#Little Lion (Alexei)

[nutaska]

REFERENCE POST, FOR THE DETAILS AROUND MY MAIN VERSE SET WITHIN THE DETECTIVE COMICS UNIVERSE.

PLEASE USE CTRL + F TO NAVIGATE THIS POST, THE SUBJECTS IN THIS ARE AS FOLLOWS.

1. VERSE SUMMARY. 2. VERSE SPECIFICS. 3. AFFILIATES. 4. TIMELINE. 5. STATISTICS. 6. LEGAL NAME. 7. ABILITIES AND WEAPONS. 8. GOTHAM BUSINESSES.

VERSE SUMMARY, SPIN YOUR WEB.

AFTER DEFECTION LIFE IS HARDER TO NAVIGATE THAN EXPECTED, AND WITH A BOUNTY ON HER HEAD THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE IS TO CUT TIES WITH YOUR PAST. SO SHE MUST SEVER THE HEAD FROM THE BODY AND THE BOND BETWEEN IDENTITY AND MORTAL BEING. AND IN ITS PASSING BIRTHS A CALCULATED CREATURE, WITH SILVERED SILK AND A VENOMOUS BITE. WATCH AS A LITTLE SPIDER WEAVES HER WEB, TEMPTING PRAY WITH DELICATE CHARM.

VERSE SPECIFICS, JUST A FEW THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW.

WE DON'T DO REDEMPTION HERE, PEOPLE SHOWED THEIR JUDGEMENT OF NATASHA FOR A VERY LONG TIME. SHE IS PAST TRYING TO RIGHT THE WRONGS OF HER PAST. HER SURVIVAL AND INDEPENDENCE IS NOW HER PRIORITY AND THIS IS HER USING WHAT SHE KNOWS.

ULTIMATELY THE WEB SHE HAS SPUN ISN'T INSTANT. OBVIOUSLY THIS WOULD HAVE TAKEN MULTIPLE IDENTITIES, AT THE VERY START SHE WORKED WITHIN THE ICEBERG. THE BIGGEST PART OF MY PORTRAYAL IS THAT SHE STARTED SMALL BUT CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN QUICKLY. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS IS WHAT SHE WAS TRAINED TO DO, ONE OF THE VERY BEST SPIES IN THE WORLD.

THERE IS NO ENDGAME BUT HER SURVIVAL METHOD IS TO RIP THE CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD FROM THE INSIDE OUT. THEY HAVE THE MONEY AND THE RESOURCES FOR HER TO THRIVE. AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO FUNNEL THEIR MONEY TO THE DEVASTATION THEY CAUSE.

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS IS HER WEB SHE'S SPINNING AND YOU'RE UNKNOWINGLY IN THE LIONS DEN. SHE WILL WALK ARM IN ARM WITH SOME OF THE WORST AND STAB A KNIFE IN THEIR BACK WITHOUT THEM CONNECTING IT TO HER.

AFFILIATES, THOSE WITH WHOM I HAVE ENTWINED CANON WITHIN THIS VERSE.

TO BE ADDED ONCE I SORT MY SHIT OUT.

TIMELINE, EVER-EXPANDING.

SAVED BY IVAN [FOSTER FATHER] > MARRIAGE [TO ALEXEI AND HIS UNTIMELY DEATH] > RED ROOM [BLACK WIDOW OPS] > MADAME NATASHA/THE BLACK WIDOW [PEAK OPERATING / RELATIONSHIP WITH JAMES BARNES] > STARK INDUSTRIES [INFILTRATION] > MEETING CLINT [TOYING WITH DEFECTION] > BRAINWASHED AND PUNISHMENT [GOING AGAINST HER HANDLERS WITH CLINT] > UNOFFICIAL AVENGER [RELATIONSHIP WITH CLINT, THE AVENGER VOTE] > THE OFFER/DOUBLE AGENT [SHIELD EXTEND THEIR HAND] > DEFECTION [LEARNING INDEPENDENCE] > DAREDEVIL [RELATIONSHIP WITH MATT] > REDISCOVERY [UNDISCLOSED PERIOD OF TIME WHERE SHE DOES WHAT'S NEEDED TO SURVIVAL > DEATH [PUBLICISED DEATH OF THE FAMOUS MADAME NATASHA, ALTHOUGH VERY VERY FALSE] > REBIRTH AND GOTHAM [BUILDING OF THE WEB].

STATISTICS, PLEASE NOTE THAT PHYSICAL APPEARANCE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITH THE ASSUMPTION OF A NEW ALIAS.

NAME: NATASHA ROMANOVA. CURRENT ALIAS: DELILAH JAMES ( BUT KNOWN VERY PUBLICLY AS RED.). PAST ALIASES: NANCY RUSHMAN, OKTOBER, RED AND MULTIPLE OTHERS.  ALTER EGO: BLACK WIDOW. AGE: TIMELINE DEPENDENT. PRESENT DAY - LATE 80’s .  DATE OF BIRTH: BETWEEN 1927-1928, UNKNOWN DATE.  BIRTHPLACE: UNKNOWN.  CURRENT LOCATION: PREDOMINANTLY GOTHAM CITY, TRAVELS OFTEN. GENDER: CIS-FEMALE.  PRONOUNS: SHE/HER ORIENTATION: PAN-SEXUAL/DEMI-ROMANTIC. 

OCCUPATION: GALLERY OWNER, SPY, ASSASSIN. RESIDENCE: LARGE APARTMENT IN CENTRAL GOTHAM.

HEIGHT: 5'7. BUILD: MESOMORPH. SHAPE: HOURGLASS, BODYCLAIM HERE (NSFW). EYE COLOUR: GREEN. HAIR COLOUR: RED. HAIR STYLE: PREDOMINANTLY BANGS WITH LONG HAIR, HERE. PIERCINGS: EAR LOBES x 2. TATTOOS: NONE.

LEGAL NAME, THE DEATH OF NATASHA ROMANOVA.

LEGAL NAME > DELILAH JAMES. KNOWN BY > RED. FOR VERY OBVIOUS REASONS SHE WILL NOT GO BY NATALIA/NATASHA OR ROMANOVA/ROMANOFF, THAT PERSON AT THIS CURRENT TIME IS LEGALLY DEAD. HER PREVIOUS NAME AND MANTLE IS VERY MUCH IN THE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, INCLUDING THE DEADLY REPUTATION. WHICH OF COURSE WILL RAISE SUSPICIONS WHEN THE BLACK WIDOW STARTS SHOWING UP IN GOTHAM, YOU JUST WON'T EVER MAKE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN HER AND RED.

ABILITIES AND WEAPONS, THE MINOR DETAILS.

ARTIFICIALLY-ENHANCED PHYSIOLOGY, BIOCHEMICALLY ENHANCED WITH THE RED ROOMS OWN VERSION OF THE SUPER SOLDIER SERUM LEADING TO, PEAK HUMAN STRENGTH/SPEED/DURABILITY/STAMINA/REFLEXES AND ENDURANCE. AS WELL AS, ENHANCED HEALING/IMMUNE SYSTEM AND LONGEVITY

ENHANCED INTELLIGENCE, CAN PROCESS AND DETERMINE A LOT OF INFORMATION IN QUICK SPEED. ALSO MEANING SHE CAN RETAIN A LOT OF INFORMATION. ONE OF THE REASONS SHE'S MULTILINGUAL.

TALENTED DANCER, SPECIFICALLY BALLET. MASTER MARTIAL ARTIST AND ACROBAT, TRAINED IN MANY FIELDS OF HAND TO HAND COMBAT. WEAPONS AND VEHICLE EXPERT, CAN OPERATE NEARLY ALL OF BOTH. HACKER, NOTHING IS SAFE.

WIDOWS GAUNTLETS, WRIST CARTRIDGES CONTAINING VARIOUS TOOLS. ONE OF THESE TOOLS IS THE WIDOWS BITE, WHICH CAN DELIVER A 30,000 VOLT ELECTRIC SHOCK. BELT, MADE OUT OF EXPLOSIVE DISKS. WIDOWS LINE, GRAPPLING HOOK.

BUSINESSES, WHAT SHE OWNS WITHIN GOTHAM. *THE TWO WITH THE HIGHEST PUBLIC PROFILES.

KNOWN BUSINESS: THE WEB*, GALLERY AND EVENT HOSTING.

UNKNOWN TO PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: EIGHT*, NIGHTCLUB AND CASINO. ANNIE'S + ROSIE'S, TWO FOOD TRUCKS. BAITED, BAIT AND TACKLE SHOP. EARLY BIRD, COFFEE SHOP. ART OF CLEAN, CLEANING SERVICES. DANES, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR.

THIS IS AN EVER GROWING LIST [I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME COME UP WITH MORE RN], THESE ARE ONES SHE FULLY OWNS BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN SHE HASN'T INVESTED IN OTHERS. THESE ARE FRONTS FOR OTHER OPERATIONS : FOOD TRUCK > DISTRIBUTION, TACKLE SHOP > DISPOSAL, CLEANING > CLEAN UPS.

A LOT OF THESE BUSINESSES ARE FRONTED BY PEOPLE SHE TRUSTS, NPC'S SHALL WE SAY.

ALONGSIDE SHE OWNS MULTIPLE SAFE HOUSES LOCATED IN AND AROUND GOTHAM, AS WELL AS ACROSS THE GLOBE.

[otmaaromanovas]

As mentioned by the wonderful @foreverinthepagesofhistory, there exists an anecdote about Tatiana Nikolaevna's wig falling off in 1913 and her running to hide from everyone out of embarrassment. This comes from the book 'Four Sisters' by Helen Rappaport:

"One day, when she was playing a skipping game in the park with Maria Rasputin and some young officers from the Corps de Pages, Alexey’s dog had run up to her barking; Tatiana got her foot caught in the rope, tripped and as she fell ‘her hair suddenly tumbled down and, to our amazement, we saw a wig drop off’, Maria recalled. Poor Tatiana ‘revealed to our eyes and those of the two embarrassed officers, the top of her head where a few short, sparse hairs were just beginning to grow’. She was absolutely mortified, and ‘with one bound she was on her feet, had picked up her wig and dashed towards the nearest clump of trees. We saw only her blushes and vexation and she did not appear again that day.’"

Rappaport references Matryona 'Maria' Rasputina's book 'Real Rasputin' here. I unfortunately cannot find this version of her memoirs anywhere online (I think she wrote about three, and 'Real Rasputin' was her first), so I sadly can't check the actual quote for any more information.

If I'm being entirely honest, I don't know how much I believe this. Neither Olga nor Maria Nikolaevna's diaries from 1913 ever mention Rasputin's children Matyrona (Maria), Dmitri, or Varvara visiting them for fun and games, though they do talk about sometimes being in their company.

'After dinner [I] played, at Papa's request, religious things [music] and everyone went to Anya's where Father Grigori's entire family was present: Paraskovia, Feod[orovna], Mitya, Matryona, and Varya... and Zhenya.' - Olga's diary, Christmas day 1916

It's also important to note that Maria believed in Anna Anderson for a time, and a common criticism for those who supported her claim was that they didn't actually know the family well at all, so she might have put this anecdote in her book to try and combat this. Knowing that Tatiana wore a wig might have added to this supposed closeness she was trying to convince readers of.

Her memoirs have been questioned time and time again as to how accurate they actually are - she tries to paint her father, Grigori Rasputin, as having been framed for the downfall of tsarism, and she believes him entirely innocent of the various allegations against him. There are more inconsistencies. For example, in her memoirs she writes degradingly about Felix Yusupov (who was involved in the murder of her father), then named her two dogs 'Youssou' and 'Pov' after him... Also, the cover of her memoirs are quite funny, it reminds me of a bad film poster lol, but that is besides the point.

Also, Tatiana's album has photos of her posing on the Standart and on the beach with her wig off, which might suggest she was at least a little comfortable showing her shaved head to some people, like her favourite officers. When OTMA had their heads shaved in 1917, they also posed for various photographs and found it funny, not embarrassing - but it could be argued that was because they were going through it together, rather than Tatiana being the 'odd one out'.

Personally, I also don't enjoy 'Four Sisters'. Helen Rappaport sadly put quite a few misconceptions and outright lies into her books, so her quoting from a very unreliable source doesn't surprise me sadly.

I also want to add that despite being a little harsh here about her memoirs, Maria Rasputina was a fascinating woman. She actually worked as a lion tamer in a circus for a few years, and there's a video of her doing this which you can see here. She ended up being mauled by a bear whilst working for the circus, but continued working with the company and advertising herself as the performing 'daughter of the mad monk'. She also claimed she was psychic and held seances. She needs her own book about her!

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

If otmaa were cute animals what would they each be? 🤭🐾

Ooh what a fun question!

Olga: Olishka would 100% be a cat! Cats are playful and happy, but they are also mysterious and have very humane personality traits. To me, Olga is very similar to a cat!

Tatiana: Tatya would definitely be butterfly! They have this beauty that is effervescent and glorious! They are mysterious and luminous and exactly like Tatya!

Maria: Mashka, to me, is very similar to a baby lion! They are very playful and love to be with their parents and siblings, just like Mashka! They have strong familial bonds and are the cutest little critters!

Anastasia: Nastya would definitely be a parrot (idk if you count that as cute but whatever)! Anastasia loved to mimic people and really cause some trouble with her friends and family making her the worlds best parrot impersonator because they literally do the exact same things! If I’m ever getting a parrot, I’m naming it Shvybzik!

Alexei: Alexei would 10000000% be a cute baby spaniel (a type of dog)! He had two himself (Joy and Shot)! These types doggos are so fun to be around and have the cutest playful happy spirit like Alexei!

Thank you for asking!!!

[aspiderweb]

REFERENCE POST, FOR THE DETAILS AROUND MY ONLY VERSE SET WITHIN THE DETECTIVE COMICS UNIVERSE.

PLEASE USE CTRL + F TO NAVIGATE THIS POST, THE SUBJECTS IN THIS ARE AS FOLLOWS.

1. VERSE SUMMARY. 2. VERSE SPECIFICS. 3. AFFILIATES. 4. TIMELINE. 5. STATISTICS. 6. LEGAL NAME. 7. ABILITIES AND WEAPONS. 8. GOTHAM BUSINESSES.

VERSE SUMMARY, SPIN YOUR WEB.

AFTER DEFECTION LIFE IS HARDER TO NAVIGATE THAN EXPECTED, AND WITH A BOUNTY ON HER HEAD THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE IS TO CUT TIES WITH YOUR PAST. SO SHE MUST SEVER THE HEAD FROM THE BODY AND THE BOND BETWEEN IDENTITY AND MORTAL BEING. AND IN ITS PASSING BIRTHS A CALCULATED CREATURE, WITH SILVERED SILK AND A VENOMOUS BITE. WATCH AS A LITTLE SPIDER WEAVES HER WEB, TEMPTING PRAY WITH DELICATE CHARM.

VERSE SPECIFICS, JUST A FEW THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW.

WE DON’T DO REDEMPTION HERE, PEOPLE SHOWED THEIR JUDGEMENT OF NATASHA FOR A VERY LONG TIME. SHE IS PAST TRYING TO RIGHT THE WRONGS OF HER PAST. HER SURVIVAL AND INDEPENDENCE IS NOW HER PRIORITY AND THIS IS HER USING WHAT SHE KNOWS.

ULTIMATELY THE WEB SHE HAS SPUN ISN’T INSTANT. OBVIOUSLY THIS WOULD HAVE TAKEN MULTIPLE IDENTITIES, AT THE VERY START SHE WORKED WITHIN THE ICEBERG. THE BIGGEST PART OF MY PORTRAYAL IS THAT SHE STARTED SMALL BUT CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN QUICKLY. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS IS WHAT SHE WAS TRAINED TO DO, ONE OF THE VERY BEST SPIES IN THE WORLD.

THERE IS NO ENDGAME BUT HER SURVIVAL METHOD IS TO RIP THE CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD FROM THE INSIDE OUT. THEY HAVE THE MONEY AND THE RESOURCES FOR HER TO THRIVE. AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO FUNNEL THEIR MONEY TO THE DEVASTATION THEY CAUSE.

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS IS HER WEB SHE’S SPINNING AND YOU’RE UNKNOWINGLY IN THE LIONS DEN. SHE WILL WALK ARM IN ARM WITH SOME OF THE WORST AND STAB A KNIFE IN THEIR BACK WITHOUT THEM CONNECTING IT TO HER.

AFFILIATES, THOSE WITH WHOM I HAVE ENTWINED CANON WITHIN THIS VERSE.

TO BE ADDED ONCE I SORT MY SHIT OUT.

TIMELINE, EVER-EXPANDING.

SAVED BY IVAN [FOSTER FATHER] > MARRIAGE [TO ALEXEI AND HIS UNTIMELY DEATH] > RED ROOM [BLACK WIDOW OPS] > MADAME NATASHA/THE BLACK WIDOW [PEAK OPERATING / RELATIONSHIP WITH JAMES BARNES] > STARK INDUSTRIES [INFILTRATION] > MEETING CLINT [TOYING WITH DEFECTION] > BRAINWASHED AND PUNISHMENT [GOING AGAINST HER HANDLERS WITH CLINT] > UNOFFICIAL AVENGER [RELATIONSHIP WITH CLINT, THE AVENGER VOTE] > THE OFFER/DOUBLE AGENT [SHIELD EXTEND THEIR HAND] > DEFECTION [LEARNING INDEPENDENCE] > DAREDEVIL [RELATIONSHIP WITH MATT] > REDISCOVERY [UNDISCLOSED PERIOD OF TIME WHERE SHE DOES WHAT’S NEEDED TO SURVIVAL > DEATH [PUBLICISED DEATH OF THE FAMOUS MADAME NATASHA, ALTHOUGH VERY VERY FALSE] > REBIRTH AND GOTHAM [BUILDING OF THE WEB].

STATISTICS, PLEASE NOTE THAT PHYSICAL APPEARANCE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITH THE ASSUMPTION OF A NEW ALIAS.

NAME: NATASHA ROMANOVA. CURRENT ALIAS: DELILAH JAMES ( BUT KNOWN VERY PUBLICLY AS RED.). PAST ALIASES: NANCY RUSHMAN, OKTOBER, RED AND MULTIPLE OTHERS.  ALTER EGO: BLACK WIDOW. AGE: TIMELINE DEPENDENT. PRESENT DAY - LATE 80’s .  DATE OF BIRTH: BETWEEN 1927-1928, UNKNOWN DATE.  BIRTHPLACE: UNKNOWN.  CURRENT LOCATION: PREDOMINANTLY GOTHAM CITY, TRAVELS OFTEN. GENDER: CIS-FEMALE.  PRONOUNS: SHE/HER ORIENTATION: PAN-SEXUAL/DEMI-ROMANTIC. 

OCCUPATION: GALLERY OWNER, SPY, ASSASSIN. RESIDENCE: LARGE APARTMENT IN CENTRAL GOTHAM.

HEIGHT: 5'7. BUILD: MESOMORPH. SHAPE: HOURGLASS, BODYCLAIM HERE (NSFW). EYE COLOUR: GREEN. HAIR COLOUR: RED. HAIR STYLE: PREDOMINANTLY BANGS WITH LONG HAIR, HERE. PIERCINGS: EAR LOBES x 2. TATTOOS: NONE.

LEGAL NAME, THE DEATH OF NATASHA ROMANOVA.

LEGAL NAME > DELILAH JAMES. KNOWN BY > RED. FOR VERY OBVIOUS REASONS SHE WILL NOT GO BY NATALIA/NATASHA OR ROMANOVA/ROMANOFF, THAT PERSON AT THIS CURRENT TIME IS LEGALLY DEAD. HER PREVIOUS NAME AND MANTLE IS VERY MUCH IN THE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, INCLUDING THE DEADLY REPUTATION. WHICH OF COURSE WILL RAISE SUSPICIONS WHEN THE BLACK WIDOW STARTS SHOWING UP IN GOTHAM, YOU JUST WON’T EVER MAKE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN HER AND RED.

ABILITIES AND WEAPONS, THE MINOR DETAILS.

ARTIFICIALLY-ENHANCED PHYSIOLOGY, BIOCHEMICALLY ENHANCED WITH THE RED ROOMS OWN VERSION OF THE SUPER SOLDIER SERUM LEADING TO, PEAK HUMAN STRENGTH/SPEED/DURABILITY/STAMINA/REFLEXES AND ENDURANCE. AS WELL AS, ENHANCED HEALING/IMMUNE SYSTEM AND LONGEVITY

ENHANCED INTELLIGENCE, CAN PROCESS AND DETERMINE A LOT OF INFORMATION IN QUICK SPEED. ALSO MEANING SHE CAN RETAIN A LOT OF INFORMATION. ONE OF THE REASONS SHE’S MULTILINGUAL.

TALENTED DANCER, SPECIFICALLY BALLET. MASTER MARTIAL ARTIST AND ACROBAT, TRAINED IN MANY FIELDS OF HAND TO HAND COMBAT. WEAPONS AND VEHICLE EXPERT, CAN OPERATE NEARLY ALL OF BOTH. HACKER, NOTHING IS SAFE.

WIDOWS GAUNTLETS, WRIST CARTRIDGES CONTAINING VARIOUS TOOLS. ONE OF THESE TOOLS ISTHE WIDOWS BITE, WHICH CAN DELIVER A 30,000 VOLT ELECTRIC SHOCK. BELT, MADE OUT OF EXPLOSIVE DISKS. WIDOWS LINE, GRAPPLING HOOK.

BUSINESSES, WHAT SHE OWNS WITHIN GOTHAM. *THE TWO WITH THE HIGHEST PUBLIC PROFILES.

KNOWN BUSINESS: THE WEB*, GALLERY AND EVENT HOSTING.

UNKNOWN TO PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: EIGHT*, NIGHTCLUB AND CASINO. ANNIE’S + ROSIE’S, TWO FOOD TRUCKS. BAITED, BAIT AND TACKLE SHOP. EARLY BIRD, COFFEE SHOP. ART OF CLEAN, CLEANING SERVICES. DANES, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR.

THIS IS AN EVER GROWING LIST [I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME COME UP WITH MORE RN], THESE ARE ONES SHE FULLY OWNS BUT IT DOESN’T MEAN SHE HASN’T INVESTED IN OTHERS. THESE ARE FRONTS FOR OTHER OPERATIONS : FOOD TRUCK > DISTRIBUTION, TACKLE SHOP > DISPOSAL, CLEANING > CLEAN UPS.

A LOT OF THESE BUSINESSES ARE FRONTED BY PEOPLE SHE TRUSTS, NPC’S SHALL WE SAY.

ALONGSIDE SHE OWNS MULTIPLE SAFE HOUSES LOCATED IN AND AROUND GOTHAM, AS WELL AS ACROSS THE GLOBE.

[profiling]

REFERENCE POST, FOR THE DETAILS AROUND MY MAIN VERSE SET WITHIN THE DETECTIVE COMICS UNIVERSE.

PLEASE USE CTRL + F TO NAVIGATE THIS POST, THE SUBJECTS IN THIS ARE AS FOLLOWS.

1. VERSE SUMMARY. 2. VERSE SPECIFICS. 3. AFFILIATES. 4. TIMELINE. 5. STATISTICS. 6. LEGAL NAME. 7. ABILITIES AND WEAPONS. 8. GOTHAM BUSINESSES.

VERSE SUMMARY, SPIN YOUR WEB.

AFTER DEFECTION LIFE IS HARDER TO NAVIGATE THAN EXPECTED, AND WITH A BOUNTY ON HER HEAD THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE IS TO CUT TIES WITH YOUR PAST. SO SHE MUST SEVER THE HEAD FROM THE BODY AND THE BOND BETWEEN IDENTITY AND MORTAL BEING. AND IN ITS PASSING BIRTHS A CALCULATED CREATURE, WITH SILVERED SILK AND A VENOMOUS BITE. WATCH AS A LITTLE SPIDER WEAVES HER WEB, TEMPTING PRAY WITH DELICATE CHARM.

VERSE SPECIFICS, JUST A FEW THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW.

WE DON'T DO REDEMPTION HERE, PEOPLE SHOWED THEIR JUDGEMENT OF NATASHA FOR A VERY LONG TIME. SHE IS PAST TRYING TO RIGHT THE WRONGS OF HER PAST. HER SURVIVAL AND INDEPENDENCE IS NOW HER PRIORITY AND THIS IS HER USING WHAT SHE KNOWS.

ULTIMATELY THE WEB SHE HAS SPUN ISN'T INSTANT. OBVIOUSLY THIS WOULD HAVE TAKEN MULTIPLE IDENTITIES, AT THE VERY START SHE WORKED WITHIN THE ICEBERG. THE BIGGEST PART OF MY PORTRAYAL IS THAT SHE STARTED SMALL BUT CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN QUICKLY. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS IS WHAT SHE WAS TRAINED TO DO, ONE OF THE VERY BEST SPIES IN THE WORLD.

THERE IS NO ENDGAME BUT HER SURVIVAL METHOD IS TO RIP THE CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD FROM THE INSIDE OUT. THEY HAVE THE MONEY AND THE RESOURCES FOR HER TO THRIVE. AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO FUNNEL THEIR MONEY TO THE DEVASTATION THEY CAUSE.

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS IS HER WEB SHE'S SPINNING AND YOU'RE UNKNOWINGLY IN THE LIONS DEN. SHE WILL WALK ARM IN ARM WITH SOME OF THE WORST AND STAB A KNIFE IN THEIR BACK WITHOUT THEM CONNECTING IT TO HER.

AFFILIATES, THOSE WITH WHOM I HAVE ENTWINED CANON WITHIN THIS VERSE.

TO BE ADDED ONCE I SORT MY SHIT OUT.

TIMELINE, EVER-EXPANDING.

SAVED BY IVAN [FOSTER FATHER] > MARRIAGE [TO ALEXEI AND HIS UNTIMELY DEATH] > RED ROOM [BLACK WIDOW OPS] > MADAME NATASHA/THE BLACK WIDOW [PEAK OPERATING / RELATIONSHIP WITH JAMES BARNES] > STARK INDUSTRIES [INFILTRATION] > MEETING CLINT [TOYING WITH DEFECTION] > BRAINWASHED AND PUNISHMENT [GOING AGAINST HER HANDLERS WITH CLINT] > UNOFFICIAL AVENGER [RELATIONSHIP WITH CLINT, THE AVENGER VOTE] > THE OFFER/DOUBLE AGENT [SHIELD EXTEND THEIR HAND] > DEFECTION [LEARNING INDEPENDENCE] > DAREDEVIL [RELATIONSHIP WITH MATT] > REDISCOVERY [UNDISCLOSED PERIOD OF TIME WHERE SHE DOES WHAT'S NEEDED TO SURVIVAL > DEATH [PUBLICISED DEATH OF THE FAMOUS MADAME NATASHA, ALTHOUGH VERY VERY FALSE] > REBIRTH AND GOTHAM [BUILDING OF THE WEB].

STATISTICS, PLEASE NOTE THAT PHYSICAL APPEARANCE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITH THE ASSUMPTION OF A NEW ALIAS.

NAME: NATASHA ROMANOVA. CURRENT ALIAS: DELILAH JAMES ( BUT KNOWN VERY PUBLICLY AS RED.). PAST ALIASES: NANCY RUSHMAN, OKTOBER, RED AND MULTIPLE OTHERS.  ALTER EGO: BLACK WIDOW. AGE: TIMELINE DEPENDENT. PRESENT DAY - LATE 80’s .  DATE OF BIRTH: BETWEEN 1927-1928, UNKNOWN DATE.  BIRTHPLACE: UNKNOWN.  CURRENT LOCATION: PREDOMINANTLY GOTHAM CITY, TRAVELS OFTEN. GENDER: CIS-FEMALE.  PRONOUNS: SHE/HER ORIENTATION: PAN-SEXUAL/DEMI-ROMANTIC. 

OCCUPATION: GALLERY OWNER, SPY, ASSASSIN. RESIDENCE: LARGE APARTMENT IN CENTRAL GOTHAM.

HEIGHT: 5'7. BUILD: MESOMORPH. SHAPE: HOURGLASS, BODYCLAIM HERE (NSFW). EYE COLOUR: GREEN. HAIR COLOUR: RED. HAIR STYLE: PREDOMINANTLY BANGS WITH LONG HAIR, HERE. PIERCINGS: EAR LOBES x 2. TATTOOS: NONE.

LEGAL NAME, THE DEATH OF NATASHA ROMANOVA.

LEGAL NAME > DELILAH JAMES. KNOWN BY > RED. FOR VERY OBVIOUS REASONS SHE WILL NOT GO BY NATALIA/NATASHA OR ROMANOVA/ROMANOFF, THAT PERSON AT THIS CURRENT TIME IS LEGALLY DEAD. HER PREVIOUS NAME AND MANTLE IS VERY MUCH IN THE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, INCLUDING THE DEADLY REPUTATION. WHICH OF COURSE WILL RAISE SUSPICIONS WHEN THE BLACK WIDOW STARTS SHOWING UP IN GOTHAM, YOU JUST WON'T EVER MAKE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN HER AND RED.

ABILITIES AND WEAPONS, THE MINOR DETAILS.

ARTIFICIALLY-ENHANCED PHYSIOLOGY, BIOCHEMICALLY ENHANCED WITH THE RED ROOMS OWN VERSION OF THE SUPER SOLDIER SERUM LEADING TO, PEAK HUMAN STRENGTH/SPEED/DURABILITY/STAMINA/REFLEXES AND ENDURANCE. AS WELL AS, ENHANCED HEALING/IMMUNE SYSTEM AND LONGEVITY

ENHANCED INTELLIGENCE, CAN PROCESS AND DETERMINE A LOT OF INFORMATION IN QUICK SPEED. ALSO MEANING SHE CAN RETAIN A LOT OF INFORMATION. ONE OF THE REASONS SHE'S MULTILINGUAL.

TALENTED DANCER, SPECIFICALLY BALLET. MASTER MARTIAL ARTIST AND ACROBAT, TRAINED IN MANY FIELDS OF HAND TO HAND COMBAT. WEAPONS AND VEHICLE EXPERT, CAN OPERATE NEARLY ALL OF BOTH. HACKER, NOTHING IS SAFE.

WIDOWS GAUNTLETS, WRIST CARTRIDGES CONTAINING VARIOUS TOOLS. ONE OF THESE TOOLS IS THE WIDOWS BITE, WHICH CAN DELIVER A 30,000 VOLT ELECTRIC SHOCK. BELT, MADE OUT OF EXPLOSIVE DISKS. WIDOWS LINE, GRAPPLING HOOK.

BUSINESSES, WHAT SHE OWNS WITHIN GOTHAM. *THE TWO WITH THE HIGHEST PUBLIC PROFILES.

KNOWN BUSINESS: THE WEB*, GALLERY AND EVENT HOSTING.

UNKNOWN TO PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: EIGHT*, NIGHTCLUB AND CASINO. ANNIE'S + ROSIE'S, TWO FOOD TRUCKS. BAITED, BAIT AND TACKLE SHOP. EARLY BIRD, COFFEE SHOP. ART OF CLEAN, CLEANING SERVICES. DANES, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR.

THIS IS AN EVER GROWING LIST [I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME COME UP WITH MORE RN], THESE ARE ONES SHE FULLY OWNS BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN SHE HASN'T INVESTED IN OTHERS. THESE ARE FRONTS FOR OTHER OPERATIONS : FOOD TRUCK > DISTRIBUTION, TACKLE SHOP > DISPOSAL, CLEANING > CLEAN UPS.

A LOT OF THESE BUSINESSES ARE FRONTED BY PEOPLE SHE TRUSTS, NPC'S SHALL WE SAY.

ALONGSIDE SHE OWNS MULTIPLE SAFE HOUSES LOCATED IN AND AROUND GOTHAM, AS WELL AS ACROSS THE GLOBE.

[winter-sword]

📱 alexei for gwenn

@mothsflames

Unsent --  [Text: Little Lion] You’re my favorite nibling. [Text: Little Lion] You're so much like Dima it’s a little scary. [Text: Little Lion] Ask Fe to train with you. I have physical therapy this weekend. [Text: Little Lion] No child should be so serious, but I suppose you get that from both your parents. [Text: Little Lion] Fe plays Animal Crossing. Feel free to tease him about it.

Sent --  [Text: Little Lion] I’m doing holiday shopping early, this year. Would you mind helping?

[kaypeace21]

Will’s fear of clowns

*Ps -not mine. this is a submission from an anon. tw: for s.a. It’s an interesting submission. ANON-please make a tumblr account already . I’m begging you XD

Hi! It’s me, Lonnie Meth Anon. Back with more depressing thoughts about Lonnie!

I just read your post on Jonathan’s ab*se at the hands of Lonnie, and I second it all. It breaks my heart. But it also got me thinking deeper about Will’s fear of clowns. I think you’re right that part of the horror for Will is that the clown attacks in bed. The bed is, obviously, like you say, a common site for s*xual assault. (Doesn’t El’s picture of “three legged Brenner” also have a bed in it? In a picture with not much else?) The fact that Will needed Joyce to sleep with him for a week suggests he was specifically feeling unsafe in bed, or at night. 

But maybe it’s not just the location of the attack in Poltergeist that Will found so harrowing. Maybe it’s the combination of that location with the fact of a clown being the attacker. 

I think Lonnie might have dressed up as a clown for Will’s birthday one year, and something happened. 

In this instance, I don’t think Joyce would know what happened. I think the incident in her mind would be something like “Lonnie dressed up and Will was scared of the costume”. She might even have thought it was cute. Just a typical little kid fear of something mundane. When she teases him about Poltergeist, she doesn’t actually say the movie was the START of his fear of clowns. Just that he was afraid of that particular clown. The general fear of clowns could have been an older one, going back to when Will was even younger.

Maybe Will even liked clowns, before whatever happened with Lonnie turned them into a source of fear for him. Will has a lion plushie (lions are commonly found in the circus) and the circus seems like the kind of vibrant, colorful environment full of outcast, that a young gay kid would really enjoy. If Will did like circuses and Lonnie poisoned that for him, that’s just another reason to hate Lonnie. But it definitely seems possible. 

Lonnie is a deadbeat dad in general, but we’ve seen before that he’s capable of faking the “family man” act in front of Joyce and their neighbors. We’ve also seen that even though he treats Will horribly, he would also try and keep Will on his side with father son bonding activities, like baseball. And Will’s birthday is one of the few occasions Lonnie makes a half-assed kind of effort, even when there’s nothing directly in it for him. He sends that card, even though it’s late. Maybe Joyce made called him up and made him send it, but she always seemed happy to keep Lonnie out of the picture. She didn’t even want to involve him when Will went missing. And we know Jonathan would never try and facilitate more interactions between Lonnie and Will. So it seems like Lonnie did this of his own accord, when he realized he’d missed the day. Kind of weird. And it’s classic abuser behavior, to make contact on an anniversary date, reminding you they exist and you can’t escape them. Reminding you to keep quiet. Or hoping you’ll miss them, remember the “good times” when they made an effort, and let them back into your life. (Ugh.)

So, anyway, back to my theory. Young Will likes circuses, and the Byers family are poor, so they can’t afford to take him to one, or throw him a party at an ice cream parlor or a bowling alley, like other kids. It makes sense that they would have a party at home instead, and that the family themselves might dress up. We know Joyce made Will’s Ghostbusters costume in season two, and a clown is a pretty easy costume. Most of it is just make up. It’s possible the whole thing was Joyce’s idea, and she made the costume, and Lonnie just went along with it to look like a good dad in her eyes. 

Remember how we see Bob (Will’s new father figure) dressing up in costume for Halloween? Joyce loves it. This is a thing good dads do, to have fun with their kids. That’s also the same episode we see Will scared by a guy in a clown costume, and Jonathan is hyper-protective of him that night. School is okay, but he doesn’t want him trick or treating. (Like he knows that school is a safe environment, but in other contexts, costumes and parties might be a trigger for Will.) Jonathan is convinced to leave Will and “let him have fun” and what happens? The clown attacks. Later that night Jonathan goes to a costume party himself, where he finds Nancy upset and takes her safely home.  Maybe this is how Will’s birthday party ended - with Jonathan finding Will upset, and trying to comfort him. The whole night could be playing out like a parallel to that birthday party, from Jonathan’s perspective. 

What actually happened with Will and Lonnie is up for debate. It’s possible there was a s*xual assault, and that’s why the clown scene in Poltergeist was such a trigger for Will. Or maybe Lonnie thought circuses weren’t “manly” enough for his son to like, and actively tried to scare Will, so he wouldn’t like them anymore. It’s hard to know. Something would have happened though, and probably something pretty formative, because the fear of clowns lasts a long time. 

Something else interesting is that when Mr Clarke is talking about the Upside Down in season one, he uses the metaphor of the flea and the acrobat. Acrobats are a main act in the circus, and, well … fleas. Flea circuses. That’s a thing. Maybe it’s a hint that the trauma that created the Upside Down was circus / clown - related?

Kali, El, and their gang wear clown masks too, when they’re going to confront their childhood trauma, and the child-like Alexei is surrounded by clowns when he is killed at the fair. 

Clowns are just so associated with birthday parties and little kids, that it doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me they’re Will’s biggest fear. Especially as the show keeps dropping hints about Lonnie and Will’s birthday. It feels like there’s more to the story. I have a horrible feeling SOMETHING happened. 

RESPONE (kaypeace):

I think it’s very possible-that maybe he did dress as a clown for Will’s birthday and something happened. We have alexi (paralleled to Will) playing carnival games with kids. Then he's attacked by the Lonnie-look alike : and alexi looks at his wound then stares at all the clowns laughing around him. Joyce and Murray find Alexi bleeding/dy*ng next to a clown statue. As joyce looks in horror and Murray says to her, he was “only gone for a second” (which sounds like something you’d say in relation to a kid you were supposed to watch-running off ). We also had sarah at age 7 die while wearing a gown with clowns on it (Will: it was a 7 the demogorgan it got me). Death of innocence symbolism? Hopper also describes his depression as a cave- he goes through the carnival ride where it mentions a "cave of horrors", which had decor of a tiger and a clown painting. So yeah... whatever happened probably isn't good. So- there may be some symbolism there in relation to Will’s past. Not only because (like I and you have mentioned before) Lonnie is highly associated with birthdays. And canonically we know he mentally scarred jonathan on his b-day. But also, s4’s ‘victor creel’ may be an easteregg to the xmen character victor creed- who had a tradition of tra*matizing family members specifically on their bdays

As another alternative:I could also totally see Lonnie “ruining” circuses for Will because it’s not “manly” to him. Like how Jonathan liked thumper the rabbit-from the film bambi. in the film, Thumper is bambi’s bff, and the hunters are the bad guys who k*ll Bambi’s mother and terrorize all the wildlife. SO yeah- making Jonathan become a hunter, and k*ll a rabbit ,despite this fact, is really messed up. And shows Lonnie has already tried to ‘ruin’ things the boys like. By mentally scarring them in one way or another…

I also mentioned how Will’s bday could even be a trigger for jonathan in a diff post.

if the s4 bts calender hinting it’ll be near Will’s bday and easter it could be relevant to Jonathan.we know in s1 el has tra*matic flashbacks when seeing certain things- coke, closet, cat, etc. And Will in s2 has his ‘anniversary effect’ where memories flood back based on the time of year.But like … Easter has bunnies - could seeing rabbits jog stuff up for Jonathan? El seeing a cat made her have a flashback of brenner trying to make her kill a cat. Would Jonathan seeing like Easter bunny decor jog up a flashback of lonnie making him kill a rabbit? (It happened on his bday too). So Will’s b day being around easter would only fuel that memory. (heck even popped balloons may trigger gunshot symbolism idk). And then for Will there is clowns that could be a tr*gger at a party.

The flea and the acrobat analogy (in relation to Will and circuses is very interesting) and could be foreshadowing- it’s even a title for an episode so I feel like it’s narratively an important hint to …something. similar to a s1 ep being called “the bathtub”.  Also, Will was compared to a circus flea- which were placed in an enclosed space, where heat was applied as they jumped  and tried to escape the increasing temperatures as they burned .Which could relate to my theory about Will having a se*zure due his body overheating due to Lonnie injecting him with m*th.

 If Will’s bday is in s4- I feel like Lonnie will come back in some capacity (flashback or literally). The ‘sorry, I forgot you b day’ card from Lonnie in s2, in Lonnie’s shed Joyce mentioning Will’s b day, the rainbow ‘happy birthday cup’ placed next to Will at Mike’s -while Will explains the supernatural, Lonnie already tra*matizing Jonathan on his bday, etc…

[butterflies-dragons]

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." This is the very first line of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and GRRM is very aware of these words; so far he has mentioned it in reference of Sansa Stark and Jon Snow:

Arya was one of the first characters created. Sansa came about as a total opposite b/c too many of the Stark family members were getting along and families aren’t like that. Thus, Sansa was created; he ended by saying they have deep issues to work out. [Source]

An interesting question was “Why are there so many sons who are unloved by their fathers, like Sam, Jon, Tyrion and Theon?” I watched George’s reaction carefully (I was sitting close to him) and he did not take issue with the assumption that Jon Snow is part of the “unloved sons” (obviously the dynamic talked about is Jon/Eddard, not Rhaegar). He nodded at the question and said that he does not have the full quote with him, but the great Russian writer Tolstoy once said that happy families are boring  - this was followed by a big round of applause cause every Russian knows this quote very well (the quote by Tolstoy is: All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. [Source]

And recently I found another similarity with Tolstoy's work and Sansa.

In spite of the obvious differences, Sansa Stark, the betrothed of the Crown Prince Joffrey Baratheon, showing her evident crush and concern about Ser Loras Tyrell's safety during the Hand's Tourney, reminds me of Anna Karenina making evident her illicit affair with Count Vronsky in front of everyone, her husband Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin included, during the races:

She flew over the ditch as though not noticing it. She flew over it like a bird; but at the same instant Vronsky, to his horror, felt that he had failed to keep up with the mare’s pace, that he had, he did not know how, made a fearful, unpardonable mistake, in recovering his seat in the saddle. All at once his position had shifted and he knew that something awful had happened. He could not yet make out what had happened, when the white legs of a chestnut horse flashed by close to him, and Mahotin passed at a swift gallop. Vronsky was touching the ground with one foot, and his mare was sinking on that foot. He just had time to free his leg when she fell on one side, gasping painfully, and, making vain efforts to rise with her delicate, soaking neck, she fluttered on the ground at his feet like a shot bird. The clumsy movement made by Vronsky had broken her back. But that he only knew much later. At that moment he knew only that Mahotin had flown swiftly by, while he stood staggering alone on the muddy, motionless ground, and Frou-Frou lay gasping before him, bending her head back and gazing at him with her exquisite eyes. Still unable to realize what had happened, Vronsky tugged at his mare’s reins. Again she struggled all over like a fish, and her shoulders setting the saddle heaving, she rose on her front legs but unable to lift her back, she quivered all over and again fell on her side. With a face hideous with passion, his lower jaw trembling, and his cheeks white, Vronsky kicked her with his heel in the stomach and again fell to tugging at the rein. She did not stir, but thrusting her nose into the ground, she simply gazed at her master with her speaking eyes.

“A—a—a!” groaned Vronsky, clutching at his head. “Ah! what have I done!” he cried. “The race lost! And my fault! shameful, unpardonable! And the poor darling, ruined mare! Ah! what have I done!”

—Anna Karenina, Part Two, Chapter 25 - Leo Tolstoy

Everyone was loudly expressing disapprobation, everyone was repeating a phrase someone had uttered—“The lions and gladiators will be the next thing,” and everyone was feeling horrified; so that when Vronsky fell to the ground, and Anna moaned aloud, there was nothing very out of the way in it. But afterwards a change came over Anna’s face which really was beyond decorum. She utterly lost her head. She began fluttering like a caged bird, at one moment would have got up and moved away, at the next turned to Betsy.

“Let us go, let us go!” she said.

But Betsy did not hear her. She was bending down, talking to a general who had come up to her.

Alexey Alexandrovitch went up to Anna and courteously offered her his arm.

“Let us go, if you like,” he said in French, but Anna was listening to the general and did not notice her husband.

“He’s broken his leg too, so they say,” the general was saying. “This is beyond everything.”

Without answering her husband, Anna lifted her opera-glass and gazed towards the place where Vronsky had fallen; but it was so far off, and there was such a crowd of people about it, that she could make out nothing. She laid down the opera-glass, and would have moved away, but at that moment an officer galloped up and made some announcement to the Tsar. Anna craned forward, listening.

“Stiva! Stiva!” she cried to her brother.

But her brother did not hear her. Again she would have moved away.

“Once more I offer you my arm if you want to be going,” said Alexey Alexandrovitch, reaching towards her hand.

She drew back from him with aversion, and without looking in his face answered:

“No, no, let me be, I’ll stay.”

She saw now that from the place of Vronsky’s accident an officer was running across the course towards the pavilion. Betsy waved her handkerchief to him. The officer brought the news that the rider was not killed, but the horse had broken its back.

On hearing this Anna sat down hurriedly, and hid her face in her fan. Alexey Alexandrovitch saw that she was weeping, and could not control her tears, nor even the sobs that were shaking her bosom. Alexey Alexandrovitch stood so as to screen her, giving her time to recover herself.

“For the third time I offer you my arm,” he said to her after a little time, turning to her. Anna gazed at him and did not know what to say. Princess Betsy came to her rescue.

“No, Alexey Alexandrovitch; I brought Anna and I promised to take her home,” put in Betsy.

“Excuse me, princess,” he said, smiling courteously but looking her very firmly in the face, “but I see that Anna’s not very well, and I wish her to come home with me.”

Anna looked about her in a frightened way, got up submissively, and laid her hand on her husband’s arm.

“I’ll send to him and find out, and let you know,” Betsy whispered to her.

—Anna Karenina, Part Two, Chapter 29 - Leo Tolstoy

* * *

When the Knight of Flowers made his entrance, a murmur ran through the crowd, and he heard Sansa’s fervent whisper, “Oh, he’s so beautiful.” Ser Loras Tyrell was slender as a reed, dressed in a suit of fabulous silver armor polished to a blinding sheen and filigreed with twining black vines and tiny blue forget-me-nots. The commons realized in the same instant as Ned that the blue of the flowers came from sapphires; a gasp went up from a thousand throats. Across the boy’s shoulders his cloak hung heavy. It was woven of forget-me-nots, real ones, hundreds of fresh blooms sewn to a heavy woolen cape.

“His courser was as slim as her rider, a beautiful grey mare, built for speed. Ser Gregor’s huge stallion trumpeted as he caught her scent. The boy from Highgarden did something with his legs, and his horse pranced sideways, nimble as a dancer. Sansa clutched at his arm. “Father, don’t let Ser Gregor hurt him,” she said. Ned saw she was wearing the rose that Ser Loras had given her yesterday. Jory had told him about that as well.

“These are tourney lances,” he told his daughter. “They make them to splinter on impact, so no one is hurt.” Yet he remembered the dead boy in the cart with his cloak of crescent moons, and the words were raw in his throat.

(...) Gregor Clegane killed the horse with a single blow of such ferocity that it half severed the animal’s neck. Cheers turned to shrieks in a heartbeat. The stallion went to its knees, screaming as it died. By then Gregor was striding down the lists toward Ser Loras Tyrell, his bloody sword clutched in his fist. “Stop him!” Ned shouted, but his words were lost in the roar. Everyone else was yelling as well, and Sansa was crying.

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII

This similarity could be nothing of course, but I can't help myself finding Sansa in everything I read, like it happened with Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac.

Also Count Vronsky's mare Frou-Frou, somehow reminds me of Lady.

[rhysismydaddy]

Unholy Matrimony Pt. 2 (Nessian)

Damnation Series

Parts 1 / 3 / 4 / 5 

_____________________________________________________

~Nesta~

The day after meeting my fiancé, I drop Alexei off at the plane, tell him goodbye, and drive further down the tarmac to where Cassian’s waiting in a completely different private plane.

Very environmentally conscious, our lifestyle

The stairs are unfolded, so after making sure my luggage is transferred over, I head inside.

Cassian’s waiting, sipping bourbon despite the fact that it’s nine in the morning.

He’s dressed in dark jeans, boots, and a black long sleeve t-shirt that makes the tattoos on his hands and knuckles seem even more pronounced. He seems more comfortable now than yesterday.

Like he’s not trying to fit into the mold of a respectable gentleman in a suit.

He looks over as my heels click against the floor, eyes dragging up my legs, pausing at my chest, and scanning my face.

“Hey,” he murmurs, almost like he doesn’t know what else to say.

My lips twitch as I slide into the seat across from him, staying silent for now to throw him off.

As expected, he shifts in his seat, looking mildly uncomfortable.

Then, like he realizes what I’m doing, he narrows his eyes. “You realize that a woman who just sits there, looks pretty, and doesn’t argue is pretty much a man’s dream, right?”

A smile tugs at my lips, but I sigh like I’m not the least bit amused. “Good morning, Cassian.”

His mouth opens and closes a few times as he tries to determine the proper response for such a ground-breaking conversation opener.

He finally decides on: “You don’t have an accent.”

“Not when I speak English.”

Alexei, the hypocritical bastard, said English should sound like English and Russian should sound like Russian.

“Do you speak any other languages?” he asks, apparently not having looked in my file. He’s probably trying to figure out if his secret conversations with his fellow countrymen are safe.

“I speak Italian, since that’s what you really want to know.”

He grins, playful light in his eyes. “I think I’d like to hear that.”

An amused laugh escapes me at that, but I give him what he wants as I murmur, “Sono sicuro che lo faresti.” I’m sure you would.

His eyes seem to darken, and I roll my eyes. Men.

“I speak a little Russian, but not much,” he tells me. Considering I, unlike him, I did my homework, I already knew that.

Done with this conversation, I close my eyes and attempt to sleep. A plan that goes out the window when Cassian says confidently, “I usually only speak Italian when I fuck.”

I know he’s trying to feel me out, get a rise out of me, so I keep my voice completely deadpan as I reply, “Interesting. I tend to choose French.”

He laughs, face splitting into a humongous, goofy-looking grin. “Now that, I can’t wait to hear.”

Ah, yes. Because the idea I won’t sleep with him is unthinkable.

To me, too, but at least I’m not an asshole about it. Time to humble him a bit.

I feign like I’m not attracted to him in the slightest as I make a show of looking him over. “I never said you would, tupitsa.”

Before he can respond to me calling him a dumbass, I close my eyes and go to sleep.

~Cassian~

My fiancé passes out in a matter of seconds. It’s a little impressive, honestly. One second she’s teasing me with the thought of French whispers under silk sheets, the next she’s dead to the world.

I, unfortunately, am stuck on the first part.

Fuck, she’s hot.

It’s an effortless sort of beauty, considering she isn’t wearing makeup and her hair appears to be naturally blonde and straight.

Regardless, she looks like she just stepped off a runway.

Delicate bone structure, fierce eyes, full lips that sounded so good saying my name it took me a moment to formulate a response.

Distracting curves, sweeping hips, long legs that are currently crossed and allowing the slightest hint of lace at the top of her stocking to show.

My dick takes notice of that site, and I remind the greedy bastard she’s a Russian--an enemy--but he doesn’t seem to care. Nope, he wants me to peel those stockings down. With my teeth.

What’s somehow hotter than even her choice of legwear is the fact that she isn’t doing it on purpose. She’s completely relaxed, asleep for God’s sake, not trying to seduce me.

I grit my teeth and look out the window.

Like every other time I fly, I get restless after about ten minutes. I pull out my phone and make sure everything’s ready for when we land, work on my laptop for a bit, stare at Nesta sleeping for a longer bit, and pace the aisle like a caged lion when I start to feel like a creep.

Because I’ve been dealing with administrative shit like getting engaged, it’s been a while since I’ve done something to quell the rush in my blood.

Business, surprisingly, is boring when an army of hateful Russians isn’t trying to kill you all the time. I haven’t fought in days, haven’t shot my gun in longer.

I send Ricardo a text and have him set up a fight for tonight, but even the thought of the coming violence does nothing to help me calm down.

By the time we land, I’m more than ready to get the hell out of this plane.

Nesta wakes up when the wheels touch down, stretching and looking annoyingly well rested.

As the plane taxis, I tell her, “I have to work tonight.”

It’s a lie, and she cocks her eyebrow like she knows it. But she doesn’t call me on it, doesn’t even seem that interested. “I already requested a separate car.”

My brows furrow because I hate being predictable, but I keep my mouth shut.

Nesta stands as the stairs drop open, straightening her dress and pulling it down over the lacey top of her stockings that are now right in front of my face.

Before I even realize what she’s about, there’s a sharp smack to the bottom of my chin that forces my head up. She tsks, shaking her head teasingly.

“What was that for?” I ask, even though I already know.

She grabs her bag, and I follow as she walks down to the tarmac. “Somnophilia.”

I take a second to look up what the hell that is, laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes when I find the definition. Nesta shakes her head, small smile on those distracting lips, and walks to her waiting driver.

“I’ll see you at home, wife,” I call, not able to resist.

She just flips me the bird over her shoulder, making me laugh again.

Like I said, not what I was expecting.

~Nesta~

Things with Cassian are going... well, I guess.

He has the emotional maturity of a seventeen year old boy, but he isn’t terrible. As long as he stays out of my way, I dare say this marriage might work.

He’ll go about his business, I’ll go about mine, and we’ll avoid each other for happily ever after just like the fairytales say.

I shake my head as Maxim, one of the first New York transplants, navigates us through the city and to Sera. I’ve visited all my clubs at least once, and I have to admit, this one is by far my favorite.

As it should be.

The other three I run in New York were all my father’s originally. Built by a man, for the entertainment of men, I have to say they aren’t places I’d visit myself.

But I built Sera from the ground up, and while it’s designed to appeal to both men and women, men are--for the first time in history--not the priority.

The building it’s located in is a skyscraper, one I rent out to different businesses that don’t need an entire place to themselves. The ground floor is a bank, one that discretely cleans Russian money and makes us more through interest.

All in all, an unremarkable location to the public eye.

But every night, after normal banking hours have long passed, a select number of guests are invited to Sera--a speakeasy-type burlesque club with a hidden entrance in the secondary vault of the bank.

It’s secret, exclusive, and private as hell.

When we get to the bank, I enter the passcode on the side door--changed nightly--and walk through the silent lobby to the back room where the bouncer sits on a wooden stool.

“Privet, boss,” the burly man greets, sweeping the door open and ushering me through with a meaty hand. “Man in the back is asking for the owner.”

I nod and step inside, the door immediately closing behind me.

It’s the perfect level of crowded; enough people that no one stands out but not packed to the point of misery. By design, of course.

Everything seems to be the same as when I visited a few months ago except for the changed flooring I had installed last week. The tables and booths in the back are full of people captivated by the jazz singer on stage, a woman I discovered while walking to a business meeting in Paris.

Her cigarette-roughened voice had pulled me in, much like it does the audience now, and I’d offered her a job on the spot.

One of the bartenders, an ex-con who was locked up for stealing insulin for his diabetic daughter, smiles at me and slides me a tumblr of vodka as I make my way over.

“Good to see you,” Dima greets warmly. “How long are you here for?”

“Permanently.”

His eyebrows shoot up, which makes sense, considering the engagement hasn’t been announced properly. We’re apparently having a party of some kind in two weeks to celebrate the big news.

“I’ll explain later,” I tell him, noticing a group of people approaching the bar.

He nods, and I slip away towards the back corner where a roped-off set of stairs lead down to the basement below.

Like usual, there’s a private poker game happening in the main room of the bottom floor, and I stop to make say a few hellos but eventually move on to the hallway containing offices for some of the management.

The soldier stationed at the door to mine nods in acknowledgement, then tells me a whale’s inside.

My brows raise at the idea of a big-time investor coming to see me at this hour, but I shrug and walk in, shoulders back and face blank. I learned a long time ago to never let my emotions play out on my face.

The man waiting inside looks to be in his forties, richer than sin, and cold. Mafia, undoubtedly. His dark eyes rake over me, and he asks in a tone I don’t appreciate, “Who the fuck are you?”

“Nesta Orlov. You requested to speak to me?”

His bushy brows pinch together. “No, I want to speak to the owner.”

“One and the same.”

“I was told Cassian Azara is the owner.”

My jaw clenches at the thought that we’ve been engaged for less than two days and people already assume my shit is his. “By who?” I ask, remembering our upcoming nuptials aren’t even public news yet.

“My Capo.”

That gets my attention.

Rhysand’s telling people my club is Cassian’s? Why?

Something isn’t right.

I might not know the Italian boss, but I’ve heard he’s straightforward. Ruthless but honest. So why would he lie?

A little voice inside my head whispers, What if he isn’t?

Mind whirling, I turn to the man and smile politely even though it’s the last thing I feel like doing. “Would you mind giving me a moment? If you go upstairs, our bartender will get you anything you want, on the house.”

He shrugs and leaves, and as soon as the door clicks shut, I go to my desk and pull up the electronic copy of our marriage contract.

Like I thought, nothing’s amiss.

I read this shit thoroughly enough to know exactly what I was getting into, and in case I missed anything, I had my private lawyer scan over it.

But that little voice, that gut feeling, refuses to go away. So I grab my bag and look through the physical copy, dread unfurling when I notice an extra page tucked in the middle.

It’s a prenup.

One I’ve never seen.

And there, smack dab in the middle, is a line declaring the deed to Sera the property of Cassian Azara.

A rough breath forces its way out of me, and for a second, I’m so angry, so blind with rage, I can’t hardly think. What the hell is going on?

I force myself to think through this, to rationalize what I’m seeing.

Replaying the moment in the Capo’s office, I realize the switch between the original and this version of the contract must’ve happened prior. I was only in there a few minutes and had the papers in my hand the whole time.

Which means...

Alexei picks up on the first ring, like he was waiting for the call. “Da.”

“What the hell have you done?”

He sighs. “What needed doing.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it. I wasn’t the one who started a goddamn war with the Italians, and yet I’m the one who’s paying all the prices. I’m marrying the bastard, for fuck’s sake. Give him one of your clubs.”

His tone hardens. “He didn’t want anything else.”

“I don’t give a shit! This place is my property. It isn’t yours to give away.” I take a deep breath and try to quiet the rushing in my veins. “That idiot will run it into the ground.”

There’s a long moment, and I swear he sounds a little guilty as he says calmly, “He has more than a few businesses of his own, Nesta. It will be fine.”

I pinch my lips together to keep from cursing the man who raised me.

“If you read the document,” he says, a strange note to his voice. “You’ll notice there are a number of clauses.”

My eyes scan to the bottom of the page, and I read as Alexei continues. “He is permitted from selling, unless to you. The investors have the option to vote him out at any time. And if he is unfaithful to you or ends the engagement for whatever reason, Sera is returned to you in full.”

All the violence, all the rage, seems to dim. Just a little.

This is so like Alexei; in fact, it was one of his first lessons to me.

Give someone the illusion of winning, and they’ll sign anything you want them to.

I read through the clauses again, lips twitching. “Let me get this straight. If I can prove Cassian Azara--notorious playboy of New York--is cheating on me, the club is mine? And if the board at Sera votes him out, he can’t fight it?”

I can practically hear my father’s smile. “Da.”

“Or if I drive him crazy and he ends the engagement?”

“Da.”

Sounds easy enough. I drive Alexei absolutely insane and have never had a long-term relationship. I’ll have him running for the hills in no time.

One thing doesn’t make sense, though. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I knew if I told you, you wouldn’t sign. It’s still a risk, even with the clauses” He takes a deep breath. “I never told you, but we were losing the war in New York. We would’ve lasted another year, and then we would’ve lost the city.”

“Alexei-”

“I need this alliance to hold, Volchonok,” he says. “And either of you calling off the engagement or divorcing the other is grounds for the war to start back up.”

“So you’re saying I still need to marry him.”

He gruffs a confirmation, and my brain whirls as it thinks of a new plan.

My options are down to three: have him sell to me, prove he’s cheating, or get the board to vote him out.

“One more thing. You only have until the wedding. Once you’re married, the only way to get your property back is if he signs the deed to you.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, moving my timeline up by a factor of a hundred. Checking the calendar proves what I already know: I have less than thirty days to somehow convince one of the most notoriously stubborn men in the world to give me a multi-million dollar company.

Easy.

“I’m... sorry. For lying.”

I’m so shocked he just apologized--something he’s never done in my twenty-five years of life--it takes me a moment to respond and tell him he’s forgiven. “Ty proshchen, otets.”

I disconnect the call and swivel around in the chair, a smile pulling on my lips.

I’m going to drive him fucking crazy. All while I make him fall in love with me.

Oh, Cassian. I almost feel sorry for you.

_______________________________________________________

NEXT CHAPTER

[bestofblackwidow]

The "Let me go - it's okay," she told him the last time we saw the Black Widow, it was - to say the least - emotional. "Let me go - it's okay," she said to Hawkeye, plunging to her death on the arid planet Sleeping in Avengers: Endgame for the ultimate sacrifice to save the world. While the deaths in the Marvel Cinematic Universe go on - sorry, Iron Man - there was probably no more heart-stopping moment, since the former SHIELD spy who became Avenger gave her life to recover the Soul Stone.

Still, it left the MCU in a bind. For years, a Black Widow film had been mooted, right back to 2004 at Lions Gate Entertainment before the rights reverted to Marvel. When Scarlett Johansson first appeared as Natasha Romanoff - the former KGB assassin with a very particular set of skills - in 2010's Iron Man 2, it didn't take long before questions were asked about a solo outing. Marvel Studios conductor Kevin Feige even held discussions with Johansson, who was then only 25. But there was a caveat, he said. "The Avengers comes first."

While others - Thor, Captain America, Black Panther and even Ant-Man - had their moments in the spotlight, the Black Widow was forced to wait. And wait. And wait. Not that Johansson thought that her character demanded the same treatment; if she was going to be in front of a Marvel movie, there had to be a reason. "Is there anything exciting to do creatively, as an actor?" she says. “Will we be able to do something extraordinary and strong? And something that stands on its own? "It's what makes the independent Black Widow an intriguing prospect: an inauguration of Phase 4 of the MCU promises to step back in time before her dramatic death to answer the provocative questions that still hover over her Crucially, the script transports audiences back to the events right after Captain America: Civil War, after that huge internal confrontation of the Avengers.

Without relatives or an organization that employs her, the Black Widow is alone, says Johansson. "It gave us the opportunity to really show her when she's kind of out of her game, you know? Because of that, anything was possible." The actress was there "from the start" at the script meetings, as they began to figure out how to delve into Romanoff's origins. "You are trying to map all of this ... which is extremely stressful," she laughs, "because there are no guidelines."

Fortunately, Johansson was not alone. In another inspired choice for the MCU canon, Feige recruited Australian director Cate Shortland, best known for discreet dramas like Somersault and Lore. While she was surprised, Shortland was encouraged by the creative freedom that Marvel was offering. “They allowed me to be myself and encouraged me to make a movie that I was passionate about,” she says. "We were allowed to have a lot of nuances and make a character-oriented film."

After several Skype sessions with Johansson, who also receives producer credit, Shortland worked with a Russian researcher to embody Romanoff's dark story: "the red in my ledger", as she told Loki in 2012 in Os Avengers. As she sings in the trailer, "We have to go back to where it all started" - the promising teaser clips of Romanoff as a young man (played by Ever Anderson, daughter of Paul WS Anderson and Milla Jovovich) in a childhood that seems far from idyllic. That's what makes Black Widow a family reunion of the kind that only Marvel would have the courage to conjure. Joining Romanoff is Yelena Belova, a sister-sister and fellow murderer who trained alongside her in the so-called Red Room, the punitive Soviet facility that produced 'Black Widow' spies.

"Their stories intersect," promises Shortland. "They clash." Played by Lady Macbeth's British star Florence Pugh, Belova is more than a physical match for Romanoff. Still, emotionally is where it really matters. "What Yelena does is kind of point to Natasha's pain," says Pugh. “She is part of Natasha's story. And I think that's why we have an opportunity to look at Natasha's story, because Yelena has been knocking on the door and says, 'Hey, let's deal with this pain. ”As Johansson comments, Belova is not just a carbon copy of his own character.

"She is completely alone. She is strong and different. She is so different (from) Natasha." Beside them are Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) and Alexei Shostakov (David Harbor), two father figures whose own stories intertwine with Natasha and Yelena. "This is the coolest thing with this whole group of people. They all had parts of their past that they regretted," says Pugh. “They’re older. They’ve had more life experience. They know more about the system, about this world they’re all living in.” Harbor, the Emmy Stranger Things nominated star, managed to put an indelible mark on the muscular Shostakov, better known as the Red Guardian super soldier, the Russian equivalent of Captain America. "There is a gangster quality to him," the actor smiles. "And he's covered in tattoos. He's got a beard and those gold teeth. He's crazy." But after years of making bad decisions, he's also full of remorse.

"He's in a bad situation," adds Harbor. "And he needs redemption." Weisz's character, Melina, is another who experienced the rigors of the Red Room, a place that put her in contact with Natasha and Yelena. Marking his first dive at the MCU, Weisz acknowledges that the film addresses the idea of ​​discovering his favorite family. "It's definitely about finding out where you belong and where you came from, and what your background story was, and who you really are, and what matters to you - your ideology, I think." Along the way, Feige made reference to The Kids Are All Right - the 2010 Lisa Cholodenko film about a same-sex couple raising two teenagers. "Which is so weird," laughs Johansson. "You would never expect that from a Marvel movie." no it was the only strange nod to the film. Harbor speaks of Shostakov in terms of Philip Seymour Hoffman's drama teacher in the dramatic black comedy The Savages.

Or even expressing "the pathos of a small town, independent, family-run, weird movie... like Little Miss Sunshine". More understandable cinema references include "things like Logan and Aliens and The Fugitive," says Shortland. "We saw movies like that." Certainly, it's easy to see comparisons between Sigourney Weaver's determined Ripley, from James Cameron's masterpiece Aliens, and Johansson's Romanoff, an Avenger who has no superpowers. "We saw it as a force," says Shortland, "because she always has to dig really deep to get out of shit situations." According to the director, everyone in the production invested in deepening Romanoff - even Scottish composer Lorne Balfe (Pennyworth, His Dark Materials), who replaced Alexandre Desplat's original choice. Balfe looked at the character's origins, says Shortland. “He said, 'I want to put it on the ground, because it has been dug up in the movies in the past. I want to give her that flesh and blood. 'And he created this soundtrack that is really Russian."

However, perhaps the real blow here is to recruit Shortland, the first female director to face the Black Widow (and only the second, following Captain Marvel co-director Anna Boden, to enter the MCU). "This film would not be what it is without Cate Shortland," says Pugh. "I think having her eye, and having her mind with this script, has taken her to a whole different realm." Johansson agrees. "" You can feel it was made from a female perspective ... cooked there. "Although Ray Winstone's casting as Supervisor of the Red Room Dreykov (whose daughter contributed to the abundance of red in Romanoff's book, according to Loki) add more to the psychological battleground that the Black Widow will explore, it also deals with victimization, a very pertinent topic in the current climate. The Red Room itself is where trainees are brutally sterilized. "You will see that these women are hard working and strong, and they are murderers - and yet they still need to discuss how they were abused," says Pugh. "It is an incredibly powerful piece."

Judging by the 2020 Oscars, where Pugh and Johansson had their own private relationship session on the red carpet, the two actors got along very well. "She has a really beautiful career ahead of her ... she's a very special person," says Johansson, excited when Pugh's name is mentioned. More specifically, Pugh may well have more Marvel to chew on, if it is rumored that her character will take on the 'Black Widow' mantle for new adventures. By learning Parkour, kickboxing and knife fighting for role, Pugh can safely cut things physically, though she's reluctant to claim that the Black Widow is just a setup for future outings. "Even though it is obviously where everyone wants to go and want to think - think about what comes next - this film never really seemed to be what he was trying to underline." According to Johansson, however, test the audience who saw the film thinks otherwise. "Her character and her performance are so dear." Now, after more than a year of pandemic-related delays to July 2021), it will not be just a few lucky spectators who will be able to see. Black Widow will even be the first Marvel movie to debut simultaneously on the Disney+ streaming site (with a 'main hit' fee), an understandable move considering the uncertainty that still exists around the world. And in fact, after the success of the Marvel TV shows WandaVision and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, it doesn't seem like such a strange home. Johansson believes that fans will respond to Black Widow, with this flashback of an earlier part of her life, bringing more poignancy to the Endgame's outcome. "Our goal was for them to be satisfied with this story; that maybe they could have some solution, I think, with the death of this character, in a way. It seemed like people wanted this." Shortland agrees. "We felt that we should honor his death," she says. And the Black Widow will surely honor him.

[citylightsbooks]

5 Questions with Michael Palmer, author of Little Elegies for Sister Satan

Michael Palmer is an American born in New York City in 1943 and long resident in San Francisco, nearly all of Palmer's poetry is published by New Directions: At Passages (1995); The Lion Bridge: Selected Poems 1972–1995 (1998); The Promises of Glass (2000); Codes Appearing: Poems 1979–1988 (2001); Company of Moths (2005); and most recently, Thread (2011). He is the translator of works by Emmanuel Hocquard, Vicente Huidobro, and Alexei Parshchikov, among others, and the editor of Code of Signals: Recent Writings in Poetics. For over thirty years he has collaborated with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company.

His newest book of poems is Little Elegies for Sister Satan (also published by New Directions). Michael Palmer is reading from his new book, along with Erica Hunt (who is celebrating her new book of poems, Jump the Clock: New and Selected Poems, published by Nightboat) in our City Lights LIVE! discussion series on Tuesday, May 4th!

*****

Where are you writing to us from?

I am writing to you from a secret location not all that far from City Lights as the Dream Drone flies. In 1963, before I lived anywhere, Allen Ginsberg brought me to City Lights for the first time, where I purchased a copy of Michael McClure’s Dark Brown (Auerhahn Press), shelved then in the locked room among the works subject to possible criminal prosecution.

What’s kept you sane during the pandemic?

I’d like to know who’s accusing me of being sane? I will be taking names.

What books are you reading right now? Which books do you return to?

As an act of self-abnegation, throughout the lockdown I have limited my reading (and rereading) to bestsellers. It seems that every day, I read at random from Wisława Szymborska’s collected and last poems, Map (translated by Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak), as well as Mahmoud Darwish’s The Butterfly’s Burden (tr. Fady Joudah). I am finding my way back through Nate Mackey’s various prose and verse sequences, written across an illuminated lifetime. Of the several hundred other books of fiction, philosophy, writings on art, interviews, poetry, and social and political theory that I’ve begun, perused or read through during the lockdown, I have mostly fond if fading memories, like loves from an earlier life. Oh yes, and one day a week I’ve been reading aloud from The Decameron to friends in my pod. Yesterday we reached Day 8, Story 4.

Which writers, artists, and others influence your work in general, and this book, specifically?

I am a magpie in this regard, stealing from my betters, living and gone, as I try in vain to listen to the Book of the World and record its echoes. And when I confront the artificial barriers, the walls, erected between nations by the corrupt and corrupting forces of power, I do my best to fly over them. From Szymborska’s “Psalm”:

Oh, the leaky boundaries of man-made states! How many clouds float past them with impunity; how much desert sand shifts from one land to another; how many mountain pebbles tumble onto foreign soil in provocative hops! Need I mention every single bird that flies in the face of frontiers or alights on the roadblock at the border?

If you opened a bookstore, where would it be located, what would it be called, and what would your bestseller be?

Poets should never open bookstores, only patronize them as often as possible, while neglecting what others erroneously consider to be real life. It was in 1953 (I was ten) that Ferlinghetti came to me in a vision and asked whether he should invest in a bookstore with Peter Martin. I warned him in the most strenuous terms not to become involved, that it would be the ruin of him, and that nobody reads good books. And so it came to pass.

[fromthedeskofelizabeththird]

thērepōdos (II)

I heard ya’ll like Dimileths~

FE3H | Dimileth | Gen

~~

“You’re doing it wrong, come here...look.”

Dimitri frowns, watching as Sylvain lifts Alexei into his arms.

“The head goes here, look, like this!”

The protocol for a royal baby is clear, even if Alexei himself doesn’t know it yet. Now that a week has passed since his birth and both he and his mother are in good health, the time has arrived for him to be properly introduced to not only the nobles of the realm, but the people of Fhirdiad.

Some traditions are meant to be broken, though.

While the newly established heads of houses Gautier and Fraldarius were first through the gates, they were not the only ones to receive an invitation. So too did an innkeeper, four professors from the monastery, an opera starlet recently turned noble, two mercenaries and a mysterious hooded figure bearing the emblem of the knights of Seiros.

The ceremony to welcome Prince Alexei is two days from now, leaving every corner of Fhirdiad rife with anticipation. The last time they welcomed a prince was after Dimitri took control of the capital en route to Enbarr, an infamously bittersweet moment for all involved. For years the idea of welcoming a healthy heir to the throne in a time of relative peace remained little more than a wish whispered into the night. The people of Faerghus have become skeptical, hearts hardened by war and disaster. No one is quite so aware of this as the King.

Dimitri remembers his throne being stolen with far more clarity than he does reclaiming it. He was well read long before his arrival at Garreg Mach, devouring any text he could find that discussed the qualities of an ideal ruler. He spent nights poring over philosophy and proverbs- prepared for the crown of his country to weigh on his head and heart.

The crown was deceptively light in the end, though. He turned his head too quickly the first time he wore it and fell into shocked silence as it clattered on the ground at his feet. His instinct was to laugh and crack a joke; he has never been the gentle type, after all. He’s broken more lances than anyone could reasonably count, snapped Mercedes’ sewing needle in half; dented both his armour and crown. Somehow he even managed to headbutt Byleth during their first kiss.

Tradition calls for him to stand on the balcony of their grand palace with his child in his arms, telling Faerghus the name of their future ruler. He has both dreamed of and dreaded this moment, for reasons all too clear to those who know him best.

It’s been a week now and he has yet to hold the baby, convinced beyond all rational doubt that something awful will happen. Perhaps he will bend the baby in two; perhaps he will lift him with far too much force. Byleth has told him more than once that it’s unlikely, but the idea of landing any scratches or scrapes on his legacy is too much to bear. He only ever watches the baby from a safe distance; only dares to touch him by stroking his hair.

He knows Byleth wishes he would hold him and today he has little choice in the matter. It is the King’s job to introduce the world to his legacy and in doing so reassure the people of stability. Even so, his hands shake at the very idea and he can scarcely look his friends in the eye.

Of the Blue Lions, Sylvain was the first to have children-a red haired girl named Isolde, who’s spent the past half an hour peering into the cot with a grave expression. She’s too young to understand the more complicated issues at hand and Dimitri almost envies her ignorance.

Sylvain, who spent so much time with Isolde in his arms that she now gets incredibly upset at being parted from him, was horrified by the prospect of Dimitri being so distanced from his own child. His own scars are different in size and shape. He doesn’t fear holding his child too tightly, but giving them any inkling of rejection. Isolde bears no crest, yet he still calls her ‘princess’.

As per tradition, Sylvain arrived with gifts from House Gautier, among them a gaudy vase that no one in the room has pretended to like. Perhaps most importantly, it is almost exactly the same size and weight as a human child.

“Like this,” says Sylvain, shuffling the vase in his arms. “Look, you need to support the head.”

“This is, without a doubt, the most ridiculous thing either of you have ever done,” yawns Felix from his spot by the window.

Dimitri glances from the vase wrapped in furs in Sylvain’s arms to the sleeping baby and clenches his hands into fists.

“You can do it,” adds Dedue with a nod.

Dimitri rubs his hands together, taking a deep breath and reaching for the vase. His hands are trembling, his stomach churning. He knows it’s a vase and not the real thing, but it’s difficult to think of anything but either of them shattering on the floor.

He takes the vase into his arms, back straight and shoulders rigid. He can feel it slipping even though it sits stock still. Sylvain takes a couple of steps back, grinning triumphantly at his own success.

“There it is, perfect,” he says, “though...maybe you could relax...a bit?”

“You look like you’re taking a shit,” adds Felix.

Dimitri sighs and passes the vase back to Sylvain. Why was he cursed with such clumsy hands? Why couldn’t he be as skilled with delicate work as he is on the battlefield?

“Don’t worry so much about it,” laughs Ashe, no doubt sensing his tension. “Babies were built to survive new parents!”

“That’s right, that’s right,” says Sylvain, taking the vase from him with little to no effort. “Soon you’ll be bouncing them around and-“

SMASH

Everyone reacts at exactly the same instant.

Sylvain, who tossed the vase up into the air for emphasis, falls into shocked silence. Felix, who took a second to roll his eyes, squeezes them shut altogether. Dimitri takes two steps back, having tried and failed to catch the vase. Ashe flinches. Both Alexei and Isolde cry.

“This...this doesn’t mean anything!” Sylvain drops to his knees to gather the parts of the vase left intact. “Look...see-ow!”

“This is how it’s going to be, isn’t it?” Dimitri murmurs as Sylvain examines his bloodied fingers. “For the rest of my life…”

“No, no,” Sylvain exclaims, “this is just an accident...don’t think too much about it! It was fine until I took it, honestly!”

Dimitri sucks in a deep breath and storms out of the room, away from the chaos. Sylvain flops down onto the floor with a sigh, dropping the shard of ceramic that sliced open his fingers.

“Do you think we should go after him?”

“And say what?”

Felix’s words are sharp, though betrayed by his tone.

“I dunno,” says Sylvain, “that feeling scared is normal when you first have a kid.”

“Did you hesitate to hold Isolde?”

At that, Sylvain’s eyes drop to the floor. Everyone knows that he didn’t.

“Speaking of Isolde,” pipes up Ashe, “where is she?”

~~~~~~

It’s been a while since all of the Blue Lions have gathered at once. Byleth sees Mercedes and Annette at the monastery fairly frequently, while Dimitri, Sylvain and Felix remain in touch via council meetings and the day to day running of the kingdom, but the only time they all seem to be in one place at the same time is at a wedding or a baptism.

Byleth has missed the idle chatter of her students and it’s plain to see that they have missed one another’s company. She acquired a fragrant tea and lemon cakes for the reunion, only for them to lay forgotten in the excitement of updates on one another’s lives. Hours have passed and conversation has barely halted, leaving only Byleth to sit in relative silence. She’s always been something of an introvert and at present there’s a lot on her mind.

Today her son will be tested for a crest and then presented to the people of Fhirdiad. She knows that it shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering how often crests and their holders have changed the course of history, yet somehow the reality of it is only just hitting her.

Since Dimitri’s ascension to the throne, the topic of crests has been hotly debated. Where before it was a cornerstone of life as a noble, now it is considered outdated at best. It’s certainly true that noble families have continued to have their children’s blood tested, though the results are rarely-if ever-made public knowledge. The practise itself might not have survived were it not for the consequences of using a relic without its proper crest, leaving it as a safety measure and little more. Even so, Byleth feels anything but safe.

She does not want anyone to break the skin on her son’s finger, no matter how gently it is done. She brought in Hannemann for the task in the hopes that she would feel better about it, but her stomach still churns with anxiety. She did not know she had a crest herself until adulthood and that knowledge gnaws at her heart. Would it really matter if none of them knew if Alexei had one either?

She only half listens as Dorothea and Manuela frantically exchange notes on the newer compositions they heard in taverns on the journey to Fhirdiad. Enough time has passed that the war of the three houses has fallen mostly into legend, with travelling bards the world over composing tales of the noble chivalry and grand deeds of the Blue Lions and their allies. One particular ongoing theme (and consequently, ongoing joke) is the valour and strength of Ingrid of house Galatea and her incredible modesty on the matter. Ingrid has never truly known how to respond to the stories comparing her strength and beauty to that of the goddess. Naturally, her blushes only inspire Manuela and Dorothea to repeat them with gusto and their current tale involves a certain knight falling from the sky.

“...and next, next the beautiful stranger opened her eyes….”

“Oooh!”

Annette leans in closer, as if she’s listening to a secret. Ingrid blushes furiously, though tries to hide it from view.

“...she asked the innkeeper to listen closely and he crouched at her side to hear her whispers…”

Byleth has heard this story before. During a raid on a number of bandits, Ingrid fell from her horse, crashing through the roof of the inn. Somewhat miraculously, she escaped relatively unscathed from the impact, far more dazed than bruised. She stayed in the inn for a couple of days at Mercedes’ insistence and, while the true sequence of events was rather dull, the retellings grow increasingly dramatic with each passing year.

Everyone in the room knows this story, yet still wait with bated breath. As such, when Dorothea opens her mouth to whisper the request of the grand lady knight, only to be drowned out by the chaos of the door crashing open, everyone is startled.

The shock is only temporary, though, and quickly transforms into curiosity when it’s Isolde who rushes into the room. It’s certainly true that some present know Isolde better than others, but everyone in the room is acutely aware of two things.

One, that Isolde is nothing if not intelligent. She knows exactly how to manipulate her father into giving her extra dessert or a later bedtime, much to the ire of her mother.

Secondly, that while her loyalties certainly fall with Sylvain, who is easily the softer of the two, she will run to her mother whenever she is truly frightened.

“Momma,” she calls out, cheeks as rosy red as her hair, “Momma! Papa dropped the baby! It broke on the floor!”

~~~~~

By now, Alexei has fallen silent, sleeping soundly in the crook of Dedue’s arm. Sylvain disappeared in search of Isolde, leaving Felix and Ashe to sweep up the broken vase.

“Stupid idiot,” mutters Felix, “leaving us to clean up his mess…”

Ashe can’t contain his laughter. Felix, after all, was the first to grab a broom.

“Don’t you find it nostalgic?”

“Nostalgic?”

“Mhmm,” says Ashe. “It might sound silly, but it sort of reminds me of when we started to restore the monastery.”

Felix presses his lips together and continues to sweep, albeit in completely the wrong direction. It is nostalgic even if he doesn’t want to admit it.

Back then, Byleth added restoring the monastery to their list of after school chores. It was difficult to retain morale with enormous gaps in the ceiling. Many of the Blue Lions and their allies continued to clear the rubble long into the night. Felix complained the loudest, but more often than not stayed until dawn.

Ashe can’t keep the smile from his face, even as the door flies open and the Professor rushes in, the remaining Blue Lions and Isolde in tow. Byleth has never been easy to read, but it’s all too clear what’s running through her mind as she crosses the room and stands up on her tiptoes to peer into Alexei’s sleeping face.

“Is that...a vase ?”  Annette crouches on the floor and picks up one of the shards, holding it up to the light. “Why is it in a blanket?”

“Baby,” says Isolde, pointing at the mess.

Byleth peers around the room, taking note of every guilty face with two significant exceptions.

“Where’s Dimitri?” she asks.

~~~~~

There are very few paintings of King Lambert in Fhirdiad, though not through any sort of misfortune. In truth, he was far more interested in practising his sword arm than sitting down for a portrait, and as a consequence his likeness was captured only once.

The portrait of King Lambert sits pride of place on the wall of the heroes gallery, one singular floor of the palace dedicated to preserving the legacy of notable citizens of Faerghus. There are statues of Loog in every corner, portraits of long dead and largely forgotten kings, dusty tomes detailing the history of the land. To be placed in the gallery is one of the greatest honours in the country and Lambert’s portrait is the brightest of all. The artist captured him perfectly, from the sharpness of his jawline to his gleaming armour. He appears dignified, noble…

...and not at all as Dimitri remembers.

Dimitri remembers only his final moments, an image that so often drowns out the rest. When he tries to remember his father’s booming laughter, he recalls the sound of his final gurgles. When he thinks of his proud form, his mind immediately drifts to the moment it fell still.

He made peace years ago with the knowledge that Lambert was never coming back, but he wishes more than anything that he could remember more of him than the moment of his death.

Dimitri very often visits the painting of his father and it’s there that Byleth eventually finds him. His arms are folded, his back straight as an arrow, staring into the eyes of the painting so deeply that he doesn’t notice Byleth approach until she’s standing beside him.

“I don’t know what to do,” he says.

“With what?”

“The silence.”

She stays quiet, as is so often her way, eyes drifting from him to the portrait. She, of all people, should understand. They’ve both been numb for as long as they remember and this past year has brought wave after wave of emotions to the surface.

Today they are duty bound to present their son to the kingdom and promise the very thing neither of them remember. Who are they now that there’s no battles to fight?

In the end, Byleth says nothing at all and instead links her fingers through his.

She doesn’t let go, not even as Hanneman pricks their boy’s finger and casts his blood into the flames, revealing the Blaiddyd crest.

She doesn’t let go as they stand on the balcony, waving to their subjects and declaring the arrival of an heir to the throne. As far as the people of Faerghus are concerned, the baby’s mere existence is a victory.

They don’t need to know how badly their king’s hands are shaking; they don’t need to know about the tears in their queen’s eyes as Hanneman’s needle broke his skin.

From this distance they can’t see the dents in his crown, nor can they tell that the bundle nestled in the crook of Dimitri’s arm contains nothing more than one of Isolde’s dolls.

The real heir to the throne is fast asleep in his nursery, as blissfully ignorant of the celebrations in his name as he is the battles that won him his birthright.

That, in itself, is the true victory.

[thesportssoundoff]

“A good yet stained main card with plenty of prospects and debuts on the undercard” The UFC Fight Night Tuivasa vs JDS Preview

Joey

November 27th

After a TUF FInale, the UFC heads to Australia where...well...things have always been hit or miss. Australian PPVs tend to be damn fun shows but these Aussie fight nights? Woof. They can be hit or miss. The one last November holds the record for the longest UFC fight night ever and I believe it STILL holds the record to this day. The UFC rolls into Australia with a really good main card and some intriguing prelims but I'm not as excited about it now as I was a week or so ago. We'll get into that. The main card's theme in so many words is about the best Australia has to offer minus stars like Robert Whittaker taking on some proven talent that's either looking to take their place (Justin Willis, Tony Martin) or looking to hold onto their spots (Shogun and JDS). The fights are well put together and intriguing on paper----but I'm having a tough time really getting into it. The prelims feature some tremendous fights at the lighter weight classes, a few intriguing debuts and a welterweight looking to survive the Yushin Okami test.  This show SHOULD be well worth your time and hopefully your concerns are not my concerns either.

Fights: 12

Debuts: Jim Crute, Sodiq Yusuff, Suman Mokhtarian, Kai Kara-France, Damir Ismagulov, Alex Gorgees

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 3 (Ross Pearson OUT, Damir Ismagulov IN vs Joe Duffy/Joe Duffy OUT, Alex Gorgees IN vs Damir Ismagulov/Askhan Mokhtarian OUT, Elias Garcia IN vs Kai Kara-France)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 6 (Shogun Rua, Mark Hunt, Junior Dos Santos, Jake Matthews, Yushin Okami, Wilson Reis)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: (Wilson Reis, Mizuto Hirota)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: (Tai Tuiavasa, Justin Willis, Tony Martin, Jake Matthews)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2016 (in the UFC):   26-12-1

Tai Tuiavasa- 3-0 Junior Dos Santos- 2-1 Justin Willis- 3-0 Mark Hunt- 2-3-1 Shogun Rua- 2-1 Tyson Pedro- 3-2 Jake Matthews- 4-2 Tony Martin- 5-1 Paul Craig- 3-2 Jim Crute- 0-0 Suman Mokhtarian- 0-0 Sodiq Yusuff- 0-0

Divisional Breakdown:

Flyweight- 3 Welterweight- 2 Lightweight- 2 Heavyweight- 2 Light Heavyweight- 2 Featherweight- 1

Too High Up- Jim Crute vs Paul Craig

I actually really really like this fight----as something for the prelims. Paul Craig has struggled with guys like Crute; hard hitters who are a smidge more athletic than him who are don't panic on the feet and pressure him into making mistakes. Jim Crute fits that bill and there's a lot of unknowns about Crute that makes this a compelling match up. Crute tends to start slow and is hittable; opening up some doors for Craig. We also don't know how good he is on the ground which is an avenue by which Crute could be exposed. It's a fine fight as a prelim headliner or something of that ilk. It's a good fight, just a bit too over the top for the main card. Chances are this one is about to be a little ugly too. Both guys have some serious technical flaws on the feet.

Too Low- Wilson Reis vs Ben Nguyen

The prelims on this card are perfectly fine for a filler December Fight Night; it's basically a lot of Japan vs the world fights (Australia, Russia and Germany) with a few filler flyweight fights thrown in. I like Reis vs Nguyen though. Even though Ben Nguyen has basically been scrubbed every time he gets tasked with taking a step up, Reis is the sort of guy he can have a hell of an action fight with. Reis vs Nguyen could be a fun fight and the main card could use that even if it interrupts the Australia vs the world run.

Stat Monitor for 2018:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 32-40-1): Jim Crute, Sodiq Yusuff, Suman Mokhtarian, Kai Kara-France, Damir Ismagulov, Alex Gorgees

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 31-30):  Elias Garcia, Alex Gorgees

Second Fight (Current number: 39- 33-1):  Elias Garcia, Salim Touahri, Alexey Kunchenko, Christos Giagos

Cage Corrosion (Current number: 22-37):  0

Undefeated Fighters (Current number: 31-23-1):  Alex Gorgees

Keeping An Eye On But Not Really; Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization:

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Has Tito vs Chuck dampened anybody else's enjoyment of this card? MMA tends to be a swing of  extremes and so when something's really good, it tends to make everything else seem really good and when something's really bad, we tend to all swing in the opposite direction and assume everything is bad. I'm in the latter right now with the top three fights on this card. JDS has been flattened every time he's faced a puncher recently with Overeem and Miocic (twice) beating him up pretty badly. The Cain fights speak for themselves of course. Tai Tuivasa may be limited in a collection of areas but he hits really hard and carries that power pretty well seemingly. I just saw Shogun get laid out by Anthony Smith and while the damage Shogun's taken may be somewhat overstated compared to the other guys involved in the "big" fights, he's been laid out in four of his last five losses. Lastly you have Mark Hunt who is way over 40 and had a full medical evaluation done after he did an interview alleging some form of brain damage. He was cleared ("and said he was joking") but he's fighting another guy who hits really hard after decades of combat sports abuse. It just feels like all of these fights paint a somewhat unsettling picture and maybe that's just the Chuck/Tito afterglow on it. I still am pretty excited for three "young guy vs old lion" fights----but man if I'm not giving this a second look and hoping we've got quick trigger finger refs available.

2- Is JDS a step too far for Tai Tuivasa? Tuivasa debuted around this time last year and he ran through some so-so dudes in Rashad Coulter and then Cyril Asker. He got a sturdy test in Andrei Arlovski in the midst of yet another career rebirth and he passed that well enough. He looked lost early, got hit a bit and then made adjustments and brawled his way back into the fight. It wasn't the sort of performance that would make you think he's ready for JDS but at the same time, JDS isn't the same guy he was in 2012 or 2013. Dos Santos' wins have all felt the same; he's comfortable when there's space and when he can press forward, he still has the primary traits and tools necessary to trouble dudes who are limited athletically or the types of HWs who rely on toughness and grappling (since he's impossible to take down) but dudes like Stipe and Overeem had zero issues walking him down and less issues finding his chin. JDS' ability to get in and out of harm's way comes and goes and fighters who can pressure him early can get him to back straight up and give them ample avenues to fire away. Lastly, Tuivasa just has a lot of different avenues to hurt JDS and while I have questions about HIS defensive ability; I feel like when shit gets squirrely you bet on the youth. At the same time this is HW and at heavyweight, nobody is ever really "done" unless they're completely comatose. Andrei Arlovski has been gone, come back and then been gone again. Alistair Overeem feels like he's one win away from pushing himself into the big fights again.  Derrick Lewis' early UFC runs were blemished by losses to dudes like Shawn Jordan and Matt Mitrione. This shit is never really over and so I'm wondering if JDS is about to wow us with yet another HW renaissance.

3- This has to be Tyson Pedro's last chance to be something, right? Losses to Latifi and OSP in fights that he probably should've won puts you in this do or die spot, no?

4- Can't tell if Justin WIllis vs Mark Hunt is an attempt to body Hunt on his way out of the organization or the UFC just throwing names and faces they have no interest in together. Willis is kinda good but also 31 and struggled with Chase Sherman's pressure at times. Not an ideal step up for him.

5- Jake Matthews vs Tony Martin is pretty interesting on paper and could be a lot of fun come fight night. I threw in the towel on Matthews a while ago but he's rallied to win three straight at 170 lbs and looks like a different fighter mentally than the dude who struggled with Andrew Holbrook. Martin is a fine fighter who has also found himself up 15 lbs at 170. Martin is probably still going to be worlds smaller than Matthews  but he's a pressure fighter who is good enough everywhere that Jake Matthews shouldn't be able to run over him. If he does then it'll be pretty damn impressive and another stamp that Matthews at 170 lbs is a serious big time fighter to keep in mind.

6- Can we pencil in Overeem vs the winner of JDS/Tuivasa now or should we at least wait a while?

7- Either way I wonder if a quick turnaround is coming for either HW winner if he gets it done in short order. Both Ngannou and Overeem had quickie finishes and January's ESPN+ show is approaching quickly.

8- What is the incentive to make weight if you're a flyweight? Wilson Reis is a guy who has a pronounced big cut, Ben Nguyen could probably make 135 lbs easy enough, Kai Kara-France is in his debut so he can't fuck up his weight cut obviously while Elias Garcia is a small dude (like natural 125 lber small) who is taking it on short notice. What's the point if everybody knows this division is going away?

9-  Sodiq Yusuff is about become yet another really talented kinda impossible to promote "problem" for the UFC. Dude's damn good and worthy of your time though.

10- Chrisos Giagos fought in late September vs Charles Oliveira and now he's back out here throwing down in December vs Mizuto Hirota. Maybe this is how he keeps his stay in the UFC, as the busy hungry man dude who takes a bunch of fights nobody else wants at any time. He has a good chance to beat Hirota from distance at least.

11- If you thought Alexey Kunchenko could be a big star, why the fuck would you put him in there vs Yushin Okami of all people? That SEEMS like a bad idea across all levels.

12- Damir Ismagulov was signed shortly after the UFC's big success in Russia and it makes sense given that he's an M1 champion and big enough deal in Russia.  The UFC tried to get Imsagulov onto the China card with apparently three different opponents falling through. They squeezed him in on a short notice deal vs Joe Duffy (and I think he would've won that fight personally) but Duffy pulled out so now he faces undefeated Kiwi Alex Gorgees. Something tells me Ismagulov is going to get fast tracked.

[soulendured]

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋?         ➤    ft. alexei

SALT :   ah little kraken, bold are you.   restless sailor, dauntless fighter, lower your sword, let me see your shield.   ah, of course, they are but the same object.   oh wave-tossed ruffian, lend me some of your mettle would you?  you have been struck by the sharpest of spears yet you still stand here proudly.   but off your guard, elsewhere of the battlefield, you will find your spirit can parch others.   your words are but weapons crafted from your soul.   little lion, sheathe your claws, or the ones you love the most will suffer.   you do not have to be strong all the time love, there's nothing wrong with being soft.   vulnerability is not weakness, and if it were, what's wrong with that?  strength is not always your greatest tool, your heart is good.  put down excalibur, and use your words.  you'll find they will carry you much farther.  not everything in life is a battle.

tagged by:  @fortislumen​ tagging:  do the thing!

[frederickwiddowson]

1Corinthians 15:35-50 comments: a spiritual body

  15:35 ¶  But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36  Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37  And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38  But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40  There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

 In this passage Paul begins to give us some detail of the nature of our resurrection body, a spiritual body, which is not just some incorporeal ghost drifting about on a cloud. A spiritual body is a body only of a fundamentally different nature than a physical body of flesh and it cannot die. He finishes by explaining that flesh and blood as we know it cannot inherit in eternity. We must be changed in order to live in eternity with God.

 Looking at some of the hints the Bible gives us about the nature of a spiritual body we can see some interesting characteristics.

 In the flesh as we know it but powered by the Holy Spirit of God Elijah outran a chariot.

 1Kings 18:44  And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. 45  And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. 46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

 Under the power of God Samson, still in the flesh, performed incredible feats of strength.

 Judges 14:5  Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 6  And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

 And Jesus, after His resurrection and ascension, with a heavenly, spiritual body could pass through walls and yet still have a body that could be touched.

John 20:26 ¶  And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27  Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

 Note the phrase image of the heavenly as a reference to a spiritual, heavenly body so fundamentally different from our bodies now as to be inexplainable. Image is often misused by preachers as referring to character traits as in the image of God meaning our ability to discern good from evil. However, image refers to physical appearance. It means that man looks like God, with Adam indistinguishable from Christ Himself.

 Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

 Deuteronomy 4:16  Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

 But, then with Adam’s fall each generation bore the degeneration of sin’s downward fall.

 Genesis 5:3  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

 In fact, this devolution has gotten so bad that scientists have commented on it with one even pleading for government action, believe it or not. With each cell division and in each generation mankind passes on more and more deleterious mutations, so much so that some researchers into genetics have been alarmed at the accumulated damage and amazed that human beings have not become extinct because of it. So much for Darwin’s onward and upward evolution, huh. (5)

 So, we await that time when our bodies will be transformed, changed into something that will live in eternity.

 Romans 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

 (5)Alexey S. Kondrashov, “Contamination of the Genome by Very Slightly Deleterious Mutations: Why Have We Not Died 100 Times Over?” Journal of Theoretical Biology, (1995) vol. 175, pp. 583-594. James F. Crow, “The High Spontaneous Mutation Rate: Is it a Health Risk?” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (Aug 1997) vol. 94, pp. 8380-8386.

[fictionalcharactermbti]

ISTJ Fictional Tropes

Like anything in fiction there are always tropes. This include characters based on their MBTI. Now not all characters that are ISTJ fit into these exact tropes and many fit into multiple as you will note in the examples. The following are major tropes these ISTJ characters have a pattern of falling into and I think they help define their type as a whole in the big picture. Hopefully, this can be almost a quick cheat sheet at times when typing characters. 

Traditional Leader

These characters are what we think of as your typical leader. They are the ones you trust because they stick to their center, what they feel is right. They’re usually fiercely loyal. These leaders are service oriented. They don’t see themselves as in control, but as serving a role, one that would exist without them. One they choose out of some sense of responsibility or duty to uphold. 

Examples: Commander Lexa (The 100), Captain Ray Holt (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Queen Elizabeth II (The Crown), Lord Eddard Stark (Game of Thrones), Stannis Baratheon (Game of Thrones), George Washington (Hamilton: An American Musical), Thorin (The Hobbit), Fergus (Pixar’s Brave), Theodon (The Lord of the Rings), Powhatan (Disney’s Pocahontas), Queen Catherine of Aragon (The Tudors), Kercheck (Disney’s Tarzan), King George (Once Upon a Time), Elsa (Disney’s Frozen and Once Upon a Time), and Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead).

Detective/Inspector

Most of these character actually are cops, detectives, inspectors, but that is not exactly what this means. This trope for the ISTJ involves them being excited by their inferior Ne. They love to solve things methodically with Si-Te, but get excited by solving puzzles and investigating using their Ne. These types are interested in the truth and their duty to reveal the truth. They will often be willing to break the law/rules in order to uncover the truth. Their loyalty is to what their role upholds, not to people please. The ISTJ is self sacrificing and is okay being painted negatively if the result leads to the truth and justice. 

Examples: Quentin Lance (Arrow), Mako (Avatar: Legend of Korra), Captain Ray Hold (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle (DC Comics), Joe Swanson (Family Guy), Tina Goldstein (Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them), Chloe Decker (Lucifer), Inspector Chester Campbell (Peaky Blinders), James Gordon (Gotham and DC Comics), Bonnie Winterbottom (How To Get Away With Murder), Sara Lance (Arrow and Legend of Tomorrow), Javert (Les Miserables), Shikamaru Naru (Naruto Shippuden), Bartholomew Rusk (Penny Dreadful), Anderson (BBC’s Sherlock), Jim Hopper (Stranger Things), Sam Winchester (Supernatural), Sheriff Stalinski (Teen Wolf), Nobuchika Ginoza (Psycho-Pass), and Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead).

Dutiful Soldier

ISTJ characters that fit this trope are often soldiers, however, it isn’t a requirement to be part of this trope. These ISTJs are dedicated to a cause and remain personally connected and loyal to it. They are highly dependable in performing their duty, whatever that role may be. Their tertiary Fi, often influences them morally to be connected to a cause. They work hard and always follow through on a task. This isn’t about following rules created by a system blindly. These character follow a code and if that means breaking the rules to uphold a personal code, they will do it. 

Examples: Allison Argent (Teen Wolf), Takashi Morinozuka (Ouran High School Host Club), Mulan (Once Upon a Time), Norrington (Pirates of the Caribbean), Fujitora (One Piece), Bartholomew Rusk (Penny Dreadful), Yamato (Naruto Shippuden), Mako Mori (Pacific Rim), Athos (BBC’s The Musketeers), Ardeth Bay (The Mummy Film Series), Li Shang (Disney’s Mulan), Mike Wazowski (Monsters, Inc.), Mameha (Memoirs of a Geisha), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Claire Temple (Netflix’s The Defenders Universe), Sebastian (Disney’s The Little Mermaid), Zazu (Disney’s The Lion King), Cogsworth (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast), Harry/Galahad (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Astrid (How To Train Your Dragon), Dr. Eric Foreman (House, MD), Legolas (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings), Maximus (Gladiator), Brienne of Tarth (Game of Thrones), Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), Zoe Washburne (Firefly), Danny Pink (Doctor Who), Katana/Tatsu Toro (DC Comics), Starfire (DC Comics), Melinda May (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Jack Thompson (Agent Carter), Indra (The 100), Maggie Greene (The Walking Dead), and Alex Danvers (Supergirl).

The Specialist

This ISTJ is a master of something. They are so focused and will know every fact about their specialization. Whatever they love is part of their identity, it is what defines them and the use of concrete sensing facts is what helps them relate to their interest. When an ISTJ character is dedicated to a passion, no one knows as much as they do about it. 

Examples: Dr. Abigail Griffin (The 100), Hope Van Dyne (Ant-Man), Gray Fullbuster (Fairytail), Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory), Dr. Caitlin Snow (The Flash), Ross Gellar (Friends), Tatsu Toro/Katana (DC Comics), Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), The Swede (Hell on Wheels), Bill Weasley (Harry Potter Series), Doug Guggenheim (House of Lies), Hailey (Mozart in the Jungle), Ben Wyatt (Parks & Recreation), Homura Akemi (Madoka Magica), Uhura (Star Trek Film Series), Lt. Commander Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Edward Cullen (Twilight Saga), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), and Unalaq (Avatar: Legend of Korra).

Family-Oriented Center

These characters deeply care for their family (not necessarily genetic) and are often found as the grounding center. They may not seem caring like their ISFJ counterparts, but these ISTJ characters are harsh defenders of their families and are often the character others rely on as a steady constant in their lives. When this steady constant falls, many times the family does as well. They are the foundation of their family unit.

Examples: Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin (Anna Karenina), Quentin Lance (Arrow), Ross Geller (Friends), Bob Belcher (Bob’s Burgers), Ned Stark (Game of Thrones), Fergus (Pixar’s Brave), Dean Forester (Gilmore Girls), Mallory Hanson (Grace and Frankie), Maximus (Gladiator), Sophie (Howl’s Moving Castle), Bagheera (Disney’s The Jungle Book), Theodon (The Lord of the Rings), Chloe Decker (Lucifer), Powhatan (Disney’s Pocahontas), Sun Bak (Sense8), Elinor Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility), Fiona Gallagher (Shameless), Red Forman (The ‘70s Show), Edward Cullen (Twilight Saga), Elena Gilbert (The Vampire Diaries), and Maggie Greene (The Walking Dead).

Zealot

The Zealot ISTJ character is often being unwillingly controlled by their inferior Ne. They find the outer world with it’s constant change in meaning separate from their own deep, personal inner meaning is in conflict. They fear change and try to fight it with everything they have. If they admit that the world has this changing meaning outside of themselves they feel everything they believe in is threatened and are unable to cope with such conflict. They refer to their tertiary Fi for comfort and try to morally back their subjective perspective up with subjective judgement. Thereby fueling their own opinion and clinging to their personal identity, unchanging. Many ISTJ villains fall into this trope, but not all are villains. That is important to keep in mind.

Examples: Grinch (Ron Howard’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas), Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin (Anna Karenina), Claude Frollo (Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame), Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory), Javert (Les Miserables), Ross Geller (Friends), Sam Healy (Orange is the New Black), Angela Martin (The Office), Elsa (Disney’s Frozen), P.L. Travers (Saving Mr. Banks), Dean Forester (Gilmore Girls), Lord Voldemort/Tom Riddle (Harry Potter Series), The Swede (Hell on Wheels), Nessarose (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West Novel), Theo Galavan (Gotham), and Unalaq (Avatar: Legend of Korra).

The Cynic

The ISTJ cynics are often mistyped because they don’t really believe in anything. They are often misread as ISTP to be honest. But the Cynic ISTJ is indeed, very ISTJ. They are some of the most ultimate realists, not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. They usually have life experiences of pain that has formed their perception of reality. Their dominant Si seeing the facts, not fanciful ideals. Their tertiary Fi not seeing or growing up with that feeling that they or anyone else is a special snowflake. They often are lost, without a cause, not trusting those with big ideals. They see things as they are and nothing more. They are the bluntest ISTJ filled with some of the most ironic humor. They are usually disappointed with their lot in life.

Examples: Mai (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Chas Chandler (Constantine), Helga Katrina Sinclair (Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire), Phantom Stranger (DC Comics), Gwynne (Galavant), Mad-Eye Moody (Harry Potter Series), Suzana Ayuwaza (Maid-Sama), Shikamaru Naru (Naruto Shippuden), Dinesh (Silicon Valley), and Princess Kwenthrith (Vikings).