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8bitscarlet · 3 years ago

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Lesson in Trust

Summary: Some time has passed and you've begrudgingly decided to fulfill your contract. Trust still runs thin but not placing trust might just be your downfall.

Pairing: Wanda x Reader

Genre/Warnings: Angst (minor cussing, canon violence, mention of blood)

Word Count: 4.5k

A/N: Part Four of Accidentally on Purpose! Happy reading!

*please do not repost or translate my material or claim as yours. reblogs,comments and likes are always appreciated! *

___________________

Slowly, the weeks inched closer and closer to months. It was a slow time trying to get anyone standing near you to stop preparing to tackle you whenever you poured cereal into a bowl. Still, you had succeeded in getting most of the Avengers to stop giving you death glares the moment you left the threshold of your room.

After your first mission with them and the fact that Wanda was still alive, Natasha convinced everyone that you'd been inside of a cell long enough and there was an empty room for grabs. She also let everyone know that you without a doubt knew everything there was to know about the security systems here and you could've escaped weeks ago. When they all glanced at you, you just gave a small shrug.

It was true. You even mentioned some of the lax areas of Stark's security nonchalantly after a meeting before going back to your cell to retire for the day. You remember the face he gave, pointing at you with stuttered questions as you walked away.

The day you dropped your small bundle of clothes on the bed, Natasha told you that if you got a gold star every day for a month you'd get to request snacks for grocery runs. You flipped her off and promptly left before Rogers could grab you for another lecture on behavior.

That was the big thing with Rogers you learned. He'd sit you down like you were a toddler and explain how to act like an adult. Despite wanting to just shove past him, you sat there and took it. You were basically an independent contractor for the Avengers. That meant you had to play by their rules. No neck snapping on missions. No smacking Sam on the back of the head when he made an insulting comment. All of those were easy habits to stop when you had to sit through a half hour lecture with the Captain.

Stark was more interested in you than being scared of you. He asked a lot of questions that usually centered around what Hydra did to you and all of things you'd done for them. You gave sparse details and snide comments but he eventually gave you your own suit and some gear. After that, there really wasn't much reason to complain when he poked you with things.

Sam still held a grudge that you had broken his gear and he had to spend all of this time fixing the complicated wires. Watching him for a few days, you learned exactly what would help him. You offered to help fix his stuff and held up two cases of beer. Four cases and some fixed wings later, everything was smoothed over with the Birdman.

All the gears were running relatively smoothly with everyone. There was only one last gear that occasionally needed a greasing.

Wanda would keep her distance most days. She'd watch from afar as you interacted with everyone. A frown on her face when laughter filled the room after something you said. A smirk on her face when you were taking down a couple notches by Natasha. Other days, she'd sit around with the group but she never let her eyes wander from you for too long.

The two of you didn't share many words with each other. The occasional courteous greeting or offhand comment during meetings, even some rare agreements between each other.

You'd successfully been able to avoid going on any further solo mission with Wanda. You made sure you signed your hours up to work with Natasha or Rogers.

As long as you didn't have to constantly push down the abrupt desire to pin her to a wall and get out all of your frustration and her hatred in one go, you were fine. You'd catch your eyes lingering down her body whenever you were training. That won you a curious look from Nat. Your fists would clench tightly whenever Wanda's fingers just brushed yours.

One time, you were rushing around the corner to grab your journal when you ran straight into the witch. Her hands automatically went to protect her face, smacking against your chest as you both stood there staring at each other. For just a moment, neither of you said a word as everything become background. It was only a short instance before you both were shoving each out of the way, but you glanced back at her.

Now that you were granted a curfew, with a tracking chip in your phone, it was easier to get rid of those feelings. But every morning you walked down those stairs and saw that red headed witch stirring coffee and flipping omelets, those feelings came back stronger.

Now as you sit in the Quinjet as you fly towards a team mission, your eyes scan the area around you. Rogers is standing near the cockpit, talking to Tony about some newly installed tech system he can't figure out. Sam is sleeping in his little hammock hanging amongst the cargo boxes as Nat struts past you.

Unconsciously, your brow ticks upwards as your eyes skim down her black suit. It had evolved some since you last her all those years ago. When you first met, it was practically a shiny skin suit. Now, it seems she's started to lean more into functionality and her abilities than just sexualizing herself. Still, you had no complaints. You never worried about her abilities. Your only worry was how snug it still fit.

"You're drooling," a voice startles you, "You keep thinking like that and you're gonna get in trouble." Wanda finishes, nonchalantly turning the page of her book.

You glance up at her sitting across from you, "Excuse me?"

With a sigh, annoyed that she's had to stop reading, she drops the book into her bag. Wanda stretches out across the seats, resting her arms behind her head, "Wondering if that Black Widow suit slips on and off pretty easily. Please. How old are you?"

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you lean forward and lower your voice, "You can read minds?"

Wanda nods silently, closing her eyes. Recalling your conversations with Strucker and her file, they failed to mention that magic trick. You watch her, wondering how much she's heard in your head. As if she's answering you, her brows rise and you feel your face flush with heat.

She grins, "And I can feel you staring at me."

"Sorry," you mutter as you sit back, "I forgot the fine print on my contract says I have no privacy."

Wanda opens her eyes slowly, a frown filling her face as she turns to look at you. You were mostly poking Wanda for reading your mind for fun, pushing her buttons to get a rise. Still, you feel more vulnerable than you normally would about someone learning things about you.

Looking back to Wanda, you can see the apology in her eyes as she figures out what to say. She knows what it's like to have no privacy, nothing of your own. She's been in a Hydra cell, just like you. Watching the shame on her face, you could even convince yourself that she had it worse. But you'd never tell her that.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think that... I'm sorry."

Waving the situation away, you shake your head with a forgiving grin, "Better you than Hydra."

Wanda nods, twisting the rings on her fingers as she stares up at the ceiling. You lean forward and wait for her to continue, you can see it in her face, the way she chews on her lip. The quick glances she throws near you as her brain tries to figure out the perfect way to phrase her thoughts.

"You don't talk a lot. I just wanted to try to figure you out. That's why you're not in that cell." Wanda's eyes rest on yours, "Your relatively less violent thoughts and Nat's endorsement."

She breathes out carefully, pausing for your response.

You grin, "I figured you gave a good word at least. I did save your life once, remember?"

Wand chuckles, remembering the attack on the Compound after you got your ass handed to you by her, "I was holding my own."

You give her a half hearted shrug as you lean back into the wall behind you. Wanda turns to look at you, the start of another apology forming at her lips. You hold up your hand with a smile,

"If you keep getting worked up about this, I'm going to start thinking you care." Your words pull a roll of her eyes and a small smirk that has you staring one second longer, "You already promised to rip my limbs off. Keep face, Maximoff."

Spreading out your legs, you shimmy down into the seat to try and get some rest before the mission starts. Peeking carefully out through one eye, Wanda glances over at you with an intrigued look. The look on her face is one that you've seen before because you've given it before. A look you've been trying to keep to yourself for months.

"Y/N," you hear a voice over the quiet humming of the Quinjet and pick up your head to Natasha waiting for you.

Holding out her arm as you approach, you take the parachute as she swipes through a screen. You peer over her shoulder and glance at the flight plan. You'll be over the drop point within a few minutes. As you smack the dust off of the bag before slinging it onto your shoulders, you let out a chuckle,

"When was the last time these were performance checked?" Clipping on the last buckles, Nat checks you over.

With a shrug, she shakes your shoulder straps, "Maybe a few years."

You roll your eyes but suck in a hiss as she tightens the strap around your waist, pinching your skin. If the parachute doesn't open, maybe you'll be lucky enough not to have to work with them anymore.

They weren't the most annoying people you've worked with but they certainly weren't the easiest. They gave you your own room but you know it's all a play. If homecooked meals brought you down, a soft, cozy bed would too. It was lucky for you that you never sleep on a bed. Still, you just wonder what exactly their motives are.

Nat smacks your cheek, "Don't worry. I'm forty percent sure Sam will grab you."

With a roll of your eyes, you glance over at the opening ramp as the wind howls inside.

Peeking over the metal ramp into the blustering wind, you squint as the Quinjet begins to descend below the clouds. You can just make out the buildings of the city as you lean forward, gripping tightly on the straps attached to the walls. Taking the radio from your small vest pocket, you insert it into your ear and listen to the connecting static.

"You're still not afraid of heights, right?" you hear Nat inside your ear and smile as you turn around.

Holding out your arms, you cautiously place your heels precariously over the ramp, "You tell me."

Rogers shoves on his helmet and looks at you, scoffing as Nat shakes her head. With a salute to Rogers, you tip over the edge into nothing, the drop in your stomach sending a grin across your face. The air whips past your face as you roll through the air, centering yourself out. Tapping the glasses Stark made, you follow the line of trajectory that will land you perfectly in front of the building

As you press your palms against your legs, you begin your nosedive towards the approaching earth. Feeling the harsh stinging of the wind on your cheeks, something comes screaming past you. The change of air current sends you into an uncontrolled spin as you try and find the ground through your flashing goggles.

"Screw you, Birdboy!" You scream as you hear his laugh, ripping off your glitching glasses and violently arching your body.

Holding out your limbs as symmetrically as you can manage, you find your balance in your fall. Wobbling just a bit as you glance at the descending numbers on your watch, you suck in a breath to try and control your beating heart. You take back what you had thought before, Wilson was the most annoying person you'd ever met.

Ripping the cord much lower than the usually taught 5,000 feet, you slam your feet into an unsuspecting soldier who was staring at your approaching shadow on the concrete. The hit sends him skidding across the ground as his partner points his rifle towards you.

Quickly unclasping the harness, you hold it tightly in your hands as you sprint forward against the wind. Bullets fly past your dodging movements but you slam your foot into the muzzle. Lunging forward, you take out the guard's legs and fluidly wrap the harness and ropes around his ankle. His head smacks hard against the pavement as the parachute expands and the wind drags him down the road.

Wanda hovers down with her magic next to you, glancing back at the unconscious guard riding the wind. She gives you an exasperated sigh as you snatch up the rifle, glancing to make sure the sights are still aligned. Cap only told you that you shouldn't kill them as a first course of action. The guard's still alive, you're just having some fun.

Wanda hears your thoughts, you can tell by the way she rolls her eyes and shakes her head in irritation.

"We've got the roof," Sam calls in as you watch Steve cannonball straight though a window.

There's a scream and you clench your brows as you watch a guard fly out of the window. He slams into a dumpster with a loud clang, unmoving. You extend your hand at what obviously was a practically lethal throw from Cap and look at Wanda with wide eyes. She sighs, rubbing her forehead as she turns away from you and heads towards the building.

"Fine," you grumble as you trudge forward, "I'll just ask people not to shoot me."

Jogging inside, Wanda is already working on the group of guards on the lower floor. You slide behind a pile of tables shoved out of the way and watch Wanda throwing a guard at her friends, knocking them into a wall. With a grunt, you ram your shoulder into the tables and send it speeding across the room on their squeaking wheels. The tables slam the unbalanced group into the wall, knocking them out and keeping them pinned.

Wanda waves you forward quietly, stepping behind your aiming gun as you head towards the staircase. Stopping at the door, she pats your back as you kick it open and clear the area, exactly how you trained. Sweat is pouring down your face from the heat of the day, but you can feel Wanda's cool hand pressed against your arm as she stays close.

Ascending upwards, you hear Cap call that the middle floors are cleared. That leaves the last remaining floor to you and Wanda. Which is, hopefully, where the rest of the files should be located.

Creaking open the door, you peer out into the gray hallway and count underneath your breath how many soldiers you see, just loud enough for Wanda to hear you. You sling the rifle behind your back, creeping into the hallway. Looking to Wanda, you nod and peer through the clear office windows.

With a yell, her powers fly forward. The glass shatters in front of you as you take off into a sprint at the closest guard. His arm reaches back for his weapon but you're on top of him before his eyes even see Wanda. Gripping his arm tightly, you yank down as your legs wrap around his neck. Their helmeted face slams into the ground as you roll backwards and hear the crack inside his arm. Ignoring his screams, you kick off his helmet and place a punch into his jaw, watching his eyes roll back.

The workers are in a panic at the explosion of your entrance, tripping over chairs and desks as they try to escape. Nat will be at the exit with Sam, ready to pick them up and hand them off to the Shield agents for some arresting. The last worker who stayed behind to grab his portfolio sees your approach as he tries to run.

"Uh uh, stay!" You snap at him, holding up a finger. They promptly sit back down as you lean in close, patting the monitor on their table, "Can you unlock all of these files, please? A cherry on top, even."

As you place your rifle on the table, his eyes widen as he quickly sputters out every word he knows that agrees with your commands. You tap your fingers against the gun, edging the panic in his body as he apologizes for an incorrect password. You hide the amusement you're getting from all of this, letting out hums of disapproval when they look at you.

Holding a flash drive in your palm, he takes it gingerly and begins to download the files. Practically hyperventilating next to you, he stares at the incredibly slow download, waiting for your next words. You yank his chair to you, watching how he flinches his eyes closed. Gently, you roll their chair away from you as he gawks in surprise.

"Thank you," you tell him and watch him leap out of the chair and sprints out of the room.

You chuckle, leaning next to the computer as Wanda walks into the room. She rolls her shoulder, grimacing slightly at whatever fight she's walking away from.

"I didn't think you were one for manners."

She stands next to you, clicking through some of the files as you run your hands through your sweating hair.

"Guess we're learning new things about each other today," you grin when those green eyes meet yours, tapping your head.

Wanda nods, remembering how you just recently learned about her party trick. As she continues to click through schematics and memos, you walk off. Keeping the area secure until Nat calls in to let you know every Hydra employee is accounted for was the last part of your mission. Wanda had called in that she had incapacitated four guards while you were working with the computer.

As you turn the corner, you can confirm there are unconscious bodies. Clenching your brow, something is off. You know you're not a math whizz but you're sure you only count two bodies.

Unless Wanda is a liar, two guards are awake and angry. Pulling out your pistol, you round the corner carefully. Placing each step with meticulous placement, you listen carefully for heavy breathing or the scurrying of feet.

A squeaking wheel catches your attention as you turn to your left, following the front of the barrel with your eyes. Finger hovering above the trigger, you watch a chair roll across the hallway. Breathing out your held breath, you turn sharply and see a crouching figure, your heart leaping into your chest. They lunge forward, slicing a glinting knife towards you.

"Shit!" You whisper out, bounding away from the knife and hear the tearing of fabric.

They move quickly, quicker than you do as they rebound their attack. The blade pierces through your suit, entering your torso with little resistance. You gasp, feeling the warmth of your blood as you grab hold of their hands.

Grimacing, you hold their wrist as tight as your slippery fingers can and slam them back into the wall. The knife jostles inside of you, as you snarl, their eyes widening in terror at how you pushed the knife further inside of you. You slam your forehead into their nose, pulling back and seeing blood pouring out. Instinctively, they let go of the knife and you raise your gun in retreat, firing off two rounds.

As they slide down the wall with a groan, you collapse to your knees, shaking hands ripping out bandages. Every breath is agony against the new wound in your body. Sucking in a breath, you take the gauze from your vest and start shoving it into the wound. Biting down on your lip to stop your pained yells, you pack the wound as well as you can. You taste blood as your teeth bite through your lip, letting go as a pained groan exits your mouth.

Leaning over onto your hands, you press your forehead into the ground as you try to breathe through the blistering heat in your torso. The faster you get this mission done, the sooner you can stitch yourself up. You don't know if you can trust the Avengers if you're put under. They might put the tracker they have in your phone inside of you.

You don't even notice the ringing in your ears until someone yelling your name is bringing you back to reality. Opening your eyes with a groan, you carefully sit yourself up. Wanda stands there, unsure if she should approach you or not. You expect to see fear in her eyes, you must look like a savage animal. Covered in blood, sitting in a puddle of blood next to your enemy.

Instead, you see a flash of panic in her eyes as you wipe your nose with a shaking hand.

"Is this yours?" She asks, gesturing to the blood.

Holding in a grimace as you stand up slowly, zipping your suit back up before you stand. You chuckle, holding your crotch,

"Ripped my pants."

Wanda rolls her eyes and holds up the USB in her fingers, successfully distracted. Trying your best not to press against your side, you walk up to her.

"There's another guard walking around," you say as Wanda's eyes glance down at the two she fought with a sigh, "I'm not sure-."

A shadow expands from the corner as you yank Wanda, "Get down!"

Wrapping your body around her as you kneel, trying to reach for your pistol before you get peppered in bullets. Hearing the shots as your fingers skim the grip, you tense your body for the incoming pain. A second later, you feel nothing but the throbbing wound in your side and the warm air that encapsulates you.

Ripples of red surround the two of you, Wanda's heaving breath on your neck. Her lips skim your ear as she whispers,

"He brought friends. Three shooters behind us."

Letting go of her waist, you grab the gun and follow her as she crawls backwards while the guards fire into the shield. Wanda looks at you, eyeing a cabinet to dodge behind. Putting in a fresh magazine, you hear the click from the second guard as his rifle runs dry. Staring into those green eyes, you center yourself as the third rifle clicks. You nod.

The shield falls and you lunge forward as the first rifle fires, while the other two cock their guns. Falling to the ground, you empty your weapon. The guards fall with heavy thuds, rifles clattering against the ground. You groan, your forehead knocking against the ground in exhaustion.

A hand rests on your shoulder,

"Good shot."

Your chuckle is muted into the carpet, eventually deciding to climb slowly up to your feet. Looking over at Wanda who waits for you to stop being lazy, you let out a careful sigh.

"Why aren't you guy's retired yet?" You mutter, limping towards the exit with Wanda.

Wanda watches you carefully as you walk past her and hold open the stairway door. You wonder if she notices the lack of color in your face or the gentle shake of your bloody hands.

"Why aren't you?" She asks, gliding past you with an interesting glance.

You chuckle to hide the grimace on your face as you take the first steps, "Cause I get paid vacation days."

Wanda lets out a scoff, squinting as she opens the door to the bright sunlight. Before walking out, there's a loud explosion from the other side of the building. You look to each other as Nat yells into the radio,

"Assholes called their friends!"

Without another thought, Wanda exits the building as you follow close on her heels. Turning the corner with the attention of beating more people up, you skid to a stop. You both weren't expecting to see the technical parked in front of your paths.

"For chrissakes!" You yell, wrapping yourself around Wanda again.

This time, you can feel the pain shoot through your thigh as you both slam into the ground. You get your hands beneath Wanda and throw her back towards the building. She lands hard on the steps as Rogers jumps in front of you. The bullets ping off of his shield as he smacks your head to get you behind him.

"You good?" He calls out through grit teeth, holding his shield steady against the stream.

Sputtering out in pain as you pull in your leg, you pop open one of the Captain's belt pockets and yank out his tourniquet. Steve yells at a wobbly Wanda to go around and help Nat, you two would handle this technical. Squeezing off the circulation in your leg, you climb up to your knee. Peering around his broad shoulders, you count the group of soldiers they have in front of you.

"You go left, I go right?" You grimace out, pulling out your pistol.

You catch the nod he gives. Tapping his shoulder, you follow in crouched steps as he pushes into the stream of bullets. As you get closer, you split off as he slings the shield into the machine gun with a thud. Shooting two of the approaching soldiers, you lunge forward towards the third one.

Tumbling to the ground for dominance, he shoves against your face as you climb onto him. Gripping your legs around his thighs, you slam your elbow into his side. His hand on your face weakens and in that moment you pistol whip their face with a loud grunt. Leaning back from their body, you breathe carefully as you turn your heavy head slowly with a growing dizziness. Rogers walks over, holding out a hand. Weakly placing a bloody hand in his, he pulls you to your feet.

"Nice work," He tells you, eyeing you as you drag yourself towards the Quinjet, "Guess we could give you more trust, huh?"

You chuckle, letting out a groan as you step up onto the ramp. Looking back at the Shield agents here to pick up the mess, you see Stark talking to the one in charge. He's angry, probably yelling about how they were able to get a distress call out if Shield was supposed to scramble communications.

As Steve helps you up the last of the incline, you pat his back, "Well, I did just spill my blood for you guys. At least get me a cake."

Wanda notices your limping form, pointing from behind the famous Dr. Banner who showed up as a tag along with the Shield agents. He was more happy being used in the medical side of working with the Avengers rather than turning into the big, green guy.

"There's the idiot," She says, pressing an ice pack against the rather large lump on her head from when you threw her.

You furrow your brows as you slide up onto the table for Banner to look at your leg.

"You're welcome," you say as Banner starts to clean the wound. You hiss when you feel the stinging in your leg, "Remind me to let you die when you're shot."

Before Banner can finish the knot on your new bandage, you climb off of the table. He tries to get you to come back when you land a little wobbly on your feet. You shove Wanda out of the way as you limp towards the seats, ignoring Steve trying to calm you down.

Plopping down with a groan, Nat casually sits in front of you. You can hear a changing noise through the ringing in your ears but you're seeing two of Nat. Squinting, you can see her lips are moving and she's trying to keep eye contact with you, she's trying to talk to you. Her muted words have no meaning but you nod along when she glances at you.

You clench your eyes shut as you feel your body twitch with a stinging jolt, letting out a calming breath as you lean back. Opening your eyes, Nat's glaring at you.

"You haven't listened to a word I've said have you?"

You muster up a smirk, "And yet for some reason your mouth just keeps," You raise your hand from your side and open and close your fingers like a mouth.

The blood on your hand glistens in the light. It's fresh. As you glance up from it and to Nat, you watch her breathe in deeply. She lets out a sigh as she tears Banner's bag from the table, ignoring his protests.

Unzipping your suit and practically ripping it off your arm, you clench your teeth in pain.

"You stupid idiot," She tells you, slamming bandages over your stab wound. Her hand runs over your body for other wounds you're keeping from them, "This is not the way you get out of a contract!"

Gripping her arms tightly as your breath sputters out, she carefully guides you to lay down.

"It's slave labor," you grunt out, grimacing as she smacks you to keep your eyes open.

Everyone's come to see what the commotion is about but the last thing you see through blurred vision are red curls falling out of a ponytail.

___________________________

Ch.5

Taglist (let me know if you want to be added!):

@iliketozoneout @lostandsearching @blinkmuch @yeetus-thyself @bi-rdofprey-writes @rooskaya-yelena @yeeterthekeeper @aos22 @sxfwap @women-am-i-right @marie45019 @lucydiibi @raincloudtoyoursunshine @olsensnpm

#wanda #wanda maximoff #wanda marvel #wanda x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #scarlet witch #scarlet witch x reader #wanda fanfic #wanda angst #marvel fan fiction #wanda x y/n #wanda mcu #wanda x you #enemies to lovers #wanda x you enemies to lovers #wanda enemies to lovers

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thehotboxsocial · 2 years ago

Photo

Lil Wayne Features

Cannon (Remix) [Drama feat. Lil Wayne, Willie The Kid, Freeway & T.I.] (2007)

We Takin' Over [DJ Khaled feat. T.I., Akon, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman & Lil Wayne] (2007)

Duffle Bag Boy [Playaz Circle feat. Lil Wayne] (2007)

Make It Rain [Fat Joe feat. Lil Wayne] (2006)

White Girl [Juvenile feat. Lil Wayne & Birdman] (2001)

Gettin Some (Remix) [Shawnna feat. Ludacris, Too Short, Lil Wayne & Pharrell] (2006)

Codeine Dreaming [Kodak Black feat. Lil Wayne] (2017)

Ride Out [Murder Mil feat. Lil Wayne, B.G. & Beanie Sigel] (2001)

Rich N----z [Juvenile feat. Lil Wayne, Mannie Fresh, Turk & Paparue] (1998)

N----z In Trouble [B.G. feat. Lil Wayne & Juvenile] (1999)

Bullet Wound [Gucci Mane feat. Lil' Wayne & Young Scooter] (2013)

Lost [Gorilla Zoe feat. Lil Wayne] (2008)

4 Minutes [Juvenile feat. Lil Wayne, B.G., Mannie Fresh & Turk] (2001)

I Know [B.G. feat. Lil Wayne] (2000)

Demolition Pt. 1 [Gudda Gudda feat. Lil Wayne] (2009)

Bands A Make Her Dance (Remix) [Juicy J feat Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz] (2012)

Hustle Hard (Remix) [Ace Hood feat. Rick Ross & Lil Wayne] (2008)

Ain't It Man [Boo & Gotti feat. Lil Wayne] (2003)

U-Way (Remix) [Youngbloodz feat. Lil Wayne] (1999)

Luxury Tax [Rick Ross feat. Lil Wayne, Jeezy & Trick Daddy] (2008)

Screwed Up [Trae Tha Truth feat. Lil Wayne] (2007)

Stand Up [Lil Scrappy feat. Lil Wayne] (2008)

Gangsta Muzik [Fiend feat. Lil Wayne] (2009)

Get It All Together [Birdman feat. Lil Wayne] (2005)

Let The Thugs In The Club [Mack 10 feat. Lil Wayne & B.G.] (2001)

Ball [T.I. feat. Lil' Wayne] (2012)

Bend It Ova (Remix) [5th Ward Weebie feat. Lil Wayne] (2008)

Dem Boys [Willie D feat. Scarface & Lil Wayne] (2000)

Playin It Raw [B.G. feat. Lil Wayne, Turk & Juvenile] (1999)

Forgot About Me [Scarface feat. Lil Wayne & Bun B] (2008)

Truffle Butter [Nicki Minaj feat. Lil Wayne] (2015)

Roger That [Young Money feat. Nicki Minaj, Tyga & Lil Wayne] (2009)

Stand Up [T.I. feat. Trick Daddy, Lil' Jon & Lil' Wayne] (2004)

Take Kare [Young Thug feat. Lil Wayne] (2015)

Flossin' [Outta Control Ballers feat. Lil Wayne] (1998)

Shawty Say [David Banner feat. Lil Wayne] (2008)

Kryptonite (Remix) [Killer Mike Lil Wayne, Big Boi, Busta Rhymes & Bubba Sparxxx] (2006)

Batman (Remix) [LPD Poody feat. Lil Wayne & Moneybagg Yo] (2021)

Breakin' My Heart [Little Brother feat. Lil' Wayne] (2007)

Kitten [Kash Doll feat. Lil Wayne] (2019)

dl yt

An official document of Wayne’s prolific 3-decade run will yield hundreds of songs so consider this humble compilation a work in progress. Much like how Noz has done 100-packs on Young Thug, Future & Chief Keef, Wayne deserves the same treatment but in at least 3 volumes. I’m thinking something like this: 100 for features, 100 mixtape/beat jacks, 100 from his officially solo/Hot Boys/Stunna albums at minimum.

I’ve actually contemplated doing all the work myself but I don’t have the time to get too passion projecty right now. Maybe someone can take these 40 foundation features and build until we develop a crowd sourced multi-volume best of Wayne library. Just don’t be one of those Wayne-really-got-started-in-2005 ass minions and neglect his Hot Boys era shit! And while I’m using exclamation points also please stop ranking his full-lengths on twitter! Leave the album ranking to the Jay-Z stans! Wayne’s output is so scattershot across so many years for all that and being an Album Artist is boring anyway! But being the greatest rapper of all time is exciting!!

Bonus Beats: Lil Wayne R&B Features

Soldier [Destiny's Child feat. T.I. & Lil Wayne] (2004)

Can't Believe It [T-Pain feat. Lil Wayne] (2008)

Turnin' Me On [Keri Hilson feat. Lil Wayne] (2009)

Roll Call [Ciara feat. Lil Wayne & Lil Jon] (2009)

Freeze (Po Pimpin') [Aniyah Rachelle feat. Lil Wayne] (2009)

You Know What [Avant feat. Lil Wayne & Jermaine Dupri] (2005)

So Good (Remix) [Electrik Red feat. Lil Wayne] (2009)

Ride On [TQ feat. Lil Wayne] (1999)

dl yt

#Lil Wayne #compilation #playlist #cash money records

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tainted-wine · 4 years ago

Note

How would Mr. Birdman feel about suddenly getting a stray feather licked

You trace the quill of the feather with your tongue, smiling at the thought of Hawks’s many possible reactions as you tease him from far away. You hope he isn’t in the middle of fighting villains at this very moment; how embarrassing it would be for him to have to take down criminals while sporting a painful boner.

You run the red plume down your bare body. “Mmm, Hawks...do you feel me, baby?” You moan. How well can he hear your voice, you wonder.

He never gives you any texts or calls like you were expecting. You were hoping to tease him over the phone as he begged you to stop running your tongue over him, to stop brushing him over your nipples or your damp folds. Oh well, he was probably too hot and bothered to even speak to you. Ah, the thought of him breathless and flustered to the point where he can’t even operate his phone has you even wetter.

“Hawks, I’m so close. Are you close, too? Oh fuck...” You circle the feather over your clit as the heat in your core builds up.

“Whoa...what is this?”

You jump at the same time your orgasm hits you, and fuck, your quivering legs collapse as you turn around and see the great winged hero himself, who is looking both very surprised and pleased.

“Hawks-wha-AH...shit...uuggh,” the pleasurable throbs are making speech very difficult. Hawks was supposed to be the embarrassed one, yet here you were trembling on your knees while he just watched with raised eyebrows.

“Didn’t expect to come home to this. Is this a welcome home gift for me, or were you just that desperate to—wait a minute...” He bends down and takes the feather from your shaky fingers. “Where did you find this?”

You were finally gaining control over your body again. “Under the couch,” you panted.

“Pfffft,” Spittle flew from his lips as he tried his hardest not to burst into a fit of laughter. “You were getting off to a dusty stray feather that was under the couch? Good thing I lost all feeling in this little guy, probably weeks ago.”

You blanched.

“But thanks for finding it! I try to keep the place feather-free.” He disposes of the old tuft before turning his attention back to you.

His expression darkens. “Now, I’m not stupid, little bird.”

A flurry of feathers shoot from his wings and onto your still-shaking form, pinning you flat on your back. “Hawks, wait! I—” Whatever you were ready to say leaves your mind when you are suddenly being touched everywhere, your arms and legs held down to prevent you from thrashing about. Your hypersensitive clit is sending painful jolts of pleasure through you as a feather flicks it rapidly, tears welling up in your eyes from the merciless stimulation.

“You thought your little solo session was a two-way street, didn’t you?” Hawks was already rubbing himself through his baggy pants as he watched his feathers smother and overwhelm you. “Well, this ended pretty awkwardly for you, didn’t it? But don’t worry, I’m starting to feel really good right now.”

He frees his cock, jerking himself as he takes in your helpless squeals, your trembles, your prolonged climaxes...yes, this was a fitting punishment for attempting to distract him during a busy day at work.

“You want my feathers so badly, baby bird? They’re all yours.”

#asks #hawks #smut #i'm sorry anon #this doesn't even answer your question #i just couldn't stop imagining this backfiring

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hitsuackerman · 4 years ago

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Unpredictable (Overhaul x Reader) pt.17

a/n: ya’ll~ more flirting happens... >:)

warnings: this cannot be read solo, fluff

Links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 18

Masterlist to my other fics: here :)

Overhaul’s waiting list: @jjk-biased @infinite-universe-love @dirtypride @blackymomo03 @azzie @purple-rabanito @meximorrita @awesomeee19 @celestial-kanzakii @laure-lo

“THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS, CHISAKI!” You slammed your fist on the table.

The movie did not turn out well from both of your commentaries. Deciding on something else to do, you asked if he had ever played other board games aside from Shogi. When he answered he knew a few, you quickly went to the guest room and took out a few. There was a short debate as to what game to play, but the two of you settled with Monopolize.

“Of course it is.” He showed you his properties. “I get to purchase what I want, is that not the rule?”

“Well, yeah, but YOU DON’T NEED THAT PROPERTY!” You were a card away before being able to purchase a house. Underestimating his Monopolize skills, you found yourself struggling with the properties and money.

“Oh, but I do if I want to beat you.” He reached for the bag of chips and munched on a few. Seeing how you were slowly becoming bankrupt was rather fun. When he saw the way you began to think of ways to bring yourself back up, he had to admit it was pretty. “Just go to jail.”

“I intend to purchase more lots with my remaining money…” Throwing the dice, the both of you stopped breathing when you rolled an 8. Smirking at the result, you happily passed Go and earned 200. But your happiness faded when you landed on his property with 3 houses.

“Pay up.”

“Fuck you and your houses.” You took a thick amount of bills and coins. “I feel so cheated.”

“First off, that’s a different version of Monopolize. Second, I do not cheat when it comes to board games.” He took the money and arranged it. “And third, you simply suck at this game.”

“Okay. First, you basically do this as a yakuza. Second, I do not suck at this game. I’m just at a disadvantage. And third…”

“Third?” It was clear you ran out of reasons.

“How bout we team up on some properties, ey?” Once again you gave him finger guns. You winced and widened your eyes when you realized he threw chips at your face. “Did you just throw food at me?!”

“No. That was your bankruptcy I threw at you.” Catching the pillow you threw at him, he caught it effortlessly. Smirking at your lame attempt, he threw the pillow back at you. “Lame.”

“I will not hesitate to cuff you to the sofa, you trashy bird.”

“I can easily overhaul and escape. You’re merely wasting effort.”

“Is that a challenge?” You stood up and placed your hands on your waist.

“It may be.” He stood up as well and took a step closer to you.

“I’ll give you 10 seconds to run.”

“You have them ready?” He stared at the coffee table and searched for any drawers that could hold cuffs. Watching you bend over and reach for something, he took a playful step back when a pair of quirk suppressing cuffs were now in your hands. Not wasting time, he turned around only to be followed by you.

The chasing went on for about 15 minutes. Going in and out of rooms, bumping on furniture, overhauling pillows thrown at him (followed by incoherent cursing), and a few slips from both of you, the unit was a mess. One particular slip made you loosen your grip on the cuffs. Overhaul was about to turn and help till he realized he could turn things around. Manipulating the ground, you watched as the cuffs shot into the air and landed on his glove free hand.

“Yeah… I think the point has been proven that I’m weak compared to you.” You were now the one who took a step back. The mischievous glint in his golden eyes sent shivers down your spine. When he took a step forward, you turned 180 degrees and made a run for it.

Jumping and avoiding the mess of each overhauled item, you were now cornered into the wall. No where else to go, you stood ground and watched as he twirled the cuffs around his finger.

“You’re not even out of breath.” Overhaul praised you. Not that he was but the chase was rather, dare he say, fun.

“I chase people like you for a living. I have to be fit.” Swallowing your saliva, you could feel your knees growing weak with how dangerously close he was now. Not finding the strength to look him in the eye, you focused on the floor.

“You didn’t answer my question from before.” He placed his palm on the wall and leaned in closer. “Why do people like touching other people? It’s plain filthy and the amount of germs being exchanged makes me want to puke.”

“It provides them a sense of comfort and belonging.” You shrugged. Well aware that you were now pinned to the wall. Making eye contact with him, you began to chew on your lower lip. Not bothering to activate your quirk, you felt your cheeks heating up from the closeness you two had.

Placing his other hand on the wall, Overhaul took in the view of your flustered self. Checking to see if he had any hives, he was more than pleased with their absence. Inching his way even closer, he felt your hot breath brush his face.

With the tip of his nose, he began to trace your jaw and cheek. Leaning on his elbow, he lowered his other hand. His index finger began to trace an imaginary line down your arm.

“You know,” He whispered in your ear. “It’s amazing how you don’t question my motives.”

“I-I’m just keeping my end of the bargain.” It’s a miracle you were still standing. Having him this close to you made you want to just grab him and devour his lips. Of course, you knew it was wrong knowing both of you were still professional but… it is outside work hours and he said there was no need for formalities. “Chisaki?”

“What is it, my little guilty pleasure?”

Do you bite back? Should you respond? If you did, then what if he’d back up all of a sudden due to cooties and shit? But you were literally pinned to the wall and if this wasn’t suggestive enough, you weren’t exactly sure what he was after. When the tip of his nose traveled to your cheek once more, you dared look at his eyes again and let out a shaky exhale.

“Imma be honest. Are we on the same page?”

“Are my actions not clear enough?” He was now directly in front of you. Taking a step closer, both your chests were touching. All it took was for him to lean down and the rest would be history.

“In my defense,” Your eyes fell to his lips and back to his sharp golden orbs. “You are an antisocial sociopath and anything can run through your head.”

“Is that what you cops label me?”

“Yes.”

“Can’t blame them.”

“True.”

“Problem child.”

“Birdman.”

Fixing his posture, Overhaul smirked at the yearning expression you gave him. Turning around, he looked at the mess the both of you made during the little cat and mouse game. Peaking over his shoulder, he watched as you recomposed yourself. The red tint on your cheeks made you glow.

That would have been the perfect chance to know why humans craved to be touched. Yet, tonight was not the night. Your response was enough for him to know that when the time comes, you would surely cave in and give him the answer he wants.

“Your unit is a mess.” He walked towards the table and stared at the deformities surrounding the sofa.

“Well, it wouldn’t have been if a certain someone didn’t use his quirk.”

“I am not the one who started the little fiasco.”

“Can you please overhaul things back to the way they were?” Your shoulders slumped. The game pieces were nothing but the floor and some parts of the sofa had been damaged. With the adrenaline from before dying down, you felt exhausted from the day’s events.

Noticing your change of aura, he reached for his mask and kneeled to the floor. Using his quirk, he overhauled things back to the way they were. Relief evident on your face, he felt good knowing he was the cause.

“You look tired. I should go.”

“Yeah. Just give me a minute and I’ll drive you back.” You said as you picked up the money and board. “And I will not take no for an answer. I brought you here. It’s my responsibility to bring you back.”

“They might see you and raise their suspicions.” He retorted. “We aren’t supposed to be seeing each other until two months from now.”

“Do I look like I care?” He merely blinked his response. Covering the box, you stood up and gestured for him to follow you towards the door. “Technically speaking, I’m still part of the case. Nao is just taking my absence. Besides, Levi made it clear that none of them were to meddle with the Fukuo Kai case.”

His eye twitched at the name. That same man had been sleeping in the same area as you.

“What was your business with Ackerman?”

“Oh. Well, he was supposed to help me in the Arson case I was working on. But the HPSC took over and Erwin said he was needed back at his precinct so it was short lived.” Should you use Levi’s name? He wasn’t around and there was no way his quirk could reach you from this distance. “Kinda sucks he’s not here though.”

“How unfortunate.”

“Ah well~” You locked your doors and the both of you were now inside the elevator. “Dating him for a couple of years, it makes my apartment seem empty. He was good company to have.”

Silence engulfed the two of you as you made your way to the car. Observing his eyes, they were steering clear from yours. If this was jealousy or anger, you couldn’t tell but getting some sort of reaction from him was more than you could bargain for.

Regret came seeping in when you were now turning left. The entire car ride, he was silent and not even you had the guts to break the ice. When the house was in sight, you parked the car and locked the door before he could even open it.

“Did I say something wrong?” You challenged him.

“Not at all.”

“Then why are you silent?”

“None of your business.” He unlocked the door only to have you lock it again.

“If you’re pissed about Ackerman,” You saw how his eye twitched. “Then I’m more than happy to say I don’t see him in that way anymore. We just, you know, managed to fix things real good.”

“I didn’t ask for an explanation.”

“Look at you all whiny~” You poked his shoulder. “I like someone else. Just in case you want to know.”

“Unlock the door before I break this.” Seeing how the locks flipped, he opened the doors and slammed it shut. Not bothering to look back, he made his way towards the gate and entered.

“Great.” You mumbled to yourself as you left the area. “Way to ruin the night, (y/n).”

Three days had passed since the little fiasco you two shared. During those days, not a single text or missed call from him. Though, it wasn’t surprising knowing you were currently off the case and that you were now on your way to Sir Nighteye’s Agency for a meeting. Fixing yourself in the mirror, you found your thoughts wandering to what had happened.

Being pinned to the wall by a Class-B Villain was something you had never dreamed about. Heck, taking personal interest with one never really crossed your mind. It just had to be with a yakuza boss who seems to be taking a liking to you that made things start. Why couldn’t it have been someone like Gentle or even just those random ass one’s?

Still, having his face inches away from yours made your stomach feel tingly and face red. Hell, you even cursed yourself for not taking a screenshot of his shirtless self.

‘You and your useless brain!!’ Gei screamed when you relayed what had transcribed between you two. ‘BABY GIRL! You just lost the opportunity to seize that man!’

Banging your head on the wheel, you groaned and had a mini seizure. Taking the files and your bag, you made your way to the building. Greeted by Deku and Mirio, all three of you went up the stairs and small talked about life in UA. Or quirks.

“What’s your quirk, (l/n)-san?” Deku asked enthusiastically as he readied his notebook and pen.

“I’m not really sure what to call it.” You scratched your nape. Ever since you were a child, you never really bothered branding your quirk with some flashy name. Blood Pressure manipulation was too long. At times, you could control the flow of one’s blood circulation but not to the point where it could be branded as Blood Manipulation. It probably could have evolved into that but you strayed away from the hero courses offered.

Explaining your quirk, you watched as Deku scribbled notes and nodded his head. Asking questions every now and then as well. It felt odd having an interrogation about your quirk but you were more than willing to answer his queries.

“(Y/N)!” Fatgum yelled from across the hallway. Arms open wide for a hug.

“Fatgum!” Being wrapped in his big arms was always comfortable. “How’s the agency? Looking a little less round today.”

“Agency is doin’ well~ Tamaki here is showing a lot of potential to become my sidekick!” He slapped the back of the elf like boy who merely lowered his head and covered his blushing face. “Kirishima’s also kicking ass as well!”

The small conversations continued till all of you were now seated inside the meeting room. With Nighteye seated in the center, you listened as he began the meeting.

“Today, we have some good updates. I managed to come in contact with a man who worked under the Shie Hassaikai. He was out doing an errand Overhaul probably tasked him to do.” Taking out a rather large box, all of you stared at the child’s obnoxiously pink toy. “It was a risk but I managed to see how to get into his base. The needed combination to access the underground facility.”

You hated being in this room. Each passing minute dragged on. It felt wrong having to hear out what the heroes were saying all while wishing the best for the man they were planning to capture. When Nighteye gave the new timeframe, it was exactly a month from the Fukuo Kai stake out.

“Are there any questions?” NIghteye asked. Adjusting his glasses, he focused on your side of the table. “Suggestions?”

Seeing as there were none, the meeting was adjourned.

“(l/n)-san, may I have a word?” He spoke before you could stand.

Nodding farewell to your friends, you took the seat close to the pro-hero and motioned for him to begin. Observing as he took out a small contraption from his breast pocket, you swallowed a ton of saliva when he placed it on the table.

“I know Ackerman specifically mentioned not to meddle with your case, but this is all I ask of you.” Pushing the small object near you, he waited for you to hold on to it. When you did, he proceeded. “This isn’t much but would it be alright if you plant this somewhere in his office?”

“Sir Nighteye.” You activated your quirk to calm your nerves. “As much as I’d like to help, I’m currently off the case and the last time I visited the Shie Hassaikai was weeks ago.”

“Tsukauchi has relayed the news that in two months, you two will be working together.” He paused and leaned on the back rest. “Or was that just false information?”

“With all due respect, Overhaul’s trust in me is as fragile as any glass could get. If he were to find out that I bugged him the case might be put to jeopardy.”

“That’s why you should plant it once your case is finished.”

“Pardon?”

“As much as possible, we want this case to be finished with. The sooner we can get to Eri-chan, the better. However, if we cannot get a glimpse as to how their operations truly run and what goes on in that head of his, this whole situation would take longer.” Not once did he let go of your eye contact. “I made sure to pattern the raid with your case to ensure higher chances of success.”

“Well, in that case, I simply have to hold on to this until my case with him closes.?”

“Exactly. But, if you can bug him even earlier it would be of much help.”

“And what if he finds out?”

“By the time he will, the raid would have already happened.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Those were the safest words you could say with confidence. “Is that all?”

“Yes. Thank you for the time.”

Gathering your things, you made your way out of the room. The chip resting snugly on your clenched fist. Thankful that he didn’t touch you in anyway, you avoided the crowded hallways and slipped past the exit. Brisk walking all the way to your car, you immediately locked the doors and checked if the device was off.

Taking a small box from the compartment, you placed the burden inside.

Massaging your temples, you rested your head on the steering wheel and cussed. No matter how careful you were, the heroes always managed to be two steps ahead. Remembering what Hawks said, it was harder to be three steps in front of them.

“I fucking hate set ups.” You mumbled before starting your car and headed to the precinct.

As if the day couldn’t get any worse, the chief was standing by your cubicle when you arrived. The same smug look on his face indicated he was updated with the meeting and knew perfectly well what you had to do.

“How was the meeting, (y/n)?” He leaned on the partition with his arms crossed over his chest.

“It went rather well but I am not in the mood to handle whatever fuckery you have instore for me today.” You snapped back. Louder than intended, the whole area went silent and stared at both of you.

“That is no way to speak to your commanding officer, (l/n).”

“Oh yeah? Well sorry to say that I don’t give a shit, Yokai-kun.” You weren’t done. “Or should I say, chief.”

“We are in the precinct, (l/n). If you cannot handle whatever emotion you are lashing out, feel free to step outside.”

“Thank you for the offer.” Grabbing your needed folders, you stuffed them into your bag and faced the enraged chief once more. “Oh and by the way, you smelling like a vegetable is revolting. So the next time you invade my personal space AND private life, you’ll be hearing an ambulance.”

Flicking him off, you stormed out of the precinct and found yourself in the car once more. The whole ordeal lasted no more than 10 minutes. The only good thing to happen was you gave that asshat a chunk of your mind. For sure, 5 cases would land on your desk by tomorrow.

A knock on your window made you jump on your seat. Unlocking the door, you watched as Tsukauchi took the passenger’s seat. A cup of tea in his outstretched hand. Accepting it, you gulped the beverage and let out a sigh.

“Rough day?”

“A bit.”

“How was the meeting with Nighteye?”

“It went smoothly. Things are picking up nicely.” That was the truth. The cold hard truth.”If things turn out well, they might succeed in capturing Overhaul.”

Nodding at your statement, Tsukauchi began to tap his index finger on the window button.

“And that’s alright with you?”

“Of course.” No hesitation on your response.

“Then why be emotional about it?” His voice was even and showed no sign of anger. “It’s unlike you to act out and cause a scene.”

“It’s complicated, Nao.”

“You’re the one whose making things complicated.” His index stopped tapping. “This side you're showing me… only happens when you're caught in a cinch. Adding two and two, there’s only two possible reasons why.” Waiting for you to respond, he was rather shocked that you remained silent. “The first is that you’re secretly working with the Shie Hassaikai with their deeds.”

The small smirk you made was enough to let him furrow his brows.

“What’s the second, Nao?”

“Do I really have to say it?”

If there was one person whom you could fully trust, it had to be the man sitting beside you. Rubbing your face in defeat, a soft and weak chuckle escaped your mouth. He was using his quirk but you were too exhausted to bite back.

“So the worst really happened, huh?” He patted and squeezed your shoulder. Hoping it was enough to calm your rapid thoughts. “Since when?”

“It just happened gradually.” You sighed. “I’m sorry. I lost control and my professionalism along the way.”

“Don’t be.” He ruffled your hair, the most unexpected action ever. “I took it into account knowing Levi and you were a thing. I overlooked the small chance of you harboring feelings for him. I guess in a way, I’m at fault too. This was my case yet I handed it to you.”

“Nah. It’s on my account. I wanted to treat him as a human being to see what he was behind the mask. His charm got to me and I’m just reaping the consequences. You have no fault in this, Nao.”

“If it makes you feel better,” He nodded and chuckled. “I can see why you fell down the rabbit hole. He’s good with words and sociopath tendencies aside, he’s as proper as a gentleman can get. To be honest, I brushed this theory off but when he requested to have you be his partner, it just… stood out.”

“He complimented you. Said you were not a hindrance at all.” You finally smiled at your partner.

“As he should.” He winked.

- - - - -

a/n: haha yall cockblocked yourselves xD i hope ya’ll liked that little kabedon ;) Overhaul’s waiting list is still accepting btw :) feel free to drop a comment or message if you wanna be added :)

#overhaul x reader #overhaul #bnha overhaul #mha overhaul #chisaki #chisaki kai x reader #bnha chisaki kai #mha chisaki kai #hahaha my schedule this week is fucked up #hopefully i can edit the next chapter #send help

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thegreatallie · 4 years ago

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Watching “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” again is reminding me how *weird* that show was

They would just... do strange and nonsensical things for the sake of doing them. Utterly bizarre things I had never seen on television before. Things the Internet had not yet thought of doing, and I was a child at the time. Nowadays most of this stuff seems fairly typical and I have been moderately desensitized to it, but it was different in the 90s. YouTube Poop hadn’t been invented yet, for starters. I watched this show frequently until my family got rid of cable, so I would have seen all of this with no explanation before the age of 13:

Instead of a regular episode, there was a guy narrating a previous episode and another guy drawing pictures of what the narrator guy was saying. This lasted exactly as long as an ordinary episode.

An episode that seems normal, but then when the theme song usually ends it instead continues longer, then there’s an extended drum solo, then Zorak playing Space Ghost to the desk lasts for almost two minutes, and then finally they put up a “Please Stand By” card so they can play EVEN MORE music, and that’s just the whole episode. (As a child I didn’t get that it was a tribute to their composer; they said they just wanted to play the music of Sonny Sharrock and that meant nothing to me.)

One episode was in black and white, with an odd feedback sound throughout and weird quotes on the bottom of the screen. The theme song was also different and very angry.

Instead of doing an interview, Space Ghost, Zorak, and Moltar go on an adventure to find his evil clone. At the end of the episode, it loops right back around to the beginning. At first you’re like, “Oh, ha ha, that’s funny, end to beginning, right?” But then it keeps going, no commercials, all through the episode again giving you serious déjà vu. It goes all the way through the episode again, and when they get to the end... the loop back to the beginning for an unbelievable third time. At this point you think that this episode will be going on forever and that’s just what Cartoon Network is now.

Alien pods trap Space Ghost and all inside the studio, and if they fall asleep they’ll be killed. Instead of ending, some old-timey guy appears and says you can bid on the ending in some sort of online auction (this marked the first time I had ever heard of an online auction.) You never do find out how the episode was meant to end, or even if it was meant to end.

Space Ghost gets mad at an ant and follows it back to its lair. For ten minutes. Nothing else happens but Space Ghost creeping across the screen in front of various backgrounds. Again, it feels like this might just be what Cartoon Network is now forever. The Space Ghost Following An Ant Network.

One week they have Birdman host the show. There’s an excuse for this but it was just weird because I was familiar with Birdman’s action-adventure cartoon, but not Space Ghost’s.

In one episode where Space Ghost keeps switching with his twin, every time he flies away it doesn’t make the standard “fly away” noise; it’s just someone saying “woosh!” but more like “wush.” This is the funniest thing in the world when you’re nine.

One time Space Ghost was playing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 when we got back from commercial.

Space Ghost ate all of his guests once. Don’t worry, though, it was all a dream. Not sure who’s dream, though.

#space ghost #space ghost coast to coast #cartoon network

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itsalljustangst · 4 years ago

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Tag people you want to get to know better!

Favourite colour: Blue, (also occasionally yellow if Renjun is wearing it)

Song I last listened to: (I'mma just list it songs that played while I wrote this)

• 'Eros and Apollo' Studio Killer

• 'Love me now' NCT 127

• 'Ranjha Ranjha' Javed Ali

• 'My Everything' NCT U

• 'Quite Down' NCT Dream

• '119' NCT Dream

• 'Stand By Me' WayV

• 'La Di Da' Everglow

• 'Criminal' Taemin

• 'Moral of the story' Ashe ft. Naill Horan

• 'Someone New' Hozier

• 'Neo got my back' NCT (that's my favorite noise bish)

• 'Beautiful' Monsta X

• 'Sorry I'm not sorry Monsta X (best thing that happened 2020)

• 'Christmas' EXO

• 'Domino' WayV (absolute favorite rn)

Favourite musicians: Huang Renjun (I'm guessing you guessed it) WayV, NCT Dream, NCT 127, NCT U (NCT in gen) Monsta X, EXO(all units and even as solos), GOT7, EVERGLOW, Blackpink, ITZY, Lay Zhang (EXO), HyunA, IU, Brittney Spears, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa.

[Mentioned my absolute favourites, alot more kpop but other than that]

Fleurie, Ruelle, Hozier, Troye Sivan, Green Day, Taylor Swift, Melanie Martinez, Plain White T's, Bryan Adams (all i can remember right now)

Last film I watched: All the Bright places (but did not enjoy so instead I'll also name few i watched recently) The BirdMan or Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (Loved it) Baby Driver (might not be the best but AMAZING music)

Last show I watched: Hospital playlist (loved it, season 2 when?); I told sunset about you (please god WHAT A FUCKING MASTER PIECE)

Favourite characters: Magnus Bane (Shadowhunters); Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter), Wei Wu Xian (The Untamed) and alot more really

Sweet, spicy or savoury: depends alot on my mood and periods.

Sparkling water, tea or coffee: My recent obession and dependency on tea to stay awake during my online classes are boderline scary. Although I'm through and through overpriced, capitalist, fancy, chained coffee line person i.e, CCD mostly :) [ existing in capitalism, hating it but also indulging and then hating yourself for it but a girl needs coffee sowry]

Pets: none as of yet but soon wanna turn in a mom of 3 kitten two doggos, as soon as possible.

Tagging: @herebecozofuplan2luvit @nervouschaospuppy @straybrightwin @fandomocalypse you can totally ignore it too. @anyone who sees it and wanna do

Also @rants-at-midnight thank you so much for tagging me and sorry for doing it ages later also maybe do it again!!

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leah-halliwell92 · 5 years ago

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Clint

Summary: Soulmates are identify each other by the words written on their wrists. However when you meet the Avengers during a family cook out at Avengers Tower you come face to face with what should be an impossibility.

‘I'm sorry.'

Those are the words your soulmate you say to you. Your sister would look at you with such sadness as teenagers and then pity when she found her soulmate and you still hadn't. She was worried that this would mean your soulmate wouldn't want you; but you were optimistic that they would whoever your soulmate is. Years went by and you never lost hope despite what the words on your wrist said.

Years passed and soon you were at Avengers Tower as liaison between them and the X-Men. You could help but be excited to not only be the one sent to the liaison but because this was your first solo 'mission.' That and you are going to be meeting and working along side the Earth's mightiest heroes...and Tony Stark. You spotted the landing bay and noticed that they were all outside waiting for you. You land and tuck your wings back as them stare open mouthed.

Captain America steps forward arm extended and kind smile on his face as he said, "Hi, thanks for coming out."

You nod with a kind grin of your own, "No problem, Mr. Rogers."

"Steve please," he said with a boyish grin and took a step to the side as he turned to introduce the rest of the merry band of misfits.

You nod to each of the team members with a smile and soon is meeting their families and friends.

You were at the bar getting a virgin drink and found yourself standing next to Clint Barton.

"Why does Stark call you Birdman?" You asked him.

His eyes widen and he pales as you utter the words and the following words out of his mouth freeze you in your spot... "I'm sorry."

At that moment twin calls for 'daddy' reach your ears as two children meet his legs. You ever the optimist hope that he's a single father but of course luck was not on your side as a gorgeous woman comes to stand next to him and presses a kiss to his cheek.

You take a deep breath take your drink and make a quiet exit to give the family their moment and you a chance to gather yourself enough to call the professor to send out someone else. You drank your lemon punch regretting not having asked the bartender to add the alcohol and made rounds on the floor putting up a strong front despite the heaviness you feel pulling you down. You saw Clint looking for you so you did your best to keep your head down and avoid him.

"Do you need some air?" Bucky asked a sympathetic grin on his face.

You nod gratefully at him and let him pull you out into the somewhat chilly air of the evening.

"Thanks," you say as you take gulps of air.

He nods and says, "Take the time you need."

He left you alone and you were more than glad to have this moment for yourself. You pulled out your phone and sent a quick message to Ororo about you going home early the next day.

"I...um..." you heard behind you and you turned to see Clint standing behind you, "I don't really–"

"You don't have to explain. And I don't expect you to just up and leave your family because words on our wrists say so...you love them...you love her. Its ok really," you say fighting the urge to scream as the words poured out of your mouth.

"Im sorry," he said again.

You nod wishing he'd stop saying those words the sting of the emotion behind them growing to a burn as the rejection of the bond became more real.

'Please just leave me alone,' You thought.

"If you ever wanna talk don't be afraid to knock on my door," he said scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

You gave a jerky nod and resisted the urge to sigh in relief when you saw Bucky come back out.

"Was gonna ask you if I could see your wing span?" he asked somehow knowing your predicament.

You gave him a smile and nod.

"Do you want to join us?" You asked out of courtesy.

"Na that's alright I need to be getting back to Laura and the kids," he said before saying his goodbyes.

Bucky offered you his arm which you gratefully took and made your way inside where Stark came up to you all smiles and a joke on the tip of his tongue before seeing how you looked.

"Someone I know where we can have some privacy," he said as he went to your free side wrapping your free arm around his elbow.

Soon you had both men with you in a fairly large bathroom where you were Bucky was holding your hair back as you threw up what little food you had eaten as Stark sifted through the cabinet for mouth wash and maybe some liquor.

"So Birdman's your soulmate?" Stark asked gently.

You nod as you lean into Bucky's embrace and break down to the fact that he's not your and wasn't yours to begin with.

Tag List:

@deepestfirefun, @queensdivas, @buckyscrystalqueen, @bowieandqueen11, @brianandthemays, @disasterdeacy

#clint barton #hawkeye #hawkeye x reader #marvel mcu imagine #marvel imagine

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how-manygalileos · 6 years ago

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and the songbird keeps singing - chapt1

a/n: hey gang, this is the first bit of actual writing i’ve done for juliette byrd, an oc i’ve had in the works for a little while. so yea, this is a little intro to her, idk if this will follow a traditional chapter based system, but we’ll see. enjoy!! :) xx

word count: 2265

the audition

February 2013

Juliette sat outside the small auditorium, her bass guitar in its case sat next to her. She looked around nervously and bounced her knee. She took a deep breath, the final stage of auditions. A couple of other performers were loitering around the same area. It felt like every single one of them was staring at her. Should she be warming up? Thinking about what she might say? Because she was the only girl in that room? Should she have prepared more? The person who called her about final call backs said the pieces she had already would be enough but she couldn’t help but worry.

“Juliette Byrd.” the audition director called out, catching her off guard and startling her slightly. She collected herself and picks up her guitar case, before hurrying into the room. She stood, exposed, on the floor of the black box theatre, a drum kit and guitar amps set up behind her. Brian May, Roger Taylor sat in the auditorium stalls along with who she assumed was a musical director of some sort and the woman who had called her into the room.

“So, Miss Byrd” Brian started.

“No please, call me Juliette - or Byrdie- I don’t mind”, she scolded herself slightly. She just interrupted Brian may. THE BRIAN MAY. She also wasn’t sure why she brought up ‘Byrdie’, it was just a stupid nickname her jazz band director had given her at secondary school. Brian smiled, putting her mind at rest slightly. “Juliette, tell us something about yourself” he continued. Juliette cleared her throat slightly.

“Hi, i’m Juliette, I’ve been playing bass for 15 years, I’ve got 8 years training in both classical and musical theatre singing, acting and dance, I’ve played in jazz bands, rock bands, theatre orchestras and--”

“Juliette” Roger cut her off, “we want to know about you, not why you think you’re qualified”. She felt her cheeks flush slightly.

“Uhh- umm…” Juliette fumbled with her thoughts, “My name is Juliette Devon Byrd. I was born on 18th October 1989 - uh - I’m from Brighton... I like music, nearly all genres, playing it, listening to it, writing it, most everything about it - um - I like cats, I had one called Chester growing up and he would sleep on my pillow most nights… I lived in London for a few years but moved back to Brighton a little over a year ago.”

“Why the move back to Brighton?” Brian asked

“Oh…” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to answer that, afraid it would result in too much pity, “November last year my mum got sick, she couldn’t work or look after my sister. So I came home to help her out.”

“You have a sister?” Roger asked

“Yeah, -well- half-sister. Her name’s Lauren and she turns 13 in April” by this point Juliette felt more comfortable, more settled into the situation.

“Oh! My youngest turns 13 in April too. How’s your sister finding school?” Roger said, Juliette was glad, and slightly impressed, that the conversation had quickly moved past her mother being ill and she felt she had made a personal connection.

“She’s doing really well, she’s a lot more clever than I am. She’s great at science, really likes biology specifically” Juliette beamed.

“You certainly sound very proud of her.” Brian acknowledged her warm smile and returned it.

“So, shall we try some playing?” the musical director chirped up, “Brian? Roger? And Juliette, if you want to get yourself set up” the two older musicians stood up and walked down to the area where Juliette was standing. Juliette opened her guitar case, pulling out her mint green Music Man StingRay and checked it was in tune. Roger sat at the drum kit behind her as Brian amped up the Red Special, Juliette followed suit, amping up her bass.

“You know Crazy Little Thing Called Love?” Brian said, catching her attention. He had set down the Red Special and picked up an acoustic.

“Of course,” Juliette replied, smirking slightly, before the jam session began. She played well, confident but still with a few mistakes that she put down to nerves. After Crazy Little Thing they played Another One Bites The Dust and then Dragon Attack. After that Juliette was asked to improvise a bass solo, which because of her jazz band experience she was quite good at. Juliette left the final call back feeling quite confident but didn’t want to get her hopes up and risk disappointment.

After the final candidate finished their audition, Brian and Roger sat alone in the auditorium for a moment, the other two members of the casting board having left the room already. In the background two roadies were packing up the amps and drum kit.

“What do you think then? Have we got our bassist, Rog?” Brian broke the silence between them.

“I think we might, there’s certainly a couple I have in mind.” Roger answered, “Of course, I don’t think we’ll know for sure until we do a proper performance with the rest of the band.”

“I’ve heard from Deaky,” Brian said, “I sent him an email about it last week, just the final shortlist and their CVs and headshots, that sort of thing… I didn’t really expect to get a response.”

“Well, It was an email about finding someone to, in a way, replace him… I’ve not heard much out of him in years” Roger said crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair slightly, “What did Birdman have to say then? Anything useful?”

“He did have one particular favourite by the sounds of things,” Brian started, “a certain, Miss. Juliette Byrd. She played Scaramouche on the West End, you know.”

“Oh, that was her,” Roger commented, “I thought she seemed familiar.”

“Deaky said that she was his favourite Scaramouche, he’s been to see a few different casts and apparently her performance style stands miles above the rest.”

“Great bassist too, definitely one of the most talented ones we’ve seen today.” Roger paused to think, “At any of the callbacks this week, come to think of it. Quite young though.” This wasn’t incorrect, Juliette was only 23, there were more experienced people they had auditioned.

“But then so was Deaky.” Brian reasoned, Roger nodded in agreement.

Juliette sat at the kitchen table refreshing her email over and over and her mobile with a full battery, ready to pick up should it ring. She was supposed to find out today. An email if she didn’t get it, a phone call if she did. At least that’s how it usually went.

“So today’s the day!” her childhood best friend puts her hands on her shoulders. Juliette jumped slightly.

“Katie!” she called out upon realising who it was, “what are you doing here?”

“Your sister let me in, couldn’t miss seeing you on the big day.” Katie had been there every time Juliette was to find out about a part or job she’s auditioned for. She put a bottle of prosecco and a cake box down on the table.

“It’s a little premature for that, isn’t it?” Juliette said, refreshing her emails again. Katie raised an eyebrow at her. “J.” she stated, in a somewhat disapproving tone, “You’ll get it, I know you will. You’re the best bassist I know.”

“I’m the only bassist you know.”

“Shut up. That isn’t the point. Don’t be a smart arse.” Katie said, pointing at her, “You’ll get it, and if you don’t then you have some decent booze to drown your sorrows with and cupcakes so you can eat your feelings.” Juliette shrugged in response and went back to obsessively checking her emails.

“Hey, don’t they only send you an email if you don’t get it?” Katie asks, reaching to close the laptop.

“I don’t know that, every audition process is different.” Juliette replied, reopening her laptop, “Anyway, I’d thought you’d be over at James’, being in the honeymoon phase and all.” Katie blushed slightly.

“I feel this is far more important, today I get to find out if little Juliette I went to nursery with is joining one of the biggest rock bands in the world.” Katie beamed, “Also he has a load of year 2 maths homework to mark, him and Liv said they’d come over later.”

Katie, James, Liv and Juliette had been a tight knit group of friends in secondary school, and tried to see each other as often as they could. Katie worked in a small cake shop in the middle of town, she had dreams of one day opening her own cafe and patisserie. James wanted to be a primary school teacher, he was finishing his final year of training so he was stressed. The main solace he had to distract him from said stress was the blossoming relationship he had started with Katie that summer just gone. Liv was a librarian, she had always liked books so it seemed the natural thing for her to be doing after they finished school. Even though Juliette was back in Brighton, she’d seen less of her school friends than when she was living in London. She was really happy her old friends were there to support her on the day her career could potentially change forever. Juliette refreshed her email a few more times, Katie rolled her eyes and walked over to put the kettle on. Juliette’s phone buzzed on the tabletop. She scrambled to grab it.

New message from Cian O’Doherty: Today’s the day, you heard yet J-byrd? :P

Juliette sighed, what an inopportune moment to receive a text. She had promised Cian that he’d be the first to know, but he was rather impatient. Katie looks over her shoulder.

“Cian O’Doherty?” she asks, “Isn’t that the Irish lad who was the year below us? Played rugby with James?”

“Uhh- yeah,” Juliette said absentmindedly refreshing her laptop, “he’s actually the one who got me the audition.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, he’s a session drummer, he’s got contacts in the industry and stuff.”

“Do you know yet?” Juliette’s sister, Lauren, bounded into the room excitedly.

“Not yet, Laur, no.” Juliette sighed, her sister gave her a sympathetic smile and went to sit at the kitchen table with the other two girls.

A half hour passed, Juliette obsessively refreshing her emails and checking her phone. She felt like she was going a little bit insane. She was about to give up, assuming she hadn’t got it. Suddenly, her phone rang. Juliette froze for a moment.

“What are you waiting for?” Katie practically screamed, “Pick it up!” Juliette reached for her phone and answered it.

“Hello?” She said somewhat nervously,

“Is this Juliette Byrd?” the voice said, she thought it was the woman from the audition, but she couldn’t be sure. There was then a knock at the door. Typical, she thought to herself.

“Yes, I am she.” she hated the way she phrased that, “Lauren, get the door?” she aggressively whispered before putting the phone back up to her face.

“I’m contacting you about last week’s audition for the bassist position...” the woman said, it was hard to gauge what she would say from her tone of voice. Lauren ran back into the room, Liv and James in tow.

“Did she get it? Do we know?” James asked,

“Shhhh!” his girlfriend scolded, “she’s still on the phone.”

“...Miss Byrd, I’m delighted to say that you have the job” Juliette’s heart skipped a beat, a wide smile crossed her face.

“What is it?” Liv asked

“Have you got it?” Katie asked louder, jumping up slightly. Juliette scowls at them and motions for them to shut up.

“...Congratulations, you’re the new member of Queen + Adam Lambert”

“That’s fantastic,” she said excitedly, “thank you so much, that’s incredible. Oh my goodness, I’m so happy to hear that.”

“So you go it?” Lauren almost screeched, Juliette shot a semi-playful glare at her sister who rolled her eyes in response.

“You should get an email in the next day or so with a basic setlist of songs you’ll need to have ready and the upcoming dates of any rehearsals,” the woman on the phone said, “you’ll also get your contract, if you could read through that and get a signed copy to us as soon as possible, that would be great.” Juliette was nearly bursting at this point, she felt like she could cry she was so happy.

“Of course, I’ll get that to you as soon as you can, thank you again so much.” She said grinning.

“It was my pleasure to tell you, Miss Byrd. Congratulations again.” The woman said before hanging up. Juliette put her phone down on the table, smiling widely and happy tears pooling in her eyes.

“I think I know,” Katie started, “but I need to hear you say it.”

“I got it.” Juliette exclaimed, “I’m Queen + Adam Lambert’s new bassist!” cheers and screams of joy filled the room.

“J, that’s incredible!” Katie cried, wrapping her arms around here old friend. James popped the prosecco and poured five glasses as Liv and Lauren joined the hug between Katie and Juliette.

“James,” Juliette called over her shoulder, “only a tiny bit for Lauren, she’s 12.”

“I know, J.” he said chuckling and passing out the glasses, “I’d like to propose a toast. To Juliette Devon Byrd, our new favourite rock star.” he said raising his glass.

“To Juliette Devon Byrd!” everyone chanted in response. Juliette hadn’t felt this happy in a long time, she didn’t think she would ever stop smiling. After the past year she’d had, it finally felt like things were looking up.

#juliette byrd #ofc #queen #queen imagine #roger taylor #brian may #juliette is the loml omg #bohemian rhapsody #john deacon #present day #queen + adam lambert #qal #atsks

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kitsoa · 6 years ago

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Magical Dimension Hopping is a Big Jump from Genetic Science Experiments and Other Mind Blowing Revelations Ch 1.

A Kingdom Hearts x Birdmen Crossover Fanfiction

Sora’s seraph design is here. Please appreciate shenanigans here.

I have never done something so self indulging please save me. It’s also barely proof read so sorry not sorry. Birdmen (read manga here) is set pre-33. KH is technically some hypothetical post KH3 but there is not a single spoiler except Sora can flowmotion up walls cause that’s bitchin. Let’s GO.

“Oh now this is neat.”

Sora wasn’t used to traversing the multiverse alone, so when the Gummiship dropped him off at the decreed coordinates and his magic clothes snapped into action-- he was left to speak his astonishment aloud to no one. By some cosmic choice (or was it magical programming) the garments changed into a suit of pitch black, skin tight and engulfing every surface of skin save for his face. It was aesthetically sleek, similar to his look on the Grid without the glow. But it was the sensation on his back and the ripples of feeling along the suit that suggested very quickly that this was not a fashion transformation alone.

“This is very neat.” Upon his back were very large, black wings, the color of his suit… in fact the same material as his suit. They were smooth and currently folded-- but even then they encompassed his full height.

“Wow… what did I turn into…?” He wished he at least had someone to workshop his questions with. The concept of doing a solo mission at a world he knew nothing about was capable of inspire a dash of uncertainty, but not enough to damper the moment of having wings.

It was daytime, but the location he was in was extremely shaded-- an industrial setting of an empty construction site it seemed. Sora kicked over an obstructing pile of rubble mindlessly as he approached the tarped exit (wait were those talons on his feet?). A splash of sunshine was pulled into view and a street of cars and very average looking commuters passed the blocked off entrance.

“That’s strange… they look like normal people to me…” Sora stumbled out of the site to investigate, his wings dragged behind him (he wasn’t sure how to move them) and into the midday pedestrian sidewalk. Aimlessly, Sora picked a direction and started walking with the traffic flow, the sudden loom of the massive buildings and skyscrapers making his head tilt back in an easy awe. He brought his hands to his head on instinct.

It wasn’t the first time he was in a city by any means, but as a humble islander, the scale and life of a metropolis was impossibly dazzling.

It took a second to realize that… people were staring.

Not just staring, ogling. Sora’s head snapped forward, the pedestrian that was in front of him now frozen and several meters stopped dead behind him. Cars were slowing, horns honking at the disturbance while people across the street pointed animatedly, cell phones out and fixed upon him. Sora suddenly felt a rare spell of embarrassment grip his gut and his hands fell slowly to his side.

No one looked like him. He, the dimension hopping savior of worlds, was standing out. His transformations usually worked in the opposite manner. Oh… he wished he had a friend to bail him out right now. He wished he hadn’t been so dismissive of Goofy’s concern on the solo mission. ‘Making new allies’ was a lot easier to say and not as fast an achievement as he needed in this moment.

This strange social pain was then consumed by a very real and physical pain-- a jolt of electricity shooting from his wings to the tips of his toes. It left him gasping in surprise and launched his battle honed instincts into overdrive. The whiplash was killer. The crowd of onlookers melted away while Sora’s mental voice warned of imminent battle. (Why though?) But that’s when his darting eyes fell on a familiar void-- a black hole of darkness expanded in the sky above one of the scaling towers across the street.

Heartless.

Sora launched himself into action. With a flick of his wrist and a pull from his heart, his Keyblade burst forth into his hands in a flurry of light. Locked into place, Sora darted across the street with a resulting scream of horns and perhaps a siren in the distance. Without stopping, he took a vertical run up the side of the tower toward the swarm of darkness.

The Heartless emerged from the void as he drew closer, something massive and mechanical-- but it was the surrounding action around it that caught Sora’s eye.

Winged figures, spots of similar black, zipping through the air around the creature. He only counted three when he was yet again rattled by an unsuspecting feature in this word.

“Umino, Kamoda-- pin the bastard down when it emerges. You know the drill Takayama!”

A booming and authoritative voice reverberated directly into Sora’s head, almost knocking off his gravity defying climb up the tower. He gripped the hilt of his Keyblade tight as the lip of the building came into view along with the full, massive scale of the Heartless in question. A snake-like thing dripping in plates of metal and cylinders of ejecting fire.

Using his momentum from the climb, Sora vaulted into the air closing the distance, his Keyblade rending the space in a blaze of light. A satisfying crack sounded and the hulking creature was knocked back. Around it, the flying people hovered in shock. Gravity took hold and Sora fell closer to the knocked back Heartless, and thus, a spatter of jabs rained down.

“It’s that Birdman!” A different voice rang in his head as his Keyblade slashed. The creature suddenly moved out from under him.

“What do we do?”

The snake-like Heartless snapped into a frightening speed and it’s tail snapped around before slamming into Sora’s back. He was spiked to the roof of the building they were fighting over, taking a face full of concrete.

“Back him up.” That initial voice was back, with more chill and demand than before. It jerked Sora to his feet. As he regained his bearings he caught sight of two more grounded winged figures-- one staring at him with intense and furious red eyes.

A crash of impact snatched his attention back and a winged bird-like person was ripping into the plates of metal on the Heartless. It started to thrash and the progress halted in lieu of staying on it’s back. Its apparent ‘mouth’, spitting a jet stream of fire, closed in. Sora felt the panic crawl up his throat.

They were too high up.

“He can’t fly.” This voice was analytic and sure, but it was unnecessary. The intense bird-person, the one with the bone chilling voice and commanding presence, was already on the move toward him. A dull sensation of his wings being pulled preceded a rather rough jostled around the arms, the leader (a shorter boy) suddenly hoisted him up into the air with a powerful beat of his wings.

“Kamoda is so much better for this heavy lifting…” Sora actually heard these words aloud, muttered in a huff of exerted annoyance. His legs dangled as the roof grew distant. Hungry wing flaps from this strange denizen carried him fast. The warring bird-person was back to dealing damage to the enemy despite the hostil bucks. Around him the two other winged figures hovered uncertain. The enemy’s motions guaranteed a nasty blow.

Defiance jerked Sora into a struggling kick.

“Let me go!”

“Are you kidding? You can’t fly!” His lift shouted back.

“I’m close enough.” Sora took the opportunity to slip from his grip… and kick off of him. The sour voice leader squaked, falling back while Sora sailed toward the enemy in a dash. He soon joined the other combatant on the snake’s writhing back. With not so much as a nod, the two began to wail and rip at the resilient creature in tandem.

A massive plate of metal (were those plane wings?) was pried off its skin of darkness. A prime vulnerability.

The elation of an imminent win trilled through the moment. Sora gave his new comrade a glowing look.

“Together!” He invited. And in a unified attack, Sora’s blade and the new friend’s arm of piercing claws, tore into the creature all at once. One slashed with a power primal and honed by instinct, the other bathed in something more foreign and unfathomable.

Something breached and the Heartless exploded into a splash of inky black, dissipating into the air as though never there.

And then Sora started falling. The strange heartless remains like black rain in reverse.

“Kamoda!”

“Roger!”

Once again, Sora felt a pull at his wings and his descent stopped abruptly, a larger bird-person, accented in a deep forest green suddenly above him and gripping the strange things from his back in a cloth-like bunch as though it was rope.

“Yo!” He greeted and behind the visor of his helmet Sora saw eyes twinkling in excitement.

“Hi.” Sora dismissed his Keyblade and gave a casual wave of his free hand. His savior’s eyes bulged wide behind the the visor but left him speechless in their descent. It wasn’t terribly comfortable dangling like that but the roof of the building grew closer.

When they landed-- appropriately on a helicopter pad-- the clicks of talon’s followed. One by one, the ensemble of strange winged people dispelled their helmets, the domes practically liquefying and joining the seam of their suits. He took them in, the green accented one-- Kamoda if he remembered correctly. He was a hulking and tall bald boy with stern eyes that contrasted with the jovial tones of his greeting. Beside him was a petite girl with short blue hair pulled back in barrettes. Her suit was accented in a similar blue shade. They must have been a part of the flying ranks in the operation because two other folks had to close the distance from their observation perch in the corner via walking.

One was a tall, light haired boy, accented white with a neutral expression that belied his piercing eyes of red. The intensity of his stare as they approached made Sora feel uneasy. But not as uneasy as the shorter boy’s similar red gaze. He was undoubtedly the source of all the mental commands flying around by the way he carried himself (taller than he actually was, and hostile-- very very hostile-- didn’t he just help him take down that Heartless?).

“Alright, who are you and what in the world possessed you to walk down the street completely transformed in broad daylight?”

The angry bird-person had a sharp face twisted in a snarl, his wings were perched in a half open position in a manner that made him appear bigger, more imposing. Sora blinked and did a once over glance at the observing ensemble.

“Uh…” Most everyone seemed more curious than angry. His attempt at reading the room was a little more reassuring. Behind Kamoda and the girl was the fifth and final figure-- his helmet was down and he stood back in quiet observation, arms crossed and face flat and emotionless.

“My name is Sora and… I didn’t... know?”

The leader had a snap of anger. “Didn’t know?! You have massive wings!-- We are literally an urban legend at the moment and you didn’t think that would be at least a little unsafe?” The white accented person beside him suddenly clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Back down Karasuma, we don’t know his story.” His voice was gentle even if his eyes never left the creepy, judgemental zone.

“Yeah! Hello Sora.” The girl behind him popped into view, a pleasant smile and a small wave on her hands. “I’m Umino Tsubame-- please call me Umino.” She put that hand forward in greeting.

Sora gave her a grin back, the warmth of her welcome a pacifying balm in this strange solo mission. “Nice to meet you Umino!” He took her hand into a firm shake.

“Is he even telling the truth?” The leader, Karasuma, grumbled.

“Seems so.”

“I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.” Sora offered a fig leaf to the sour ally. “But… we were quite the team taking down that Heartless.” He lifted his tone with a smile, in hopes the compliment reminded him of a nicer potential.

“Heartless?” Umino questioned. “Are you talking about the Blackout?”

“Oh great, first comrade outside the Bird Club and he’s crazy.”

“We just have to touch base is all.” The light haired boy was clearly some kind emotional mediary. His voice was light and pleasant, the kind of cultured and refined way of speaking Sora heard in royalty. “Let’s start over-- My name is Sagisawa Rei. This is Karasuma--” He once again clapped the shorter boy’s shoulder “--you met Tsubame and Kamoda caught your fall. Finally, the birdman back there is none other than Takayama. He’s probably the most experienced among us.”

Sora attempted to make a connection with the stoic figure off to the side. Takayama wasn’t avoiding his gaze, in fact the intensity was enough to rival Sagisawa’s judgement.

“‘Birdman?’” Sora cocked his head and Sagisawa waved away his confusion.

“That is what we are. This really isn’t a good place for this conversation though. My home is in this complex, let’s put away the wings and talk over some tea.”

Sora perked up at the offer and Sagisawa lead the ensemble toward a roof access in the corner, his wings wrapping around his body in preparation to go through the door.

“What’s wrong Kamoda? You’re kind of quiet…” Umino mused as they got to the door.

And with a shaking finger, Kamoda, with his gruff face stretched with bulging eyes and chattering teeth pointed at Sora. “That kid’s got a m-m-magic key-sword.”

“What are you talking about…” Karasuma started but his brow was furrowed and he found himself slacking in realization. He snapped his head up suddenly and he got in Sora’s face. “Where did your weapon go?”

Sora instinctively recoiled back, his mouth a small ‘o’ as the desperate question spun in the birdman’s head. He chuckled to break the tension uncomfortable with the insistent scrutiny. “You mean my Keyblade?-- It’s right here.”

And Sora held out his hand and the giant oversized key from before exploded into existence with a flurry of light.

[Chapter 1 End]

@bird-pun your art sealed the inspiration deal and I dropped everything to write this. Shall I continue?

#birdmen #kingdom hearts #my writing #this was actually really fun and i want to keep going but i wanted to share something #this is funny though cause birdmen is like such a small fandom and no one knows what its about #so like... if you just find yourself reading this and wanna learn more i run a birdmen side blog lets go

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timelesstimesgoneby · 2 years ago

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EPISODE SEASON 1 DISC 1 S01E01 PLEASE DON'T EAT THE SNOW IN HAWAII S01E02 CHINA DOLL S01E03 THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS AND BIG ONES TOO DISC 2 S01E04 NO NEED TO KNOW S01E05 SKIN DEEP S01E06 NEVER AGAIN... NEVER AGAIN S01E07 THE UGLIEST DOG IN HAWAII DISC 3 S01E08 MISSING IN ACTION S01E09 LEST WE FORGET S01E10 THE CURSE OF THE KING KAMEHAMEHA CLUB S01E11 THICKER THAN BLOOD S01E12 ALL ROADS LEAD TO FLOYD DISC 4 S01E13 ADELAIDE S01E14 DON'T SAY GOODBYE S01E15 THE BLACK ORCHID S01E16 J "DIGGER" DOYLE S01E17 BEAUTY KNOWS NO PAIN SEASON 2 DISC 1 S02E01 BILLY JOE BOB S02E02 DEAD MAN'S CHANNEL S02E03 THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH S02E04 FROM MOSCOW TO MAUI DISC 2 S02E05 MEMORIES ARE FOREVER S02E06 TROPICAL MADNESS S02E07 WAVE GOODBYE S02E08 MAD BUCK GIBSON DISC 3 S02E09 THE TAKING OF DICK MCWILLIAMS S02E10 THE SIXTH POSITION S02E11 GHOST WRITER S02E12 THE JORORO KILL S02E13 COMPUTER DATE DISC 4 S02E14 TRY TO REMEMBER S02E15 ITALIAN ICE S02E16 ONE MORE SUMMER S02E17 TEXAS LIGHTNING DISC 5 S02E18 DOUBLE JEOPARDY S02E19 THE LAST PAGE S02E20 THE ELMO ZILLER STORY S02E21 THREE MINUS TWO SEASON 3 DISC 1 S03E01 DID YOU SEE THE SUNRISE? S03E02 KI'L'S DON'T LIE S03E03 THE EIGHTH PART OF THE VILLAGE S03E04 PAST TENSE DISC 2 S03E05 BLACK ON WHITE S03E06 FLASHBACK S03E07 FOILED AGAIN S03E08 MR. WHITE DEATH S03E09 MIXED DOUBLES DISC 3 S03E10 ALMOST HOME S03E11 HEAL THYSELF S03E12 OF SOUND MIND S03E13 THE ARROW THAT IS NOT AIMED S03E14 BASKET CASE DISC 4 S03E15 BIRDMAN OF BUDAPEST S03E16 I DO? S03E17 FORTY YEARS FROM SAND ISLAND S03E18 LEGACY FROM A FRIEND DISC 5 S03E19 TWO BIRDS OF A FEATHER S03E20 ...BY ITS COVER S03E21 THE BIG BLOW S03E22 FAITH AND BEGORRAH SEASON 4 DISC 1 S04E01 HOME FROM THE SEA S04E02 LUTHER GILLIS: FILE 521 S04E03 SMALLER THAN LIFE S04E04 DISTANT RELATIVE S04E05 LIMITED ENGAGEMENT DISC 2 S04E06 LETTER TO A DUCHESS S04E07 SQUEEZE PLAY S04E08 A SENSE OF DEBT S04E09 THE LOOK DISC 3 S04E10 OPERATION: SILENT NIGHT S04E11 JORORO FAREWELL S04E12 THE CASE OF THE RED FACED THESPIAN S04E13 NO MORE MR. NICE GUY DISC 4 S04E14 REMBRANDT'S GIRL S04E15 PARADISE BLUES S04E16 THE RETURN OF LUTHER GILLIS S04E17 LET THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME DISC 5 S04E18 HOLMES IS WHERE THE HEART IS S04E19 ON FACE VALUE S04E20 DREAM A LITTLE DREAM S04E21 I WITNESS SEASON 5 DISC 1 S05E01 ECHOES OF THE MIND: PT1 S05E02 ECHOES OF THE MIND: PT2 S05E03 MAC'S BACK S05E04 E LEGACY OF GARWOOD HUDDLE S05E05 UNDER WORLD DISC 2 S05E06 FRAGMENTS S05E07 BLIND JUSTICE S05E08 MURDER 101 S05E09 TRAN QUOC JONES S05E10 LUTHER GILLIS: FILE 001 DISC 3 S05E11 KISS OF THE SABRE S05E12 LITTLE GAMES S05E13 PROFESSOR JONATHAN HIGGINS S05E14 COMPULSION DISC 4 S05E15 ALL FOR ONE: PT1 S05E16 ALL FOR ONE: PT2 S05E17 THE LOVE-FOR-SALE BOAT S05E18 LET ME HEAR THE MUSIC DISC 5 S05E19 MS. JONES S05E20 THE MAN FROM MARSEILLES S05E21 TORAH, TORAH, TORAH S05E22 A PRETTY GOOD DANCING CHICKEN SEASON 6 DISC 1 S06E01 DEJA VU S06E02 OLD AQUAINTANCE S06E03 THE KONA WINDS S06E04 THE HOTEL DICK DISC 2 S06E05 ROUND AND ROUND S06E06 GOING HOME S06E07 PANIOLO S06E08 THE TREASURE OF KALANIOPU'U DISC 3 S06E09 BLOOD AND HONOR S06E10 RAPTURE S06E11 I NEVER WANTED TO GO TO FRANCE, ANYWAY... S06E12 SUMMER SCHOOL DISC 4 S06E13 MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN S06E14 ALL THIEVES ON DECK S06E15 THIS ISLAND ISN'T BIG ENOUGH S06E16 WAY OF THE STALKING HORSE DISC 5 S06E17 FIND ME A RAINBOW S06E18 WHO IS DON LUIS HIGGINS..AND WHY IS HE DOING THESE TERRIBLE THINGS TO ME? S06E19 A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK... A LITTLE BIT OF GRIEF S06E20 PHOTO PLAY SEASON 7 DISC 1 S07E01 L.A. S07E02 ONE PICTURE IS WORTH S07E03 STRAIGHT AND NARROW S07E04 A.A.P.L. DISC 2 S07E05 DEATH AND TAXES S07E06 LITTLE GIRL WHO S07E07 PAPER WAR S07E08 NOVEL CONNECTION S07E09 KAPU DISC 3 S07E10 MISSING MELODY S07E11 DEATH OF THE FLOWERS S07E12 AUTUMN WARRIOR S07E13 MURDER BY NIGHT DISC 4 S07E14 ON THE FLY S07E15 SOLO FLIGHT S07E16 FORTY S07E17 LAURA DISC 5 S07E18 OUT OF SYNC S07E19 THE AUNT WHO CAME TO DINNER S07E20 THE PEOPLE VS. ORVILLE WRIGHT S07E21 LIMBO SEASON 8 DISC 1 S08E01 INFINITY AND JELLY DOUGHNUTS S08E02 PLEASURE PRINCIPLE S08E03 INNOCENCE... A BROAD S08E04 TIGERS FAN S08E05 FOREVER IN TIME DISC 2 S08E06 THE LOVE THAT LIES S08E07 A GIRL NAMED SUE S08E08 UNFINISHED BUSINESS S08E09 THE GREAT HAWAIIAN ADVENTURE COMPANY S08E10 LEGEND OF THE LOST ART DISC 3 S08E11 TRANSITIONS S08E12 RESOLUTIONS: PT1 S08E13 RESOLUTIONS: PT2

#tv series episode #episode guide #episode #tv series #complete series #blu ray #magnum pi

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lignes2frappe · 4 years ago

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POURQUOI LES RAPPEURS FINISSENT-ILS TOUJOURS FAUCHÉS ?

La flambe, le bling, le drip... tout ceci n'a qu'un temps...

Le rap est-il à la musique ce que le catch est au sport ? Dans le top 3 des sujets préférés des emcees avec les flingues et les bitches, l’argent exhibé à la ville comme à la scène relève très souvent du fantasme.

Non pas que nos prétendus millionnaires soient à plaindre, mais à en juger le nombre d’entre eux qui se retrouvent fort dépourvus sitôt leur quart d’heure de célébrité terminé, on est droit de se montrer dubitatif quant à leurs fanfaronnades.

On est d’autant plus en droit de se montrer dubitatif quand dès le départ les indices ne manquent pas pour estimer à la baisse la valeur de leurs patrimoines.

1. Parce que les rappeurs ne gagnent pas tant que ça

Le premier truc à comprendre.

Évidemment, aucun des cadors du mainstream ne se laissera jamais aller à divulguer l’exact montant de ses revenus (le savent-ils au moins ?) au risque de se tirer une balle dans le pied (le public attend d’eux un train de vie en adéquation avec l’image qu’ils véhiculent), mais qu’il s’agisse de leurs deals, de leurs possessions matérielles ou de leurs ventes, tout est largement exagéré.

[Mention aux classements de « networths » à la Forbes qui bien que repris à tire-larigot tiennent de l’estimation à la louche.]

Déjà, parce qu’un rappeur c’est une équipe, que ce soit en studio (producteur, beatmakeur, toplineur, ghostwritteur...), en dehors des studios (un manager, un agent, un avocat...) et en tournée (sécu, chorégraphe, coiffeur, coach...), et qu’il faut bien rémunérer ce petit monde.

Ensuite, parce que si grâce au streaming pas une semaine ne s’écoule sans qu’un « record » d’écoute ne tombe, tout cela n’a guère de sens tant que la correspondance stream/royauté n’est pas clairement établie. Et que pour ce qui est du physique, là où l’industrie du disque manipule les chiffres depuis toujours, il est estimé qu’un artiste touche en net moins de 50 centimes par album vendu.

En vrai, passées toutes les émissions à la gloire du pouvoir d’achat comme Sneakers Shopping ou MTV Cribs, quand un Nas se retrouve convoqué par le juge pour évaluer le montant de la pension alimentaire qui sera allouée à son ex-femme, son avocat s’empresse de préciser qu’il « gagne beaucoup moins que ce l’on croit ».

Et quand dans un élan de sincérité Redman ouvre les portes de sa modeste demeure aux caméras, il admet volontiers « Être okay, mais ne pas être riche ».

2. Parce que les rappeurs dépensent plus qu’ils ne gagnent

Dans un milieu où les symboles de réussite importent au moins tout autant que la réussite elle-même, la course à l’ostentation est permanente.

Ainsi aux dépenses quotidiennes qui explosent sans s’en rendre compte (les repas, les loyers, l’essence...), s’ajoutent l’achat de fringues (apparemment 300 000 dollars mensuels pour Future) de caisses et de bijoux, les dons aux œuvres de charité... et toute une série de dépenses des plus suspectes (chaîne téléguidée pour Soulja Boy, léopard pour Tyga, chiottes en or de Birdman, Lil Baby qui paye une Rolex à son fils de 5 ans, jeté de billets en l’air dans les strip clubs...).

Prisonniers d’un lifestyle impossible à maintenir, les rappeurs se condamnent à la banqueroute.

L’exemple le plus caricatural demeure à ce jour MC Hammer, alias le premier rappeur devenu vraiment riche avec une fortune estimée à 30 millions de dollars au début des années 90, et qui, six ans après le carton de son solo Please Hammer Don't Hurt Em, s’est retrouvé sur la paille. Propriétaire d’une maison à 12 millions de dollars, il employait plus de 200 personnes à son service...

Autre cas célèbre : le mogul Dame Dash, alias « Champagne Dame », qui, après avoir connu le faste des années Roc-A-Fella, a vu ses business péricliter les uns après les autres (son label Roc la Familia, sa marque Team Roc, ses galeries d’art...) au point de se faire lâcher par ses avocats dont il ne pouvait plus régler leurs honoraires, puis de se faire traiter publiquement par son ex Linda Williams de « bon à rien ».

Enfin, comment de ne pas mentionner le beatmaker star des années 00 Scott Storch (Beyoncé, 50 Cent, Justin Timberlake, Dr. Dre...) qui du temps de sa splendeur pesait 70 millions de dollars,et qui, coké jusqu’à la moelle, a réussi à claquer en six mois à peine 30 millions (!) en bagnoles, soirées et location de jets privés. Pourchassé depuis par les créanciers, en 2015, ses biens étaient estimés à 3 600 petits dollars (500 dollars de vêtements, une montre à 3 000 dollars et 100 dollars d’économies sur son compte en banque...).

3. Parce que le succès n’a qu’un temps

Dans le rap, plus encore que dans le sport, les carrières sont courtes.

Si l’on considère qu’un rappeur en vogue brille en moyenne entre trois et cinq ans avant qu’une nouvelle sensation ne lui pique sa place (une estimation particulièrement généreuse à l’heure actuelle), cela signifie qu’il lui faut dans ce laps de temps cumuler assez pour mettre de côté et assurer ses vieux jours.

Après ça, le train ne repasse pas (plus de contrat de sponsoring, plus de coup de fil pour feater...).

Certes, un série de hits bien sentis permet de continuer d’engranger quelques royautés et se produire en showcases dans les clubs de sa région, mais cela n’empêche pas de voir ses revenus piquer du nez.

Tout sauf facile à digérer surtout pour qui a cru que son run ne s’arrêterait jamais ou espère un comeback de derrière les fagots, cette période qui devrait être en théorie celle du réajustement des finances est souvent celle où les déficits se creusent... surtout quand en parallèle il faut continuer de rembourser les traites de la baraque payée plus tôt à la mama et les échéances de la Lamborghini fluo.

Ne dit-on d’ailleurs pas qu’il n’y a pas plus endetté qu’un ancien riche ?

4. Parce que le droit des contrats est une jungle

Qu’importe les sommes annoncées, quand un rappeur signe en maison de disques (1 million de dollars en 2002 pour 50 Cent chez Shady/Aftermath, 2 millions de dollars en 2009 pour Drake chez Young Money, 3 millions de dollars en 2011 pour A$AP Rocky, 6 millions de dollars en 2012 pour Chief Keef chez Interscope...), dans un deal ce qui compte ce sont les clauses.

Les clauses relatives à la propriété des masters (à qui appartient vraiment la musique ?), les clauses relatives à l’avance (alias le meilleur moyen de s’endetter), les clauses relatives aux frais d’enregistrement et de marketing (qui paye la Limousine qui vous emmène aux Grammy ?), les clauses relatives aux royautés (sur quelle base ce pourcentage est-il prélevé ?)... tout ça se révèle très vite très compliqué (c’est voulu), tant et si bien qu’une fois l’euphorie des premiers chèques derrière soi, l’atterrissage peut être difficile.

Citons sur ce point Blueface qui l’année dernière en interview s’est tapé l’affiche en se montrant incapable de dire chez il était signé (Cash Money West ? Cash Money ? Republic ? UMG ?) ou Megan Thee Stallion qui est rentrée en guerre ouverte avec 1501 Certified Entertainment, son tout premier employeur, au motif qu’au moment de s’engager « elle était trop jeune pour comprendre ce que contenait exactement son contrat ».

Auteur en 2017 du carton XO Tour Llif3 qui a dépassé le milliard de streams, Lil Uzi Vert n’a lui touché « que » 900 000 dollars... tandis que sa maison de disques encaissait dans le même temps 4,5 millions sur son dos !

Du coup, peut-être est-ce exagéré de considérer, comme Kanye West, que les artistes sont « les nouveaux esclaves », mais cela n’empêche pas, comme le préconise Future, d'être attentif aux zones d'ombre.

« Qui peut signer quoi ? Qui détient quoi ? Quels droits appartiennent à qui ? C’est à vous de clarifier tout ça dès le départ, et ce d’autant plus que vous êtes populaire (...) À chaque album vous devez faire un audit de la situation. »

5. Parce que leurs entourages ne leur veulent pas que du bien

Qui a dit qu’il fallait garder ses amis proches de soi une fois le succès au rendez-vous ?

Pire encore que ceux qui vous volent (comme le cousin de Kanye West qui lui a rançonné son ordinateur portable 250 000 dollars), celles qui vous quittent (mieux vaut divorcer d’un rappeur que d’un équiper McDonald’s), il y a tous ceux qui pensent vous être utiles, comme ce neveu par alliance qui veut vous proposer un « partenariat » avec sa toute nouvelle marque de textile, ce pote un peu balèze qui se verrait bien assurer votre sécurité, cette tante à la retraite qui reprendrait bien du service à la comptabilité...

Problème : si sur le papier cette émulation a fière allure (« On-reste-vrais-t’as-vu »), dans les faits, elle se traduit très souvent par de l’amateurisme à tous les étages – incompétence, gabegie et mauvais conseils.

Cf. T Pain dont le manager s’était improvisé agent immobilier en acquérant quantité de terrains – « Il achetait des décharges et pensait qu’avec un coup de peinture ça se revendrait. On n’a jamais revendu le moindre de ces terrains. »

Tout cela sans oublier les anciens potes du hood qui estiment l’artiste redevable, les pique-assiettes et nouveaux amis qui viennent sans cesse alourdir les factures (déplacement, location, cadeaux...), ou encore les « yes men » prêt à flatter n’importe quelle mauvaise décision pour bien se faire voir.

Oui, tous ces gens coûtent beaucoup (beaucoup) plus qu’ils ne rapportent.

6. Parce que les pensions alimentaires ça coûte cher

Vous vous souvenez quand, en 2016, le basketteur Derrick Rose expliquait qu’en NBA il était enseigné aux joueurs venant d’avoir un rapport sexuel de jeter immédiatement leurs préservatifs usagés dans la cuvette des toilettes, puis de tirer la chasse ou de repartir chez eux avec ?

Face à des groupies dont le seul et unique projet professionnel est de tomber enceinte d’une type plus riche qu’elles, puis de vivre la vie de rentière 18 ans durant, les rappeurs sont logés à la même enseigne.

Personne n’a envie de finir comme Trick Daddy (mais si rappelez-vous Let’s Go, I’m a Thug, Shut Up...), qui, malgré une seconde partie de carrière plutôt bien négociée (14 500 dollars de revenus mensuels), est dans le rouge jusqu’au cou à cause des 60 000 dollars qu’il doit reverser chaque année à ses trois baby mamas.

[Une pensée également à Kodak Black condamné en 2017 à virer à la mère de son fils 4 200 billets verts mensuels jusqu’en 2033...]

Pas étonnant donc que certains rappeurs fassent des pieds et des mains pour éviter d’assumer leur paternité, que ce soit Future (six enfants avec six femmes différentes) qui récemment prétendait que l’une de ses baby mama s’était « mise en enceinte toute seule » ou DMX (15 marmots !) qui en 2003 clamait carrément s’être fait violer après s’être endormi « son machin à l’air » !

7. Parce que les frais de justice aussi ça coûte cher

... et qu’ils sont inévitables.

D’une part, parce qu’une fois que le reste du monde vous croit riche, le quidam moyen (aidé dans sa tâche par des avocats rémunérés à la commission) se fera un plaisir de vous poursuivre pour un oui ou pour un non histoire de vous gratter un max’ de dollars (Cf. Kanye West en 2014 qui après avoir agressé un paparazzi insistant déclarait « qu’en Amérique les riches se baladent avec une cible dans le dos »), et de l’autre, parce que comme aimait à le rapper Notorious BIG, une fois arrivé dans le grand bain : « Mo money, mo’ problems ».

Prenez 50 Cent qui, à trop vouloir clasher, a été condamné en 2015 par la justice à reverser 5 millions de dollars à son meilleur ennemi Rick Rock pour avoir diffusé la sextape de sa meuf, lui qui un auparavant s’était déjà pris 16 millions dans les gencives pour avoir repompé les casques audio de la marque Sleek.

Et si en plus de ça vous êtes du genre turbulent, l’argent va vous filer entre les doigts façon 2Pac (coups de feu sur les flics, tabassage de réalisateur...) obligé en 1994 d’aller enregistrer des sons avec un type aussi peu recommandable que Jimmy Henchman (celui-là même qui a tenté de le faire assassiner dans la foulée) afin de subvenir à ses besoins.

« Tout le monde savait que j’étais à court d’oseille. Mes concerts étaient annulés à cause de mes soucis judiciaires, tout mon argent partait chez mes avocats... C’est pour ça que j’ai accepté ce feat en échange de 7 000 dollars. »

Le pompon revient ici à The Game qui, entre les coups de sang à répétition (baston avec 40 Glocc, baston avec Ras Kass, baston avec un flic...) et son procès pour agression sexuelle, a un jour tweeté avoir dépensé « 12 millions de dollars en avocats » depuis le début de sa carrière.

8. Parce que les impôts ne les loupent pas

Cela peut paraître le point le plus évident pour le commun des mortels, mais il ne l’est pas forcément pour de jeunes artistes qui débutent dans le monde professionnel et qui jusque-là « planquaient l’argent de la rue dans des sacs » pour paraphraser Young Buck. Et ce d’autant plus que les sommes exigées le sont très souvent plusieurs années après le succès.

À cela s’ajoute la complexité du droit fédéral américain. Pour la faire courte, chaque source de revenu doit être déclarée dans l’état où elle a été perçue. Chaque état possédant sa propre législation (bonjour le casse-tête quand vous partez en tournée), impossible de remplir sa feuille d’impôts sans engager un fiscaliste (autre source de dépenses soit dit en passant).

Sans surprise, la liste des rappeurs qui se sont fait pincer par l’Oncle Sam est donc longue comme le bras (Nelly, Jermaine Dupri, Lil Wayne, Swizz Beatz...).

Mieux, enfin pire, au pays qui a fait tomber Al Capone pour fraude fiscale, nombreux sont ceux qui été condamnés à de la prison ferme pour leurs errances (Ja Rule qui a pris 28 mois en 2011, Fat Joe et Lauryn Hill en 2013...).

Ben ouais, la prochaine fois que vous verrez votre rappeur préféré au casting d’une télé réalité ou s’adonner en story Instagram à des placements de produits hasardeux, vous saurez pourquoi.

Publié le 16 octobre 2020 sur Booska-P.

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reactingtosomething · 7 years ago

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Reacting to Atomic Blonde

Suck It, Daredevil

The Setup: Charlize Theron was the best action star of 2015, and two years later she may have just reclaimed her crown, in the solo directing debut of former stunt coordinator David Leitch (half of the duo who directed John Wick and some second unit stuff on Captain America: Civil War, doing their part to save Hollywood action scenes from subpar ALL THE SHAKY CAM AND ALL THE CUTS Paul Greengrass imitation).

Heralded by possibly the coolest trailer of the year -- at the very least, the coolest that didn’t have a House of Mouse effects budget -- and backed by a uniformly stellar supporting cast including Sofia Boutella and John Goodman, Theron’s also making a decent run at James Bond’s status as Most Dashing Lothario Assassin, because why not. (And not just for straight dudes.)

In short, this has too many of RtS’s favorite things not to be an obvious choice for a Reaction. SPOILERS for Atomic Blonde after the jump.

KRIS: I guess I’ll open with a Caroline Framke tweet

MIRI: Please do

KRIS: https://twitter.com/carolineframke/status/891158770117685248

MIRI: I was really hoping it would be that one

KRIS: (The RT:like ratio, as of now, is 146 to 1200)

MIRI: Omg

I may be one of those likes

MARCHAE: LOL

KRIS: RtS is definitely one of those likes

MIRI: Can't remember if I RTd

Update: I did RT

very proud of my lack of shame

KRIS: Although I guess stabbing is really the least of what she does to some of those guys

MIRI: Carry on

Right

But there Is definitely some stabbing

KRIS: So this wasn’t, like, EVERYthing I wanted/expected it to be, but the “long take” fight alone is worth the price of admission twice over

MARCHAE: Yeah she is incredibly hard core (and trust that was not in the source material so i was happy they def. gave her some swag)

did either of you get a chance to read the text it was based on

KRIS: I loved that it was basically telling both Daredevil and Birdman to go fuck themselves

MIRI: Hahahahahahha

No I didn't

I'm not nearly the fight choreography conosieur that Kris is, but I was so fucking into this

(Wow spelled that so wrong autocorrect was stumped)

KRIS: I mean I did not have any reservations about any of the other fights, it was everything around the fights that was kind of uneven

MARCHAE: go on

KRIS: Not BAD, but uneven

MIRI: Say more

KRIS: Pacing felt weird sometimes?

This felt longer than its runtime

MARCHAE: (yes that is truth..>YES IT DID)

MIRI: Yeah, I can agree with that

KRIS: Maybe a little twistier, plot-wise, than was really justified, especially since it end-loaded the twists

MIRI: Yeah, the last few minutes were a bit of a mind fuck and not in a totally earned way

KRIS: The sound mixing was VERY interesting, but I wasn’t always sure it needed to be so showy

MIRI: This movie is showy down to its bones

and some ways that works better than others

KRIS: Although it did add to the disorientation

MARCHAE: (re the twists the text was similar in that way…)

KRIS: The sound mix I mean

Like going back and forth between having music in a scene be diegetic and not

I did like the way they used it in the bar where Lorraine meets Delphine though

MIRI: I feel like it was better directed, acted, and choreographed than it was written. Does that make sense?

KRIS: When you assume the REALLY LOUD CLUB MUSIC is diegetic but it cuts out really suddenly when the guy (was it Bremovych there?) offers a light

Yes

MIRI: Yeah, that moment was very nice

KRIS: But I feel like pacing often comes down to direction

MIRI: Fair

KRIS: All the performances are definitely great

MIRI: Seriously, all of them

MARCHAE: hmmm that’s interesting - I think that comes back to the writing - if the story has pacing problems - then that’s ultimately a structural problem with the story, no?

MIRI: I especially loved Lorraine’s German contact

KRIS: I think editing can have a lot to do with pacing too

MIRI: And obviously Theron, McAvoy, and Boutella

I think it can be any of the three, or a combo

MARCHAE: yeah… i thought about that as well @kris

MIRI: They all need to be good for it to work

KRIS: Did you feel like it at least played fair with the audience for most if not all of the twists?

MIRI: Yeah, I would say so. Things felt justified to me

KRIS: I felt like I got lost two or three or five times but at least some of those seemed to be deliberate and then I had “ohhhh” moments in act 3

MIRI: Hahahah which ones?

MARCHAE: Yeah, I think it is supposed to be a bit of a mystery which is kind of nice

KRIS: God I don’t even know, there’s was a lot happening

But the one I’m still confused about is that I don’t remember what happened to the guy who killed Gascoin

MIRI: I was secretly hoping you’d name them all so I could refer to your superior memory

Ice pick to the brain, right?

KRIS: Oh, my mistake, it is Gasciogne

I’ll take your word for it

But there were several Angry Bearded Men

MIRI: I think that was the same angry bearded man

He had the list and was going to sell it

to the watchmaker man

MARCHAE: Oh yeah

MIRI: and Percival ice picked him because Gasciogne was his friend

KRIS: Oh man I totally thought Marton Csokas was playing Bakhtin but IMDB tells me I was wrong, I guess it was just two Angry Bearded Men

MARCHAE: HA!

MIRI: Shit, who was Bakhtin? Is that ice pick head?

KRIS: Yes

MIRI: I need to open the imdb page

Ok, Bremovych was the one who beat the guy in the warehouse, right? And smashed the boombox?

KRIS: Oh wow Gasciogne was [played by] the stunt coordinator [Sam Hargrave, who also doubled for Chris Evans in Captain America: Civil War]. Did not recognize him with his (not-angry) bread in the post-show interview

not-angry beard, not bread

And yes

MIRI: WHAAAAATTT???

KRIS: Bremovych was the boss

MIRI: He looks SO different with long hair and a beard

KRIS: He was EXTREMELY Angry

MIRI: Holy heck

Also, he grew that beard so fast!!!

KRIS: That scene could have ended sooner

MIRI: Yeah, wasn’t my favorite

KRIS: Not even for the brutality, which was partly offscreen, it was just one of the pacing things where I was like why is this happening

MIRI: Yeah, it dragged a little

And it wasn’t at all shiny

Like, even when things are grungy and bloody in the rest of it, it’s shiny

MARCHAE: so this is my last time brining up the text … it was very similar to me in that way

so similar that indeed some the dialogue came straight from it

MIRI: (not literally, like stylized)

Guys, go to Til Schweiger’s imdb page immediately

Not only is he a fox

KRIS: Like awkwardly long, you mean, Marchae?

MARCHAE: I wasn’t surprised to see that it did have pacing issues - i honestly think that they thought they would make up for that with the action scenes.

MIRI: Apparently he’s Germany's best-known actor and also the country's most successful director

(He’s the watchmaker guy)

MARCHAE: @miri - WOW!

@kris what do you mean the text

KRIS: That scene in particular

MARCHAE: so here’s the thing… she doesn’t fight AT ALL in the text

in fact i think she fires a gun once

MIRI: WHAT

WHAAAATTTTTTTTT

That is a significant change

MARCHAE: and as far as other acts of violence it was literally like a few gun shots if i remember correctly

KRIS: Like is Bremovych’s introduction just panels and panels and panels of kicking noises and pained reaction shots?

MARCHAE: not even…

MIRI: And makes the fact that they stayed so close to the text in other ways fascinating

MARCHAE: it is incredibly slow and much of the action, similar to in the film would be in the last couple of dozen pages

MIRI: What?

MARCHAE: legitimately i believe they slayed her out made her tough because otherwise it would have been a historical drama

and that would have been an entirely different film

MIRI: Also because the director is a stunt guy, probably.

MARCHAE: it was not an excited graphic novel (GN)

exciting*

that’s why i thought it would be interesting to read and see the movie i was like wow this will be an awesome comic

and it is if you are interested in historical GN about russians ( I am not generally)

but I was expecting LOADS of fighting

nope

so to see that on the screen made the film 1000000 times more enjoyable

MIRI: Nice

I really really loved that the fight choreography wasn’t Sexy lady Fight Choreography

MARCHAE: but they definitely compensated for the other shortcomings which i thought was this weird desire to stay close to the source in terms of story but create a film that would be able to kind of catch some of the wind that was left behind by the other female centric films of the summer season

ok that’s all

YES

MIRI: They were deliberate about the fact that she was smaller than most of the guys, yes, but she fucking fought

She took hits

MARCHAE: i also love that she’s not young

or incredibly frail

MIRI: She was brutal and they were too and it was amazing

KRIS: Lorraine getting the shit kicked out of her was definitely the distinctive thing

MARCHAE: that made the back of my knee caps hurt

but she held her own and prevails

MIRI: I do have the tiniest quibble with the fact that they kept her unmarked from fights that totally would have bruised/scraped her up in the beginning because they needed her in sexy club outfits

But past that point they did a nice job of letting her be marked by the fights without being afraid to make her less pretty or whatever

KRIS: It gets you invested in the character AND gives Lorraine the character development/revelation of having the stronger will, as the stunt guy put it

I guess I assumed she was using makeup to cover stuff up early on?

MIRI: Eh, I don’t 100% buy that but it also doesn’t super bother me

MARCHAE: i don’t know that it registers with me much… i think because she’s so battered at the end …

doesn’t she soak in a tub of something at one point?

KRIS: I think the ice bath is just at the beginning, which is advanced in the timeline of the story

MIRI: Yes, in the beginning bookend she’s in her AMAZING giant ass tub filled with ice cubes

And she does something similar in Berlin

All of the tubs in this movie were giant and I want them

The Berlin time was where you got the cool underwater shot of her face in the neon light

KRIS: Oh right

MARCHAE: i just never quite figured out what it was that she was able to look mostly okay…

i thought it was medicinal but i guess it was just ice

MIRI: Well she did do a bunch of makeup after that

MARCHAE: also it was an incredible shot

MIRI: And it couldn’t hide everything

Which? Neon Berlin bath or opening London bath?

Both were cool but I’m assuming you meant the London one

MARCHAE: the blue one?

MIRI: The one they used in the trailers, where she then adds some of the ice to her drink?

MARCHAE: YES

MIRI: Yes! That was very cool!

With the perspective flip and all

M: And the bathtub is SO BIG

MARCHAE: it was so good

so i know you all mentioned earlier that it wasn’t shiny

KRIS: There was a lot of playing with perspective in the cinematography

MIRI: Only that warehouse scene

(re: not shiny)

MARCHAE: gotcha

MIRI: The rest totally was

which I mostly loved

And to Kris’s point--yes! Most of it very cool

MARCHAE: sorry i was just going to add that i thought it was a sexy looking film

which i suppose also goes to kris’ point about cinematography

MIRI: The one I think about most is the sexy one, actually--the cut from them making out in the club to the sex scene

(which again, they used in the trailers a lot)

(well, the red band ones anyway)

MARCHAE: i did like that

KRIS: I feel like there were also a lot of reflections

Like when she’s leaving Delphine’s apartment near the end

MIRI: Yes! God that one broke my heart

MARCHAE: (side note…there is no Delphine in the text)

KRIS: And for awhile it’s just two Lorraines and I was like “hmm this is unnecessary” and then you see Delphine

MIRI: well, Theron did say that she’d need a Bond girl if she ever played Bond

KRIS: I think having a female love interest was actually the writer’s idea

MARCHAE: OhHHHHH

MIRI: That makes me so happy

MARCHAE: yeah it had to be because it didn’t exist… it takes the place of another relationship or is ore of a composite

I liked it and I thought it made the character much more interesting and gave her more than we generally get

MIRI: As does the way Theron has addressed Lorraine’s bisexuality in interviews

I was really afraid that it would be a surface level portrayal of bisexuality

KRIS: “I remember sitting in a room one day thinking about how do you make this different from other spy movies,” Theron says. “It’s really hard. Who is going to be the love interest? Kurt, who’s a punk rock writer, suggested she falls in love with a woman.”

http://ew.com/movies/2017/04/26/charlize-theron-breaks-down-her-steamy-love-affair-in-atomic-blonde/

MARCHAE: Nice!

MIRI: I was afraid she would have an emotional connection to the dude and a purely sexual, over-sexualized connection with the girl

But it was not that at all

MARCHAE: no - i mad that delphine died and i think bugged by how she died as well

KRIS: But I also liked that the emotional connection wasn’t really just “whirlwind romance” but also ended up being about Lorraine mourning what being in “the game” does to people

MIRI: I am angry that Delphine had her damn headphones on when she knew someone might come and kill her

that was dumb

MARCHAE: **snaps fingers @miri and @kris**

MIRI: Kris, that’s a really good point and I agree

MARCHAE: i wished she’d been able to fight more i think.

AND YES MIRI DUMMMBBBBBBBBB

KRIS: It at least didn’t feel like a fridging, though, in that Lorraine’s motivations weren’t really changed and she never had like a breakdown scene or anything

I think on some level there’s an expectation of a Sofia Boutella character Kicking All of the Ass

but at least to me it was important to the story that she be green

MIRI: (btw that’s not to say there aren’t bi people who are bisexual and hetero or homoromantic or to cast shade on them! It’s just a very often a very stereotyped portrayal in media)

KRIS: She’s on her first assignment and “only been here for a year” vs. Percival, a station chief, having “gone native”

MIRI: Yeah, it did mostly work for the character

and I liked that she was green and in over her head

It made her a very nice foil to both Lorraine and Percival

KRIS: Especially with Lorraine being allll the way on the other end of the spectrum as a triple agent

MIRI: How old is McAvoy?

KRIS: 38

MARCHAE: born 1979

MIRI: Oh, he’s a bit older than I thought--he’s only 4 years younger than Theron

I thought he was more in the middle of her age and Boutella’s

KRIS: Boutella is also older than she looks

MIRI: Holy crap she is

born in 82

Wow, I would have said mid twenties

I’m so bad at ages

MARCHAE: I didn’t realize she was as old as she is!

KRIS: I do think mid 20s is what she’s playing here

MIRI: Yeah, seems like

Can we discuss the outfits? Because they are amazing

MARCHAE: OH MY GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

I turned to my friend and said i need to start dressing like all of these women! it was its own character and kind of a love letter to the era

MIRI: Lorraine’s commitment to GIANT sweaters/tops with no pants is AMAZING

MARCHAE: YESSS

YESSS

KRIS: (To go back for just a second, my objection to “whirlwind romance” definitely applies to couples of all configurations -- it’s the one thing that doesn’t totally land for me in Casino Royale)

MIRI: It says SO much about her

KRIS: I did like that as a consistent choice

MIRI: She’ll dress however she has to for work

But whenever she can be, she’s COMFY AS HELL

MARCHAE: and i appreciated it and she fights in a hoodie i think at one point

MIRI: I mean she still looks amazing, but no pants, giant shirt

Yes!

MARCHAE: although i didn’t love that she was perpetually in heels!

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

my feet hurt for her but that’s an aside

MIRI: Yeah, I feel like some flat ankle boots would have been better

MARCHAE: although am glad she can work it that way

MIRI: But I do believe that she would do it

KRIS: Yeah

MARCHAE: kudos to the women who can fight in heels

oh yeah all the marvel women seem to do it

KRIS: I also thought Theron was taller than me, but she’s the same height

MARCHAE: how tall is that?

so our readers have a frame of reference :)

KRIS: I think we’re not actually supposed to notice most of the Marvel heels though

I’m either 5-9 or 5-10

MIRI: Kris wants to remain mysterious, Marchae

or not

KRIS: IMDB lists her at 5-9 1/2

MARCHAE: LOLOLOLOL

miri i thought the same

(we aren’t?)

MIRI: Not sure. We might be supposed to just accept that that’s how superhero women look

Like Barbies, with their feet always arched

MARCHAE: interesting

KRIS: (I feel like they’re mostly to make Johansson and Smulders tall enough to make framing shots easier? I don’t know though)

MIRI: I think that’s definitely part of it, if not all

I’m just being snarky

KRIS: Gamora being the (infuriating) exception

MIRI: I like to play to my strengths

Ughhhhhhhh readers, please refer to our Guardians Volume 2 reaction for more!

Percival’s sense of dress is batshit and amazing

He wears sweater vests as shirts

And his giant coat!

MARCHAE: LOLOL

KRIS: Hard to go wrong with a good giant coat

MARCHAE: (ok another book spoiler… Percival is an older man who’s always in a trench coat- ALWAYS)

MIRI: Whaaaaaat

Is he all wily and gone-native?

Does he drink Jack and hide things in his fake cast?

KRIS: I loved the fake cast

MIRI: It was brilliant

MARCHAE: well yes and no.. he has no cast at all he’s completely in tact because there was not a ton of violence and he is a bit what’s the word not aways nice

the fake cast was great!

MIRI: Does “a bit what’s the word not aways nice” mean he was a dick in Marchae-speak?

MARCHAE: LOLOLOLOLOLOL

KRIS: I know this wasn’t McAvoy’s first Fun Role but it was the first one I’ve seen him in

MARCHAE: yeah he kind of was

MIRI: He’s fun in First Class!

KRIS: I guess First Class-era Charles Xavier has a little fun but he pretty quickly has to do the Mentor thing

MIRI: Fair

KRIS: He’s fun until he gets his doctorate, basically

MARCHAE: I DID NOT REALIZE THAT WAS HIM IN ELENOR RIGBY

KRIS: Yep

MARCHAE: get the heck out

I liked him in Split

he’s kind of a good actor

KRIS: He rarely gets to do his own accent (Scottish)

MIRI: I LOVE his accent

MARCHAE: (HE WAS ALSO GNOMEO!!!)

KRIS: Oh he’s great, I’ve been a fan since pre-Chronicles of Narnia

MARCHAE: oh my word i am learning of all these movies i’ve loved him in and didn’t realize it was him

wow then i guess i Love him too

thanks gang

how cool!

MIRI: He’s amazing in Atonement

KRIS: I wonder if I should’ve seen Victor Frankenstein

Probably not, but still

MARCHAE: lol

KRIS: Does someone want to talk about the music?

MARCHAE: it was it’s own character and definitely a love letter to the 80s i appreciated it as a detail that was paid particular attention to in the film

MIRI: I like 99 Luftballoons

MARCHAE: and i sometimes watch people when i go to the movies which i know is weird, but you saw a lot of people dancing in their seats and lip singing to it

KRIS: Is “love letter” enough of a reason to do something though?

MIRI: Just in general

MARCHAE: it was cool

KRIS: I liked the use of covers

But maybe post-Baby Driver I’m a little oversaturated on the whole “music as a character” thing

MIRI: I mean, this whole movie is kind of a love letter to its aesthetics

KRIS: Also partly because the composer for this is the composer on the Guardians movies

Which do the same thing -- heavy, showy music supervision, totally forgettable original score

MARCHAE: I don’t know Kris - I think maybe it is sometimes because you interact with people on a different level

MIRI: Yeah, I couldn’t tell you a single thing about any of the original score

KRIS: Say more MM

MARCHAE: I think because i was very young during the time in which the film is set, but the music triggers memories of what was happening, so now in my mind i am going back saying -yes the Berlin wall - and not from something I learned in class - but instead at home as a kid - but it’s because the music triggered that more than the image necessarily… also because of the kind of tv i was watching as a kid so like the cartoons

KRIS: I will say that the near-oppressiveness of the soundtrack in most of the movie made the music-less long-take fight that much better for the contrast

MARCHAE: but then you ALSO now get to engage those people who maybe weren’t sold on the movie at least now excited about how it sounds and what will be next

KRIS: I guess that makes sense, but what does it have to do with how I interact with people?

MARCHAE: I think as a writer/director you are interacting with all of my senses (save smell but I’ll even argue that)

so i hear how it, what it makes me think of after the fact and why

am i dancing in my seat and saying thats my jam

or i loved it

i think that kind of thing

KRIS: Oh, so when you said “you interact with people on a different level” that was the general You, not You-Kris

MARCHAE: yeah general you

not you KM

sorry i should have been more clear

MIRI: The English language is imperfect

KRIS: I’m curious to see more movies from both David Leitch (this) and Chad Stahelski (the other John Wick director, who directed JW 2 solo)

Because I want to know if Stahelski is a better solo director or if there’s something else behind the pacing differences in this and JW2

I mean besides the obvious genre difference

MARCHAE: (aside number 554 from marchae - i need to watch JW and JW2 )

MIRI: I need to watch JW2

KRIS: I keep forgetting MM hasn’t seen the first one, especially ever since we realized she loves action movies

MIRI: I keep forgetting that amazing fact

❤️

KRIS: (WATCH HAYWIRE)

MIRI: (WE WILL AT SOME POINT I PROMISE)

KRIS: I feel like somehow we haven’t said enough about Charlize Theron

KRIS: (WE DON’T HAVE TO REACT TO IT I’m just saying)

MIRI: (ALSO I MIGHT FINALLY BE READY TO WATCH BLAICK SAILS)

MARCHAE: (I WILL)

MIRI: Let’s talk about Theron

Because she is AMAZING in this movie

KRIS: She definitely holds the whole thing together

If the performance had been a few notches less confident I would’ve gotten bored

I think

MARCHAE: she is brilliant

to go back to the text she gives that character so much LIFE

KRIS: I mean even just the button on the first interrogation sequence -- the pause before and the delivery of “Fuck”

MIRI: People laughed out loud at that moment

MARCHAE: oh yea

she has this kind of wit about her that i love and she’s coy which is awesome

and she freaking in her 40s

KRIS: That was one of the more successful uses of a dragged-out moment

50 is the new 40, not to be a cliche

MIRI: Are people saying that?

KRIS: Even more than John Wick this made me think of Banshee, which also has a 40-something female action lead (though she’s not THE lead)

MIRI: I mean I endorse it wholeheartedly

KRIS: I mean just in general with regard to __ is the new __

MARCHAE: LOL

MIRI: Between this and Proud Mary, I’m all in for movies about women old enough to be my aunties killing people with great skill

KRIS: I’m always going to prefer hand-to-hand to gunfights (and gunfights to car chases)

MARCHAE: And doing so unapologetically it’s about time we get to see women use their bodies in ways that are indicative of strength

i do love a good car chase that ends with a fiery crash

MIRI: @Marchae YESSSSSS YES YES

MARCHAE: those are cool

MIRI: @Kris, how did you feel about the Atomic Blonde car chase?

KRIS: It was fine, and it wasn’t really about the cars was it?

Unless I’m forgetting a car chase

Which I would believe

MIRI: Ah, so you mean you’re not into Baby Driver car chases (as much as gun fights, at least)

KRIS: Right

MIRI: No, it was more cars as blunt weapons and gun shields, not a drag race or anything

KRIS: BUT there is a fun little Charlize Theron car anecdote in the Anne Helen Petersen profile I posted earlier

MIRI: About her in the Woody Allen movie?

Oh, I’m mixing up movies from that profile

KRIS: ...I think I am forgetting a car chase

MARCHAE: HA!

MIRI: From Atomic Blonde?

MARCHAE: she also learned a lot of her own stunts

MIRI: Or something else?

KRIS: Yeah

MARCHAE: There were two

KRIS: When you said it I was just thinking of Percival chasing the car Lorraine had gotten into when she landed

Jesus Christ Kris

MARCHAE: YUP

MIRI: Ohhhh, I forgot about that one

MARCHAE: i was just typing that

with the shoe

MIRI: I was talking about the other one

K: I guess I blanked on it since it’s part of the oner and especially because we never leave the inside of Lorraine’s car

KRIS: Start looking for the name 87 Eleven a lot more, I think

MIRI: I did like the shoe thing

KRIS: They’re the stunt/action design people

MIRI: They did damn good work

MARCHAE: they were really good!

KRIS: This and the John Wicks

Also a “Special Thanks” on Power Rangers?

MARCHAE: ok i get it… I’ll watch JW 😊

MIRI: Huh

Maybe they consulted

KRIS: Stephanie Beatriz started training there recently, not for a part but to get in shape for potentially being an action hero

MIRI: WHAT

KRIS: She’s posted a couple of “I’m dying” videos to her Instagram story

MIRI: she'd be good, too. She has dance training

I need to watch more Instagram videos

KRIS: I feel like we’re running out of steam but we have to go back to the long fight

MIRI: Pause for a sec, grabbing my laundry

KRIS: I felt like a lot of the apartment fight was in the trailers so I was a smudge concerned the same would happen in the stairwell

While we wait, here’s Jessica Chastain punching the air:

https://twitter.com/jes_chastain/status/891493560993947648

MARCHAE: LOL

yes

they were both brilliant fight scenes!

KRIS: I absolutely will not accept The Huntsman as the only time Jessica Chastain gets to be an action hero

MARCHAE: she’d make an amazing superhero!!

KRIS: Especially because that was such a stunt-double-heavy character

She’s in talks to be in the next X-Men as a Space Empress

But I don’t think she’d get to do much fighting

MARCHAE: dang! i’d love to see her kick some doors down

MIRI: Ok I’m back!

And I fully support Chasten as action hero!

*Chastain

KRIS: So a bit of this fight is the very first thing most of the world saw of Atomic Blonde

Which obviously turned out to be the smartest possible trailer move

(Maybe “most” is an exaggeration)

MIRI: Right, but the sheer length of it is not something you understand from the trailer, which is nice

KRIS: Yeah, basically the trailer part ends before Spyglass gets his little comic beat

“Two more”

MIRI: Because it means you don’t lose the impact in the moment by showing it in the trailer

KRIS: And I was like “Aw, only two more?”

MIRI: Loved the Spyglass beats

KRIS: But then everyone just... kept... getting... back... up

MIRI: that one, and him doing the tape in the apartment

MARCHAE: RIGHT

MIRI: Yeah, she has the most will, but they all has a LOT

KRIS: So hang on, have either of you watched Daredevil?

MIRI: especially bleach blond guy with the neo nazi haircut

Key-face

KRIS: Or at least that fight? You know the one even if you haven’t seen it

MIRI: I have only watched part of the first season

Not that one, not

*no

MARCHAE: I starting watching part of the first season

MIRI: I’ve heard of the fight you mean

youtube

MARCHAE: ( I actually liked it and am not sure why I didn’t keep going)

KRIS: It’s the end of the second episode

MIRI: Same!

Oh, then maybe I did and I’m just blanking

huh

KRIS: We don’t need to watch it right now but the salient points are that it’s maybe still the best fight scene TV has ever had

And does a similar thing with exhaustion

MIRI: Oh, interesting

KRIS: But they tried to one-up themselves in season 2 with a longer, flashier oner

(Which incidentally also involved a staircase)

But without the exhaustion bit

MARCHAE: Nice!

MIRI: Staircases are good. They give new height differences

KRIS: And it’s Cool and all, but feels much emptier as an exercise than the first one, which is confined to one hallway

MARCHAE: I liked seeing them on the stairs there is also a new element of danger and stakes … like if i fall or get thrown over…

KRIS: Which is why this fight in Atomic Blonde felt almost like a direct response

MARCHAE: ohhhhhhh

KRIS: And specifically a Suck It, Daredevil

I mean I don’t know if it actually was

But I enjoyed thinking it

In that Daredevil s2 fight Matt just absolutely owns everyone who comes at him

Which can be cool

MARCHAE: now i really want to watch

KRIS: But the back-and-forth and the exhaustion justified the technical showiness in AB

MIRI: I liked that Lorraine was really good, but wasn’t Impossibly Better Than Everyone

KRIS: Also really liked the commitment to improvised weapons

MIRI: Key-face is super good too, she’s just got more will in the end

I love that

MARCHAE: Yeah that was brutal

MIRI: The hot plate!!!

KRIS: And the shot revealing the corkscrew, and the audience reaction to seeing the corkscrew

MIRI: WHY IS IT ALWAYS CORKSCREWS????

MARCHAE: I’m cringing thinking of it….

KRIS: I guess because you can hold them for punching?

MIRI: In the last calendar year, I have seen three movies where a woman stabs someone with a corkscrew

THREE

KRIS: What were the other two?

MARCHAE: they are small and compact

MIRI: The Girl on the Train

MARCHAE: OHHHHH yes

*cringing again*

MIRI: and Clinical, which is a Netflix movie the company I used to intern for produced

KRIS: Oh I haven’t seen but I guess there would have actually been wine in proximity

I read Clinical

MIRI: Yeah, the fight between her and the girl in the kitchen

Spoilers for both of those, I guess

KRIS: Yeah to go back to something Miri said it was a cool choice that the fighting in this wasn’t as stylized as in something like John Wick

Which made the choreography in a larger sense more creative

Because of the improvised weapons, the use of the locations, etc

MIRI: I really like how most of the movie is so stylized, but the fights were so gritty

KRIS: Whereas the locations in so many action movies are basically irrelevant

MIRI: I mean, obviously super choreographed because they’re not insane

MARCHAE: they felt authentic

i could not every fight in that way, but you looked at that and thought yup a person could actually do this… it was believable!

MIRI: Honestly, the lack of stunt doubles made this so much better

KRIS: OH

MIRI: Because it can feel that real

What?

KRIS: I really loved that Lorraine covers her face in the end of the apartment fight, when she’s outside before the last two cops arrive

And that I thought this was going to be a moment for a cut to a double

But then they hold the shot until she lowers her collar again

MIRI: Why did you love that?

KRIS: Just to have my expectation of a double subverted

MIRI: Ah, gotcha

KRIS: It felt VERY oh, here’s a good excuse to cut around her

And then it wasn’t, it really was just Lorraine protecting her identity

MIRI: I just didn’t know why she did it--she lowers it immediately after, so it doesn’t seem effective to keep her identity secret!

I guess from those two cops

Or anyone who might have been coming, but then no one did

MARCHAE: that’s what i thought, it also looked really cool, she’s a spy and has to just keep cover, she’s always on alert

KRIS: And of course the other thing about the realism of the fighting in this is the gender thing -- Natasha Romanoff is always kicking and spinning

MIRI: Which is a cool and valid fighting form

But it shouldn’t be ALL THE TIME

KRIS: And Charlize Theron’s legs are like a mile long so not just from gender but from Charlize Theron you would expect something similar

MIRI: I loved that Lorraine was a brawler

KRIS: And obviously men can kick and spin and that’s the point of like, Tae Kwon Do, but outside of Asian productions you don’t see it a lot in movies

MARCHAE: i am thinking and you really don’t, KM

KRIS: There’s so much throwing people into other things in this too, which is great

Just like, use every object and surface that’s harder than a fist

Because hand bones can break relatively easily

MIRI: I loved when they went through the film screen

MARCHAE: that’s what made it so gritty and brutal - it’s like what you’d hope you’d do if an intruder were coming into your house

YES

KRIS: The movie they were watching there, Stalker, is one of Andy S’s favorites

I wonder if there was any significance to that choice

other than the year

MIRI: Of course it’s one of Flash’s faves

Flash/Andy was our screenwriting professor most committed to Art

I really loved the umbrella thing

KRIS: Yeah, I find Convenient Crowd Things hit or miss but this one worked for me

MARCHAE: it looked great too

KRIS: I guess because they’d established Merkel well in advance

MIRI: perhaps because it was an Engineered Crowd Thing

KRIS: Right, but even those

MIRI: I really did love Merkel

KRIS: Just a poor choice of words on my part

MIRI: Oh, gotcha

KRIS: I guess I mean that I bought Merkel having that level of influence

And usually I’m like, really? This would have taken a lot of logistics

MIRI: Yeah, I’m with you

KRIS: Also, it matters that it didn’t ultimately succeed

Because BETRAYAL

MIRI: Multi-layered betrayal!

MARCHAE: HA

it really was (please promise you’ll read the texxxttttt it’s just so awesome to see what was changed and what was kept the same)

MIRI: Now, why exactly was Percival trying to kill Lorraine? (Was he? She says so, but Spyglass makes more sense)

KRIS: I think Spyglass was definitely the main target but she’d have been a loose end, right?

MIRI: That makes sense

I got a little lost in the twists at the end

KRIS: Seriously

MIRI: And he knew she was Satchel

But not that she was a triple agent, of course

MARCHAE: all of these things i agree with

KRIS: Yeah, the Satchel thing is something I’d want to try to pay more attention to on a rewatch

Just a lot of moving parts and sibilants to keep track of

MIRI: Definitely

MARCHAE: and gathered from it… but i do want to rewatch because it was a lot

MIRI: Sibilants?

KRIS: S sounds? Did I use it wrong?

MIRI: No, that’s right! Just didn’t follow and thought it had a different meaning I didn’t know

But you meant names with s sounds, etc. Which there are a lot of

KRIS: And which there’s no good reason for

MIRI: True

MARCHAE: LOL

KRIS: Any other thoughts?

MIRI: I loved it

MARCHAE: READ THE BOOK!

KRIS: I had a brief thought about how nudity was shot

MIRI: Share it

KRIS: Which was just that there’s nudity when it makes sense but even in and around the sex scene the camera didn’t seem to be leering

Like there’s not active avoidance of nipples or anything but also no lingering on them

MIRI: Agreed, though the buzzfeed review I saw earlier mentions the camera leering on her legs a bit, but no more than it leers at punches or neon or anything

KRIS: I mean “showy, aestheticized sex” is also accurate (I do like Alison Willmore a lot as a critic)

MIRI:Your bench of critics is so deep and I love it

KRIS: And now I’m just watching this gif she included of people being thrown down that stairwell

MARCHAE: he does have a good variety

KRIS: I wonder how many actual cuts there were in that oner

MIRI: I’m thinking about how similar Lorraine and Percival actually are

in that they have such long-term false personas and they’re SO GOOD at maintaining them, but also not perfect

KRIS: (Now I want a crossover with The Americans)

MIRI: Also we have not discussed her scene with the Russians at the end

And we should because it was baller

The shot of the gun in the ice was great

KRIS: Yeah

MIRI: Like, we saw a decent amount of it in the trailer

MARCHAE: ohhhhh yessssss

MIRI: and yet is was still so effective

And that wig and the outfit were amazing

MARCHAE: she was also barefoot

KRIS: Right, the story context automatically makes it way more interesting

MARCHAE: ( i mean she was probably just over it after wearing heels the entire movie)

KRIS: I had more or less forgotten there was one more action scene left

MIRI: There’s so much in this movie

KRIS: And it’s the most stylized fight but still had that, I guess, un-rushed quality to it?

MARCHAE: there is a lot - i repeat again, they knew they had to to make this an action film! those scenes let you forgive so much

MIRI: Yeah, there never felt like much danger to her in that one, whereas there was in the others

KRIS: Lorraine wasn’t like a John Wick-level gun wizard

K: I might be wrong about this, actually, GUESS I’LL JUST HAVE TO REWATCH ALL THESE MOVIES

Yeah! I guess that’s it too, that she felt totally in control of it

MIRI: She knew exactly how it would play out

And that she’d get to go home soon

Also, can I just say how much I loved the “cocksucker” moment, and the end callback to it?

KRIS: YES

Surprisingly hilarious take on the “What?” “What?” conversation trope

MIRI: You can play the tape back

They did a good job letting there be comedic moments without shoehorning them in

KRIS: (This is minor and SUPER action-nerdy but I also appreciated Theron/Lorraine’s pistol handling when she wasn’t shooting -- how she folds her arms in to keep the barrel at the right height and orientation for having to quickly aim and shoot)

(You can tell if an action star did their homework by how often they keep their arms totally extended when holding a handgun)

K: Actually I think worse is the thing where they hold it by their face while pointing the barrel straight up

MIRI: I did not at all notice it, but that’s a cool detail!

(I’m now sitting on my bed holding out a finger gun in various positions to see what feels right)

KRIS: I don’t think we can do a better, more fitting ending line than the movie’s own

You want the honors?

MIRI: I’m honestly blanking on what it was! I’m so embarrassed!!!

KRIS: I’m glad it was convincing

Follow us on Twitter for steady retweets of even more critics Kris likes to namecheck, along with screenwriters and general entertainment reporting. Also for links to future Reactions, of course.

Next up: X-Men cartoons with a Guest Reactor. Unless Liz and Marchae get around to watching The Bold Type soon enough. (WATCH THE BOLD TYPE, LIZ AND MARCHAE.)

#Atomic Blonde #Charlize Theron #James McAvoy #Sofia Boutella #David Leitch #Lorraine Broughton #movies #Miri #Marchae #Kris #reaction #Literally Strong Female Characters

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hitsuackerman · 4 years ago

Text

Unpredictable (Overhaul x Reader) pt.25

a/n: Eyo :) we’re now entering the Shie Hassaikai Arc :]

warnings: this cannot be read solo

Links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19, part 20, part 21, part 22, part 22, part 23, part 23.5, part 24

Masterlist to my other fics: here :)

Overhaul’s waiting list: @jjk-biased @infinite-universe-love @dirtypride @blackymomo03 @azzie @purple-rabanito @meximorrita @awesomeee19 @celestial-kanzakii @laure-lo @team-wang-puppy @aydience-world @choros-main-hoe @colorseeingchick @o-dragon05 @but-kairis-not-that-smart (i cant seem to tag again :( hope this lands in your timelines!)

“Please excuse us.” Deku and Mirio said as they took off their shoes and entered your apartment. The two boys had taken it upon themselves to hand over the document Sir Nighteye had been meaning to give you.

“Make yourselves at home.” You led them to the living room. Whatever remnants of Overhaul’s scent or belongings were long gone by now. True to his word, he left right after breakfast but not without burning toast and eggs for breakfast. He looked pissed as fuck but the picture on your phone was well worth the exploding sofa. “Also, no need to take off your shoes.”

“Thank you so much, (l/n)-san!” Deku said as they took a seat and took in the decoration. Taking note of how many rooms and how clean the place was, he couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel like to support himself.

“I wasn’t able to restock my fridge.” You placed two cans of soda in front of them. Both their eyes sparkling at the free drink. “This is all I can offer for now~”

“This is more than enough, (l/n)-san!” Mirio cheered as he opened the can of soda and chugged it. “Oh! Here’s the files that Sir Nighteye wanted to give you. He also wishes you a speedy recovery. Oh, and he wants to know if you’re fit to attend the heroes meeting the day after tomorrow.”

Accepting the files, you placed the folder beside you and answered the other questions he had thrown. Satisfied with your answer, the boy laughed and tried to say a punchline.

“You sure do have a sense of humor, Lemillion.” Looking at your bedroom door, you couldn’t help but snicker at the thought of Overhaul’s jacket resting on his side of the bed. Hmm, his side of the bed was a strong word and one you were sure you wouldn’t be able to use again. “How’s school, you two?”

“It’s fine. We’re just focusing now on our internships but the others are still attending school.” Deku answered.

“Ah, by the way, are you feeling much better now?” Mirio chimed in. “You seem to be alone.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” You shrugged and touched the spot of the closed bullet hole. “Things didn’t exactly turn out as planned but there’s still next time~”

“We received news that Overhaul ended up killing a suspect?”

“Hm? Well, yes he did.” You almost forgot about that. “We still caught one so I guess it isn’t all that bad.”

“How did you get used to your work, (l/n)-san?” Deku inquired.

“I can’t say I’m used to it. I still get chills every now and then but as long as things turn out for the better, it makes it worthwhile. Besides, the injuries we get are nothing compared to what heroes get. We’re merely support.” You smirked. “Pawns for the bigger pieces, if I may say so myself.”

“Hahaha! You say that like heroes aren’t all that, (l/n)-san!” Mirio laughed and held on to his stomach.

“I never implied that.” You looked at the view of your window and back at them. Not holding it back, you sighed. “Listen. Everyone wants to be a hero, I get it. But when life hits you, sometimes ya gotta do what you have to do. My field of work requires me to make a constant string of decisions. I’ve worked for heroes who have red marks on their files. Some even with questionable motives. But it’s also important to take note of those who were not seen in their times of need.”

“Isn’t that a little harsh?”

“Barely. The glitz and glamour of being a hero are blinding to those aspiring one’s. Same goes for those who aren’t on the heroes side.” You stood up and the two boy’s followed. “Don’t take this the wrong way kids. Not everyone can be saved. Now, I’m not telling you guys to stop chasing your dreams or shit. I just want you to be aware that the world is unfair. Now go to do your patrols.”

The moment they bid farewell and your locks clicked, you went back to the living room and sat down. Fingers slowly touching the fabric. Every single crease, fold, and dip your sofa had. Finding nothing, you painstakingly began to check each room and vase your unit had to offer. Seeing as things were clear, you decided a small trip to the third floor was necessary.

Grabbing your phone, you went to your bedroom and opened the window. Dialing a number, you waited for the other person to pick up.

“Hurry. I don’t have much time.”

“Chrono. Did you destroy the tracker?”

“I did. 2 days ago.” He paused and lowered his voice. “Why?”

“Nothing. How did you dispose of it?”

“Used some equipment we have here.”

“Thanks. Go do your shit.” Hearing a chuckle, you ended the call and closed the windows.

It didn’t take too long but now you were inside the elevator. The faint sound of elevator music keeping you company as the buttons lit up. Once you arrived on the third floor, you walked down the hallway and took a detour to one of the off limit doors.

Knocking 5 times, the door opened.

“Why hello to you, (y/n)~”

“Same goes for you, Roshi-san~” You tilted your head and gave him a peace sign. “Busy?”

“Not at all. Come in, come in! Shall I prepare your throne, princess?”

“And rid you of yours? I just wanna check something.” Taking a Y1000 from your pocket, Roshi took it with a wink and stuffed it into his.

Watching his fingers tapping on the keyboard, a window popped up indicating that a bunch of videos were being transported into a folder. As that was happening, he took a flash drive and connected it. With a few more taps and clicks, he turned around and faced you.

“Paranoid, princess?”

“Not much. Just have to make sure, you know?”

“This about Overhaul?” The bluish twinkle in his eyes made you laugh. “Bingo~ Don’t worry boo, I’ve deleted and looped each and every footage that showed him he even entered within a 100m radius.”

“Remind me why you prefer to work here and not back at the house?”

Roshi Matsui. One of your father’s most trusted members. It had been a few years since he decided to leave the compound and take up a job that made use of his quirk. Though admittedly, he was also one of the reasons why your father chose the apartment building. He felt safe enough to entrust his only daughter to this member.

“I get bored easily.” Facing the screen once more, he tapped away and ejected the flash drive. “Everything you need is in here, princess. You’re in for a wild ride.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

“Shall I continue with your request?”

“Yes, please.”

“Alright~ Have a great day~ OH send my kisses to Geiby-boo.” Right. You keep forgetting that these two were related. Cousins. Giving him the response he wanted, he stood up to open the doors for you. Just as you were about to step outside, Roshi grabbed your arm and smirked. “Not that I care what you do, (n/n)... be sure to check your doors. Aight?”

“I will~”

With hurried steps, you reached the elevator and clicked on your floor. Roshi usually kept an eye on your floor but it was never really needed before. That sudden warning was nothing but bad news as each button lit up. Using your quirk to calm yourself, you stepped out and made your way to your room.

Taking your keys from your pocket, it slipped and jingled its way to the floor. Kneeling to pick it up, you examined the corner pads, sweep, and sill. Seeing nothing, you grabbed your keys and stretched. Eyes scanning the header and the jam. It was still clear of any shiny objects.

Not satisfied with the results, you entered your room and locked your door. Inspecting it from within was much less confining. Yet, there were no indications that your place had been bugged.

“Unless…” Of all the things you barely checked, it would have to be the peephole. “Ah shit.”

True enough, the peephole was blocked and you were met with a tiny lens that seemed to be adjusting its aperture. Heading to where you kept your toolbox, you uttered a string of curses. The want to watch the CCTV footage grew stronger but first things first.

It took awhile but you got the job done. Careful that the small camera wasn’t damaged, you managed to pull it out. The tiny dot of green light indicated that it was still recording. Covering the new whole with some electrical tape, you went to the kitchen and reached for two bowls. Caging the device with the two bowls, you placed it in the fridge to ensure you were safe.

Now in your bedroom, you dialled his number.

“What is it, (y/n)?”

“I don’t like being bugged, Chisaki.”

“And why would I do that? You already pester me with phone AND video calls. I see no need to do that.” There was a pause in the line. “Though, I would be a hypocrite if I wouldn’t admit to the thought of actually doing it.”

“I don’t like liars.”

“Would I ever lie to you?” There was a teasing tone to his voice.

“You might~ I can never guess you right.” If it wasn’t him then who would? “That’s all for now, birdman. W-will you call me later?”

“If my schedule permits it, then I shall.”

“Such a tease…”

“I can do more than teasing, (y/n).”

“Oh shut it.” Ending the call, you resisted the urge to squeal.

Rubbing your face, you groaned and sunk into the sofa, your body feeling tired after all the moving you had done today. Perhaps you weren’t fully healed yet. Dialing another number, you waited for the other person to pick up.

“Nao?”

“Ah. (y/n). You okay now?”

“Not fully but I can head to work tomorrow. Are things alright there? How’s the report for the raid?”

“It’s still in the drafts but it shouldn’t be too hard for you to pick up.”

“Email it to me. I can start working on it now.”

“Sure.” He paused. “How’re things with Rusai?”

“Who?”

“Your caretaker?”

Oh. He was given an alias. Something you didn’t know. Then again, you didn’t bother as to how he even became your ‘legal guardian’ during those tiring times.

“Things were rather interesting to be honest. A bit of a rough 20 minutes when I woke up but other than that, things improved significantly~” You stared at the entryway and bit your tongue. “Deku and Mirio dropped by but he left earlier than planned.”

“Deku and Mirio? Isn’t that…”

“I know. I took care of it. Though, I have a feeling something’s about to happen again.”

“Be careful, (n/n).”

“I will~ Now go do your thing~”

Reaching for your laptop, you unlocked and connected the flash drive. Waiting a few seconds, you opened the folder and grabbed a pillow. Clicking on the first video, upped the speed and began to watch as to who could have possibly planted that bug on your door.

As the hours ticked by and your legs falling asleep alternatively, you took a glance at your windows and realized that the sun was now setting. Stretching your entire body, you could feel the tension being released. Pausing the current video, you groaned and layed down on the sofa. Hair splaying everywhere.

Roshi was right.

It really was indeed a wild ride.

- - - - -

if any of you guys want :) feel free to follow me on twitter for updates regarding this story or my thought process during the making :)

@vicart_ph

#overhaul x reader #chisaki kai x reader #overhaul #chisaki kai #bnha overhaul #mha overhaul #bnha chisaki kai #mha chisaki kai #shie hassaikai

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doomedandstoned · 7 years ago

Photo

Season In Hell:

King Zog

Debut LP Stokes Ungodly Flames

By Billy Goate

Everything's too fucking LOUD!

Australia has always felt like a second home for me, even though I've not gotten over there too often in recent years. My grandparents, after homesteading with a family of seven in Anchorage, decided to uproot and hammer down fresh tent pegs in Western Australia. Well, more like a houseboat, to be precise. One of my earliest memories is watching Tom Baker's Dr. Who (I'll forever identify him with the role) on a black and white television below deck, docked in the harbors of Perth. The whole experience was like being on Earth 2 for me. When I came back as a young adult, I remarked that Australia is what the U.S. would look like if the British had won the War of 1776.

As you can imagine, then, I'm quite fascinated with the heavy music scene Down Under and follow it keenly. People, it is absolutely exploding there. Just pick your city: Melbourne, Tasmania, Brisbane, and the aforementioned Perth on any given night you can get your ear drums blown by some incredibly talented axe wielders and amp worshippers. One band that recently caught my interest was KING ZOG:

Daniel Durack (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)

Vince Radice (lead guitar, vocals)

Rory Keys (drums)

Martin Gonzalez (bass)

"Guitarist Vinnie Radice started this band with me in 2013 after I'd moved back from London, having lived and worked there for eight years," front man Dan Durack tells me. "We'd both been in rock 'n' roll, garage, and punk bands over the years and it was Vinnie's idea to put together a band to play heavy music, with both of us being obsessive fans since we were kids growing up in rural Western Australia."

You're curious about their name, I'm sure. I was. The first hit you get for your armchair sleuthing is Zog I, King of the Albanians. This enterprising fellow went from Prime Minister to President to King (yes, all three). "Bizarre King Zog" he was called. Despite all of his tyrannical proclivities, perhaps his one redeeming quality is he was one crazy chain-smoker, said go through 200 cigs a day. Could there be a connection to the band? It didn't hurt to ask. "A friend of mine's family is of Albanian descent and told me about Zog," Dan recalls. "A pretty interesting character. I thought the name sounded great, perfect for a metal band."

Even though King Zog is pushing five, they've only been gigging for the last two years. "It took us ages to find the right rhythm section. It was pretty comical, really. One bassist we believe took all the ecstasy in the '90s. After being in the band for a few months, he went away for a fortnight then came back and forgot everything. Another guy brought a practice amp to rehearsal and starting slapping the bass to Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" while we were setting up."

The bad luck didn't end there. "Unfortunately, we had to fire our drummer, Merrick, after we finished recording. Lovely man, but sadly just not the right guy for us anymore. He likes playing fast, with double kick, whereas we just want to get slower and dirgier, if that's a word. We found a killer young drummer, Rory, who's fit in really well, so already looking forward to recording with him. Since it took fucking ages to settle on a recording line-up, Vinnie and I already have a bunch of songs that the band is currently learning. Feels great to be finally progressing after years of being bogged down with people who weren't quite up to it."

King Zog by King Zog

This summer, King Zog's eponymous debut stole my attention. Enticed by Dominic Sohor's arresting album art, I stopped what I was doing and gave it a spin. It's a slow burner with a steady doom groove from end to end. Sometimes a band just does the basics really, really well. So well, in fact, you feel like you're hearing the sound fresh, almost for the first time. That's King Zog for you.

"We finally began recording last year with a rock 'n' roll producer named Ken Watt," the band says, "an amazing guitarist/front man and was in a couple of great Perth rock bands, Valvolux and The M-16s. He's not really a metal guy, but he's obsessed with guitar sounds and tone and knew exactly what we wanted. He set up a studio in his house right in front of Scarborough Beach, one of Perth's most popular beaches. It was winter when we began laying down tracks and it was pretty inspiring seeing the wild coastal weather while recording."

That would explain the churning feeling I'm picking up on here. Songs like the opening "Lost At Sea" present a slow, doom jam with strong, clean vocals that remind me a lot of Plush-era Scott Weiland, emotive guitar solos, and a stormy undercurrent that's pays homage to Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, and Nirvana, presumably the music. In other instances, the influence of Black Sabbath is both undeniable and welcome (check out "Fuck Island," a real headbanger). While 'King Zog' (2017) is a metal album through-and-through, it is appropriately tempered by these influences, which makes the record, well, interesting to listen to.

"Recording it felt easy since we'd been playing those songs for about three fucking years," Dan remarks. King Zog lucked out in having their debut mastered by famed English sound engineer Noel Summerville, whose resume includes decades of greats, including records by Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death, and Electric Wizard's Witchcult Today, "a record I've been pretty fanatical about since it came out."

The songs on the new record go back to when King Zog was still in is awkward growth phase, just Dan and Vinnie. "We write well together. We're good at completing the other's songs," Dan says. "I'll put in a bridge here; Vinnie will add a chorus there. Once I get a theme for a song in my head the lyrics come quickly, which might sound obvious to anyone who reads them! I try to keep it simple. I like a good vocal melody having grown up listening to Ozzy, Dio, Gillan, Paul Di'anno, Rob Halford, and Blackie Lawless."

These vocal anchors make sense for this record. While much of doom today adopts death-style vox, Dan prefers singing over the growling. "Cookie Monster style," he calls it. "Just a personal preference. I do like eating cookies -- we call them 'biscuits' in Australia." I almost forgot that. Please pass the biscuits.

And that grungy sound I described earlier? Turns out I was on to something. Dan and I grew up in the same era. "I was a teenager until 1994 and dug some of the grunge bands," he tells me, "particularly Nirvana, L7 and Mudhoney. Some of Soundgarden's stuff. I'd been pretty metal-obsessed as a teenager, but as I got into my twenties I did what a lot of people do and started looking backwards and getting into the pre-history of the stuff I loved, which led to a lot of '60s psychedelia, garage rock, and proto-punk."

This included bands from the groundbreaking Nuggets compilation, The Stooges, MC5, and Aussie acts Radio Birdman and The Saints. "All rites of passage bands for young Australian men," he explains “Australia had a band called The Missing Links in the '60s which I loved -- trashy and loud. While I never stopped listening to metal, I did embrace '70s and '80s punk and a lot of '60s music."

From there, Dan spend time in London soaking in the scene. "Living in England and its close proximity to Europe was perfect for metal shows and festivals, and I saw a lot of bands. I'd go out of my way to see Electric Wizard. I took a bus to Bristol and a plane to Berlin to see 'em. That band makes me feel like what it must have been like for a Sabbath-loving teenager in the '70s. They are easily the band I most look up to in terms of sheer mind-numbing, crushing, hypnotic riffs." At this point, I was curious what else was on rotation in the King Zog playlist. "Lately been listening to Windhand, Monolord, Yuri Gagarin and we listen to Sleep a lot."

Before I let front man Dan get back to riff-slinging, I had to ask about Perth. It had been years since I'd been there and I was curious what it was like living and gigging in the City of Light. "Perth's an isolated city. Whether that's reflected in the music, I don't know. There's a small but vibrant metal scene here that's also quite supportive. We've played with grind bands, punk bands, thrash bands, southern metal bands. We supported Acid King last year which was cool. We play loud and there's a lot of young sound engineers in Perth who are okay with that, thankfully.

There was that one time, however. "We played one venue down the road from where I live, an RSL hall (Returned and Services League, a support organization for men and women of the Defence Force) which we played at a couple of months ago. They'd been hosting bands for about a year but shut it down after we played. We'd only played a few songs when the guy who ran the bar yelled at me, saying 'You might be the best fucking guitarist and singer in the world but we'll never know because everything's too fucking LOUD! You've even alienated your own fucking fans, they're sitting outside!' We think the venue is probably better suited to bingo nights."

I don't anticipate King Zog turning the volume down anytime soon. 'King Zog' (2017) is an enjoyable ripper from end-to-end. "We're getting vinyl pressed in the next couple of months so looking forward to getting hold of it. We're focused on the next album already. Only the most lumbering, killingest riffs will make the cut."

Follow The Band.

Get Their Music.

#D&S Reviews #King Zog #Perth #Australia #Stoner Rock #Doom #Metal #Grunge #Doomed & Stoned

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