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playboysaleen · 4 years ago

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Love Malady.

Part 2.

Part 1.

Summary: Daughter of the notorious gang of thieves. One day your brothers group kidnap a nobel woman. Feeling guilt you gave her warm clothes, tended to her injuries, and helped her escape. instantly the world falls under a deadly pandemic and is killing/infecting people left to right and you are the only one who is immune. All because you saved a girl years ago coming to find out... it was the goddess of death(Famine).

Warnings- cursing i think, violence.

___________

Present.

February 12th, 2021.

The night Buck got sick changed everyone's life. I waited hours for my phone to ring giving me the ‘okay homeboys fine.’ but Jaime walked into my room with tear-stained cheeks telling me Buck didn't make it.

Then a couple days later after Bucks death one of the guys found Adam dead with the same symptoms. Then Pedro, then Jackson, then Shelli, and it killed off almost all of my fathers gang. The disease spread like a wildfire. From our home town to the city, the state then just did this hopscotch move and expanded around the whole world.

The first year the doctors tried to keep it a secret but it flared so fast that society called it the ‘Sinister Ash’. There was no cure when the officials realized it was airborne, literally nothing could cure anyone. Some were lucky with similarities of a stomach virus and a mild headache, and there were the less fortunate. Headaches, stomach bugs, fever and cancer like symptoms. The strong can work through it but it was permanent. The rest who had it worst? Died off just like Buck and Adam.

“Why are you not eating?” My fathers voice rang me out of my thoughts with his thick Venezuela accent, I peeked at my father shrugging my shoulders. Grumbling, he focused his attention to Jaime as they went over the next move for their ‘purloins’. I grabbed my plate walking towards the kitchen running the hot water over the greatest plate, a thud sounded in the dining room which caused my brother's name to boom out my fathers mouth. I ran towards the other side of the table to grasp my brother's shaking body, cursing under my breath. I dialed 911.

“The ambulance is on the way, go Pa.” I instructed my father watching his face fall, he sighed placing his hand on my shoulder.

“Our time has come, I love you, my child.” he whispered, placing a soft kiss on my forehead making his way out the back. I cooed into Jaime’s hair as I held him in my arms praying to the man above if he could not let this disease invade my brother's body. ________________________________________ “Did you at least get the girls number?” Jaime stated in disbelief when he woke up and saw the EMT worker reeling him into the ER. I chuckled, shaking my head playfully, pushing his shoulder.

“She was pretty..” I mumbled causing Jaime to widen his eyes pushing me back-

“I TOLD YOU!” he laughed out loud when the doctor walked in with a clipboard. A man around his 50’s with a look that masked his face of light, but we all knew he was trying to survive like the rest of us.

“Good afternoon, I am Doctor Nives.” The man spoke ever so gently but his beard gave me Cap vibes. I nodded my head looking at Jaime slipping my hand into his.

“So there’s news, I do not know how you both will take it but-“ he grabs the x rays placing them onto the screen that took up half of the wall next to Jaime. I watched as the deeper detailed body of my brother's chest caged clouds of red, black, and green.

“As you can see you have stage 2 of the Ashen, the red that covers this area here-” Dr. Nives circled the red that surrounded the upper left of my brother's chest.

“Covers your heart, but after running the test I see your red cells are fighting the virus and it knocks more time for you.” A lump formed in my throat as the last 4 words flew out his mouth.

“Wait, what do you mean more time?” His eyes soften sending me a sympathetic look, Jaime gasped softly looking down at his hands.

“Well from the lab work it shows that you had 3 months, but at how good your cells are handling the virus you have 6 months to a year.” He finished taking his gloves off and applying hand sanitizer,

“Since you ma’am we’re around him can we run some lab work for your safety?” He asked looking between Jaime and I. I looked at my brother to see him nodding my way, turning to the man I nodded as he clasp his hands together.

“Great. We can move you right next door so you can stay close to your brother.” Reassuring the both of us, I placed a kiss against his forehead following the doctor out. I took a seat onto the bed leaning against the back of the wall holding out my arm.

For the last 4 years I’ve noticed a big change in my appearance that it actually scares me on the inside. First year, I lost a tremendous amount of weight, the extra weight turned into bulk in the places I always wished for.. huh..

During the first year, the acne on my face disappeared in thin air. One minute I’m trying to clean the pores with three different facial cleansers, I go to bed, then the next I wake up and my face is so clear. I was changing for the better, yet the world was changing for the worst. That first year we lost almost 2 million lives, including a lot of the people around me.

The second year is what sparked my curiosity of my body. One night, I was cooking dinner for Jaime and I, having a heavy debate with who is better at shooting the knife slid through my palm causing Jaime to spring off the island placing his hand against the deep gash trying his best to stop the bleeding. We knew we couldn’t head to the hospital for the sake of our fathers identity and the groups, so Jaime wrapped my hand the best he could and called it a night. I didn’t like his Tostadas anyways. Next day, I woke up to change my bandage. I opened the wrap to see no gash from the night before. Eyebrows furrowing together I question my own body for the first time in my life.. I can’t be immortal, that’s only in books. Then I noticed it. From small paper cuts to bruises- my wounds healed faster than any other person. From taking days for a wound to close, a couple minutes and it’s gone. Clean. Like it was never there to begin with.

Last year, an incident had happened; Traumatizing to say. Snuck out with an old friend of mine, talking around the den says she’s been trying to make a move on me but me being me I waved them off knowing she’s not the type. Met up with her, got a couple drinks in headed back to her place, got a couple kisses in. The kissing escalated until this small beautiful voice that I heard years back echoed in my ears, jumping back, I stopped what we had and went home. Next day I received the news that she passed away AND GET THIS- JUST like Buck. Since then, her voice echoes in my ear. It’s been quiet the last month, I miss it though.

A pinch brought me out of my thoughts when the nurse smiled my way explaining what the blood was for and Dr.Nives will be in shortly to give me the news. I snooped around heading to my brothers room when my name was said from the doctors a couple rooms down from me.

“That can’t be possible, it’s only been 5 minutes and she’s literally clean from head to toe.” A nurse quarreled, a couple more murmurs were heard but Dr.Nives voice caught my attention-

“Let’s do Code A.” A gasp was heard from within their circle with multiple disagreements, confusion flashed my face until a ‘yes sir’ and footsteps were heard coming my way. I sprinted towards my room taking a seat sending Jaime a small text message.

“Heya Y/n, do you mind if I give you some antibiotics just in case you are diagnosed with the Ashen?” The nurse requested which I nodded extending my arm watching her place the small plate next to me. I squinted my eyes examining the shot that contained a weird dark substance.

“Why is the stuff black? Isn’t medicine a clear color for safety purposes?” I blurted out, watching the nurse grab the shot striking the needle into my vein. I grunted feeling the warm liquid enter my body, I huffed lightly leaning my head against the wall. Then, it hit me.

“Wait, what if my test comes back negative? Why do I need antibiotics?” I glanced at the nurse feeling my heartbeat raise as the room began to shrink.

“What’s… what’s happening to me?.” I whispered watching the nurse draw more blood from the previous spot. I felt like I needed to throw up, once the nurse left I wobbled towards my brothers room next door,

“Man bro we need to get some take out when we leave this place- Y/n? Are you okay?” Jaime rambled out then his face washed with concern as I stumbled onto his bed.

“I don’t feel so good Brother..” I breathed out looking up to lock eyes with his own. He gasped, wrapping his arms around me, rocking me back and forth.

“Y/n…” he whispered, watching my contacts with my brown eyes slowly drain into this grey/golden color.

“What the hell happened?” He asked turning towards the door making sure no one came in.

“They gave me the Sinister Ash.. I can feel it in my chest. We have to go.” I grunted using all my strength to push myself off my brother's bed wobbling towards the door. A cough formed in my throat falling out my mouth, my hand flew to my mouth watching the black and red substance pool into my hands.

“Y/N?” Jaime shouted running to my side, I grabbed him for support walking out the room. I felt the fire in my chest pass when a small burp lashed out my lips. Sighing deeply I stood up straight facing Jaime.

“I… I feel better.” I mumbled opening the doors to the emergency waiting room. My body collided with another grabbing them instantly- I gasped at how quick my reflexes were, even Jaime’s eyes widened.

“Why thank you, I’m so sorry I- Y/m? Why are you not in your room?” Doctor Nives questioned looking between the both of us, I felt warm liquid on the side of my mouth. Quickly wiping it, a fake smile formed on my face slowly stepping back towards the exit just a couple feet from us.

“Sorry Doctor, but I think it’s time my brother and I head home- our father must be worried sick.” I bluffed, gripping my brother's wrist, giving him the signal.

“Y/n. We know who you both are.”

_______________

Thank you for the wait<3

taglist- @xxxtwilightaxelxxx

#wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda #The Avengers #avenger #powers #book #WLW #fanfiction

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tcm · 5 years ago

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International Women’s Day: Actresses Who Became Activists By Raquel Stecher

International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on March 8th and recognized by the United Nations, raises awareness for women’s rights and celebrates the achievements of women across the globe. Utilizing their fame as a platform to do good, actresses from the golden age of Hollywood and beyond have supported a variety of philanthropic causes. Myrna Loy worked on behalf of UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Ida Lupino made NEVER FEAR (’50) to raise awareness about polio. Ruby Dee fought for civil rights. Rita Moreno continues to champion the Latinx community. Martha Raye entertained the troops during three separate wars. Debbie Reynolds was a mental health and AIDS advocate. Tippi Hedren empowered Vietnamese women to become business owners. And, Shirley Temple raised awareness about breast cancer. There are many, many examples of actresses devoting their time, energy and, in many cases, finances for humanitarian, environmental and political causes. Let’s take a look at some of the notable actresses who became activists.

Doris Day

In 1937, Doris Day’s coonhound Tiny was hit by a car and killed. The guilt Day felt for Tiny’s untimely demise would fuel her activism on behalf of animals. Day transitioned from acting in the 1970s to become an animal welfare advocate. She co-founded the non-profit organization Actors and Others for Animals in 1971. In 1978, she started the Doris Day Pet Foundation (later renamed the Doris Day Animal Foundation). This organization advocates for the humane treatment of animals. By the late 1980s, she would allow only a handful of interviews with the sole intention of publicizing her charitable efforts. She even called up President Ronald Reagan, her costar in THE WINNING TEAM (’52), to discuss animal rights legislation. In 1987, she started The Doris Day Animal League, which eventually merged with The Humane Society of the United Sates, and established World Spay Day. In 2011, she started the Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Center, and Day recorded the album “My Heart,” the proceeds of which went to her non-profit. Day was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2004 for her work.

Jane Fonda

Outspoken political activist Jane Fonda has championed many causes over the years. She was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, which landed her in some hot water. In 1970, while Fonda was organizing and fundraising a protest with Vietnam War veterans, she was arrested for possession of drugs. The drugs were in fact vitamins and she was eventually cleared of all charges. In a moment of defiance, she held up a fist for her now iconic mugshot. Two years later, Fonda would travel to Vietnam and a photo of her sitting on an anti-aircraft gun in Hanoi would stir up controversy. She was labeled “Hanoi Jane,” a moniker that is still negatively used against her to this day. While she regretted her actions, she did not let this prevent her from continuing her political activism. She’s been a champion for civil rights, feminist causes and has lent her support to Native Americans. In recent years, she’s taken on several environmental causes including protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline and Arctic drilling. As of the publication of this article, Fonda has been arrested five times for her climate change demonstrations (Fire Drill Fridays) in Washington D.C.

Audrey Hepburn

During her childhood, Audrey Hepburn suffered the effects of living through WWII and the Dutch famine of 1944-1945, which would have long lasting effects on her health. In 1946, early ambassadors from the newly created organization UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) offered her assistance. She never forgot their kindness and her own personal experience led to her to become a champion for children in need. Hepburn began working with UNICEF in 1954 and started traveling on field missions in 1988. The following year she was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the organization. She traveled to Turkey, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and elsewhere, assisting with medical treatments, nutrition projects and working directly with children and their mothers. Her last trip was to Somalia in 1992, four months before she died. In 1993, she was posthumously awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Academy Award.

Helen Hayes

Actress Helen Hayes was best known for her theatrical productions, but when her severe asthma put an end to her stage career (the dust on stage proved to be too much), she transitioned to television and film. Hayes used her fame to help raise funds for asthma research. She also donated to the arts, including the Riverside Shakespeare company. She was on the board of her directors for the New York Chapter of the Girl Scouts in the 1970s. Besides being an EGOT (an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning performer), her greatest claim to fame should be her work with the New York State Rehabilitation and Research Hospital which helps rehabilitate patients with disabilities. Hayes first became involved with the hospital in the 1940s. Throughout the years, she donated, fundraised and hosted events at her mansion, the “Pretty Penny,” and offered support in any way she could. She lobbied for funding to renovate the hospital, a project that cost over $37 million dollars. She served as a member of the board from 1944 until her death in 1993. The hospital was renamed The Helen Hayes Hospital in 1974 and is still going strong today.

Lena Horne

Lena Horne’s activism began at a very young age. In 1919, at the age of two, she appeared on the cover of the NAACP journal The Crisis. Influenced by her grandmother Cora Calhoun Horne, a suffragist and activist who was a political ally of W.E.B. Du Bois, as well as her activist father, Horne championed civil rights before the movement ever began. She joined the NAACP while she was still a high school student. She also leant her support to the Urban League, the Progressive Citizens of America and the SNCC. During WWII, Horne supported the war effort by entertaining black troops. She filed a complaint through the NAACP when she saw that black service members had to sit behind German POWs during her performances at Fort Reilly. When MGM removed her from the tour, she self-financed her trips and continued her efforts. During WWII, she also spoke up on behalf of the mistreatment of Japanese Americans. Horne campaigned for anti-lynching legislation with Eleanor Roosevelt, although that ultimately failed. During the Civil Rights Movement, Horne performed at rallies and was in the March on Washington in 1963. In 1983, the NAACP awarded her the Spingarn Medal for being an “artist humanitarian and living symbol of excellence. Her humanitarian efforts live on and the annual Lena Horne Prize, awarded by Town Hall, honors artists for their social impact.

Marsha Hunt

The name Marsha Hunt should become synonymous with activism. Hunt has been indefatigable in her humanitarian efforts. Influenced by her progressive mother, she became a liberated woman with strong political beliefs. Those beliefs would come under scrutiny during the McCarthy Era witch hunt. She joined the Committee for the First Amendment, a group of Hollywood actors and writers who supported the Hollywood Ten. She was ultimately blacklisted. Over the years, she became an advocate for UNICEF, The March of Dimes, The Red Cross and the United Nations. She was named an Ambassador for Peace in 2007. Hunt has championed many humanitarian causes including homelessness, mental health, world peace, the environment and the plight of refugees. She is a founder of the San Fernando Valley Mayor’s Fund for the Homeless. Hunt helped raise money to buy a motel that was renovated into a homeless shelter for women and children. She supported the shelter throughout the years by donating supplies and helping with the upkeep. Hunt has also been a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ community. Back in the 1970s, she wrote a song about same-sex relationships called “Here’s to All Love,” and it was performed by Glee star Bill A. Jones in 2013. A documentary about her life, career and humanitarian efforts MARSHA HUNT’S SWEET ADVERSITY was released in 2015.

Mary Pickford

Actress, producer, writer and business woman, Mary Pickford was an enterprising woman and instrumental in the formative years of the film industry. In 1921, she conceived of the idea for the Motion Picture Relief Fund, an organization intended to help other members of the film industry who had fallen on hard times. She used the remaining funds from her work selling Liberty Bonds during WWI to help finance the project. Pickford became one of the founding members of what is now called the Motion Picture Television Fund. She also served as the organization’s first vice president. She oversaw various initiatives including the Playroll Pledge Program, which encouraged industry members to donate 0.5% of their paycheck to the fund. She helped raise money to buy walnut and orange groves in Woodland Hills, which would become the home for the fund and its hospital. Pickford was on the board for many years and attended every fundraising event she could. In addition to the MPTF, she established the Mary Pickford Foundation in the 1950s. The foundation focuses on preserving films in partnerships with film archives.

Rosalind Russell

Ever since Rosalind Russell portrayed Sister Elizabeth Kenny, an Australian nurse who took great strides to help children suffering from polio in the film SISTER KENNY (’46), Russell became a tireless advocate for various health causes. Russell, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, served on the National Commission on Arthritis and Related Musculoskeletal Diseases starting in the 1970s. The Rosalind Russell Medical Research Center for Arthritis University of California San Francisco was named in her honor. She was a founding member of the United Service Organizations (USO) and the League for Crippled Children. She was a chairman and advocate for The Lighthouse for the Blind, Catholic Charities of New York, The National Arthritis Foundation, Children Services of Connecticut and the MPTF. Russell lent her efforts to senior care centers and in assisting tornado victims. For her numerous philanthropic pursuits, she received a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1973.

Elizabeth Taylor

When her good friend and co-star in GIANT (’56), Rock Hudson, died from complications of AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor was devastated. Fueled by the tragedy, she became a tireless advocate for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. She helped raise awareness, fund research and combat ignorance in a time when AIDS was still highly misunderstood. She testified before the House and the Senate for the Ryan White Care Act and helped convince President Ronal Reagan to publicly acknowledge the disease. She also founded the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in D.C. which offered free HIV/AIDS testing. In 1985, she chaired the AIDS Project Los Angeles’ Commitment to Life fundraising project and co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, established in 1991, provides financial and moral support to patients suffering from AIDS. She shifted her focus from acting to her humanitarian efforts and raised millions of dollars for different foundations. After her death in 2011, her estate keeps funding her foundation. Taylor was awarded a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1993.

#International Women's Day #IWD2020 #female activists #actress #classics movies #old hollywood #TCM #Turner classic movies #Elizabeth Taylor #Lena Horne #Marsha Hunt #Rosalind Russell #Audrey Hepburn #Doris Day

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solennitawrites · 4 years ago

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WIP & Writeblr Intro!

About Me

You can call me solennita or A.H. or whatever your heart desires. I am in my late twenties, South American, bi, living with ADHD, and you can refer to me using they/them pronouns. I have been writing since I was a child but more or less had to set it aside from high school until last year when the pandemic hit and quarantine gave me an opportunity to finally revisit this novel trilogy idea I began about 15 years ago in a dilapidated, blue composition book and commit to actually completing it.

WIP Intro

Working Title: The Sapphire Room

Inspiration: South American mythology and legends (mostly Venezuela, but also Colombia, Chile, and Peru)

Genre: YA Fantasy, Latinx Fantasy, Adventure, Coming of Age

Status: Writing (Chapters 1-3 are up on Wattpad).

Premise: On the continent of Amasi, where a unique mineral, aranate, and advancements in metalworking have resulted in a highly secular and technologically developed society, two fifteen-year-old, orphaned girls have grown up together in Namina Boarding School, a remote institution situated in the middle of the swamplands at the edge of the Arúni Rainforest. One night, Nina and Adelaida discover a hidden object in Namina’s attic—a golden hourglass filled with diamonds and mysterious engravings. Nina and Adelaida begin to learn that this object is not all that it seems, and that familiar faces in Namina know more than they let on. Roped into a dangerous but enticing adventure taking them across all of Amasi, the two friends must face challenges beyond their wildest dreams and learn who to trust as everything they thought they knew begins to slip away. With dark and powerful forces threatening to destroy all life, can these two young girls learn the truth about Amasi’s mystical history, and themselves, to save the world before it’s too late?

Characters: Zafira Fam (Nina, Adelaida, Noémi, Milaraya, & Zo); Brujxs Fam (Maiara, Irália, Aracéli, Mireia, & Tamaya); Namina Fam (Amara Quila, Sol Acedo, Luciana Quíspe, Aria Nuali, Ortensia Rayena, Úrsula Bira, Valeria Vera, Candé Intira)

Tag Navigation: General TSR; Geography; Characters; Plot; Excerpts

Intro to Amasi Posts: Yanura, Orona, Guayra, Islas Maracainas (Maragua)

About My Writeblr

I hope to use this blog to help me work out world building and plot ideas, as well as character development and all that jazz! I’ll likely post excerpts here and there (many of which may just be background writing exercises for story building rather than actual scenes!) and welcome as much feedback and critique as folks are willing to give!

I'll also reblog writing resources, advice, tips, and of course, others' works and I'm open to tag games, asks/ask games, and just general getting to know each other! I may reblog non-writing posts here and there as well, which I’ll tag as “not writing.”

I am still very much in early stages and my posting may be sporadic as I am graduating law school soon and then will be taking the bar in the summer, so hope y’all will bear with me :) But please feel free to let me know if you’re interested in being tagged in any of my WIP posts (and feel free to specify -- i.e., only character posts, only excerpts, etc.)!

About My WIP

My current WIP is tentatively titled The Sapphire Room. You can use the navigation links to check out TSR posts (general tag; excerpts; geography; characters; and plot). This is a project that has undergone a lot of revision from when I first had the idea at around 12 years old to now, when I’ve been able to dive more into world and story building.

A huge motivation/inspiration for my is the lack of latinx fantasy in YA fiction. I adore YA fantasy stories, YA coming of age stories, and YA adventure stories, but I’m tired of reading the same adaptations or variations on the very Anglo-centric narrative. Latinx history and culture is so rich and diverse, though much of the cultural stories have been lost today as a result of colonization and its aftermath.

I decided to reach out to my family about this and started collecting myths and legends from my South American country, and researching those from others in the region. There’s a lot of overlap among the stories shared, especially between Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru, as well as Chile to an extent, so this is where the basis for my worldbuilding really comes from.

As a first-gen latinx immigrant who grew up in a pretty conservative, Catholic area, stories like Romina Garber’s Lobizona and Tehlor Kay Mejia’s We Set the Dark on Fire would have changed my life. I want to make sure my story can serve a similar purpose for young, latinx readers who struggle to see themselves represented in stories they love.

I am very intentional about including racial representation (afro-latinx characters), gender and sexuality representation (queer, trans, and NB characters), and disability representation (characters with both physical and mental disabilities). Though I share some identities I will be writing about, I obviously will be going outside of my own experience in many ways and welcome all critiques and feedback on how I can improve in any of these aspects.

I am also being very intentional about writing an escapist and entertaining story where racism, colonialism, and trauma are not fundamental parts of the story. There will be conflict and pain and sorrow, but after seeing story after story that focuses on the toxic machismo in latinx cultures, on racism and colorism in fantasy settings, and other forms of discrimination and trauma in QTPOC fantasy narratives (all of which are really, really important stories to tell!!), I really am aiming for my story to be different and serve as an entertaining escape.

As mentioned, please feel free to let me know if you’re interested in being tagged in any TSR posts and please feel free to send any feedback, questions, criticisms my way at any point!

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batarella · 4 years ago

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The Commander - Part 1 (Arkham Knight x Reader)

I hope you all enjoy this. You are all awesome. When I said I was back, I meant it.

WORDS: 1378 WARNINGS: THE START OF A HEART-WRENCHING AFFAIR

MASTERLIST

THE COMMANDER - MASTERLIST

-----

One. Two. Three.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The bullets landed on the bullseye, and they formed a nice pyramid even. Like she did it on purpose. Except, she actually did. The bullets’ every move is to her will.

“Nice job commander.”

“Tell me when someone’s shot those three exact bullet holes, Sergeant. Make it an assignment,” she said, placing the pistol onto the table. “Then I’ll come back.”

It wasn’t much of a shooting range as it was the length of a race track. 50 feet. With a small pistol. Not too bad. Y/N left the range.

“The Knight calls you.”

She gave Lieutenant Gray her goggles. “Is Slade with us?”

“Just Slade. Crane is in Gotham.”

“Good.” They had two weeks left. Fifteen days exactly. Her men needed just that time to be ready.

The Knight wasn’t happy the last time he came. One of Slade’s drones exploded before it was even deployed, and their intelligence hadn’t figured out how to automatically send a support in after one would be destroyed. They’d fixed that since then.

But another screaming from the Knight and she’ll go ballistic.

She knocked at the door, heard the Knight’s voice, then stepped inside.

“Commander Y/LN,” the Arkham Knight greeted her.

“Knight.”

“Crane sent me here,” Slade said from across the table. “I didn’t come all the way here to Venezuela to send reports of a drone working as it should.”

“We’ve decided on a base under Killinger's Department Store. It will be easy to infiltrate that night after Scarecrow releases his call.”

The voice under his visor was sour and cold. Like it wasn’t even a man. Slade looked at the commander.

“The Cloudburst,” he said. “I’m here for our star.”

“It’s ready. Scarecrow’s given us enough of his toxin to cover the whole of Gotham.”

“Then what are we waiting fifteen days for,” Slade said, leaning back against the chair. “Deploy it tomorrow.”

“The Cloudburst is underground. You can send as many photos of it as you can to Crane. But we wait until the thirty-first.”

The Commander watched the two bicker. Eventually the two stopped and Slade stood from his chair. She didn’t even listen to what he had to say.

“Crane should be satisfied,” he said. “And I’ll give these men ten days worth of training in one.”

“Be my guest.”

Deathstroke left, and the commander was left with the Knight.

“Anything happen today?”

“None.”

“With Sergeants John and Morrow?”

Ah. The two. Caught in the shower together in a compromising situation after a day’s long training.

“Reprimanded.”

“There is a time and place for that,” The Knight sighed. “The shower is not.”

She smirked. Her men had needs.

“Is that all?”

“Yes,” The Knight leaned against his chair. “You can go.”

The commander stood, saluted, and turned for the door. The Knight didn’t move. He was stiff.

“You need a smoke.”

The Knight turned to her. “You have one?”

She nodded, pulling out a box from her pocket and handing it over to the Knight. But she hadn’t thought he’d raise his visor before getting the cigarette from her hands.

It was the first time she saw his face. And he didn’t look half bad.

Not bad at all.

He had dark hair, a J burned onto his skin, and bushy eyebrows. His eyes were a bright blue, and they were piercing. The Knight placed the cigarette into his mouth, then the commander lit it up. He breathed in, held the smoke for a while, before exhaling.

“Those men can't keep it in their pants for a second.”

“We’ve been here for months, and they’ve had no contact with anyone else outside of the barracks.”

“Of course not,” the Knight said. “I don’t trust them not to rat us out.”

“They won't, sir. John’s wife has no idea where he even is.”

The Knight took the smoke out with his fingers. “Fuck it. Stop wasting time with those men. Just make sure we don’t delay.”

“Understood,” she shrugged, stuffing the lighter in her pocket. He stood up.

“How’s the combat training?”

“Gray is on it right now.”

“Let’s go.” He then walked out the room and came to the combat grounds. The commander followed closely behind him and watched on.

A sparring session came to a close. A few of their men were watching as the much larger man pinned the other to the ground, counting to three before he released.

“Fight him,” the Knight said.

The commander looked at him, then at the brute. He was twice her size.

“I don’t want to embarrass him.”

The Knight chuckled under his visor. But the commander didn’t need to be told twice. She took off her jacket and walked to the front of the victorious thug. His name was Headley. He looked at her, up and down. “Heads up, big guy,” she said. Then she stood at a fighting stance a yard away from her opponent. He nodded, switched to his form, and paused.

Headley swung his arm, and Y/N narrowly missed it. Swiftly, she grabbed his arm, twisted his wrist, and pounced at his head with her knee.

He backed up, wiping his mouth as he eyed her next move. He wasn’t thinking. That was his mistake. He charged for her and just as quickly, Y/N knocked him off his feet with a swing of her leg.

She was fast, really fast. And precise. It was the same for every charge, with her landing a stronger blow to his weak spots at every other turn. Headley was on the ground, and Y/N was holding his arm, stretching it with her own legs. He tapped out, and she quickly released him.

It wasn’t the same for every man. A lot of them bested her. But with the larger ones, they thought of their movements less. Strengthened themselves more. It was where she would pounce.

She swept her hair off her face and turned to the Knight, watching over her like a hawk.

He was watching her the same way he always did when she sparred, or trained at the firing range. Now that she knew just how pretty the Knight was behind his visor, she strutted with her chest pushed out just a bit more. She could see him through the visor, watching more than just her face or limbs.

She threw a towel over her shoulder, drained her water bottle and walked over to the Knight.

“I told you. It wouldn’t be good for his ego.”

She walked out the door, turned down the hall. She heard footsteps behind her. Y/N turned just as the Knight caught up.

“You want me to beat you up, too?”

The Knight walked to her side. He was without his visor. “What are you doing?” he whispered.

She shook her head. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“You were the one staring way too much, Knight.”

The Knight narrowed his eyes. They heard a voice coming from the end of the hall. The Knight pushed her around the next corner.

She didn’t know who kissed who first. It just happened. It’s been meaning to happen. When his voice sounded softer when he talked to her, when everything about him seemed softer.

“You know we both want this. You have needs. I have needs. This doesn’t have to happen again,” he said.

She nodded, then kissed him.

-----

THE COMMANDER - MASTERLIST

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anastasiabeaverhousen87 · 4 years ago

Text

Make Wise Choices: Part 7 Cuore Mio

The next couple of days were rough on you, filled with cold meds, soups, lots of chamomile tea and water and you felt like your teeth were about to swim out of your mouth, but according to Alex you needed to be hydrated and tea was good for colds.

A few days after Alex had to go back to the DEO, she was needed but Kara was able to stay with you as Supergirl wasn’t required to be there, not at the moment anyways. So that’s how you found yourself at Thursday afternoon Infront of the TV with Kara next to you in the couch watching some musical. Well, Kara was watching the musical, you were engrossed on your cellphone texting away with a very goofy smile on your face.

Kara: “Is that the hot doctor your texting…again?” –

Y/N: “well, if you really must know. Yes, I’m texting Cassie”

Kara: “Cassie huh? So now you’re on nickname bases I see”

y/n: “I heard Lena called her that and I liked it, also I think Cassandra is a beautiful name, but a mouthful. And calling her hot doctor sounded a bit rude, at least for the time being”- you give a naughty smile.

Kara laughs at that and mutes the tv “You really like her, don’t you?”

y/n: “I do, I mean I feel things when I speak with her and when I’m near her. And Oh my God she is sooo beautiful. You’re not mad, aren’t you?”

Kara: “Sweet girl I could never be mad about you liking someone. Besides she really is hot. But honestly it would be kind of hypocrite from me to not approve you liking her. She is also someone very dear to Lena so that makes her even more special. So no, I’m not mad, I’m actually happy for you, you never really showed any interested in anyone like you seem to be with her. Just be careful and don’t feel pressured into something you don’t really want”

y/n: “I know, I mean I’ve dated but there was no spark, nothing there. I did fool around a little but never really liked someone to go all the way. If you know what I mean?” – you blush pink at this.

Kara: “I figured as much. You’re a lot like Alex in that aspect, you concentrate too much in your grades and other things, work. But you never really sounded super doped on anyone you dated, when mom and Alex gave you the sex talk you were almost sick thinking about it, that was funny to watch” – You throw a pillow at your sister face “Hey!!!, don’t attack me little bean. And then when you asked about sex with women you sounded more interested but still, I can tell you weren’t ready. The question is, do you feel like you are ready now?”

y/n: “I feel like I am. Truly I’ve only known her for a little while, and I know is soon. But I really like getting to know her and to spend time with her. She is amazing and so caring. I can feel getting serious with her you know. Like I can trust her, and I can share that level of intimacy. It’s weird because is so soon, but I just know it feel right. Do you think is too soon?”

Kara: “If you feel like you can open up to her, if she makes you feel safe enough, why not? you are very good at judging people’s character and I trust your judgement. I’m not gonna lie though, Cassandra being Lena’s friend and all I’ve heard from her she does sounds like a great person and I know Lena also doesn’t trust easily. So yes, that a great bonus and makes me feel more comfortable of you dating her. But I do trust you baby, you’ll know when you feel ready and what to share with her. Also, I know you won’t be able to hide who I am from her that much longer if things do get serious. When you feel ready to tell her I will support you, okay? Oh and if she ever treats you wrong I will throw her into the sun”. - she winks at you.

y/n: “Thank you Kara, that means a lot to me” – you hug your sister and you kiss her cheek while your cellphone sounds with an incoming text, you look down at your phone- “She wants to come over…” you give a small smile

Kara: “well, tell her yes. Go change into something more appropriate at least nicer pajamas. and if she does happen to make you diner again, I wouldn’t be opposed to her amazing pasta. Man, I’m so jealous of you, she cooks like a pro and if I wasn’t dating Lena or you being my sister I would totally charm my way to her, her cooking skills are so amazing. Now don’t get jealous little bean, I’m good with her being my sister in law, she still needs to get point and be on my good side. Just tell her food is the way to my heart” – you sister laughs while walking to the kitchen. “Go get change and tell your girlfriend to come over”

y/n: “You and your stomach. Crazy alien food crazed woman. And sister-in law, seriously? Let me date her first, jeez!” – you mumble while walking into your room.

You hear someone at the door, and you know is the blonde doctor, and you don’t even try to rush to the living room well aware that your bubbly sister will open the door and let her come in.

Kara: “Hello Cassandra, come on in please, y/n will be here in a moment. Y/N!!! you hot date is here!”

Dr. Sharpe: “You’ve been waiting a while to do that don’t you?” – the doctor greets the other blonde and kisses her cheeks hello.

Kara: “You have nooo idea for how long. She used to say things like that or worse when I first began to date Lena, even at the very beginning of our friendship. I’ve been waiting patiently for the time for payback! Ha…” Kara rubs her hands like a Disney villain but she honestly looks quite like the adorable golden retriever she really is.

y/n: ““Really Kara? You couldn’t wait a little longer?”- you shake your head amused and then walk to where the blonde doctor is standing, and she quickly kisses your cheeks and gives you a warm hug.

Dr. Sharpe: “Ciao Bella ragazza”-

You blush at the words spoken by the blonde doctor

Y/n: “hello to you too gorgeous”

Kara: “Oh you guys are so cute, I can’t even…”- Your sister speaks and walks into the living room

The three women spend the afternoon talking and the doctor even offered to make diner, much to your sister delight and happy squeal. Lena was on her way over and you got to know more of the blue- eyed doctor and you could see why Lena loves and admires Cassandra so much. She is an amazing kind and dedicated woman. You learnt that not only did the good doctor was a certificated periodontist, she had received a Master’s Degree in Oral Biology and while in graduate school she also received the Balint Orban Award, which apparently is the highest level of certification in the field of periodontist. And that the reason Lena and the blonde woman couldn’t see each other so often was because Cassandra gives lectures all over the world on a wide range of topics including dental implants, gum grafting, cosmetic periodontal surgery, and bone regeneration. She is also the founder and program director of a dental study club whose purpose is to positively impact the quality of dental care by hosting the highest quality international speakers in the field of dentistry to speak to local dentists in different cities in the US. And in addition to that she also made multiple mission trips to countries in Latin America like Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela among others where she has been able to utilize her skills to help the neediest of people.

To say you were amazed by the woman was an understatement, she was funny, beautiful and crazy smart. But behind all those accomplishments you could see a sadness withing her. And you felt the need to change that, to make her smile and a pull to her that you couldn’t quite understand. But you were pulled out from your thoughts when Lena spoke.

Lena: “Sorry to cut my time short but I just got a text and I’m needed for a consult” – Lena discreetly elbowing Kara to see the text on her phone. Both her and Supergirl were needed at the DEO, so they needed to leave.

Kara: “Oh shoot, ok well let me drive you then”

And of course you couldn’t be cool about it and spoke before you could understand why they needed to leave “Kara you don’t even own a car and Lena has her own driver”- you look at your sister like she just said the stupidest thing ever. Until you recognize their looks and realized they both were needed for something important, DEO important. You curse yourself.

y/n: “Buuuut I mean I totally get it, you should go with her, you haven’t been able to spend time just the two of you because you’re been busy taking care of me. Soooo why don’t you guys leave. I´ll be okay on my own. “

Kara: “Yeah I don’t think so little one, you always forget to take your meds and…”

Lena: “If you don’t mind Cassie, can you stay for a little while with y/n ?” – Lena interrupts her girlfriend ramblings.

y/n: “Hey Lena, I thought you were on my side. I can totally take care of myself” – you pout at her

Dr. Sharpe: “I can stay, I don’t mind at all. I like spending time with you y/n”

y/n: “Yeah me too, I just find itoffensive my sister and Lena don’t think I could spend a few hours on my own. But sure stay we can watch a movie or something”

Kara: “Ha, yeah. Like last night you were so tired you fell asleep on the bathtub and knocked the shampoo inside the water and you made a huge mess with shampoo foam or you know when trying to make a chocolate shake with the blender and forgot to remove the metal spoon and you almost cut you hand when the blender broke to pieces, yeah totally you can handle yourself. Klutz!”

You gasp and look offended: “How dare you!!! Says the woman that burnt the brownies and set the microwave and toaster on fire !!! - you just childishly stuck your tongue out and pouted: “Well you make it sound like I’m the worse, thank you Kara”

Lena and the blonde doctor laugh at the antics and pouting face you make at your sister.

Lena: “I knew it was you the responsible for the toaster, Kara. That one was new”

Kara: “No, you are not the worse, but when you feel tire or sick you tend to make messes and I don’t want you alone, you haven’t completely got rid of your cold and you still under some strong meds. We just worry, you know we love you so much. And honey it was an accident I did got a new one though”

y/n: “Fine leave us now, bring back home some chocolate if you can pleaseeeee?”

Kara: “Totally my little klutz” -your sister engulfs you in a big hug and gives you a kiss to your head. “let’s go Lena and…” – looking back at you and the blonde doctor “behave yourselves and don’t do anything I wouldn’t” – You hug ger back just as strong and let go of her.

Lena: “Come on sweetheart and leave them be”- Just rolls her eyes and walks away with the blonde superhero next to her. The door closes.

You just exhale and keep looking at the door and then your turn around to face the blonde doctor. You are both now sitting at the couch and the blue-eyed woman is looking at you with a sweet and soft smile.

You scrunch up your nose adorably: “What?”

Dr. Sharpe: “Nothing, I just like the way you are with your sisters. You care very much and they as well. That’s nice, it reminds me of the way I used to be with my nonna and my brother” – the blonde woman face goes from fond to a little sad.

y/n: “are they in Italy?”

Her face is just so sad, and you can see a hint of tears in her eyes, and it makes your heart aches.

Dr. Sharpe: “No, they died” -you try to apologize but the blonde doctor sees that and stops you “Don’t, you didn’t know, you couldn’t. and it was a very long time ago. My nonna basically rise me and my brother. She died when I was 25 and my brother, he was my best friend. He …he uhm he was a Navy SEAL, he died in a terrorism-related mission three years ago.” – the blonde doctor just stares down at her hands trying to gain control over her emotions.

You just wanted to make her stop hurting so you did the only thing you knew you were an expert at. Hugging and cuddling people. So, you just hug her firm and strong you cling to her and try to convey through physical connection instead of words, that you are sorry, and you want to make the pain go away or at least lessen the burnt. You stay like that hugging each other and basking in the feel of each other arms.

Dr. Sharpe: “Okay, well you truly are an amazing hugger sweetheart, thank you”- the blonde woman kisses your cheek and near your mouth but not quite there. So, you take things into your own hands and sit up, throw a leg over the blonde doctor waist so you can straddle her. You put your arms around her neck and stare directly into those beautiful eyes, you really love those eyes. They are mesmerizing.

y/n: “God I really love your eyes, is like seeing the color of the sky when there’s a summer storm”.

the blonde doctor was completely still, mouth barely open and a little smirk on the corner of her mouth as she looks up to you amused loving eyes.

You took the opportunity to movie in and crush your lips against the blonde woman, who was more than happy to reciprocate. You initiated the kiss trying to control the kiss, hungrily kissing her lips, however the honey blonde had other plans, she bit down ever so slightly your bottom lip but soon you were surprised by strong arms shifting. The blonde grab ahold of your ass and stood up with you in her arms and holding you tight against her waist and twisted her body so you hold on just as tight and you felt yourself being lowered on the couch. The blonde had a hand behind you head, holding you were laid down flat on your back and she was hovering above you and broke the kiss but kept looking directly into your eyes.

You were just as turn on as the blonde doctor, she was looking down at you with such hunger in her eyes, and she was panting.

Dr. Sharpe: “Calm down little one” – the blonde woman lowered her face next to your ear and kissed the side of your neck – “if you keep pushing me, I won’t be able to stop”

y/n: “Well I don’t want you stop” – you tried to gain some sort of friction from the tight nestles between your legs.

Dr. Sharpe: “no?”- the blonde doctor keeps kissing your neck and jaw and you shiver in delight. You never felt this aroused by someone before. But the blonde just kissed you sweetly, you tried to hug her to bring her down on you, but the blonde kept it sweet and gentle, not really letting you get any traction in the kiss. Like an innocent sweet kiss.

You felt yourself being sat up by strong and gentle arms. She pulled you into her your legs intertwined, and she positioned you to lay on her your head being cradled in the crook of her neck and you felt another kiss this time to your temple. The blonde woman kept making soothing circles on your back with her free hand, rubbing your arm and face. You wrapped yourself even further into her.

You love cuddles and hugs, you did it all the time with your sisters and some friend, specially Lena. But this felt so different, probably the most intimate thing you ever done with anyone. You didn’t put up any fight, you felt so cozy and happy in her arms.

Dr. Sharpe: “shh cuore mio, I know you want this. But I want to take you on a proper date first I want to do this the right way, you deserve better and not rushing it in the heat of the moment” – she spoke so softly to you, that you just melted.

You kept basking in the tender touches and soft skin- “ I like it when you call me Italian pet names”

The blonde woman just smiled and kept the soothing touches. You nuzzled you face into her neck finding that smell that was just hers, Cassandra’s and her warmth. You felt completely at peace and you felt yourself falling asleep in the most comfortable embrace. The blonde doctor kept looking at you and touching softly your back and arms, until herself felt the pull of sleep and the both were completely asleep in each other’s arms.

Note: Well this happened, I hope you like it.

Until next time...

#baby danvers #baby!danvers #alex x baby danvers #baby danvers x lena #baby danvers x kara #alex danvers #kara x reader #lena luthor #supergirl #supercorp #lena x reader #lena luthor imagine #kara danvers imagine #alex danvers imagine #original character #fanfic

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sigmadecay · 4 years ago

Note

You said you can info dump about Jonestown massacre? I'm here to learn about Jonestown massacre.

OHOHOHO YES

okay so if I start from Jim Jones’ early life this is literally gonna take me hours to write and probably take you forever to read so I will try to cliffnote the context of....y’know, his life

He didn’t have super present or even very parental parents, his mother worked a lot & his father was a disabled WWI vet. A neighbor took him to church w her family on Sundays and that began his interest in religion. He went to different churches all the time to see what they were about but had a particular interest in the Pentecostal church, it was loud & interactive & joyful but they did get a bad rep for “speaking in tongues”

Jim married his wife Marceline when he was 17 or 18 and she was like 20-21. She was working as a nurse in a hospital that Jim did custodial work in while he was trying to get himself through school. I have a lot of thoughts about Marceline Jones and most of them are “she deserved better” but we will come back to Marceline later.

Fast forward fast forward and Jim & Marcy have a number of kids, their “rainbow family” which consists of one bio child and a number of adopted children I think?? Listen in my defense he ended up with nine (!!! NINE) kids and they’re hard to keep track of but I know Stephan was their biological son and they adopted Jim Jr. who was black and Lew & Suzanne who were Korean which was a bigass deal at the time. More kids cropped up over the course of things but y’know. When Jim founded the Peoples Temple he got the MLK Jr award for racial equality because his church was the first fully integrated church at least in Indiana which was fucking nuts at the time??? Lots of people liked him. It appeared that he was doing good things.

And then shit like faith healings started where he would stage religious healings from cancer and shit and his congregation began regarding him as a deity. Someone would be blessed and would spit out a “tumor” (a piece of chicken liver) or the woman in the wheelchair who got up and walked turned out to be Jim’s secretary. Completely bogus nonsense, but it was a good, integrated church and they all thought he was a good person.

So, (and I’m leaving out details here sorry) Jim starts teasing like an escape to a “promised land” type deal. And he goes to a bunch of places looking for one—he spends time in Brazil especially—until finally settling on Guyana. The Guyanese govt was excited to have Americans coming bc they were at war with Venezuela and it was...sort of like insurance, but yeah. They gave the Peoples Temple a couple hundred acres in the middle of basically the fucking rainforest. And it was touted as like this socialist utopia and shit. It’s work but there’s housing and you grow your own food, and it seemed nice! Especially for people who were so disillusioned with the government and racial inequality. So they move out to Guyana and start to build houses, and shit is pretty alright at first, but...The soil isn’t fertile and almost no food actually grows. The hours are long and the work is backbreaking, not to mention the HEAT, but it’s like, deal-with-able until Jim Jones gets there. At this point Jones is like completely totally paranoid and he’s losing his grip on reality. He’s been doing drugs for years and his sermons have gone from “the US government is bad because it’s capitalist and racist” to “the US government is literally plotting to kill us.”

Some people managed to get out, and formed a group called the “concerned relatives.” They were, you guessed it, concerned relatives of the members who’d been whisked off to the Guyanese wilderness. Lots of people wrote off their concerns because of how many people, namely politicians, liked Jim Jones for his work in racial equality, but the one guy who listened to them was Congressman Leo Ryan, who was by all accounts a Pretty Solid Dude. He didn’t think anything fishy was happening, necessarily, but his whole stance was “I hear you & your concerns, and we should check it out to put your mind at ease! :)”

By this point, life in the Temple is falling! the fuck! apart! Jim Jones has a PA system set to run 24/7 that either play a) recordings of past sermons or b) his announcements happening Right This Second. People work for like 16 hours a day, there are armed guards at the entrance and around the fields to keep people in, the housing is cramped and overcrowded and they do Not have enough food for the almost 1000 people there. They are also getting record low amounts of sleep because Jim Jones, Nutjob Extraordinaire, has gotten into the habit of blaring the air raid siren at god knows what our and calling all his followers into the pavilion for a White Night. Which is, if you can even fucking believe it, a PRACTICE MASS SUICIDE BY KOOL AID.

Talk about foreshadowing.

So anyway, Leo Ryan rolls up to the compound, relatives and an NBC camera crew in tow, and is like “hey what’s up! :)” Jim Jones has been COACHING PEOPLE to tell him how much they love it. It’s fucked up. But okay

So they put on this dinner and a show type deal for the congressman and all the visitors, and Marceline (remember Marceline?) gives them a whole tour and shows them her pride and joy, the school she’d built and helps teaches at, and the medical center, and the daycare, like Marceline ADORES children this cannot be overstated. There are about 300 children in Jonestown and she loves them with her whole heart. ANYWAY

And everyone is having a funky good time, except Jim Jones, whose sanity is coming unraveled like an old sweater and his 950-ish overworked undercompensated cult members

But as Leo Ryan is leaving, someone slips a note to one of the reporters, BEGGING him to get them out of there. And then someone else comes forward. And then another. There are like....maybe 10 people total that come forward? Jim Jones loses his mind, naturally, but Leo Ryan is still like “hey, 10 out of 950 isn’t bad at all! They just miss their families :)” and they get going.

Unfortunately, because the number of people traveling back to the US from Guyana is greater than before, and they came on a small plane, they’re all posted up at the Port Kaituma airstrip waiting for a second aircraft. And this is when shit gets fucking real.

Jim Jones secretly sends his Red Men (read: “guards” with shotguns) to the airstrip to kill everyone because they’re going to give their secrets to the CIA or whatever. So they fucking roll up in this trailer and...open fire. Leo Ryan is killed, an NBC cameraman is killed, some of the defectors and concerned relatives are killed, many of them are wounded.

The Red Men return to the compound and report back to Jones. And then he gets on the PA and tells everyone that the USA’s destruction of them is imminent. He lies and tells them that the pilot will be shot and the plane will go down, and the US government will come into the compound for retribution and kill their seniors and kidnap the children and rape the women. You can hear a recording of this on YouTube! It’s called the Jonestown death tape and it will absolutely ruin your day if you listen to it. Anyway.

People are panicking. It’s time for the real White Night. Jones gets a vat of Flavor-Aid (off brand Kool-Aid) filled with cyanide and narcotics and says “drink :)” and...everyone is...understandably afraid. They’re tired and exhausted and terrified and have no idea what’s true or not. One woman, Christine, argues and pleads for another solution, like running off to the Soviet Union. The entire rest of the compound shouts her down.

So, finally, people drink. Those who won’t, and young children, are injected with it. The death is not painless. People suffer for a long time, and move to the back of the line, lie down, and die. At a reception house in Georgetown, one of Jones’ aides kills her three children and then herself with a steak knife.

A handful of people get out. Maybe five are able to hide, and three of Jones’ sons are away at a basketball game in Georgetown while this is all going down, so they live.

Jim Jones does not drink the poison. Jim Jones shoots himself in the head, and his private nurse does the same.

Marceline Jones screamed, sobbed and struggled until every single child had died, hoping at least one of them would be spared. And when none were, she dried her eyes, resigned herself to her fate, and drank the Kool-Aid.

The 900-something bodies, about a third of which were children, began rotting in the tropical sun almost immediately. Many of them were decomposed beyond recognition by the time the US troops got there. Those unidentified are buried in a mass gravesite in...California, I think? It was the largest loss of American life not due to a natural disaster up until 9/11. The place is still there, though now it’s overgrown, and it’s just...haunting. There’s a number of documentaries on it (recommend) and if you have a really masochistic streak, the Port Kaituma airstrip shooting and the Jonestown death tape audio are both on YouTube the last I checked.

Thank you for indulging me my special interest, and I’m happy to expand on anything here or give more details :3

#ask #anonymice #jonestown #also sorry for the delay. we had dinner guests #kenny.txt

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crewhonk · 5 years ago

Text

Brief Visits

Warnings: Smut, angst

AN: This has it all— fluff, smut, and it ends on a strong note of angst. This was all inspired by Stevie Nicks so :) ALSO! Thank you all for the patience in the slow updates! School is hell of a drug

__________________________________

“Captain Steve Rogers has been spotted in Venezuela yesterday. The warehouse he, Natasha Romanoff and Samuel Wilson was in flames only minutes after leaving and police expect that it was Steve Rogers himself who set fire to the hospital notoriously known for malpractice. There were no deaths, and one injury—“ You frowned, clicking off the television and throwing the remote across the room in frustration. You missed your boyfriend. You missed his arms around you and you missed his nose crinkle when you told him a bad joke or when you took him to the coffee shop that you’d met at for your first anniversary and he pulled you back into his car and kiss you senseless because he loved how cheesy you were.

Nicks, your white bulldog whined at your feet and you sniffed, wiping your eyes angrily. Steve— stupid, brave, honourable Steve Rogers had left you, his civilian girlfriend high and dry three three months ago and you missed him terribly— so much it hurt your soul.

Stupid boys and their stupid personalities.

You sniffed and rubbed your nose, getting up from your place on the couch and walking to the kitchen, drinking straight from your coffee carafe and leaning over the counter, letting out a dry sob into your palms.

“Fuck.” You cursed, pressing your face on the counter and looking down at Nicks. “I hate men. Men are gross. Thank god you have no sense of attraction, Baby Girl.” Instead fo responding to you, Nicks only wiggled her tail-less butt and howled at you, running from the place at your heels to the front door and back and forth as if she had come down with a case of the zoomies.

“You’re cute, baby. Let’s go to bed, okay? I know it’s only eight but being awake is dumb. Everything is dumb.” You grumbled and scuffed to the couch— you hadn’t been in your room since Steve had left— the sheets smelled too much like him and his sweaters were still on your chair and his socks and underwear were still in your hamper— which was gross but you hadn’t been in there since he’d left so it wasn’t a big deal.

You pulled the blankets around your chin after holding them open for Nicks to climb under and rested your cheek in your palm, sighing and staring out over the New York skyline and keeping your eyes on the horizon until they grew heavy and sleep overtook you.

_____________________

There was someone in your house. You lay frozen on the couch, wide awake but eyes closed as you heard someone jiggle the doorknob and open. Your heart was beating so fast you were sure it would tear all the arteries and veins tying the muscle to your body and oh, god you were going to die and Nicks would be left alone and she didn’t even seem worried there was a stranger int he house and oh, god how would your parents know if something happened? How embarrassing would it be for cops to find your dead body wearing nothing but a Disneyland t-shirt. And what would happen when—

“YN?” A voice called and your rapidly beating heart came to a full stop. You heard the man walk over tot he couch nd kneel next to your head. You refused to move— refused to believe he had come home because damn it you missed him.

Rough fingers and a soft touch pulled the hair away from your face, and the man sighed.

“Sweetheart.” He called again and your eyes opened slowly, breath caught in your throat. There he was— your best guy, Steve Rogers. His cheek looked as if it had been broken earlier this week— only a faint bruise tinting it slightly darker than his snow white complexion. There was a generous layer of scruff on his jaw and upper lip, and his eyes were tired but warm s they looked down at you.

“Stevie?” You whispered and he smiled.

“Hey, Sugar.” He smiled and you launched yourself at him, wrapping your arms around his neck and unceremoniously crashing your lips to his. The kiss was all teeth and tongue and hunger and ‘i miss you’ and you pulled him on top of you— he weight welcome. Then he was wearing was soft as you wrapped your fingers in the fabric, pulling him closer and wrapping your thighs around his hips so he wouldn’t leave you again.

“I missed you, Stevie.” You gasped, as he kissed your neck, and nipped your throat, laying more of his weight on you when you purred.

“God, I’ve missed you more, Baby. You’re the only thing that’s kept me going these past few months.” He mumbled, kissing you again and you hummed.

“Why did you leave?” You asked and he pulled away, hovering over you.

“There are still bad guys we need to take care of, YN.” He sighed and you pouted, stopping only when he sucked your bottom lips into his mouth. “Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do but the guys were fighting now are so dangerous and I didn’t want to risk it and—“

You sensed his heart rate pick up and his breaths come faster and you cradled his face in your palms, kissing him gently and not stopping until he could catch his breath.

“I’m sorry, YN. You deserve to be happy and have someone you can rely on and I can’t—“

“You don’t need to, Steve. You’re my guy and my end game and everyone else is so dull compared to your light. I’ll wait for you for as long as you need me to, babe. So long as you visit every so often, okay? And I know Nat and Sam are with you and they’re more than welcome here— you know that.” You whispered and you watched as his eyes welled up with tears of emotion and gratitude as he kissed you soundly once more.

“I love you, baby. You’re way too good for me.”

“Maybe so, but you’re stuck with me.” You joked and he kissed you again, slowly this time as if he were trying to memorize the way you breathed against him or the way you mewled when his fingers dug into your sides just the way you liked. He missed the way you would squirm under him when he took his time— wanting more, always wanting more. He missed the way your leg would curl around his thigh, pulling him closer and making it hard to move away— not that he would want to anyways.

Your hands found their place on his stomach and his waist and hips— all under his shirt and making the hair on his arms stand to attention. He’d never had his body react this way to anyone before— not Peggy or Sharon, sometimes Bucky but it was always the most consistent with you.

“Steve, please.” You mumbled against his lips and he shifted, lips a soft caress against your neck and in tandem with his scruff it made you back arch desperately. He urged you to sit up only briefly enough for him to rid you of your sleep shirt and throw it across the room. His tongue found your nipples, rolling them between his teeth until you ground yourself against him and pulled his growing hair. He chuckled and kissed your swollen breasts (thanks to his mouth) and kissed down your stomach, licking above your navel and making you whine.

“Steve we don’t need to do this I just want you in me.” You begged and he kissed your knuckles, smiling up at you.

“I missed your taste, baby. Please, let me do this.” He hummed and his breath fanned over your lower stomach, making your back arch. You fingers twisted in his hair and you let out a shaky breath along with a small, breathy whimper. He took this as ‘please, yes’ and kissed your thigh, nosing the soft, plush skin and breathing in. His rough, calloused fingers were gentle when they ghosted over your cotton-clad core and your hips thrust, needy from these past few months of distance from you favourite guy.

He pulled your legs over his broad shoulders and settled against the couch, kissing your mound and smirking to himself when your legs closed around his head. He pulled your thighs apart and pinned them to the back and edge of the couch you were on and sucked at you through your underwear, making you gasp needily.

“Steve, Steve, Steve, please?” You begged and he kissed your inner thigh.

“Please what, Princess?” He rumbled and you pouted up at the ceiling.

“Eat my pussy please, Stevie— need your mouth on me now or I’ll die.” You sniffed and he hummed very happily— complying by sucking your clit through the fabric of your underwear and sneaking his fingers underneath the fabric, sinking two of them into your heat making your legs spread even wider. Your hand fisted into his thick, growing hair and he used his other hand to hold your underwear to the side, licking a stripe up your core and moaning at your taste.

“Like fuckin’ honey, baby.” He murmured and you writhed, rutting your hips into his face and letting out a smattered moan as he sucked you hard, fingers already setting a relentless pace which had you on the brim in mere minutes. “Come for me, Sweetheart.” He grumbled and you complied, clenching your thighs around his ears and arching your back as you shook, silent moan freezing you in place. He worked you down and when you began to breathe once more, he kissed his way up your body, stripping you of your t-shirt and sucking a nipple into his mouth, pinching the other in his wet fingers and then nipping up your neck, kissing your jaw and then your lips. The kiss was slow, and he was very obviously taking his time, much tot he frustration and ache of the member between his legs.

“Missed you, Stevie.” You whispered and he made a noise int he back of his throat, wrapping his arms around your waist and holding you close, resting his weight on you and making you feel the safest you had since before the Accords.

“Missed you too, baby doll.” He whispered back, kissing you again. You shifted under him and he groaned when his hips twitched against your thigh, making you giggle.

“How about you get inside of me and you can get a full night sleep in our bed.” You suggested and he huffed out a laugh, nodding and reaching down to undo his belt, not even taking off his clothes but just unzipping his jeans and pulling himself out of his underwear. He took one of your legs and rested it on his shoulder, kissing the inside of your thigh and knee before rubbing his cock up and down your folds, groaning at how hot and wet you were for him.

“Stevie— oh!” You gasped as he thrust into you in one easy motion, and stealing the breath from your lungs. You grunted when you swore you felt his tip nudge your cervix and followed it up with a whine and nails digging into the fabric of his shirt when you realized just how much you missed him. He stilled inside of you, half reason to allow you to adjust and half steeling himself so he didn’t come in that very second. God, he maybe didn’t realize just how tight you were— or maybe it had been so long since he’d been here— in any sense your velvet walls squeezed him desperatly, bringing him closer and making his teeth sink into the skin of your shoulder so he could ground himself.

“Fu—fuck, Baby.” He shuddered and you nodded breathlessly.

“I know, Stevie. Move. Move, please.” You begged and he gave himself another second before pulling out until it was only his tip inside of you and sliding easily back in, setting a slow pace so he could just feel you and his love for you and just how much he had missed you these past three months— four if you count the Accord situation.

You cried out his name when he rolled his hips into you especially harder and a thrill shot up his spine when he remembered just how fast and hard you liked it— how you would always convince him that your body could take it— take him. And it could— you always took him so well.

His pace quickened and his thrusts landed closer and closer to him as you both grew closer to your orgasms.

“Stevie— I’m—“ You gasped, thrusting your hips up against his as your desperation for a second release grew.

“I know baby— me too.” He grunted and his thumb snuck between your bodies and pressed against your clit, rubbing furiously and making your eyes roll into the back of your head. You let out a low moan as you came, arching up into him and squeezing him tight enough for his release to join yours. He pressed himself as deep as he could into you— the relief of coming inside of you more was better than anything he had felt in the past few months— both elated and grounded beyond belief.

“Missed that.” You slurred sleepily, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him closer, kissing him again and squeaking when he managed to pick you up as easy as breathing, shucking his pants as he walked down he hall and kicked open your door. He ignored the layer of dust in the room— a suggestion you hadn’t been sleeping here— and, while carrying you with one arm, pulled the blankets off and replaced them with the ones already in your closet. He then just flipped the pillows to the other side and sat on the bed, still buried deep inside of you and pulled away from you briefly enough to pull his shirt over his head and lay down with you on top of him.

“I love you, YN.” He whispered— voice far away with sleep and exhaustion and you only hummed and nodded, nuzzling your nose close rot him and breathing deeply, letting every bone and muscle in your body become butter in your loves arms as sleep welcomed you.

__________________________________

When you woke up, Steve was there, heavy on your chest and snoring into your collarbone. The sun, despite the wind beating against the window and the threat of snow-clouds on the horizon, was warm and you were warm— inside and out. His arms are strong around you, holding you close and wrapping his legs around yours. Your hand came up to scratch his scalp and look to wake him up. You were craving pancakes— you always did after a night of good, fullfilling sex, and he always loved the waffles you made— enough for him to show you how much against the counter after you both ate.

He shifted under your hand slightly, and nosed deeper into your neck humming slightly.

“Stevie, baby.” You hummed and he made a sound in his chest, making you want to. Hold him forever. He pulled his arms from around your body and pulled the heavy duvet tighter around you both and re-wrapped his arms around you.

“Morning,” He hummed and you sighed, wiggling until he lifted his head slightly and you were able to roll him onto his back. He’d slipped out of you at some point during the night and there was a mess in between your thighs. His eyes were still closed, but there was a small smile on his face when you kissed his throat, making your way over his collar bones and wiggling happily when his hands coasted over your waist.

“Morning, Honey. Want waffles?” You mumbled against his skin and he froze under you, making you sit up and look down at him. He finally opened his eyes and when you saw how sad he looked you slouched and repressed a groan. “You’re not staying? Are you.”

“I can’t, baby. I’ve already stayed the night when I promised Sam and Nat I’d be back.” Steve pouted, rubbing his thumbs into your hips. God, this was hard— you were on top of him— warm, hair messy, well rested from the first night sleeping in a bed, hands soft on his chest and tracing the marks she had left the night before. Her marks had always stayed— despite his healing, her marks had always remained.

“So, what was this? An undercover middle of the night booty call?” You huffed, rolling off of him and taking the blanket with you, wrapping it around your shoulders and curling it around yourself. You felt the weight behind you shift and you picked at your fingernails as he sat behind you, legs on either side of your hips and head resting between your shoulder blades.

“Never. You’re never just a booty call for me, YN. You’ve never been you know that.”

“Then why come home, Steve? Why come home if you’re just going to leave nine hours later?” You continued, not turning to look at him. He pulled you closer and pulled the blanket down enough to kiss the back of your neck.

“I needed to see you. To know that you were okay.”

“Well, I’m okay.” You sniffed, and silence followed.

“You’re not.”

“Of course I’m not, you knucklehead! You became a criminal and then dropped off the face fo the Earth without so much as a hone call? You can’t do that! Not when we—“ You sniffed, pushing off the bed and walking towards your dresser, shucking clothes in an attempt to hide your body from him. You turned to him, leaning against your dresser and watching as he walked over to you butt naked. He pressed himself against you and pressed his forehead to yours, making you sigh. His jaw was clenched and his brow was furrowed and he shifted his weight slightly before he spoke.

“And I’ll never not be sorry for that, YN.” He started. “And I know this isn’t what you signed up for, but I’ll make sure to visit once a month if you’ll have me. Things are different now, and I can’t really be seen, and I’m not going to expect you to walk away from your life so I can hide you from the world. But I will be here once a month if you’ll let me.” He whispered, and you finally looked into his eyes.

“Will you be able to stay for waffles in the morning?” You asked and a smile spread across his face.

“I’m sure that can be negotiated.”

____________________________

Two years of monthly visits had passed, and while they left you unsatisfied, you were grateful that Steve still wanted to be in your life and was making every effort to still be there for you. There were months where he came home and you wouldn’t even take off your clothes— just hold each other because sometimes life was too hard to do anything but that.

And then there was another attack on New York.

And then Tony Stark had dissappeared.

And the Thanos came and he won and you weren’t answering your damn phone.

“YN, please baby I need you to pick up. Please I dont— I don’t know what im gonna do if you don’t pick up.” He almost cried into his phone as he paced the entrance ramp doors to the Quinjet. Natasha had just landed it on the roof of your apartment and Steve was out of the jet before the ramp had even lowered.

He broke open the roof door and ignored the sobs from the rooms he passed, taking the stairs one flight at a time until he got down to the fourth floor and running to your door. He banged his fist on the door and called your name. He could hear Nicks barking on the other side of the door, and he jiggled the doorknob as if you hadn’t gotten into the habit of finally remembering to lock your door.

“YN! Open this damn door!” He called out, ignoring the people walking past him. He clenched his jaw and pressed his hands to the door, cupping them and putting his mouth against them.

“Nicks! Bedtime!” He called an he waited until the metal fo Nicks kennel jingled before he took a step back and laid all his weight behind his kick which sent to door into the other wall. He ran in and turned the corner into your living room, heart stopping at the sight.

You were there. You were alive and okay and you were sleeping with your new noise-cancelling headphones in, and you were drooling on your hand like the world hadn’t just ended.

There was no politeness in him falling to his knees beside the couch, nor pulling you off of it and into his arms. There was no ceremony to his cries of relief he let out into your neck.

“Stevie, baby what’s going on?” You rushed. It was still daylight— he only usually ever visited when it was dark out. You could hear screams and crashes outside, and it was only then you realized something was very, very wrong.

“He won, he won, he won.” Steve mumbled, not crying but panicked all the same.

“Who won— Steve what’s going on?”

“Thanos. He did what he came to do.” Steve repeated and you were more confused than ever— the aliens in the park— hadn’t they said something about Thanos?

“What happened, Steve?” You asked and he pulled away. He was bleeding, and still in his battle gear and his eyes were red and forlorn.

“Thanos killed half of the population.” He mumbled and your heart sunk. This wasn’t supposed to be how it ended. This was never supposed to be how it ended.

#Steve Rogers #steve rogers smut #steve rogers angst #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #Nomad!Steve #dark!steve rogers

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favoritefightingfrenchgoth · 5 years ago

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huge masterlist of leftist (mainy, some lib) videos, some docs, some articles, divided by topic: that i will edit and add more to later:

Far Right/Alt Right/Fascists:

Charlottesville: The True Alt Right (Goes over the entire Charlottesville rally while using footage/images from the rally and march, including footage from the Nazis that they had livestreamed, how the Nazis began assaulting antifascist protestors, responses to the incident, and how ALL of them are Nazis)

The Cult of Tradition (Goes over the myths and truths of the Founding Fathers/ colonizers, slave owners, American Revolution. Argues against the defenders of statues and monuments)

Philosophy of anti-fascists

Decrypting the Alt Right, how to recognize a fascist + Debating the Alt Right + How to Never Lose a Debate with a Fascist + The Alt Right Playbook series

Handmaids Tale: Spotting Fascism (shows clips from the show including gore),

How to lose an argument

Fox News keeps breaking its own rules

Why the Alt Right is Wrong + What the Alt Right fears + The Lies of Red Ice TV (don’t go into comments, full of Nazis) and part 2

Pewdiepie and the rebranding of white nationalism + The PewDiePipeline: how edgy humor leads to violence Part 2 + Pewdiepie is a Nazi + Pewdiepie and the problem with (fake) racism + Pewdiepie mask off + Pewdiepie doesn’t understand hate symbols

How Cultural Marxism became the Far Right’s scapegoat + Hbomberguy’s Cultural Marxism

Debunking the Alt RIght: Pool parties + + The Golden One: A measured response

How PragerU is lying to you Part 2 Part 3 + Brexit: PragerU vs Reality + PragerU - Big Joel + Dennis Prager is a dick to Holocaust victims + PragerU is conservative junk food + PragerU and Poverty: Misinformation Amateur Hour + PragerU and Justice: a conservative nightmare + PragerU and Marriage: a conservative fever dream

Guns in the Third Reich: A response to Shapiro + others + Ben Shapiro and the politics of Imagination + Leftist’s response to Ben’s 10 tips

The Easy Answers of Youtube Conservatism

Who’s at fault for the refugee crisis? + Stochastic Terrorism and Christchurch

Is Black Panther Alt Right? (No)

Fox News: How to whitewash an atrocity

Getting Sweaty about globalism

The West + Does the West hate itself? + Why do They hate The West?

How societies turn cruel

Were the Crusades defensive? (No)

Stefan Molyneux’s Fall of Rome + Stefan Molyneux, Star Wars The Force Awakens + Stefan Molyneux, The truth about the truth about Wonder Woman + We don’t talk about Elliot Roger - response to Stefan Molyneux + Stefan Molyneux, Aboriginal Australian History and ‘White Guilt’

Racists only have one solution

Trump

Jordan Peterson and The Story of Jordan Peterson + Peterson doesn’t understand Nazism + PhilosophyTube’s Jordan Peterson & The Meaning of Life + Peterson is not profound + Peterson is everything he criticizes and can’t read + The wasteland of Jordan Peterson

Taking feminists out of context + Power fantasy, male objectification, & lady fanservice + Anita Sarkeesian and the people who hate her + InnuendoStudios Why are you so angry? series

Do women destroy civilizations? (No) + She-Ra broke the brains of Anti-SJWs + Does Intersectionality destroy Individuality?

Anti feminism (Ableism abound) + Anti feminism (Warning: Lauren Southern) + Anti feminism (guy uses ableist slurs) + Anti feminism vs facts + Red Pill: Strange Art of Men’s Rights Activism and part two + Women in video game history - The Serfs + Lauren Southern is wrong about tradition

Why Paul Joseph Watson is wrong about everything

The Serfs Steven Chowder

Outrage News + Soyboys: A measured response

How to fall down the Anti SJW rabbit hole

Stonetoss and how hate speech spreads

Sargon of Akkad can’t read (Anti feminism, racism) + Sargon’s petition: a measured response + #FreeSargon: a measured response + Big Joel’s Sargon of Akkad + On Sargon

Joe Rogan Gateway into the Alt Right and part 2 + Pakman gobbles Joe Rogan

FarradaySpeaks - My descent into the alt right pipeline

Dave Rubin gets Orbed + Dave Rubin: Lazy Propagandist

Can women chess? (Yes)

What is virtue signalling?

Bolsonaro & Brazil’s struggle for truth & memory + Bolsonaro & Latin American Fascism + Why Pinochet Apologists Are Wrong (RIP Allende) + Venezuela: The True Face of the Opposition and this + Bolivia is descending into Dictatorship, here’s why and part 2 + Joanna Hausmann is lying about Venezuela (also, German name, south american heritage... 👀👀👀)

Snowflakes-- The Right's War on the Individual

Sports

Hats off to Tim Pool + Tim Pool completely unraveled and backfires bad (self own)

Debunking Steven Crowder on Universal Healthcare

Cuphead: The Fake Outrage

The Boy Who Cried Racist

Denial as a tool of the radical right

The Limits of Logic - Examining Right Wing Logic Through Star Trek and Wittgenstein

Refugees and Human Rights and Part 2 (ties into far right) + Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Laws

Was Hitler a Socialist? (No) + Were the Nazis Socialist? (No)

I can go a bit over Nazis not being socialists also bc I have gotten into arguments about this topic.

Nazis cuddled up with monopolists/big business, protected private businesses, the English word “privatization” was invented to describe their economic policy by the magazine The Economist. They were always anti socialist and anti communist and combined it with antisemitism often using the phrases “Jewish Bolshevism” and “Jewish Marxism”.

Quotes from Hitler’s Mein Kampf, (there’s much more than these, he got very angry over Marx and other Jewish leftists, equating Judaism and communism/Marxism) warning: some antisemitism:

“In the years 1913 and 1914, I, for the first time in various circles which today in part faithfully support the National Socialist movement, expressed the conviction that the question of the future of the German nation was the question of destroying Marxism.”

“While the Jews in their Marxist and democratic press proclaimed to the whole world the lie about 'German militarism' and sought to incriminate Germany by all means, the Marxist and democratic parties were obstructing any comprehensive training of the German national man-power.”

“Marxism represents the most striking phase of the Jewish endeavour to eliminate the dominant significance of personality in every sphere of human life and replace it by the numerical power of the masses.”

Hitler on coopting leftist language and symbolism to get the workers on their side: “The fact that we had chosen red as the colour for our posters sufficed to attract them to our meetings. The ordinary bourgeoisie were very shocked to see that, we had also chosen the symbolic red of Bolshevism and they regarded this as something ambiguously significant. The suspicion was whispered in German Nationalist circles that we also were merely another variety of Marxism, perhaps even Marxists suitably disguised, or better still, Socialists. The actual difference between (National) Socialism and Marxism still remains a mystery to these people up to this day. The charge of Marxism was conclusively proved when it was discovered that at our meetings we deliberately substituted the words 'Fellow-countrymen and Women' for 'Ladies and Gentlemen' and addressed each other as 'Party Comrade'. We used to roar with laughter at these silly faint-hearted bourgeoisie and their efforts to puzzle out our origin, our intentions and our aims. We chose red for our posters after particular and careful deliberation, our intention being to irritate the Left, so as to arouse their attention and tempt them to come to our meetings – if only in order to break them up – so that in this way we got a chance of talking to the people.

“First of all they appealed to their followers to ignore us and keep away from our meetings. Generally speaking this appeal was heeded. But, as time went on, more and more of their followers gradually found their way to us and accepted our teaching. Then the leaders became nervous and uneasy. They clung to their belief that such a development should not be ignored for ever, and that terror must be applied in order to put an end to it.”

Here’s a 1923 interview transcript with Hitler saying the “Socialist” in National Socialist isn’t about socialism and how he tried to redefine socialist in a nationalist and a “by Aryan people, for Aryan people, while everyone still has private property and stuff” way. Here he also kinda goes over this in Mein Kampf.

Nazis who were left economically only are Strasserists, Strasserists in the Nazi Party were killed in 1934′s Night of the Long Knives with George Strasser being killed while Otto Strasser had been in exile from 1930. In 1933, Nazis came up with Reichstag Fire Decree + political prisoners (mainly communists and socialists) were rounded up and were put in the first concentration camps)

Canada’s 10,000 person Antia Riot - Battle of Christie Pits

Manufactured Milkshake hysteria + Revenge of the milkshakes + The Ballad of Andy Ngo

Free Speech:

Freeze Peach + The fatal effects of Hate Speech + Ur-Fascism, Free Speech, and those who forgot

The Snowflake Generation? A Response

It’s Just a Joke + Just be nice you nerds

The Marketplace of Ideas: Germany vs USA + Why Political Correctness kinda rules + Steven Crowder and the silencing of dissident media + The Serfs on Deplatforming

Race:

America is racist + Is the 2nd Amendment racist? (Yes in its implementation)

Systematic/normalized racism + Race, Law, & Politics - PhilosophyTube and Part 2

Implicit bias + Group Bias & Black Pigeon Speaks

The danger of white moderates + Friending and forgiving racists - Kat Blaque + Be honest, you don’t care if they’re racist + Jeffree Starr and performative activism

What is race? + What is white supremacy? + White identity + History of whiteness Also this + 'Humans Are Not Equal': The Dishonest History of Race Genetic Betrayal: The Truth About Race Behind The Misconceptions of Race

Why we have a black history month

Book Chat: "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race" + Robin DeAngelo’s wonderful paper on white fragility

What is Blackface? + Blackace: A cultural history of a racist art form + Montage from the ending of Spike Lee’s Bamboozled��+ The New Jim Crow Museum

Racial comparisons

Quebec Mosque Shooting: Manufacturing a conspiracy

The fate of the frog men (Pepe) + White supremacist propaganda vs truth + Do racists “just love their country”? (No)

Moderate Muslims and terror attacks

Abusing statistics (immigration) + The Bell Curve (isn’t real) + The Great Replacement isn’t real + Germany’s demographic demise: a response

Immigration and the fall of Rome + Stefan Molyneux’s Native American Genocide

The Many Lies of Lauren Southern’s Borderless

The killing of Trayvon Martin

on alllivesmatter + on privilege

Shaun’s response to “People of color: You are not oppressed”

European histroy is not white history + Does the Left want to destroy history? + Is Philosophy Just White Guys J3rk!ng Off? + A white man’s war? A response to NoBullshit (People of color and women fighting in MY WW2? More likely than you think)

LGBT (mainly T) stuff:

What is gender? + There are more than two human sexes + Bill Nye vs Pseudoscience and part 2 (Bill said trans rights!!!)

Transphobia in the UK + Transphobia: an analysis by PhilosophyTube + Ben Shapiro’s weapons grade bad takes + Joe Rogan is an idiot and a transphobe + Debunking Trump on LGBT rights

Debunking trans athletes myths (8 video playlist) + Is Trans Inclusion a Threat to Cis People in Gendered Spaces? (No)

Why Trans Roles for Trans Actors? + Trans male visibility

Kat Blaque’s monologue on cis nonsense: “Cis people please stop doing this” + Kat Blaque’s take on JK Rowling

What is a TERF? (Don’t go into the comments!!!) + The Transphobe’s Paradox + Why is the trans suicide rate so high?

Red Scare:

Red Scare and xenophobia + racism + Why they still need their big lies about socialism

“Socialism no food” CIA even said Soviets eat abt the same as Americans , short video going over food shortages

Animal Farm is commonly used in schools to teach about the evils of socialism/communism like mine did:

George Orwell was a socialist anti Stalinist writing about the dangers of authoritarianism. The pig named Snowball (Trotsky) was depicted as good: he wrote the original commandments, was at odds with Napoleon, and he was forced to flee after being attacked by Napoleon’s orders. But Orwell was also a snitch that happily gave out a list of suspected communists to the govt while dying of TB so

McCarthyism

Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders, domino theory and containment, Eisenhower doctrine, Kennedy doctrine, Johnson doctrine, Reagan doctrine.

CIA funded anti-leftist propaganda campaigns like this

The American Govt often supported coups, wars, and other interference against countries that tried to implement socialism, had strong leftist movements, otherwise just elected leaders that were leftist, many from Operation Condor: Chile, Argentina, Vietnam, Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia (1971 and 2019), etc

COINTELPRO targeted American leftist, Civil Rights/Black Power, antiwar, Native American rights, and environmental protection movements among others. The FBI targeted and threatened MLK. Spied on and kept files of Einstein and Helen Keller. The FBI drugged and then murdered Black Panther Fred Hampton. Etc

Socialism/Communism:

Before their revolutions, Russia and China were pre-industrial, agricultural, largely illiterate societies whose masses were peasants spread out over truly vast expanses of land. From their revolutions, they rapidly industrialized, became largely literate, and became world powers. With the Soviet Union even flourishing and doing great from their planned economy (5 year plans) while the rest of the world was suffering from the Great Depression.

Important to note so I don’t get accused of being a Tankie: Soviet Union + China also did terrible things, for example there was the persecution/oppression of minorities under Stalin (like Cossacks, Jewish people, his govt was kinda antisemitic), Stalin would also have his political opponents killed (mostly anti Stalinist comrades), they weren’t good on LGBT rights: Lenin decriminalized gay sex in 1917, Stalin recriminalized it in 1936, Stalin reversed a lot of Lenin’s gender equality policies, Mao getting citizens to smelt their own steel and iron wasn’t smart or efficient, etc. Critical support.

Modern day China is state capitalist. China has the second highest number of billionaires in the world just behind the USA. And Former Soviet countries are now also capitalist with Russia #4 on the list of most billionaires.

Cuba

Cuba has a literacy rate of 99.7%, one of the highest in the world thanks to the Cuban Literacy Campaign of 1961 right after the Cuban revolution. Universal, famously high quality healthcare (doctors are their biggest export, plus they have medical internationalism) and education. Almost half of parliament members are women, Cuba has made great strides in gender equality. Cuba is a direct democracy, while the US is more of an oligarchy, with people mainly winning elections based on their wealth or the wealth of their supporters.

Cuba’s biotech industry is considered the best in the world among developing countries, and has generated important innovations in cancer research, HIV/AIDS research. Cuba created the world’s first vaccine against meningitis B.

Discrimination against LGBT people is illegal in Cuba. It is legal in 30 US states. Cuba has healthcare for all, including trans people, and allows trans people to legally change their gender without surgery. From my understanding, the rights and treatment of LGBT people aren’t perfect but better than US.

Assata Shakur: “Revolution is a process, so I was not that shocked to find sexism had not totally disappeared in Cuba, nor had racism, but that although they had not totally disappeared, the revolution was totally committed to struggling against racism and sexism in all their forms. That was and continues to be very important to me. It would be pure fantasy to think that all the ills, such as racism, classism or sexism, could be dealt with in 30 years. But what is realistic is that it is much easier and much more possible to struggle against those ills in a country which is dedicated to social justice and to eliminating injustice.”

Book Another Book The Cuba Libre Story

Who Did Che Guevara Murder? + Che Guevara: Homophobic racist?

Majority of East Germans miss socialism warning: article is biased red scare stuff. Krupp und Krause, a nice pro East song from West Germany that also explains surplus value. Ich suche die DDR, a nice pro East rock song from Feeling B, which was a band of former East Germans, saying they are looking for the GDR and it had been stolen. Two members are now in the famous rock band Rammstein, the whole band is leftist.

People who actually lived through the Soviet Union miss it, while young people who haven’t say the Soviet Union collapse was good. Far majority of Soviet citizens voted to keep the Union in 1991.

Human nature & socialism + Why the web is communist

In defense of socialism + “X Socialist Country has failed!” is a stupid argument

Authoritarianism in socialist countries

Soviet Union through the eyes of an American + Socialism gives a better quality of life + Soviets had a better record of training women in STEM than modern USA + Space race meme

But how come revolution? + How to defeat your boss + A Beginner’s Guide to Overthrowing Capitalism + The Socialist case against billionaires

Intro to Anarchy + PhilosophyTube’s series on Marx + What 'To each according to their need' Means + Private vs Personal Property + V For Vendetta - What is Anarchism? + Was the CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) a living heck?

How would anarchism work irl part 2 part 3 part 4

Witchcraft, Gender, & Marxism + Black Rad Leftism vs Black Liberalism

Internet archive with Marxist texts + Easy direct action + Speech Synthesis: Bernie Sanders reading Communist Manifesto, Alex Jones reading Communist Manifesto + Communist Maniesto Summary video with quotes

Black Panthers

The good man himself, President Thomas Sankara

Sankara declared the objectives of the “democratic and popular revolution” to be primarily concerned with the tasks of eradicating corruption, fighting environmental degradation, empowering women, and increasing access to education and health care, with the larger goal of liquidating imperial domination. During the course of his presidency, Sankara successfully implemented programs that vastly reduced infant mortality, increased literacy rates and school attendance, and boosted the number of women holding governmental posts. On the environmental front, in the first year of his presidency alone 10 million trees were planted in an effort to combat desertification.

Socialism in America doc

Albert Einstein? Socialist. “Why Socialism?” Video Summary and Quotes

“Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers’ goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before..

...I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.”

Stephen Hawking? Socialist. “If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.”

Martin Luther King Jr? christian socialist. an interview with him about a year before his murder, he goes over wealth equality, slave reparations. mainly 16:30 to the end

he supported labor strikes, unions, workers.

‘You are reminding, not only Memphis, but you are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages.

...“Do you know that most of the poor people in our country are working every day? And they are making wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the mainstream of the economic life of our nation.

...”If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she, too, will go to hell.”

“This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream—a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.” AFL-CIO Convention, December 1961

In a story published a week before his assassination, King told Jose Yglesias in the New York Times magazine, “In a sense you could say we are engaged in the class struggle.” The civil rights movement had not cost a dime, he said, but the movement to uproot poverty and inequality throughout the country would “be a long and difficult struggle, for our program calls for a redistribution of economic power.”

Paul Robeson was a socialist and supported the Soviet Union, saying (since the Union had Article 123, banning racial discrimination) "In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being.. Where I did not feel the pressure of color as I feel in this committee."

When asked why he didn't move to Russia, he replied: "Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear? I am for peace with the Soviet Union, and I am for peace with China, and I am not for peace or friendship with the fascist Franco, and I am not for peace with fascist Nazi Germans. I am for peace with decent people." Here he is singing the USSR anthem and Warszawianka

Muhammad Ali on the Soviet Union: Ali had just returned from a twelve-day visit to the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet Ambassador to the United States to promote the upcoming Moscow Olympics. Ali prayed in Uzbekistan with Soviet Muslims. He sparred with Soviet heavyweights in training for the Olympics. He met with Brezhnev at the Kremlin.

When he returned to the United States he reported back that “they give a man free medical and hospital care, low rent and a job . . . I never felt so free of being robbed.” He expressed disbelief that so many Americans were afraid of war with the Soviet Union. “It’s hard to believe that such a peaceful country wants war.”

Helen Keller? very into socialism. (also unfortunately she was into eugenics)

also js bc I was taught differently as a kid: how she’s portrayed is super ableist. for example: she could always communicate, she and the household had home signs and anne sullivan was just there so she could get an education.

Famous leftists/ leftists in history:

Rory McCann, Liam Cunningham, Danny Devito, James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Kwame Ture, W.E.B. Du Bois, civil rights activist James Farmer, Frederick Vanderbilt Field was disowned by the Vanderbilt tycoon family for being a communist, King Camp Gillette creator of the Gillette company/razor, Leslie Feinberg,

Victor Gruen architect who first designed American shopping malls (hated the modern ones), Woody Guthrie, activist and co-creator of the NAACP Florence Kelley, pioneer of the birth control movement Antoinette F. Buchholz Konikow, Rage Against the Machine, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Albert Schatz who discovered a treatment for tuberculosis, suffragette and founding member of the ACLU Rose Schneiderman, feminist activist Mary Heaton Vorse, editor who compiled slave testimonies George Rawick,

feminist activist that helped change NY labor laws Theresa Malkiel, writer and abolitionist Lysander Spooner (published pamphlets with legal defenses for escaped slaves, would offer legal services for free, supported John Brown),

Capitalism+Liberalism:

What’s wrong with capitalism part one Part two + Noncompete’s why capitalism sucks and part 3 + Why do you work 8 hours per day? + How rich countries rob the poor + Your democracy is a sham

1960 Harvest of Shame documentary, covering plight of migrant farm workers living with atrocious conditions and no living wage. As one worker says at 41:32, "Sure you can get a job, but if you can’t live on what you make, what good is the job?”

Abolish the Monarchy! + Why does Britain Still have a Queen?

How Privatization Fails: Railways + Influencing an election + You are expendable + Misinformation for fun and profit + Manufacturing Consent: How the Media Distorts Reality: Summary of Michael Parenti and Noam Chomsky + Manufacturing Consent Full Noam Chomsky Documentary

Venezuela: myths and Argument ad Venezuelum + The Myth of Capitalism - Dr. Michael Parenti

UN investigating the US for extreme poverty UN report on horrific US inequality and poverty UN condemns Trump admin for exacerbating poverty levels + The American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion says UN expert + Doc Priced Out: LA’s hidden homeless

Stranger Things has some bad politics in it + What if they threw a purge and noone came? + Marvel sucks, Disney sucks (their workers lives) + HBO’s Watchmen and Liberalism + Forrest Gump - What are American values? + TV Show ‘Cops’ Copaganda + Bob’s Burgers and Class Conflict

White Working Class? Part 1: Class, Culture, Capital + White Working Class? Part 2: Race, Class, Migration + Landlords are Bad + Utopia + “Good” Billionaires

Fake Materialism for Real Transphobes on leftist transphobes. “You want to unite the working class? You have to stand up for the whole working class. All of them! All of their struggles! Otherwise, you’re the one being divisive. You’re the one excluding people. Identity can only divide us if we choose not to care about the struggles of others. If we decide that the problems of others can wait, while we sort out the ones that we share: how can we expect people to extend class solidarity to us while we withold our solidarity from them?

Capitalism is built on white supremacy, it’s built on patriarchy, it’s built on cisheteronormativity, on ableism, on settler colonialism, on imperialism, it’s an interlocking and mutually reinforcing system. We don’t get to pick and choose! You either fight the whole thing or you’re fighting none of it! You’re giving quarter to it. And if you want to hold up the fight until everyone agrees to exclude one vector of oppression or another, until we dismiss the concerns of trans people or indigenous people or women or disabled people or whomever, then you’re no different than any other reactionary.”

50 ways capitalism is hurting you part one Part two + PhilosophyTube on How to fix the housing crisis + Is Capitalism Voluntary? (No.) + Should the Rich help the Poor? (Yes and neither should exist) + Healthcare, Ethics, & Postmodernism + How to Succeed in Capitalism

Capitalist Entitlement + Woke Brands + Case study of Capitalism: Ukraine + Capitalism is great (not really) + Is Capitalism destroying healthcare? (Yes) + Overpopulation is a capitalist lie + Mental health under late stage capitalism

Pete Buttigieg + Trump and the problem with Politics + America never stood or freedom + How Unions died in America (Reagan) + Evo Morales on Trump and Obama + Whistleblowers in America

My First Job/Lazybones Manifesto + Second Job + Third Job

Destiny and the Liberal Mind Prison + Civility + Kat Blaque’s Why Liberals annoy me + ThoughtSlime’s Are liberals our enemies? + Why Conservatives can’t stop lying

“Law & Order” And Civil Disobedience + What was Liberalism? Part one Part two Part three Part four + The Dark Side of Liberalism (5 part series) + You can’t beat Trump: Frost/Nixon and the Liberal Lie

Sex Work + Sex Workers and Police, Prison Abolition

Documentary “The Story of American Slavery” from the settlement of Jamestown on + Doc “Slavery and the Making of America” + Doc “Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters” + Doc “The Heritage of Slavery” 1968 w Fannie Lou Hamer & Lerone Bennett, Jr.

Doc “Life of the Rez” goes over horrible conditions on Indigenous American reservations due to colonization, capitalism

Problems with American Police, Examples, Solutions, and BLM 1 hr, 43 minutes long Hasan Piker coverage. Contains videos and imagery of police violence and corruption, including murders.

Parts of his coverage are not good: In at least 2 points in this almost 2 hr coverage, he refers to killer cops as mentally ill/”having personality disorders” and “sociopathic”. At one point refers to an AR-15 as an assault rifle, which is incorrect. + Why Police Brutality is hard to prosecute

Havin Fun + Keeping Hope Alive

Yakko's world but countries that were bombed by the USA after the fall of Germany are bombed

Yakko's World but each time the US invaded or coup'd the country (since the Cold War) it gets louder & more distorted / Yakko’s World but every country the US overthrew since 1945 makes it louder

#communism #socialism #leftism #i said id post this months ago but i forgot #ive had this saved in my drafts since

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xtruss · 4 years ago

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The Amazon’s ‘Mouth-Watering’ Fifth Flavour

— By Catherine Balston | BBC Travel | November 23, 2020

The ancestral sauce of black tucupi is making its way onto the menus of some of South America’s best restaurants, bringing a new sense of pride to an age-old tradition.

It all started with a bottle of chilli sauce. It was so fiery it makes my eyes water just thinking about it. I had bought it in 2014 from an old woman in Paraitepuy, a Venezuelan village near the base of Monte Roraima. It was the end of a seven-day hike up the table-top mountain, a sacred place for the local Pemon people, from which waterfalls spill over the edge in dizzying vertical drops. The sauce came home with me where it stayed, lurking unused in my kitchen cupboard for the next four years as it was far too hot for my palate.

A couple of years later, I discovered that this sauce was in fact black tucupi, a thick, dark sauce rich in the satisfying savouriness of umami, the so-called “fifth flavour”. Little-known beyond indigenous communities in the Amazon, it is being discovered by high-profile chefs in São Paulo, Lima, Bogotá and even Paris. Curious to know more, I began to dig into its origins, and what emerged was a tale of ancestral wisdom, rare Amazonian languages, poison and layers of intrigue that thickened, just like the sauce, the deeper I dug.

I am not the first person to be fascinated by black tucupi. The first written record of the sauce dates to 1929, in a posthumous publication by the Italian explorer and ethnographer Ermanno Stradelli: “To my taste, it is the king of sauces,” he wrote, “as much for game as for fish… and to which extraordinary cures can be attributed.”

Black tucupi, a thick, umani-rich sauce, has been made by indigenous communities across the Amazon for thousands of years (Credit: rchphotos/Getty Images)

Stradelli had discovered black tucupi during one of a number of expeditions deep into the Amazon rainforest in the 1880s and 1890s. The unique flavours of the Amazon enchanted him, as they had the Dutch, English and Portuguese explorers who had been shipping their “discoveries” back to Europe as far back as the 16th Century. When writing about this king of sauces, Stradelli referred to it as tucupi pixuna (pronounced “pishuna”) – pixuna meaning “black” in Nheengatu, a now-severely endangered language that was spoken all across the Amazon region until the late 1800s.

Tucupi pixuna, tucupi negro, kumaji, ají negro, kanyzi pudidy and cassareep are all different names for the same sauce. It’s a linguistic register of some of the indigenous nations that still make black tucupi right across the Amazon as far and wide as Guyana, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. “When was black tucupi discovered? Who discovered it? No-one will ever know because it was thousands of years ago,” explained Sandra Baré, from the Baré people that live in the Upper Rio Negro region, one of a handful of ethnic groups who still speak Nheengatu and whose tucupi pixuna is sold in markets around São Gabriel da Cachoeira, on the banks of the Rio Negro.

As for how it is made, that is one question Baré can answer, and I happily listened to her explain the process as part of a cooking class on manioc, a root vegetable (also known as cassava, or tapioca when in its pure starch form) that is now the staple food for hundreds of millions of people across the world. “Manioc has been sustaining indigenous nations for many years,” said Baré. She detailed the various techniques for turning bitter manioc into breads and flours, as well as the process by which bitter manioc juice is simmered down from a yellow liquid into dark and syrupy black tucupi.

Manioc, which is a staple food for hundreds of millions of people across the World, is packed with toxic cyanide (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

“You have to be really careful cooking black tucupi because bitter manioc kills,” Baré warned. “Anyone who drinks the raw juice won’t take two steps before falling down dead.” It turns out bitter manioc is packed with toxic cyanide, and I wonder how many people over the years have literally fallen at that first hurdle. None hopefully, at least not for a couple of millennia, as bitter manioc has been cultivated and cooked (which brings the cyanide down to safe levels) by the Amazon’s indigenous nations as far back as 4,000 years.

Denise Rohnelt de Araújo, a Brazilian cook and food writer, first came across Stradelli’s reference to tucupi pixuna 10 years ago in História da Alimentação no Brasil, an encyclopaedic register of Brazil’s diverse culinary history that was first published in 1963 by the historian Luís da Câmara Cascudo. She’s been on its trail ever since, collecting samples from all over the Amazon. Late last year, when I visited her home in Boa Vista in Brazil’s northernmost state of Roraima, she presented me with a box full of bottles in all shapes and sizes.

“When I read Stradelli’s description of this king of sauces, I had to find out more,” de Araújo told me. “There are various different ways to make black tucupi and none of them are the same. The only thing they have in common is that it’s a reduction of bitter manioc juice. Some remove the manioc starch, others don’t. Some are fermented. Others add ants. The Venezuelans add chilli. In Guyana you have clove and cinnamon. Some have a slight bitterness or smokiness. Every ethnic group does it their own way.”

Boa Vista was my jumping-off point into the interior of Roraima to see for myself how different indigenous peoples make black tucupi. Here in the heart of the Amazonian savannah on the triple border of Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana, hot, dry air blows across a mainly grassy landscape. At Tabalascada, about 24km outside Boa Vista, a Wapichana community are fighting to preserve their land and their culture. Monoculture crop farming and urban development encroach from all sides. I hiked from the village into the forest with a community leader, Marcolino da Silva, to see their manioc plantation. The young plants were only five months old and nearly twice my height already, with leaves fanning out at the top of thin stems.

To prepare black tucupi, manioc has to be peeled and grated and the juice squeezed out (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

Back in the village, a long table was being laid for lunch under the shade of some tall mango trees with parakeets screeching overhead. The shy but lively 62-year old Dona Carol, da Silva’s mother, is the village expert in making black tucupi, and she busied about bringing dishes to the table and clapping a nosy cockerel away. Everything she laid out was made with manioc, from the bread (beiju) to a manioc and fish stew (damorida) and a jug of boozy fermented manioc (caxiri). The prints of trainers, bare feet and animal claws in the dry earth charted the afternoon’s comings and goings, and as the sun started its downward slide and the caxiri went to my head, I eyed up a nearby hammock. Dona Carol has been teaching the younger generation her black tucupi recipe. “They have to learn to do this to not forget our Wapichana culture,” she said. “I am here today but who knows about tomorrow. Death knows no age.”

My next stop, Yupukari, was just over the border in Guyana’s Rupununi region. In a small Macuxi village, home to about 100 families, I was spending three days learning how to make black tucupi. I met the team at Caiman House, an eco-lodge in the village and one of a dozen or so eco-lodges run by indigenous peoples in the interior wilderness of Guyana. Nature lovers come here to explore the “land of the giants”, as it has been called; the world’s largest otters, spiders, anteaters, rodents and eagles can all be spotted here.

I had my sights set on black tucupi, however, known in Guyana as cassareep, or cassava sauce. This is the only country in the Amazon Basin where black tucupi has made its way into the national cuisine. It’s an essential ingredient in pepperpot, a meat stew in which black tucupi mingles with the cloves and cinnamon of Guyana’s Caribbean heritage. Industrially made cassareep is sold everywhere in Guyana, but I’d come to learn the traditional, artisanal way.

The resulting manioc juice is decanted and then simmered for several hours until it becomes dark and syrupy (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

My next two days were spent with two local women as they harvested, peeled and grated nearly 100kg of manioc. The grated manioc was stuffed into a plaited palm tube called a matapi (or tipiti in Brazil), which looks like the engorged belly of an anaconda before it is stretched out thin, squeezing the manioc juice into a bowl below. Next, the juice rests for a few hours to let the solid starch (tapioca) decant, and the juice was then poured into a cauldron and left to simmer over a wood fire for around four or five hours.

In the meantime, the women transformed the grated manioc into toasted flour and flatbread. A crowd of onlookers shuffled around the space to avoid the smoke as it curled up and around. Things got tense in the final minutes as the simmering manioc juice begins to camarelise, turning red and then dark brown, then as thick as molasses and hastily whipped off the fire before it burned. Once it had cooled we all dipped the flatbread into the sauce and tasted the flavour bomb: intense, sweet and mildly sour.

The next day, it was added to a fragrant bowl of tuma pot – a traditional fish stew – served for lunch on my last day. I also took a bottle home with me, all the more valuable having seen the backbreaking work in making it.

Outside of indigenous communities, black tucupi evangelists in some of South America’s best restaurants are getting excited about its umami potential, glazing meats with it, adding it to dressings, broths and sauces, and even mixing it in Bloody Marys.

Black tucupi is making its way onto the menus of South America’s best restaurants due to its rich umami flavour (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

In São Paulo, chef Helena Rizzo glazes fish with black tucupi at Maní restaurant; while Carla Pernambuco served confit duck with a black tucupi sauce at Carlota. On the far side of the continent in the Peruvian capital, Lima, high-profile chefs have been experimenting with black tucupi on their menus for a few years already. Their supply, sold in elegant glass bottles in Lima’s upmarket delis, comes from Bora and Huitito women near Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon thanks to a partnership with NGO Despensa Amazónica. Pedro Miguel Schiaffino has put it at the heart of his menu at new casual diner Boa Street Food, infusing tomato sauce, pirarucu (fish) sausages and smoked pork tacos with its richness; while Gaston Acúrio brushes it on roasted cauliflower at Astrid y Gastón.

“Some people compare it to soy, some to Worcestershire sauce, but chefs simply see it as something unique,” said Joanna Martins, whose Brazilian food company Manioca sells black tucupi to retailers. She supplies some of Brazil’s top chefs with her version and is testing out the US market, too.

The Wapichana community in Tabalascada has plans to launch a certified, branded version to Brazilian retailers next year. They sell it locally and informally for now but are building up their capacity through a partnership with Brazilian NGO Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) as well as government funding thanks to Joênia Wapichana (the first indigenous woman to be voted into the Brazilian congress).

Manioc is also turned into flours and bread, as well as traditional alcoholic beverages (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

“Black tucupi is an incredible product that respects the Wapichana way of life and their traditional agricultural systems, and that in turn helps protect biodiversity and the forest,” said ISA’s Amanda Latosinski. “For the youngsters, the chance to earn an income is an incentive to not leave for the city, and to resist the pressures of destructive activities like mining.”

It’s a win-win for the indigenous communities. And it’s a win-win for those who can get their hands on a precious bottle – the chance to try a unique, umami flavour and support a tradition that runs deep into the heart of the Amazon. I can still only handle a few drops at a time of the fiery black tucupi bought all those years ago in Venezuela, but the treacle-like cassareep from Guyana is black gold, used in my cooking as sparingly as my willpower allows.

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