 21.” Sasuke just has to so unhelpfully egg him on.

Naruto predictably takes the bait. “Hey that’s unfair! Sasuke is cheating!”

Sakura rolls her eyes and gestures to the dice. “No, he’s not. He rolled an 17 and gets a +4 to initiative because he has high Dex as a Rogue.”

Sasuke smirks across the table. “Maybe you shouldn’t have chosen to be a Bard if you’re so upset about it.”

“Alright, Sasuke you’re up first.”

Sasuke peers over the map set up on the table and considers his position. “Do I have enough movement to get to those clusters of rocks over there?”

“Yes, but if you want to try and hide you have to roll with disadvantage because the dragon is right there -”

“23.”

Kakashi sighs. “Alright, you’ve somehow successfully hidden behind the rocks, because the dragon was distracted by Markus Ultimate making a scene.”

Naruto slaps the table in glee. “Ha! You’re welcome, Lucien.”

Kakashi politely coughs to reign in their attention. “Next is the dragon’s turn.”

His three former students lean in, eager to see what the first move will be. “The dragon steps fully out of the cave, his full height towering 20 feet above you. He makes two claw attacks at you, Markus Ultimate, and swipes his tail at you, Nila.”

Kakashi rolls his die behind the privacy screen. “18 and 16 to hit for you Markus -”

“It’s Markus Ultimate!”

“- and 21 for you, Nila.”

Sakura grimaces as she checks her character sheet. “Hits.”

“You take 14 points of slashing damage as the dragon swings his tail over the cliff and slams into your torso.”

Sakura marks down the damage on her sheet and Kakashi looks expectantly at Naruto.

He’s smirking. Never a good sign.

“I cast Vicious Mockery on the dragon and say, ‘Get wrecked, you gecko!’”

Kakashi rolls his D20 and audibly groans when the dice comes to a stop.

“The dragon fails the save.” Naruto whoops in celebration. “As his claws race towards you, you say your, um, chant, and it disturbs the dragon enough that you are able to evade and reduce some of the damage.”

“Your turn, Nila.”

Sakura grins and rubs her hands together in anticipation. “Watch how it’s done, boys! I move to the dragon and take two swipes at it with my sword.”

“Roll for both attacks.”

They watch as Sakura rolls the die. “10 and 17!” Sakura says, and in sync all three head turn towards the DM, eagerly awaiting the result.

“The first one misses,” he begins and they nod, having expected that,”and the second one…” Kakashi swears they’re about to fall out of their seats. “Hits.”

“Yes!” Sakura pumps her fist up in the air. “And I cast Divine Smite!”

“Roll the extra d8s of damage.”

Sasuke passes her the extra die and Naruto gives a, “Hell yeah, Nila!” of encouragement.

After the damage is calculated Kakashi addresses Naruto. “Your turn, Markus Ultimate.”

Naruto is silent for a few moments, which is probably a new record for him. When he speaks, is low and serious.

“I walk forward in front of the dragon.”

“Don’t you dare, Naruto,” Sasuke warns. An impending sense of doom begins to overtake Kakashi.

“I say, ‘Hey dude, this here, this thing you’re doing, it’s like not very cool. In fact, it sucks. Cause people are cool, you know? You could be friends with people, instead of burning them and shit. It’s actually a lot more fun! Do you have any friends? I could be your friend! I understand the pain of loneliness. You’re just like me -’”

“You can’t be serious.” Sasuke says.

“Naruto, please,” Sakura begs.

Naruto doesn’t take his eyes off Kakashi.

“Roll a persuasion check.”

Naruto grabs his dice. Sasuke turns aways, muttering, “I can’t freaking watch this,” while Sakura holds his hand in a deathgrip. Kakashi can feel his hairline receding.

He dice leaves Naruto’s hand, falls to the table, bounces, once, twice, then rolls, swaying on one of its edges, before it falls to one side and comes to a stop.

Their eyes lock onto the number displayed.

“No, it can’t be,” Sakura whispers, horrified.

“I’m fucking done,” Sasuke says and leaves his seat.

“HELL YEAH!” Naruto yells, jumping out of his seat.

Kakashi blinks, rubs are his eye, and leans forward. Just to check. To really make sure this is happening.

20.

Naruto managed to roll a natural 20.

“Add your Charisma modifier.” Kakashi reminds Naruto mid victory dance.

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Naruto grabs his crumpled and ripped character sheet and scans for the correct number. “Umm so the total is a 25!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sakura plops her head on the table, defeated.

“I haven’t even made an attack!” Sasuke yells from the other room.

Kakashi can’t blame them for their reactions. After all the weeks of careful planning he had done, after all the character building and development of the story, leading up to the final, epic battle and…

Naruto talks their way out of it.

Again.

“The dragon is… touched by your eloquent speech. He decides he’d like to be friends even though he was trying to destroy you and your world a second ago. I guess.”

“Whoooo!” Naruto cheers. “Great fight guys, yeah? That was so much fun.”

Sakura glares at Naruto. There’s a crash from the other room, presumably from Sasuke throwing a fit.

Kakashi gathers his myriad of campaign note papers in front of him, then in a blur of hand signs sets them ablaze in a quick fire jutsu.

Time to start preparing for the next campaign.

[intoxicatingimmediacy]

Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal on Blindspotting and the Power of Poetry

Where does the story of Blindspotting begin for the two of you?

Daveed Diggs: It starts with Jess Calder, one of our producers, discovering Rafael via his poetry videos on YouTube and sliding into his DMs and saying, “Would you like to write a movie that uses some of these same techniques?” We knew the movie was going to be in verse, we knew it was going to be set in Oakland because that’s what we wanted to do. We knew it was going to star us because that’s what we wanted to do. And then right after that, or right around that same time, Oscar Grant was [killed] at Fruitvale BART station, and so the discussion in Oakland was centered around this event.

Rafael Casal: The video that Jess Calder saw was a poem I wrote called “Monster,” and it’s about the numbness that comes from an abundance of death early on in your life. Numbness plays heavily into the film as well and it’s a through line of what happens when you sort of have trauma fatigue. Diggs’s and my backgrounds are both in poetic verse and music, so expressing complicated ideas in short amounts of time, in compressed language through metaphor was the exciting part of storytelling that we were most comfortable with. We had to learn how to write a screenplay. We didn’t know how to do that. That was Jess and Keith [Calder] giving us scripts, asking us questions, saying let’s all go out to the movies, let’s talk about the movie afterwards. After about five years we realized we had been in a master’s program via mail and phone. This last year, when we finally made the movie, I think we really felt like peers for the first time. We had gotten to a place in our careers that we were really excited about and, like, really became stronger writers and had other script-writing opportunities and other acting opportunities. Diggs had a fucking Tony.

Can you speak a little bit about the relationship between Collin and Miles?

Casal: Collin and Miles essentially are siblings. They’ve always been around each other. They’ve helped each other survive for so long. They’re a little two-person gang, right? Even when they’re with a different group of people, it’s them two. And they’ve, to a certain degree, developed as adult men entirely together. Their context is changing—that’s the catalyst for the film. They don’t have an issue with each other. It’s the rest of the world that is treating them in these new and destructive ways, and they’re both trying to reconcile those internally and how that affects [their] relationship. They’re composite characters. They’re based on people that we know very well and love. Collin’s not based on a bunch of black dudes; Miles is not based on a bunch of white dudes. But energetically, [they are drawn from] interesting examples of men from those neighborhoods in Oakland, that are from Northern California, born and bred, and what that looks like in a changing landscape. How humor and pain work in a long-standing friendship.

How do you get two men who are only really comfortable with anger and humor as their two most accessible emotions, how do they have an intimate conversation about fear and pain? That’s something that even in our most intimate friendships is not always immediately accessible. Diggs and I have access to something that a lot of people don’t because we come from the art space, which is inherently very vulnerable. And even in that, it took me probably a lot longer than Diggs to get that way. It was really in becoming a teacher that that opened up for me, but that is the most fascinating conversation about men—the lifelong journey of unlearning this negative connotation toward any kind of vulnerability.

Diggs: That would literally never happen with two people, with two men, who didn’t love each other as much as these two.

How do you see Blindspotting falling into the larger landscape of “protest art” now?

Diggs: I think the stakes felt high when we started working on it. It unfortunately still feels very high, sort of differently, in that our capacity for apathy is so high these days. … But for us as artists, it was just about telling the story and being honest about the space and circumstances. And then when we step back from that, when we get to hold a mirror up to the world as close to exactly as it is, all of a sudden you’re like, That’s fucked. We should probably do something about that.

Casal: It’s not my expression, but I agree that all art is inherently political. You are either holding or challenging the status quo. Generally, the thing that gets us out of bed is challenging it, because I think that the status quo is fucked.

[prodigyofprinxetoncollege]

[Set in my & @xlittlelionhamiltonx‘s President Burr Verse]

All their plans – of coming out together, then getting married to their real partners, setting an example – were ruined when Theodosia got cancer. There was nothing the doctors could do, even with all their combined money and the best treatments available. Theodosia and Aaron got divorced in silence, Theo married Maria in a small ceremony, only Aaron and Alex as witnesses.

They kissed, and Aaron wished it hadn’t all been so bitter. They deserved the world.

Theodosia died three weeks later.

Now a reporter had found out that Aaron and Theo had gotten divorced quietly, and that was the reason Aaron was sitting in a press conference, bigger than anticipated, because apparently the American people still cared about the former first couple. Given the catastrophic current president, that wasn’t exactly a surprise.

“Now, Theodosia and me had planned to do this together.”

Aaron looked to his right, where Maria was sitting, calm and collected, a serene smile gracing her face. Aaron would never understand how she had made her peace with everything that had happened, but she made it. And Aaron was grateful that even now, she was his right hand.

“But since she died…it’s all going to be different.”

The quietness in the room was palpable, people had loved Theodosia.

“I’m gay.” Aaron said, and the silence was deafening for a moment, before the reporters started screaming questions, and it was a strange flashback – as if he was back in the White House Press Briefing room.

But for once, Aaron didn’t have to fear whether people would approve. He had done this a hundred times. He was calm and collected.

“Quiet. I will tell my story. Then you can ask questions.”

It took the room almost ten minutes to calm down. A few people walked out. Aaron took a deep breath.

“I’m gay, and Theodosia was a lesbian. The only reason we married was because we knew we could not have reached what we did if we would have been open about our sexualities. The moment we made our agreement, we knew it had an end date. We always planned on coming out, on marrying the people we really loved. But when Theo got sick…we had to speed up the process. She wanted to die married to the woman she loved, and that’s the reason we got our clandestine divorce.”

More screams, the crowd was uncertain what to believe. Someone laughed and called Aaron drunk. It was Maria that started speaking.

“I married Theo. I loved her. We were a couple for twenty-two years.”

That made everyone quiet down. There had been a few people that had always wondered why Aaron had kept Maria around as White House chief of staff for eight years when normally presidents replaced them every six to twelve months. He’d always said there was no one more competent than Maria – which was true – but now even the harshest critic would understand.

“You said something about the people you loved,” someone in the front said, “do you have a relationship with a man, Mr. Burr?”

Aaron almost grinned at the reporter.

“I do, yes.”

The room exploded.

Who? A hundred voices asked.

“Alexander Hamilton.”

  Later that evening, when Aaron was exhaustedly leaning on Alex watching himself on all the news channels – it was like being president all over again – Aaron couldn’t understand why Alex was laughing so hard.

“What’s so funny about this?”

“Look what’s happening on twitter.”

He handed his phone over to Aaron.

@omfgcanyoueven OMG folks you heard about Burr and Hamilton???

 @issabop god when burr legalized same sex marriage I told my bf I’d suck that dick and he was all “na leave it but we can make him an honorary gay” well my bf is now my husband and burr isn’t just a honorary gay anyone else fucking LIVING??

 @lgbtunion Former President Burr just came out, announcing his ex wife Theodosia was a lesbian! The GOP is suspecting the gay agenda behind this, if you’re from the GOP let me just tell you: you’re right!! We’re taking over now!!

 @jamiejames omg folks look what I found: A.Ham tweeted in 2012 “just been to the oval office, it was an almost religious experience” !! that bitch got fucked by potus in the oval, bragged about it on twitter and we all been clueless!!

@localgay @jamiejames fuck dude you right! I can’t believe it!

 @markrogers can’t believe I voted for a faggot. Twice.

@lgbtunion @markrogers yeah and so what? He turned out to be an excellent president, didn’t he? You might even wanna consider the idea that gay people…are people??

 @senatorjohnlaurens Congratulations to my friend Alexander Hamilton and former President Aaron Burr. I am happy to see you have found your way. All the best wishes.

“They’re overwhelmingly positive,” Aaron mused.

“You don’t wanna see my DMs.”

“Why?”

Alex opened them for Aaron. It was just a bunch of questions about how sex with him was.

“Uuh, okay. I see.”

“They’re calling us hamburr. Hashtag hamburr is trending.”

Aaron took a deep breath.

“We’ll get through this.”

Alex smiled up at him. “Babe, this is wonderful. This is all I ever wanted. What I waited for for the last twenty years.”

They scrolled through the #hamburr tag for some time.

@lolololol you might be a legendary gay, but you’ll never be Aaron-pretended-to-be-straight-to-become-president-to-legalize-gay-marriage-Burr legendary #hamburr

@thathistoryfan y’all realize how often Hamilton alluded to #hamburr in his writing tho? He always talked about burr as if he wanted to hit that. Coulda nobody known he was already hitting it

@topversbottom now for the real question of the day: when #hamburr have sex, who tops?

@afterellen they’re not lesbians, but let’s talk about #hamburr! How epic is that? We already had our first gay president and he rocked!

“I wish Theo would be around to see this,” Aaron murmured. Alex swallowed and pulled him close.

“She’s watching, Aaron. And she’s proud. I’m sure of that.”

[thisisa-knife]

How I Run My Blog

SPEED: Well considering I’m currently on a hiatus I’m HELLA slow right now. Usually though I’m able to do 1-3 replies every other day. Side note though, considering the fact that my clinical responsibilites are picking up more and more through my studies I most likely won’t be on very much this next year. (( for my new lovelies don’t stress - I’ve been here since 2013 I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. ))

REPLIES: Speaking about replies I try to be considerate of my partner. I will try to match your response, whether it’s a literary masterpiece, stunning coding-art, or just a plain dialog - I’m going to try my best to catch whatever you’re throwing at me! This directly correlates with my speed though. Because I want give everyone the same amount of effort as they give me. If you’re going to bang out a quick reply and we’re in a groove with our thread it may progress a little faster than someone who writes a novel on a day where my imagination is in a temporary coma. 

STARTERS: wELP, truthfully I hardly ever do starters -or starter calls for that matter. Mostly because I have like 3-4 faves that are the only people that consistently favorite / message me for starter calls. More than that, due to my class load and temporary hiatus, I haven’t been in the right head-space to post starters because I’m severely lacking in spontaneous imagination. However if you would like to thread with Mays ( or any of my other available muses ) I will 10000% plot all day long. I love being able to bounce ideas off of someone else’s, and my inbox/dm’s are easily accessible for me while I’m in clinic or lecture. 

INBOX/IMs: Already touched on this for the most part. In case you’re a first time follower who’s nervous about reaching out - please don’t be! I’d like to think that I have a personality that sounds a lot like Castaway by Zac Brown Band ( aka easy going and free-flowing my dudes ). My inbox/IM’s are literally open for everything except hate. Did you have a shitty day and need to tell someone? HIT ME UP! Did you see a really cute cat on the way to work/school and want to show someone? SLIP AND SLIDE YOUR WAY OVER HERE! Have a (n- apocalyptic ) wishlist plot that you’ve been dying to try out? SLAP THAT SUBMIT BUTTON! I love interacting with my followers! Doesn’t even matter if we’re mutuals or not ^.^ ( but also please don’t be mad if it takes me a little to respond -IRL is whooping my ass rn LOL )

SELECTIVITY:��Honestly I’m only selective over a few things. I want to make sure I’m following you for the right reasons. Doesn’t matter how “cool” or aesthetically pleasing your blog is if your links aren’t set up, you’re missing a rules/bio/verses page or just generally have poor writing skills - I most likely won’t follow. I’m sorry but that’s just brutal honesty. I don’t want to have my dash cluttered by a stream of confusing graphics. I’m here to write and continue to push myself as a writer. My selectivity comes down to this: can I see myself writing with you and your muse? Because to me that’s all that matters. 

WISHLIST: x My Wishlist x is a mile long - let me tell you. I even have a few posts about the threads I’d like to do with canon-chara’s from twd, z-nation, book of eli, and a few other apocalyptic verses. But I haven’t been lucky enough to explore most of them, so it’s always open to anyone if they’re looking for a good conversation ice-breaker! 

HONEST NOTE: Ahh...a few things. If you are new, I will know pretty quickly whether you read through my blog or not. No shame if you didn’t get a chance to! just please don’t lie to me and say you did! That’s one of my BIGGEST pet peeves. right alongside call-out culture and dashboard drama. I have zero-tolerance for it. I will always be honest and upfront with my followers, if you have a problem please come to me on the side and let me know. I don’t bullshit people, and I do my best to be kind and understanding to everyone. I’m a firm believer in treat people how you expect to be treated.

Tagged by: @daryliisms Tagging: @dementedbeautyqueens , @cara-faye-stewart, @carolinecrybabyjackson , @zenofrping, @fissarsi , and anyone else who’d like to give it a go!

[kingjaffejoffer]

Sometimes its your turn to lose

I would prefer that nobody reblog this.

But this is the internet and I can’t stop yall from doing anything. So whatever. 

Something I’ve said on this blog a dozen times is the fact that I don’t believe in karma. To me, its something silly that people say to make themselves feel better when they take an L. If someone keys your car or busts out your windows and you don’t catch them... you mention karma because it gives you a little bit of power in hopes that the universe is gonna make the culprit pay. 

I don’t believe in karma because niggas like George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson are still walking down the street enjoying their lives, free as a bird even though they murdered Black people in cold blood. I don’t believe in karma because America has been committing atrocities all over the globe for 200 years and nothing has happened in retaliation, 9/11 aside (which is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things). 

I don’t believe in karma because billions of people on earth can’t read and don’t have access to clean water and shelter. Where’s the justice for them?

That was a longwinded intro to the fact that I just took a massive L. Most people would say karma.... but I think it was just my turn to get got. 

I’ve a terrible boyfriend to most of the women in my life. 

I’m very sweet, charming, attentive, affectionate, and caring. I’ve done all the things women loved. 

Except for the fact that I always cheated. 

We can get into the reasons I cheated another time. That’s a whole 3 chapter post within itself. 

The point is. I cheated a lot, with impunity. I eventually reached the point where I didn’t want to live like that anymore. I matured to a place where I didn’t want to be a liar. I didn’t want to cause anyone any pain. I didn’t want to live a double life anymore. I didn’t want to hurt anyone anymore. 

So I decided that I was going to be single for the rest of my life. And last year, I finally got my wish. I was SINGLE and unapologetically a massive whore. 

It was fucking fantastic. I was single, and every woman I met, I’d let them know that I was fucking with other women and I had no intentions of ever getting into a relationship with them. I let women know from jump street what the deal was and things worked out great. You’d be surprised at what women are down with if you’re just honest and upfront from the start. 

I had a clean std test and was juggling a handful of women at a time, living the good life. 

And then....... I met her. 

She slid in my DMs on Tumblr. She wasn’t thirsty. She didn’t come into my messages with overtly sexual comments and pictures. She just introduced herself, “Hey, how are you doing?”

The conversation between us was effortless. The chemistry was flawless. We went from talking in the Tumblr messages every day. To texting. To snapchatting. 

We’d have conversations that lasted all day. and they were dope and wide ranging. 

If God came down from the heavens above and told me to design the perfect woman I wanted. The final result wouldn’t have been too different from this girl who just dropped in my lap out of nowhere on Tumblr.  We have EVERYTHING in common. 

California native

Her character and values as a woman were beyond what I could ask for. 

She’s extremely well versed in sports. She can hold substantive and meaningful conversations about the specific NBA players. 

We watched MMA and boxing together every Saturday

We both love California gangbang rap. We’d be in the car together listening to YG both lip synching the words. 

She’s well read, knocking out a book every week. 

She’s woke as FUCK. Unapologetically black.

Dark skin, natural hair.

Our views on religion were the same.

She’s college educated. 

She’s fucking beautiful. Thick in all the right places. 

She’s generous. Considerate. health conscious. 

She’s just as freaky as i am. One minute her and I are talking about environmental health and child rearing..... and 3 minutes later she’s on Snapchat taking a long piss for me so I can watch. Telling me she can’t wait until Friday so we can hang out and make love like we did every weekend. 

She came from a really good family. A two parent household. 

It didn’t take long before I was in love with her. 

I spent years wanting to be single. Wanting to be an unapologetic whore. Wanting to have a harem of women that I could call any time to do whatever I wanted.

I had all of that. And I fucking fell in love with this girl. 

And I threw it all away...... one by one. I went to my harem of women, breaking the bad news to them. Telling them that I had a girlfriend and we couldn’t have sex anymore. 

They didn’t react well. The drama that I had to endure just to get rid of all these women is enough to write a 5 chapter post on. That’s another story for another day. The point is..... I went through great lengths to make sure that I didn’t cheat this time. 

I stopped having sex with every woman on the side. I was 100% committed to this new perfect amazing woman that dropped out of the sky and into my life. 

The first time we had sex was explosive. I’ll never forget it.

We’d have long conversations about monogamy and our views on marriage, which were perfectly in sync. Neither one of us believed in marriage. We were receptive to the concept of open relationships, as long as the proper communication and guidelines were put in place beforehand. 

We’d talk about moving in together and having kids one day. I’d ask her all the questions that I felt were important. Did she believe in vaccinating kids? What kind of names did she consider? Did she plan to breast feed? What kind of schools did she like? What would we teach our kid at home?

We talked about all that shit. 

One day, a huge dent was put in the perfect fairytale relationship I had with this woman. 

I found out she was an alcoholic. I found out some other stuff too. She had been hiding it from me since the day she met me. She didn’t want me to judge her. 

I was initially bummed out. But I was so deeply and madly in love with this woman that I was like..... fuck it... no sweat. I’m going to get through this with her. 

We eventually got her enrolled in therapy sessions. As long as she was making progress toward getting better thats all I could ask for. She promised to keep her drinking under control from that day forward. That’s all I needed. 

I felt uncomfortable every time she had a glass of wine, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Eventually we’d wean her off alcohol completely. I’ve never been in a relationship with a substance abuser/addict before, so excuse my naivite and ignorance. 

She was absolutely worth the extra work. I’ve never in my life met a woman as amazing as she is.

By the way I’ve set this story up. It’s completely obvious the way its going to end right?

Yep.

She got me. 

She played me. 

All these years of me being in control. All these years of me being the liar and the cheater and the one with 85958 women on the side. All these years of me being the one who broke hearts.

It was my turn. She played the shit out of me. 

One night she got black out drunk and I found out all kinds of stuff. I saw all the conversations of her talking to random niggas from the internet. I saw the evidence of her bussing her pussy open for niggas on snapchat. I saw the text messages of her telling niggas that she wants him and another man to both run a train on her at the same time.

That part didn’t hurt me. I’m not a jealous dude. I know that my girlfriend will find other men attractive. I know that my girlfriend will find other men sexually desirable. I know that she’s not going to go the rest of her life without wanting to fuck another man.

To keep it a buck fitty, if she would have just let me know about that from the start it wouldn’t have been a thing. 

So that part didn’t really hurt me. 

The text messages that she sent her female friends are the ones that hurt me. 

I read texts where she was telling her girlfriends that “he’s leaving tomorrow but I wish he would just leave right now”. 

I saw the texts where she told her girlfriends she could never live in a house with me because she wanted her freedom.

I saw all these text messages where the things that were a complete 180 opposite of what she would tell me.

That really hurt me. 

I have no idea why she would just lie like that for no reason. But I’m sure all of the women I’ve lied to in the past couldnt figure out why I lied to them either. 

Some people would call this karma.

But I think sometimes its just your turn to lose. Sometimes its your turn to get got. its the law of averages. The more times you roll the dice the greater chances of you getting snake eyes. 

Sometimes its your turn to take that L. 

It’s my turn right now. 

Ya boy is SICK right now. My stomach is in knots. When I swallow it feels like a lump is in my throat. My appetite is gone. I called my boss and told him I wouldn’t be at work tomorrow. I’m just going to lay int the dark and hurt. 

She got me man. 

I feel zero embarrassment publishing this on the internet, where it will surely be met with laughing emojis and all that other shit. 

None of what anyone can say will feel worse than what I’m already feeling right now. 

She got me....  I had it coming. I deserve it. 

Remember at the end of Menace II Society when Caine was like “I knew it would happen but i didnt think it would happen like this”

I didn’t publish this because i’m looking for sympathy. I dont want anyone’s pity. I really don’t care to hear anyone’s opinion at all. Don’t feel the need to send me any words of encouragement. 

Writing makes me feel better. 

it is what it is. 

I’ll be ok. 

I don’t hate her... I’m not even mad at her. Not one bit. I’ll always love her. She’s not a bad person. She’s just incapable of having a relationship right now. I know exactly what she’s going through because I used to be her. 

I gotta charge this one to the game.