#ROBOT RACISM!!! MID!!!!!

[earthspark-shockwaves-reduction]

why is the earthspark tag so fucking barren the recent tab is just all fucking midroid help

[ritziez]

Help me get my phone's screen fixed!!

HEY UM.. i hate to have 2 ask for more money Again but my phone's screen is getting . kinda busted. i cracked it a few months ago, and I was gonna get it fixed, but since my phone's so new it was gonna be absurdly expensive just for a screen replacement. I decided I'd just wait another year or so to get it repaired, but THEN at some point while it was in my school bag, somebody most likely bumped into it, causing that black spot around the camera to form. It was smaller a couple weeks ago, it's been slowly expanding ever since.

I'd really like to get this fixed before it gets REAL bad, but theres no way my parents can spare the money, it's like 250 bucks at least. I'll be advertising my commissions so I can raise the money myself.

(by the way, the screen isn't ACTUALLY stuck all white like that lol, I just used a blank ibis canvas so that way you could see the cracks and black spot easier.)

Prices and Examples (updated since May) below. Read alt text

WILL DRAW:

- Your oc's!

- Characters from other media

- Characters in different outfits

- Humans/Humanoid

- Anthro

- Feral (a bit rusty..)

- Object-heads

- Robots!!!

WILL NOT DRAW:

- ANYTHING nsfw. I am a minor.

- Depictions of racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, queerphobia, etc.

- Pedophilia, incest, zoophilia, necrophilia, any other forms of "proshipping."

- Insanely detailed and complicated character designs and backgrounds

- Vehicles (sorry ☹️)

DISCLAIMERS:

- I am in school with 5 ap classes, I do not have much time to draw during the week. I am looking into changing my classes, but my school won't allow class changes until mid-October. If you cannot stay patient, I highly suggest you do not commission, for both your and my sanity.

- I can only use P@yP@l. I will accept commissions that pay in other currency, but be aware that P@yP@l enforces a transfer fee. I will not force the seller to increase their payment to make up for the fee, since it's a stupid rule anyway.

- DM me to commission. If you'd rather communicate on another platform, let me know. I will send finished commissions via google drive to prevent compression. Feel free to ask any questions when commissioning!

GOAL: 39.10/250 USD

[ktficworld]

Loving you is not easy, my dear

Pairing: Steve Rogers x desi!reader

Summary: America thinks Steve Rogers can do better and maybe, they are right.

Warning: heavy racism(seriously, I'm not using this word lightly), angst, hurt/comfort, trolling, protective!Steve, reader gets her revenge on the racist bastards 😈

A/n: posting after so long. Already know traction is going to be shit but I'd really appreciate if you reblog this. I'll try to keep it short(I failed💀)

Tags: @sunshine-on-my-mind @slutty-daddy-pedro

This wasn't supposed to happen.

You weren't ready to get dragged through the mud just yet.

You and Steve have been dating for a year. You were a regular software engineer. Wandering around on the internet, to help fellow programmers with their problems. Little did you know, that none other than Tony Stark was there for help under the disguise of 'toiletdistroyer'; frankly, you should have known by this username, but oh well.

So, you caught the billionaires eye and he offered you a job on the spot. And of course, you took it, much to your parents dismay and happiness. With tears filled in your eyes and aachar, parathe stuffed in your tiffin. Of you went to America.

You didn't meet the captain for a good month and honestly, even if you had. You wouldn't have given two fucks about him since you were stressed to the brim with work and moving in.

You slowly met every avenger. Tony was the first, of course. Then it was Bruce Wayne Banner as you worked on the technical part of a bio-tech project he was developing. He was good but was shy and mostly kept to himself. Afterwards followed, Natasha, she was sassy and perfect. You liked talking to her about girl shit and somehow, she took a liking to your weird ass and you befriended black widow.

Next up, was his best friend. Bucky. He caught you wandering outside the stark building because you came too early and so he joined you and the birds chirping. He was cute and funny, but not your type. Thankfully, he wasn't interested and quickly friend zoned him.

Then you met him.

You whistled as you sauntered into the lobby. Clocking out early from your shift and cherry on top, it was Friday. You were going to have a fun weekend. Talking with your parents, watching kdrama and being gleefully single.

Your whistle was disturbed by something squashy yet hard coming underneath your foot. You retreated your foot and glanced down with furrowed brows. It was a brown leather wallet. With a sigh, you bent down and picked up the lost wallet.

You opened the wallet to see the identity of the abandoned wallet's owner and your eyebrows disappeared into you hairline as the stupidly handsome face of the captain appeared in front of you. He must have dropped it in a hurry.

Your eyes darted around as you bit your bottom lip. The sane thing to do would be to go to the reception, hand her the wallet and go your merry way. But he might still be around and also, the receptionist looked too bitchy for you to deal with. So you went for the less sane option, of course.

You took a deep breath and glanced up at the ceiling. "Hey, Friday. Is Captain Rogers still in the compound?"

"Yes, miss. Shona. Captain Rogers is in the parking lot." The robotic voice of Friday said from above.

"Thank you, Friday." You said and deeply sighed. Yes, you could do it. No need to be nervous. What if he's Captain America? You ain't a criminal. With that peep talk, you rushed to the parking lot.

You almost tripped while trying to find Steve in the parking lot but in the end, you found him. He was swinging his leg to climb on his bike when you shouted to get his attention.

"Captain Rogers! Captain Rogers!" The man stopped mid-way, setting his foot back on the ground as he turned around and you almost died at the sight of him. He was wearing blue jeans, white T-shirt and blue jacket, making his sapphire eyes pop as some blonde hair strands falling over his forehead. Oh, girl. Get a grip on yourself!

He was startled by your incessant shouting as he looked at you with his doe yet alert eyes. "Yes, miss. How can I help you?" He asked, ever the gentleman and you internally sighed in relief that he didn't call you ma'am.

You waved his wallet and said. "Your wallet. I think you dropped in the lobby."

His eyes widened as he patted his pockets and a sheepish look appeared on his face. "Ah, I think I really dropped it. Sorry." He said and walked up to you.

You gave him his wallet with a smile and bit your lip when your hands touched. Fuck, were you on your pms?

You peered at him through your lashes as he checked the insides of the wallet and promptly shoved it in his jeans back pocket.

He glanced at you and with a shy smile, said. "Thank you, miss."

"Oh, no problem. You can call me shona." You didn't know what divine energy of confidence came over you as you extended your hand for Steve to shake.

Steve looked at you funnily but shook your hand nonetheless. "That's not your real name, is it?" He asked timidly after the handshake, his touch lingering on your hand as you unwittingly savoured the feeling.

You beamed at him and shook your head. "Nope."

"Then, what is it?"

You told him your name and the smile on his dashing face faded away as he looked down. You could not blame him, most people had the same reaction and that was why you gave your nickname, not actual name.

"I'll probably butcher that." He muttered sadly as he scratched the back of his neck.

You chuckled and waved off his concerns. "It's alright. Most people can't say my name. Only few special people have made it into a special group who can pronounce it outside India." And it was true. Only few people were able to say your name without getting their tongue twisted, including Natasha.

Steve raised an eyebrow. He bent down, close to your face and whispered, in a husky voice. "And what are the requirements?"

You hummed as you pretend to think with your finger on your chin and said, dramatically. "A lot of dedication and practice."

Now it was his turned to be amused as he leaned even closer and asked. "And what will I get if I get into this special club?"

You were caught off guard as you spluttered out. "Um, what do you want?" And you also had kdramas to binge for fuck sake.

"A dinner sounds good." He said with a lopsided grin.

You gave him a thumbs up and said. "Perfect! Now I need to go. I have a weekend to enjoy, bye." You said and rushed out without a second thought or glance at Steve.

When you sat down in the metro was the time when your dumb mind actually processed his words and you froze In your seat. Wait! Did he just ask you on a date?

He did, in fact, ask you on a date.

After he learned to say your name. You two went on a date and you knew you were doomed. Those blue eyes had effectively captured your heart as you slowly fell for him.

And who won't? He was so soft, affectionate, caring, supportive. He was perfect. You didn't know what he saw in you. You were so... Regular.

But whenever you would say this to him. He would look at you all offended and ask why not? You were beautiful, intelligent and his sunshine. And you melted everytime he said that.

You told your parents and you had to make your mother take an oath that she won't say anything about your relationship to any of your relatives as she just couldn't stop giggling. Thankfully, she kept her oath.

You also officially got introduced to the avengers. Bucky and Natasha already knew about it and everyone was happy for you and Steve. Yeah, Tony did throw a tantrum about how he didn't figure out your budding romance and how Rogers whisked you away from under his nose. His words, not yours. And he also earned a slap to the chest by Pepper for that.

You both decided to keep your relationship private. Steve did not want to make a circus of his relationship in the media and you also wanted to lay low. You wanted to take the Katrina Kaif route, one day you're single and the next day, poof! You are married.

But the Cosmos had another plan.

You didn't know who it was, a reporter or a fan. But someone captured you and Steve in a not so platonic way. You were sitting on his bike, one hand occupied with an ice cream and the other, draped over his board shoulder. He was holding you by the waist as you both kissed. Ice cream long forgotten as you both were smiling into the kiss. But someone had posted it on social media and overnight your very private relationship was in front of the entire world to judge ans comment about.

You woke up to a cold bed and your phone exploded with texts and calls, ranging from judgmental relatives to your friends from India and America to the entire avengers team.

You furrowed your brows at the slew of messages and calls and decided to call Steve but instead his phone blared in your shared room, making you sigh. What the fuck was going on?

You scrolled through your contacts and paused when Natasha's name appeared. You hovered over her number hesitantly before calling her. Just after two rings, she answered.

"Hello, Natasha. What is going on and where is Steve?" You asked her in a sleepy voice and scratched your head.

On the other side of the line, Natasha sucked in a sharp breath and replied with unusual franticness. "Shona, somebody leaked a photo of you two and now the world knows that you both are in a relationship. Steve's in the living room, come here quickly and don't open your social media!" Natasha cautioned.

"Wha-" You didn't even get a chance to comprehend her words before she hang up the call. You glance at your phone incredulously. You sat up straight when your brain finally processed the given information. Your relationship was public. Your Katrina Kaif moment was ruined even before it materialised, ugh! So unfair.

And telling you not to open your social medias? It was like telling a child not to eat the candies from the jar. You bit your lip and opened the hellhole called twitter. And the number one trending hastag was:

#CaptainAmericaisdatingwho?

You tapped on the hastag and was instantly greeted by the picture of you and Steve. Your eyes widened as you took in the picture, whoever clicked it had good photography skills as you looked decent in it. You scrolled down and made a decision you would later come to regret, started reading the reactions of the people.

He is dating an Indian? Why? Did he not find any good girl in here? Insane.

If they have a child, what would be their skin color?

She probably put him under a spell or something.

Wait! She works for Stark, meaning this is a work-place relationship. Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.

Captain America is taken😭😭😭 why God! Now I need to find someone else to obsess over😭😭😭

Look how she's eating. Like, get some manners girl! 👇

You looked down to the image attached. You were eating rice with your hand and winking at the camera, granted it wasn't the neatest sight but eating food with hands made it taster(yeah, fight me on it!).

That was it, you could not take it anymore. You burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter as you giggled at the comments, doubling down in your bed.

Tears gathered in your eyes as you laughed your ass off on these racists misery. You knew damn well that you would face some form of racism whether you dated Steve or not and it was funny to see them whine like anyone gave a shit.

You scrolled some more laughing at the whiny racist and the memes people made along the way. However, one comment caught your attention as you halted to read it.

Why isn't Steve dating her?

You looked down at the photo and your heart dropped, all your happiness fading away. You stared at the woman's photo for what felt like ages as you observed her porcelain skin, her blonde hair and her perfect figure. She was the epitome of an American woman.

You looked at Sharon's perfect face and could not help but echo the poster's thought. Yeah, why wasn't he dating Sharon? Why was he dating you? A regular girl while he was captain fucking America! He could have anyone he wanted. A model, an actor anyone he wanted and he wanted you? Why?

Much to your detriment, you scroll past it and onto the next comment which said:

So, she's the ugly one in the relationship ���🙈🙈

The comment plunged into your soul like a rusted dagger as your breathing becomes a shallow pounding in your ears. You glanced forward, where the full length mirror was sitting and stared at your reflection with critical gaze.

You brought a hand to your face, it was so dull. Your eyes had dark circles and were puffy. Your lips weren't plump enough. Your eyes weren't big enough. Your body wasn't curvy enough. You only had brains. No, you didn't! You weren't special, anyone could do your job with enough practice. You were nothing out of the ordinary.

You were snapped out of your destructive thoughts as your phone was snatched out of your grip. You whipped your eyes to the perpetrator and a very furious Natasha glared back at you.

"What did I tell you about not checking your social media?" Natasha asked, enraged as she waved your phone in her hands.

You didn't want Natasha to be proven right so you scoffed and replied. "Telling someone not to do something will only make them do it more. Haven't you heard of reverse psychology, agent?" You snarked and Natasha shook her head in displeasure.

"You coming with me?" Natasha asked.

You paused to think and then shook your head. "Let me shower first. I feel dirty and sleepy."

Natasha nodded thoughtfully and said. "Okay, I'll stay here."

You whined in protest but quickly shut up after receiving a steely glare fron the black widow which would make even the toughest villians pee their pants. You showered, taking extra long as you got distracted by your thoughts yet again. And made your way to the living room with Natasha in toe.

And you heard it before you saw it. The annoying voice of one of the most famous conservative journalist as he said that Steve Rogers could do much better, that this relationship wasn't going to last and that he wished it won't last long.

The last part made your stomach churn in uncertainty.

The pattering of footsteps alerted the other avengers of your arrival. Tony and Steve were standing next to each other as they talked in hushed yet aggressive tone.

Tony looked annoyed than ever as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. While, Steve? Steve looked like just one poke and he would snap. His jaw was clenched, his eyes were ablaze as he stood taut.

Both of the man's gaze snapped towards you as Steve's face softened and he rushed towards you, blocking your view to the TV as Tony hastily turned it off.

"You finally done sleeping, sleepy head?" Steve asked affectionately as he caressed you cheek.

You hummed absentmindedly and forced a smile on your face. "Slept like a baby." You said and the air was so thick with tension that it was strangling you more than your own mind as no one dared to talk about the elephant in the room.

Eventually, Steve cleared his throat and said in a whisper. "You already know what happened but don't worry, I'm with you." And pulled you into his embrace. Yes, why are you with me, Steve? What do you like in having to deal with all this drama when you could date any white woman and keep the peace?

You tried to reciprocate his hug but it was a half hearted attempt as you were fixated onto something else.

"Yeah, don't do anything stupid." Sam said when you and Steve parted. His face was empathic and knowing and your heart broke at that. Still, you gave him a half smile.

"Hey! That's my line!" Bucky yelled in offence, making Sam scowl at him.

"You don't own a sentence, Buchanan." Sam countered.

"Don't call me that and I would copyright..." They kept bickering but you tuned them out as the seed of doubt started sprouting in your consciousness.

📷

But it only got worse. The hate just didn't stop and everyone was piling up on you. Indians did come to your defence, questioning the racism and the unrequited hate you were getting.

But some were also interrogating you. Why were you dating captain America? Why were you flying so high? That he may just be using you and would leave you for an American sooner or later. This sentiment was also shared by your relatives.

Your parents were on your side but you could sense that seeing you get attacked was upsetting them. You put up a brave face in front of the world but you were crumbling down from the depths of your being. You were falling down an abyss and no matter how hard you shouted for help, your mind didn't let up its torment.

You didn't tell the avengers or Steve because they was already so stressed out dealing with all this fiasco. He was so distraught that he didn't even notice you withdrawing from him. He didn't notice how you slept on the edge of the bed instead of in his arms. He didn't notice that you avoided mirror like a plague. He didn't notice how you were drowning in your minds stupid tricks.

That was until it boiled over.

It was a quiet evening. You were walking back to the compound after running some errands. Apparently, Indian species were hella expensive and hard to find in there so you shopped for them by yourself. And it was also because you liked these non-eventful and tranquil moments that you had reserved for yourself.

You were absentmindedly trudging forward as the compound just entered your peripheral when a shout jolted you out of your trance like state.

"Go back to your country!"

You whirled around, only to come face-to-face with a regular white man. Seriously, he didn't even look like a Kevin or intimidating, just run of the mil white guy, very easy to blend in the crowd.

You raised your eyebrows and exclaimed. "Excuse me?"

The man tutted and took a step forward, you taking a backward step. "Didn't you hear me? I said, go back to your country."

"This is getting old. Try something new." You said with a bored voice and crossed your arms on your chest.

"Seriously, first you take our jobs then resources and now our hero? Just because you don't have anything in your country, doesn't mean you should come running to us and mooch off of us." He ranted with a grunt.

"Why? You wanna date him?" You eyed him from head to toe. "To my knowledge, Steve is straight and even if he wasn't. I don't think he would date someone like you." You snided.

His jaw ticked as he took a step forward. "You don't deserve him!" He spat.

Yes, you don't deserve him. Your mind supplied as your grip around the shopping bag loosened.

"He deserves better." Yes, he deserved better.

"You are nothing." Yes, you were nothing.

You were so hypnotised by your minds scorching affirmations that you didn't see the approaching threat.

You yelped as your back hit an electric poll, grocery bag falling on the ground. The man lunging forward for an attack but before he could even lift his hand, a punch from his left side shoved him away and he landed on the ground with a pained grunt.

You let out a shuddery breath as you slowly glanced to your left, your whole body trembling with fear. Your eyes landed on Steve standing there, panting heavily as his knuckles were painted crimson, by whose blood? You didn't know. His eyes were ablaze and his face was murderous as he began charging towards the whimpering man on the pavement.

This snapped you from whatever demons were holding you as marched towards him and shrieked. "Steve, stop!"

You stopped in front of him and wrapped youur hands around his. He halted in his steps, his face instantly softening as he unclenched his fists and dropped his offensive stance. He cupped your right cheek and you spluttered out a sob.

You glanced down at his bloody knuckle and coked out. "Steve, let's go."

He glanced behind you at the whining man and then nodded. He tucked you in his embrace while your gaze never left his knuckles. This was all your fault. Because of you, he almost lost control of himself and if he would have done something then you would have also smeared his name. Maybe it was good to end things.

📷

The room was pin-drop silent, only the sniffling of you and Steve and the clinking of the first aid kit being shut closed reverberated through the walls. Steve had started to talk as soon as you left the man writhing on the cold sidewalk but one finger of yours on his lips and he shut up, accepting your silent plea of solace. But you couldn't push back the inevitable any longer.

You lifted up the first aid kit and set it inside one of the cabinets in the bathroom. When you came back, you sat down on the coffee table ahead of Steve and peered at him through your lashes, your heart breaking when your gaze landed at his pretty face. You would miss him.

It was Steve who spoke first. He intertwined his bandaged hand with yours and softly said. "I'm sorry, you are suffering so much because of me and I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you."

Swallowing, you looked down as tears beaded your eyelashes and muttered out. "I think we should break up, Steve. It's not working out." Saying those words was like stabbing yourself in the chest with a scorching knife.

Steve instantly stiffened and his grip on your hand grew tight as he refused to let you go. "Why?" He asked and before you could reply, his bitter laugh made your head snap upwards as he shook his head.

"Why am I asking this? This should be pretty obvious to me," He sniffled as few tears slid down his cheeks. He glanced at you and you had to bite your lip to hold back your own tears as his pained and misty eyes stared into yours. "Is there nothing I could do to change your mind? To make you give me a second chance? Do you not love me anymore?"

The last part was like a slap to your face as you furiously shook your head and yelled. "I love you with all my heart, body, mind and soul. I love you more than anything in this world, more than I could ever articulate."

"Then why are you leaving me?" He asked in a whisper.

And the flood burst gates open as you broke down. "BECAUSE I DON'T DESERVE YOU."

Steve immediately placed you in his lap as sons wrecked through your body. "Why would you say that? You deserve the world, doll."

"No Steve, no! You are Captain America and I'm nothing. You are gorgeous and I'm ugly. You are perfect and I'm not." You cried into his chest, selfishly seeking his warmth.

Steve jutted your chin upwards and gazed down at you with soft offense. "No, honey. I'm not perfect, I betrayed Tony, I have done so many things that I regret. I have cried in your arms multiple times and you have seen me vulnerable." He said through his own tears.

"But you are so pretty. You should be dating a model or an actress, not me."

"Who like me for being Captain America? No way and," He held your face in his palms and continued. "You are the most beautiful, most intelligent, most amazing woman I have ever met. I won't trade you for anyone."

"Then why I doesn't feel like it, Steve? You asked in a defeated whisper. "Why can't I see myself the way you see me?"

"I can help you look at yourself like I look at you. Please just, don't leave me. I can't live without you. We can survive this storm." He murmured softly kissed your sore eyes.

Your lips quivered as you brought your hands to Steve's face. "I want you, Steve. I want you so much but holding you feels like a sin."

"And holding you feels like a dream. A dream I thought I would never have," He said quietly and gently pressed his forehead with yours. "Just give me another chance. Give us another chance."

"Okay." You replied. Your sobs had ended and draped a heavy blanket of fatigue over you in their farewell as you melted into Steve's hold and Steve snuggled in you more. You didn't know when he placed you on your bed or when you fell asleep in his arms. You let yourself fall into his bliss as all the demons left you. Because in this moment , Steve was yours and you were his and that was all that mattered.

📷

You yawned as you got out of your slumber. The bed was cold again as Steve was nowhere to be found. Again.

Maybe he realised you were right and moved instead of kicking you out. You sniffed a little and turned around, so you were facing the front of your room. But your face instantly scrunched up in bewilderment as you took in the sight.

There were polaroid pictures hanging from the ceiling by a white thread, all facing away from you. You scratched your head as you tentatively got out of the bed. How the fuck did someone hang these and you didn't even stir? Was this from hydra?

The last thought made you gulp as you gingerly reached out for the first picture and pulled it close to read the text written on it with a marker.

Do you remember the time when you handled the toughest project alone?

-Tony

"Huh, what?" Now you were even more confused as you flipped the glossy paper and burst out into a fit of laughter.

It was a picture of you handing Tony a golden toilet trophy like you were handing an Oscar with a megavolt grin as he was rolling his eyes but still, he begrudgingly received the award.

You wiped off a tear from your eye and refocused back on his question. You hummed to yourself as you took a trip down the memory lane. It was a very important biotech project and there had come a point where the connection between the software and hardware had broken and no one could figure why because everything was normal and nothing seemed faculty. It turned out to be a software issue as the code had malfunctioned and needed to be rewritten in a more efficient manner.

You led the team who did that and boy were those days exhausting. Overtime, frustration, failure after failure and of course the moral of the team going down. But you managed to keep the team together and pulled through. Providing excellence.

You smiled a little at that memory. You weren't that useless.

Sighing, you stepped forward to the next picture and read the text on it.

Remember when you got hit on and Steve scowled?

-Natasha and Wanda

You turned the photo around, showing you, Wanda and Natasha. You and Wanda were eating a leftover cake while Natasha was drinking wine straight from the bottle.

You remembered that night. You were minding your own business and not touching alcohol since you didn't want to wake up with a pounding headache. when a guy suddenly materialised next to you and ordered a drink for you without even asking and began flirting.

You smoothly pulled yourself out of that situation and gave the drink to Natasha but Steve had witnessed the whole interaction and he looked like he wanted to sucker punch that poor dude. He was teased relentlessly about it for a month.

Now that you thought about it. You were hit on multiple times on multiple occasions. It was a game of sorts between you and Steve. Since your relationship was private, it was amusing to see people ask you or Steve on a date. You always relished in watching girls flirt with Steve because he would always get uncomfortable and nope out of there like his life depended on it. It was fun because no matter how much they flirted with him, you knew that the man was yours.

You chuckled and caught a glimpse of your reflection in the mirror. You weren't that bad looking.

You walked up to the next polaroid and snatched it closer.

Remember when you comforted me when everyone was sleeping?

-Bucky

Your eyes filled with tears as you flicked to see yours and Bucky's image, it was clicked during lockdown when everyone stressed a lot about cleaning everything. You were pretending to sing with a cleaner bottle in your hand as a microphone and Bucky was using a broom as his guitar.

With a reminiscent smile and you thought back to that one stormy night when Steve was out on a mission and everyone was sound asleep.

You being the insomniac that you were started trudging towards the kitchen for some late night snack but stopped mid-way when you heard whimpers coming from Bucky's room. You went inside without asking but saw him crying alone in his bed. He was so resistant to your comfort and even yelled at you for intruding on his privacy: but he was right about it. However, he caved in the end and cried his heart out while you held him. Then you both watched anime and ate chips. Sleep was nowhere to be found that night.

You bit your lips as you went to the last and final picture, that was dangling before the door.

Remember why I love you?

-Steve

You burst into tears as the realisation dawned on you that it was he, who did all of this. To make you see yourself through his eyes and everybody's eyes. And no, you didn't remember why he loved you because there were too many moments and reasons to remember all that once.

Warmth bloomed in your chest as you finally looked at the picture and it was just like your relationship. Sweet and simple. With you both in the bed, hair messy and lazy smiles on your faces. It was a morning selfie that you taken sporadically on his phone.

You loved him. You loved him so much and you wanted to be with him till the end of the line. Because even if you were just a regular jane, you loved him and he loved you and that was all that mattered.

In your whirlpool of emotions, you didn't register the the bedroom door clicking open and Steve walking inside. It was when his strong arms enveloped you, did you got out of your reverie and glanced at him, teary eyed.

You hugged him back and wept louder in his chest as he rubbed your head. "I love you. I'm sorry for telling everyone about what you were going through but I thought it would help, please stop crying."

You slapped a hand over his lips and cried out. "Shut up. You lovely little dork. I love you. You did nothing wrong in my eyes."

With hope twinkling in his eyes, he removed your palm and asked. "So, will you give us another chance?"

"Yes! This one incident won't make my problems go away in a snap but I want to be with you and learn to love myself like you love me." You said through a smile and leaned to kiss him when-

"What about the trolls?" Tony's voice made you shriek in surprise as Steve gave him an exasperated look.

"Really, Tony?" Steve said with displeasure.

"Yeah, really asshole?" Natasha said and slapped Tony on the head.

Tony scrunched up his face in indignation and said. "But I need to know. She's not used to the attention and hate. And she can't even deactivate her social media because she is one of our representatives from tech."

This made a bulb go off in your head as you held up your plam and said. "Don't worry, Tony. I'll have it handled. Plus, we didn't really publicly announced our relationship, did we?"

Steve narrowed his eyes at you but you just grinned at him devilishly. Time to troll the trolls.

📷

You softly closed the bathroom door as you stepped outside, your white saree grazing the floor. You looked ahead and your jaw went slack, Steve was his blue powder blue shirt and black pants and his blonde hair practically glowed in the golden light of the evening. He looked so gorgeous that you just couldn't tear your eyes away from him.

But then you realised his intense stare on you and you quickly looked down, heat raising to your cheeks. "Stop, staring, it's creepy."

Steve let out a throaty chuckle and said. "I can say the same thing about you."

You opened your mouth to reply but the Bucky's exasperated voice interjected with a grunt. "You both can do this later. Now, come on before the sunsets and the light is gone." And harshly thrusted his phone in the direction of the door.

You chuckled. "Alright, let's go." Steve held your hand as you both walked outside the compound and into the evening sun. After, finding a place where the background was greenery instead of a concrete jungle. You perched on his Harley. Your hand snaked around his neck as his came down to rest on your butt while he stood in the middle of your legs and both came forward to kiss each other.

Bucky clicked the picture but Steve didn't let you go until the need for oxygen became dire. You smiled bashfully and wiped your mouth as you finally got off his bike and went to the very unimpressed Bucky.

He shoved your phone into your hands and ran away before he had to endure any of your pda any further.

You shrugged it off and looked at the photo. Thankfully, it was good and you gave Steve a thumbs up before posting it with a caption:

I corrupted the golden boy and I'm not sorry 😈

Steve also posted the same picture but his caption was more modest:

My love ❤

And. It. Blew. Up, again.

The haters and racist started whining again. Sane people supported you both and laughed at the haters, going as far as making memes. You were trending again, many famous people also came out of the woodworks and congratulated you both which made you roll your eyes.

You didn't care about the public thought of you. You wanted to troll the haters and you successfully accompanied that.

However, it didn't end there. As your devil incarnate friends decided to add fuel to the fire by posting pictures of you and Steve being all over each other with a complimentary middle finger emoji. And apparently, everybody had one.

Either you two were pervs Or your friends were nosey as fuck. Natasha and Bucky agreed with the former assumption.

Bucky posted you both kissing on a picnic.

Natasha of you sitting in Steve's lap.

Sam posted a photo of your head resting in his lap.

Heck, even Peter posted a photo where Steve was kissing your temple.

There were many more but you that was enough for the day as you switched off your phone and tossed it on the bed side table.

"I just wish, no pray that my parents don't see any of these pictures or I will be having an interesting phone call with them. The relatives are still blasting my phone but I ignored them as always." You rambled to Steve as he slid under the covers.

Steve let out a raspy chuckle and said. "I don't think they haven't seen it yet as we're all over the, well everything."

You groaned and pouted at Steve because he didn't need to always tell the truth but as soon as you locked eyes with him you melted in his oceanic blue gaze. He pulled you into his comforting arms and you happily obliged.

"Steve, now that the whole mess is kinda resolved. What's next?" You asked as you gazed into his sapphire blue eyes.

He hummed and gazed back at you. "What's next? Good question, but I don't think you want to hear the answer to that. Would ruin the fun. " He whispered and leaned down to kiss you before you could question him further.

[glacierruler]

Making the Future

Making the Future Masterpost

Consider supporting me on ko-fi!

Taglist: @duck-in-a-spaceship @cutebisexualmess @oatmeal-stans-the-trash-rat

(Please tell me if you'd like to be added/removed)

CWs: Fantasy Racism, Theft Mentions

Setting/Background

Advanced fantasy world

Robots, magic, kingdoms

They don’t have internet or social media

Might be something rudimentary for nobles/sentries

Kingdom is called the Kingdom of Endrion

Crystals are used for most communication

Like cell phones but you can only do face time/call with them

Some more ‘sentient’ robots are sometimes used for surveillance

Not sentient per say, but there are usually only engineers and one sentry overseeing them

They go to scrapyards if they malfunction even once

Anything in the public could be a camera for the sentries, and or eyes for the robots (less likely the further away from the castle a place is)

There are scrapyards on the outskirts of the kingdom, where all left over, ruined, or malfunctioning metal and electronics go

Guarded by sentries, but how many depends on the noble and their wealth

Could go from 2 sentries per scrapyard to 1 sentry for 3 scrapyards

Different magical races are seen differently than others

The ones that are seen as ‘good’ are:

High elves, humans, dwarves, wood elves, centaurs, snow elves, earth elves, dragon born, water elves, halflings

The ones that are seen as ‘mid’ or ‘neutral’ are:

Pixies, gnomes, fire elves

The ones that are seen as ‘bad’ are:

Changelings, orcs, drow, goblins, dragons

They view themselves as unprivlidged and those seen as ‘mid’ or ‘good’ as privlidged

Some notes, changelings are often called doppelgangers, orcs are often called ogres, drow are often called tieflings, and pixies are often called fairies

Only those deemed as ‘good’ races are allowed to wield magic w/out a permit, ‘mid’ or ‘neutral’ races must have a permit and constant check ins to wield magic, and those deemed as ‘bad’ races are not allowed to practice magic at all

The royal family lives in the middle of Endrion

Nobles closest to the castle are of a higher rank than those with territories further away

More robotic security nearest the castle, less and less moving away

No robotic security in the outskirts, everyone deems it as not worth the money

Also more sentries stationed nearest the castle, less and less are stationed moving away from it

There is a group of about 15 sentries in the cities/towns right by the outskirts, and about 90 working around the clock in the castle to give scale as to how many sentries are working at a given time

Stealing from a scrapyard will get you charged with theft, it could get you charged with treason or attempted treason depending on the situation

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Egg Fu

(WARNING! This analysis contains RACISM! Seriously, just look at this fucking guy, holy shit! What were they thinking?!)

People always have different answers to why people just don’t know Wonder Woman’s adversaries to the same extent that they know Batman or even Superman’s, despite her being one of the Big Three of DC. Some say it’s because Diana is all about diplomatically resolving conflict, and thus ends up befriending her foes. Others claim it’s because she kills her enemies. I’m not sure if either of these groups know what they’re talking about because I don’t read comics as extensively as some, but considering what we’re talking about here I’m guessing DC wants to keep people from knowing her enemies because if they do, they’ll find shit like Egg Fu.

Like, just look at this fucking guy. Look at him.

Like I get comics were racist back in the day, but this one takes the cake. What's even more insane is how they keep trying to revamp and revitalize the character in the modern era, from being a bad guy from Apokolips:

To... whatever the hell this is:

There's got to be reason, right? Why are writers so dead set on trying to rehabilitate the racist communist egg man?

Motivation/Goals: As a Yellow Peril villain, Egg Fu exists to show the EVILS of communism while also making sure to show Asians in the most unflattering light possible. He's not particularly good at either job to be honest, dying every time he comes across Wonder Woman and being so utterly absurd a concept it's hard to take him seriously at all. Like, he's an egg. For what reason? I mean yeah there's the pun, but why is he a fucking egg in-universe? What's the benefit of being an egg with a prehensile mustache? How exactly does it help dominate the filthy Americans (oh, I'm sorry, the Amelicans).

Final Fate: In his very first appearance, Wonder Woman does the right thing and fucking cracks this egg:

When the next Egg Fu shows up, she does more of the same:

Unfortunately, when another Egg Fu named Dr. Yes (he's a robot duplicate, because of course he is) showed up, he got away.

As for the modern Egg Fus, they're probably still kicking around. I'm not reading through fifty issues of storyline to discern the fate of some rebooted racist egg man, sorry.

Best Quote: Surely such a character as Egg Fu must have some great dialogue! Let's see, how about...

Oh. Oh dear. That's, um, not great. Uh, what about...

Oh fuck that's even worse. Er, there has to be something here...

Oh god, the only thing worse than racism is finding out a mid-tier DC movie starring Dwayne Johnson has arrived!!!!

Yeah no this guy gets no points in this category, his dialogue ranges from generic bullshit to the kind of stuff you'd hear from the City Wok guy on South Park.

Final Thoughts & Score: So a while ago I reviewed Fu Manchu, a villain that absolutely fascinates me. He is the archetypal Yellow Peril supervillain who has had an absolutely undeniable impact on popular culture, altering history by spawning legions of imitations (such as Egg Fu here) as well as doing things such as giving a name to a style of facial hair. As with all villains that have such a colossal influence, he got an 11 with an asterisk denoting how monumentally racist the character was, despite their being positive aspects to him that were fair for the time period he was created in.

Now imagine that but without any of the positive qualities. That’s Egg Fu.

This is such an absurd, baffling supervillain even for the time he was created. Like, okay, I get racial stereotypes were prevalent in a lot of comics… but a giant communist egg with a prehensile mustache?! Far be it from me to suggest writers were on drugs when coming up with their wild ideas, but you have to admit that substance abuse would go a long way towards explaining why this was allowed to happen. Simple racism can’t explain this; it’s a giant fucking egg.

I think the sheer insanity of it all is what draws me to this character. Not only is it blatantly racist, they also keep trying to bring back and reimagine him. And like, yeah, that’s kind of sick and I love when weird-ass ideas get revamped and recontextualized for the modern era… but Egg fucking Fu? It’s bad enough we had Egg Fu the Fifth and his evil clone Dr. Yes all within the span of a year before being dropped for decades, but then they decided to dust him off and try a redo? Why?

I think the appeal to try and revitalize him comes from the fact that, as far as stereotyped and racist caricature villains go, Egg Fu is so fucking bizarre. Like I can't stress enough this is a giant communist egg who speaks in broken English and has a prehensile mustache. In a sea of Yellow Peril villains he easily stands out despite being relatively obscure from the sheer fact he's not simply a racist stereotype; he's an insane racist stereotype that just boggles the mind as to what the writers and artists were actually trying to say with this.

The history of this character is just so weird, his very existence is weird… He’s the opposite extreme of Fu Manchu for me. While Fu is fascinating for his impact on culture and deserves the highest marks with that caveat that he’s also extremely problematic, Egg Fu gets a 3/10 with a similar caveat. He’s so bad it’s good, but he’s bad because he’s a racist caricature, which isn’t great. I see this like I do the movie The Conqueror, the movie where John Wayne played Genghis Khan. Yes, it’s absolutely absurd and tasteless that these white people are playing Asians, but at the same time everything about this is so absurdly racist it crosses the line twice and somehow manages to become hilarious. Like what are you even trying to do here? It’s offensive in a way where you can’t do anything but laugh at them because they genuinely thought they were on to something here.

And that’s ultimately how I feel about Egg Fu. They really thought they were cooking something with this one, but this egg didn’t poach them any new readers and he hasn’t gone over easy with modern audiences. It’s really hard not to crack up at this complete yolk of a character. So yes, Egg Fu is enjoyably bad in a “What were they even fucking trying to do here?” sort of way, and he’s definitely one of my favorite insane comic book villains that time has forgotten… but there’s no denying that this is a character who is inherently problematic.

Anyway, this review has given me excessive racism poisoning, so I think I'm going to review a comic villain who isn't horribly offensive next time.

COMING SOON! PSYCHO-ANALYSIS: HEMO-GOBLIN!

The South African white supremacist vampire who gives people AIDS!

(Just kidding, I'm reviewing Snowflame).

[f1]

Lando Norris calls for FIA president to rescind ban on driver protests

Lando Norris calls for FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem to rescind ban on driver protests after recent change prohibited 'political, religious and personal statements unless approved in writing' - as McLaren launch 2023 car Lando Norris was speaking at McLaren's launch ahead of the new F1 season He insisted he was happy to break the rule depending on possible sanctions The Formula One Group have broadly supported drivers in fight to be heard  By Jonathan Mcevoy For Mailonine Published: 17:30 GMT, 13 February 2023 | Updated: 17:32 GMT, 13 February 2023 Lando Norris has called on embattled FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem to rescind his ban on driver protests. The British racer, speaking at McLaren’s launch in Woking on Monday, was responding to a recent change in regulations that forbids ‘political, religious and personal statements… unless previously approved in writing by the FIA’. Lewis Hamilton has led the way, along with the now-retired Sebastian Vettel, in campaigning on issues such as minority rights and climate change. Their on-grid protests prompted Ben Sulayem into outlawing these acts. Norris, who has backed anti-racism stances, echoed other drivers in striking a defiant note, saying: ‘It depends what the sanction is, but if it was a fine, I am happy to break the rule. ‘But I feel as if there might be enough pressure and enough said in reaction to the FIA’s stance for them to make a bit of a U-turn. Landro Norris has called for a U-turn on a ban on drivers expressing 'political, religious and persona statements' FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem faces the call and Norris said he would be willing to break the rules Norris was speaking at McLaren's launch in Woking on Monday ahead of the new F1 season ‘We are not in a school and we shouldn’t have to ask if we can do this or that. ‘We are not robots, and all we want to do is publicise things that will do good.’ This debate is turning into the latest battleground over who runs F1. Is it Ben Sulayem and the FIA – or the participants and owners? Formula One Group, who own the sport, have broadly supported the drivers in their fight to be heard on matters of conscience. This show of unity comes at a moment of weakness for Ben Sulayem, who last week handed over day-to-day responsibility for F1 to his executive team, in what was widely interpreted as a retreat following criticism of his front-and-centre style since he took up his post in December 2021. As for the car unveiled by McLaren – alongside Norris’ rookie team-mate, 21-year-old Australian Oscar Piastri – there was only cautious optimism for the new season that starts in Bahrain on March 5. New team principal Andrea Stella set the target of ‘looking to establish ourselves in the top four’, behind Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. They finished fifth last season. He said their new wind tunnel, which comes into use mid-year, will set them nicely for development through the season but not equip them for a world championship tilt until perhaps 2024 and more likely 2025. Several drivers, including Lewis Hamilton (second right) have regularly made strong stances McLaren team principal Andrea Stella set the target of ‘looking to establish ourselves in the top four’ Share or comment on this article: Lando Norris calls for FIA president to rescind ban on driver protests via Formula One | Mail Online https://www.dailymail.co.uk?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

[growling]

Finished watching akudama drive and what the fuck. I mean it makes sense kodaka conceptualized that shit. The first to middle episodes are kinda mid in a way that it's going way too fast and none of the cast (except main girl) are really given that much stuff to really make me care about them or get attached except for like the main girl (as previously mentioned) and 1 other guy maybe 2. So much that my favourite character of the entire anime was the second (theres 2 of them) robot cat professor ai that appeared in 3 scenes for a few seconds and he slayed. Also there's racism. And ableism with the whole Cutthroat thing and them being craaaazyyy to make them more scary or something you know the usual. But if you played danganronpa already then ur probably prepared

Literally everything positive to say about this monstrosity is a spoiler I am so sorry. Bear with me uhhh well the main female lead is actually good this time yeah they actually made a really cool female main character holy shit email the presses. In love with her. And some scenes and animation is really cool made me go "wheeee :3" and essentially I need to drag at least one other guy with me down the akudama drive hell to not be alone in this fuckshittery please I promise the finale is good-

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 9: Hackers

Finally watched Hackers for the first time and aaaaaaah it is so good. I had heard it was good but I wasn’t really sure otherwise what to expect, and honestly my immediate reason to watch it was to see the outfits and Matthew Lillard (in his Outfits) being deranged. But it really drew me in just about every respect.

It did feel a little long to me but not necessarily in a bad way, more in a ‘there is a lot going on here.’ It didn’t drag but it had a lot of story. Also, I started watching kind of late and my stream of it was a little wonky so I had to pause it with some frequency to get it to stop skipping, which made it longer. My only other sort of complaint is they really just abandoned Phreak in jail, huh? I mean presumably he was let out at the end but we never see that happen, and he also presumably was not out on bail (…racism?), which meant he wasn’t even allowed to be part of the big climactic scene. That felt sort of sad because he had been a significant character before then.

But—these are quibbles honestly! I really, really loved it. So well cast, such great costumes. I loved Dade’s mom and his relationship with her. I don’t know what I was expecting necessarily but definitely not that, not for her to be both so supportive and so funny. You love to see it. And I also really liked Dade, how he was clearly very talented but he wasn’t the MOST talented, he wasn’t like the savior or the main genius among all geniuses. He was significant to the final hack but he wasn’t the one to bring it all home. He clearly did have next level skills but there also wasn’t any indication he’d actually broken parole, which is to say he’d been out of the game for years. That’s smart story telling because it allows him to be an audience surrogate to learn things (not vocab per se—that’s Margo) but the NYC Hacker scene, but I also think it would be tempting to still have him be magically, inherently, naturally, heroically better than the rest despite his disadvantages. To have it both ways in a sense. Like I really thought he would win the contest against Burn if for no other reason than to get them on a date, and maybe also to make it clear that, you know, she’s good, but she’s no Male Protagonist. I would say that it was really a tie, though. She says he was declared the winner at the end but before the contest was really even over she was changing the game: not betting the date but betting the dress code. (He should have been wearing a dress in the last scene though.)

He was also just generally really sympathetic, I thought. Maybe I was expecting too much Mr. Robot lol (and there were parts that reminded me of Mr. Robot, especially when all the hackers got together) but he was… a pretty normal kid, and his weaknesses were the intensely relatable ‘new kid in school can’t find the office’ and ‘teenage boy thinks teenage girl is pretty.’ He wasn’t nerdy but he wasn’t cool; he fit in with this subculture pretty easily, but he didn’t dominate within it.

 And it was so 90s… but not in a dated way, honestly. I kind of was expecting it to be in some sort of inevitable way, not just because it was made in the mid-90s but because it was about something so cutting edge at the time, but it was totally immersive. I wasn’t thinking ‘oh how 90s’ very often and never in a bad way. It’s aesthetically over its time but I like things like that, that don’t try to be timeless because that generally means generic. Also generic things can become dated too and then it’s all that work to be bland for nothing. I was pretty young when this movie came out so I don’t personally remember computers of this era very well—we did have one in ’95 but it wasn’t a laptop and I, personally, a first grader (?) was not exactly the one using it. But I remember, you know, more of that more general era than Kids These Days would for sure. So it was sort of a weird combination of familiar but old-school tech, like the floppy disks, and before-my-time tech like the laptops and a lot of the interface. I used dialup for a long time but I guess I’ve blacked that all out because it took me a sadly long time to figure out why they were always congregating around pay phones—duh, because they needed the phone lines lol.

I liked the balance between the Big Storyline, which was fun and decently suspenseful and had a satisfying conclusion, and the more lowkey, let’s fuck around and hang out with these kids and explore their specific subculture. It was good at combining the two also, like the content to annoy the Secret Service agent: that’s part of the larger story line in a tangential way and it’s important for the character development/romance of Crash and Burn, but it was also pretty clearly just an excuse for some fun hacking mini-adventures.

Anyway, I loved it a lot. I could see myself watching it repeatedly for sure.

[bd2187-blog]

Saga Chapter 1

2/11/23

I began reading Saga a few months after the first issue was released back in 2012. I was a sophomore at CSUN who just started reading comics. Thankfully, I stumbled upon the story of Saga, a sci-fi series written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples. Fast forward 13 years later, I find myself returning to Saga for a fourth time. This time I’d like to document my thoughts, hence this review.

Chapter 1 introduces star-crossed lovers, Alana and Marko. The story is narrated by their daughter, Hazel, who tells the story from some point in the future. Vaughan creates a galaxy with humane themes that revolve around family and war. The first few pages introduces our main characters through the birth of Hazel. In this chapter, amongst the realistic and humorous depiction of childbirth and marriage, Vaughan takes the time to establish the galaxy they live in through brilliant world building.

It’s a time of war between the planet Landfall and its moon Wreath. Alana, a descendant of Landfall, was once a prison guard to Marko, who’s from Wreath. We learn that Alana saves Marko’s life and marries him. This news doesn’t bode well with many factions from both sides of the war. This results in the hiring of a Freelancer (aka bounty hunter), The Will, and the order of a humanoid prince with a television as his head, Prince Robot IV, to eliminate both Alana and Marko because their love is a sign of peace. The Will is hired by a Wreath native named Vez while Prince Robot IV is ordered by his father, His Highness of the Robot Kingdom.

As the names and depictions of these characters may seem silly, Vaughan manages to write one of the most engaging books I’ve ever read. The dialogue between characters are raw and many times humorous. The first words we read are from Alana while she gives birth to Hazel. As she’s in labor, she yells at Marko, “Am I shitting? It feels like I’m shitting!” Marko, maintaining a calm demeanor, later says, “ You have never been as beautiful as you are right now.” Alana replies in pain, “Right, because nothing’s more lovely than a fat woman spread-eagle in the back of an old body shop. It’s like something out of a fairy tale or... AHHN HOLY FUCK!” There’s never a dull moment with Vaughan’s writing.

In addition, Fiona Staples depicts these weird, often bizarre creatures, in a painterly style which would be hard to depict in a television show. (Fun fact, Vaughan intentionally created weird-looking characters and settings to avoid any television adaptations). Staples does a great job expressing raw facial emotions which makes the characters even more relatable (see page 1 book 1). She has a great use of color which sets the mood for different scenes. One scene which stood out was a page spread which shows Alana and Marko watching over a battle take place on the broken Uncanny Bridge while on the way to the Rocketship Forest. The scene has Alana and Marko faced away from the audience in the foreground with the battle taking place in the mid-ground. The blue of the night sky and the orange of the flames fill up the pages-- creating a beautiful yet chaotic scene (see page 44 book 1).

Staples also distinguishes character’s through their dialogue’s lettering. Hazel’s first person narration is hand-written while Prince Robot IV’s words are typed in roboto font.

Although I’ve revisited this story a handful of times, it never ceases to amaze me how Saga is so well-written and well-drawn. People often compare this story to Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and Rome and Juliet. Saga sets itself apart by creating characters that are charming, weird and relatable. Vaughan tells a story about a family trying to survive while they live in a never-ending war which originates from racism and class division. I’m excited to re-read the series while reading new issues as Vaughan and Staples continue to release new chapters each month.

[8-0-8]

Welcome to…Comparing Two Pieces of Media I Like And Seeing What They Have In Common Because I Want To

Let’s welcome our special guests…two major obsessions who got me through the pandemic and my senior year and still haunt my mind on a daily basis…Mystic Messenger and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K!

Let’s start shall we?

CW: slight mentions of incest, racism, and light spoilers

Breaks the fourth wall excessively

Its comedic elements are an important part of its identity as a piece of work

Pop culture references galore

While both are popular internationally and do make an effort to reach global audiences thru translations/dubs, their primary audience is still the country the piece is set in. No cultural norms that global audiences wouldn’t understand is explained bc youre just expected the get it. (To the point where so many non Korean mysme stans melt whenever the characters ask if they’ve eaten which is hilarious tbh) Foreigners are welcome, but they’re just not the main target audience

Speaking of which, there seems to be a large gap between local fans vs international ones? Like we barely interact

Both made in the mid 2010s

Cursed memes

International audiences primarily consist of queer Gen Z ppl…this is more of a thing w Saiki than mysme but both have it

Literally every character is queer coded, some are even canon

And then some are canon but not but are but not—

INFP w chunibyo tendencies has a very overbearing mother

INFP w emo tendencies is a fan fav…wonder why

Cults centered around fem long haired ENFJs

Evil Relative Alert…like multiple 😈

Listen to me. Saiki is jaehee. Jaehee is Saiki. I don’t make the rules

Like…super problematic but super progressive at the same time

Color/character themes! (The way I took this trope and ran w it in my own work istg)

Coffee

Both aim to poke fun at and address media tropes and parody/look deeper into them to a certain extent (this also heavily inspired me)

Pet robots as a sign of affection

“Being (Insert generally desired trait or job) seems great but it’s actually really shitty”

Aspec characters that don’t know what asexuality is

Hopeless lesbians

Chaotic bi/pan ppl

Lots of different lgbt headcanons within the fandom

Athletic Himbos

Lonely rich assholes who are kinda socially inept

“Hey guys did you know��I have a brother!”

Thirst traps but tbh that’s super universal

Disappointing racial stereotypes that add nothing to the plot (also sadly universal)

Reformed Ex Con guy hates Rich Guy bc of a hatred towards the elite and Strong Moral Principles (zen has the whole brother thing too but shhh)

No but fr kubokai = zensung and kuboyasu/saiko = zen/jumin idc idc

Evil Genius Brother Out To Get Other Genius Brother

Both reference death note lol

Lovesick Brunette With Bangs built to relate to the EveryGirl (saiki parodies this, mysme plays this straight)

Embraces tropes of their own genre but also puts a spin on them

Light Blue character is delicate and Artsy

Touches on the Bro/Sis con trope and ends up weirding both audiences and other characters out (mysme subdues this a lot more than saiki)

VAs are usually waaaay older than the characters but not always

VAs sing a lot of the OST songs w lyrics

The Hot, Confident Flirt Who Speaks Informally is actually one of the most sane characters

“You have the opportunity to enjoy something in life that I can’t so let me do some weird antics to ultimately help you”

Both have a special place in my heart and helped me both creatively and emotionally <3

Milfs

[momosandlemonsoda]

comfort characters

I was tagged by @aurawolfgirl2000 to list my top 5 comfort characters. Thank you for the tag!

1. Bucky Barnes -- you guys, I just love him, okay? He’s been through so much and he keeps trying to be a good person and to atone for things that he had no agency in doing, and he tries to keep his dumb friend Steve alive and healthy, and he’s just ::hands:: the best.

2. Darcy Lewis -- I have read sooo much fic, good and bad, for Darcy Lewis because I love this character that fandom adopted and was like, yep, she’s ours now! She’s a little weird and off-kilter and yet extremely online and willing to tell Jane exactly like it is, and saves a dog when a giant robot from outer space tries to destroy a town. What’s not to love?

3. Similarly, Liu Sang is another character that fandom was like, oh, you have 4 stacked traumas and awkward behavior and yet you have the confidence to strip down in front of your idol and make his boyfriend feel things? Yes, we will keep him and give him all the backstories and happy endings he deserves. Also, why wasn’t he at the last party, justice for Liu Sang!!!!

4. Mercy Thompson -- I just. I love her. I haven’t always liked where the author has taken her storyline, but I’ve always loved how wise-cracking and big-hearted she is. She’s a coyote who runs with wolves and she doesn’t let anything stop her. 

5. Mrs. Emily Pollifax -- I realize this is a weird one, but I must have imprinted hard on this as a teen. Mrs. Emily Pollifax of New Brunswick, NJ, shows up at the CIA one day to apply to be a spy and, rather by accident, they take her. She’s an older widowed lady with grown-up kids, so obviously society underestimates her time and again, but she’s clever and resourceful and makes use of her lifetime of experience. The novels were written starting in the mid-60s, so they have a very naive view of American intervention and there’s definitely some period-typical racism (I cannot read the later books set in the author’s made-up African country), but overall the character herself is just a joy.

I’ve been offline enough the past few weeks that I’m going to just open it up and tag anyone who wants to play.  

[innuendostudios]

Thoughts on Even More Games

[vague, unspecific spoilers for Heaven’s Vault, Later Alligator, and Life is Strange 2]

Thoughts on Heaven’s Vault

Heaven’s Vault is a game about archeology, which means it’s also a game about incompleteness. This is very clever. Inkle - also the developers of 80 Days, which I will play someday! - specialize in deep narratives that can be explored many, many ways, allowing for a lot of player choice. You make a lot of small decisions - do you share a discovery with the trader in exchange for a valuable item, or hide it so he doesn’t plunder it? do you go looking for your missing friend, or let her stay missing in case there are people trying to follow you to her? These all have their own little arcs and resolutions, and there are so many of them, and so many ways they can play out, that the game can never be played the same way twice. The overall story begins and ends in the same place and theoretically hits the same major beats, but the journey is tailored broadly and finely to each player; it’s a style of design Aaron A. Reed refers to as “not... a branching tree but a braided rope.”

Making a narrative about archeology is how you dodge the exponentially complicated nature of that design: if there are dozens of locations, characters, plot threads, bits of color, which can be engaged with at many points in time, or ignored, or dropped by the player halfway through, how do you avoid telling a story full of gaps and dead ends? Well... you don’t. Having only partial information and having to infer the rest is what archeology is.

The protagonist of Heaven’s Vault, Aliya, is digging up the secrets of an ancient civilization, having been sent by her academy to find a researcher who’s gone missing, and stumbling into his incredible discovery. Everywhere she goes, there are holes: she has partial understanding of the researcher’s journey and motives; he, in turn, had partial understanding of the mystery he was uncovering, and Aliya has only fragments of his knowledge; the ancient texts she translates are usually fragments of larger works, and she is guessing at the meanings of many of the words; the game’s constantly updating historical timeline has entire centuries with nothing but question marks. Aliya arrives in a new location and wonders aloud to her robot companion about what this place was, when it was founded, when it was abandoned, how her predecessor found his way her and where he went next and what he took with him.

The constant feeling of discovery - of unearthing - is magnificent. Site after site, I asked, “What is this place?” Always thinking, if the eventual answer is any good, this is going to be one of the best games I’ve ever played. And, in the end, it doesn’t give you an answer, it just give you enough to make the story feel complete. It answers by not answering.

Also, translating alien texts is just extremely my jam. I’m the weirdo who enjoyed the ending of Arrival but secretly wished the whole movie had been about xenolinguistics like the first half. I guess Inkle felt similar.

The game’s by no means perfect. I think I enjoyed the sailing between worlds more than most - it’s slow, but very pretty - but it’s going to discourage a replay. I don’t think the relationship between Aliya and her robot, Six, ever gets terribly interesting. Some of the archeology is a little too obviously game-y - sail around, wait to find a random ruin, beam Six down to grab an ancient doodad, translate a bit of text, lo and behold it’s from one of the sites you’re looking for and it’s narrowed your search radius somehow. (It gives Star Trek explanations the first few times - e.g. “it has radiation that only exists in one part of the nebula” - and then stops bothering.) And the game sags a little in the middle; it could’ve hacked out 3 or 4 dig sites and still given me the same experience.

But, all told, there’s magic in it, and it just feels good to be there. Do not sleep on this one.

Thoughts on Later Alligator

There’s not a ton to say about this game except that is charming as hell. Lindsay and Alex Small-Butera have build a beautifully animated world of cute alligators, one of whom is having a birthday party where he’s convinced he’s going to be murdered. He wants you to run around getting information out of everyone who’s going to be there, which you get by completing minigames. It’s a cast of weird and funny characters with weird and funny dialogue and there’s not much more to it than that.

The design can be a little frustrating. Some minigames, if you lose, you don’t get to try again. Some are annoyingly finicky. You need to complete them all to get the true ending, which means, in my case, playing the game three times to complete all the bits you missed or got locked out of. The ending was a little different each time, so it wasn’t a total wash, but the game’s on a timer that only advances when you play a game or take the bus, and once you’ve completed most of the games there’s a lot of traveling back and forth from one nowhere to another just to advance time to the next unskippable plot beat.

(It’s also a little unclear what you’re missing as you try to get the final ending, as some of the ongoing puzzle are optional.)

But I can’t get mad. The game is too damn cute! Each character is lively and unique, with tons of personality, and the dialogue is just clever enough not to fall into empty adorkability.

It good.

Thoughts on Life is Strange 2

Somewhere, early in the development of Life is Strange 2, some Dontnod employee wrote in a design document “Episode 4 - cult?” (but in French) and nobody told them “no.”

I will not forgive them for this,

After twenty minutes of LiS2, I was ready to yell at everyone who had reported it was boring. It has one of the most powerful, gut-punching openings of any game I’ve played in recent memory. And all through the first, second, and third episodes, I was in love. Unlike Before the Storm, this was its own creature, willing to make dramatic departures from the original game’s template. Instead of controlling a character with supernatural powers, you play as the superpowered character’s older brother. The one with the magic is a 9-year-old, unable to fully understand or control his abilities, suffering a recent trauma, and needing to be guided through a dangerous and racist world. All the ambition missing from Before the Storm is back, and this time the animation isn’t creepy and the writing is wildly improved (thanks to some journeyman script work from Fullbright’s Steve Gaynor) and I even have a computer able to play it on higher graphical settings.

But nothing good lasts.

Everything good about the series screeches to a halt in Episode 4, the one where some asshole said “cult?” and didn’t get a Nerf football thrown at their head. And it’s not just that it’s a terrible idea; it’s actually sort of amazing how much the game relies on an alchemy of plot, tone, theme, and writing, and how a slight imbalance can throw the whole thing off. Episode 4 has scene after scene that are powerful in their conception - brothers reunited after a violent rift; a boy having his first conversation with his estranged mother in nearly a decade; getting interrogated by the feds for a crime that can’t even be explained by physics - fall flat because the writers can’t think of anything interesting for the characters to say. (Steve Gaynor’s name stops appearing in the credits as of this episode.)

And here the game’s rickety bits, kept delicately together for three episodes, start to shake apart. Dontnod’s overly-earnest voice direction, which I didn’t notice in the early episodes, started to wear me down. (”Could you sigh mid-syllable, like you’re slightly overwhelmed with emotion?” “Sure, on which line?” “All of them.”) The thinness of the secondary characters, most of whom pop up for one episode and disappear, became more noticeable. The lack of a mechanical hook like the time rewinding of the original game, and the attendant commentary on choice-based games and power fantasies, made the game feel less substantial. The surreal imagery of the original, obligatorily evoked in the prequel, is sensibly absent, but there’s nothing equally striking that replaces it. Even the branching path decisions become less clear: the end-of-episode stat screens for the final episodes mentioned at least a dozen choices I didn’t even know I’d made, some of which were critical in shaping my younger brother’s morality and were not necessarily the choices I’d have made if I’d known I was making a choice at all.

Come the final episode, I got An Ending that seemed right for the way I’d played, but much of the way I’d played felt accidental.

So what are we to make of this? Life is Strange is a beautiful disaster, an ambitious disaster, where Life is Strange 2 is almost less interesting for being  more competent. It has a huge mess of charged topics - American racism, teens losing their virginity, raising a child outside the nuclear family, grief and trauma - and, while it handles them without the gracelessness and sledgehammer subtlety of the original, it doesn’t come to any conclusions about any of them. LiS1, for all its jank, had some opinions, where LiS2 falls into the category of “this sure is some shit, innit?” games.

It starts with a powerful premise, deeply relatable characters, fine writing, beautiful art, but can’t even manage, in the end, to be a disaster. It is the only game in the series so far to be forgettable.

[severalowls]

Tumblr is probably going to make this post top secret for including external links but fuck it, this is not an official ad:

For a few years I’ve been maintaing the wiki of, and writing lore and plot (with others) for a Space Station 13 High RP server, Polaris.

It’s unique among SS13 servers in that it’s very much LGBT+ friendly (Most are kind of awful in that regard), but not an ERP server (There’s a few of those...) and I’d say 3/4 of the community are LGBT themselves and tends to be very left-leaning. We’re welcoming to everybody and have strict policy against racism, homophobia, transphobia and other bigotry, as well as the usual rules against griefing.

What’s SS13?

Space Station 13 is a free, open-source, community-developed futuristic space station simulator. Best known for clowns and hijinks and inspiring a torrent of retail games such as Barotrauma, it’s also deceptively deep (Atmospherics, construction, chemistry, medical, cooking, robotics, botany, slime breeding and many more are all fully fleshed out subsystems) which makes it ideal for hosting... Actual roleplaying on.

Typically, one or more players is assigned as an antagonist whose job it is to spice up the round with nefarious goings on.

It also runs on a server platform written in the mid 90s so it will run on a potato but it is also notoriously janky.

Alright what’s Polaris?

While most servers are based around goofing off and murdering one another, Polaris is among a handful of more serious communities focused on consistent setting and character-driven fun while still keeping in the spirit of... Occasionally being held hostage by the monster from The Thing.

While some of the terminology (mostly proper nouns) is shared with many other SS13 servers, Polaris has its own unique setting:

In Long...

In very brief, it’s 2563 and you’re an employee on a corporate space station above a beautiful planet that uncannily resembles Iceland if all the trees were blue and covered in mushrooms.

There’s robots, cyborgs, cat people, lizard people, weird damp elves, robots who aren’t quite robots and are considered people, plant-like hiveminds, genetically fucked up bug-things, slime people and an assortment of birds, and they all live in relative harmony. Mostly.

Capitalism has run rampant and corporations essentially run the government - your typical cyberpunk-adjacent setting. Thankfully, social rights could be a lot worse.

We mostly sorted out the pressing social issues of the 21st century a long time ago (The universe could well be fully automated gay space communism, but the corporate sorts are miseryguts and want your money), and now the big argument is whether we should be allowed to use technology (cybernetic or genetic) to enhance ourselves beyond the “baseline” - a very nebulous term - and create fully self-improving AI systems. The government (Functionally the EU in space), based on experience, says “What the fuck? No.”, but mercurial scientists say “Why the fuck not?”

...Discourse Ensues.

Cool how do I play?

Helpfully, our headmin wrote up a proper starter guide here!

And you can join our Discord here!

Or you can poke me on Tumblr or Discord (Lore Daimyo) and I can try to help you out myself.

[profoundnet]

Profound Member Post - April 2019

Header by @cryptomoon​​ and is available on merch from her redbubble store. You can use all those fancy emojis (and more!) on our Discord Server!

The Masterpost is open for all creations by ProfoundBond members which are posted in entirely during that month.

MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR APRIL 2019! (sorry for the late one!)

Masterpost below the cut.

MaggieMaybe160 - @maggiemaybe160​ - MaggieMaybe160

Love is a Random Wednesday

400 word fic for a one word prompt based on the word "Love"

Tags: Extreme Fluff

SFW

Regarding Us

(s12e11 Fic) Dean's memory is quickly fading. As Sam and Rowena scramble to find a way to reverse it, Cas tells Dean their story.

Tags: Major Character Death, Fluff and Angst, Grief and Mourning

SFW

No Way to Heal

Remember that handprint Castiel left on Dean’s shoulder? Dean can feel it flair with pain when Cas is in danger.

Tags: Major Character Death, Unrequited Love, Angst

SFW

Be My Superman

Steve is a total dork. Cute, but completely off limits and not at all Dean’s type. He either forgets to take off his work vest, or just doesn’t care. He’s constantly wearing that royal blue polyester vest that could blind anyone if the sun hit it right. His nametag is always pinned just perfectly over his chest, declaring him “Steve.” His dark brown hair is combed, parted on the side, and gelled in place. His eyes are the most stunning part of him. They’re a gorgeous blue that shine and Dean tries not to look for too long because he’s also pretty sure Steve is straight.

Tags: Canon Divergent. Two Sided Love Triangle. Fluff and Angst. Sick Dean Winchester.

SFW

The Eldritch Horrors and Dean 

(post episode s14e14) Michael is gone. The bunker is calm. Cas finally comes clean to the Winchesters about the deal he made with the Empty. While Dean deals with this news, Amelia Bedelia, the Eldritch Horror, is freed and starts to wreak havoc all over Lebanon.

Tags: Major Character Death. Angst and Crack. Murder. Horror.

SFW

The Size of Our Rainbow

Dean and Cas try out a new dildo on Cas because it's too big for Dean. Fic for Pic exchange with my friend.

Tags: Size Kink. Bottom Cas/Top Dean. Porn Without Plot. Anal Sex. Blow job. Rimming. Dildo play.

NSFW

With art by @demonfleet​

April Fools in the Bunker

It's April Fools Day in the bunker. With the Winchesters and their pranks, will Cas and Jack live up to the prank wars? This bunker is in a war zone.

Tags: Crack Fic. April Fools Day Pranks.

SFW

drawlight - @drawlight​ - drawlight

Terminus Est

The gates close every night at the final, ninth, toll of the bell. Nox. They have never failed. Dean has forgotten the time and is outside. No one survives a night out past the gates after Nox. That is the time of darkness; that is where the Others walk.

Tags: Post-Apocalypse, Android Castiel, Forbidden Love, Medieval Analogue, First Time, Alternate Universe - Dystopia

NSFW 

shealynn88 - @shealynn88​ - shealynn88

Are We Human

Set generally mid-S5. "Dean glances over, wondering how much time it takes for light to bounce from Cas’s cheek to Dean’s eyes. How long for Cas to be seen. And if that light ever makes it back to whatever is inside that human vessel he carries around like another trench coat."

Tags: Stolen Moments, First Kiss

SFW

LeafZelindor - @leafzelindor​ - LeafZelindor 

The Scent of You 

Cas really has a thing for Dean's smell, he just hasn't told Dean that. Stealing his clothes might not be the best answer, but it'll do for now.

Tags: supernaturalkinkbingo2019, scent kink, pining,

NSFW

CrowleyLovesUSUK - @crowley-loves-usuk - CrowleyLovesUSUK

A/S/L

When Dean Winchester’s fiancé announced that she was pregnant by another man and walked out, Dean swore off relationships. He couldn’t even bring himself to have casual sex, with the notable exception of a single eye-opening night. Three years later, Dean’s brother Sam has had enough. A sibling argument leads to Dean signing up for a popular dating site, ‘A Profound Bond.’ When Dean’s first match opens their chat conversation with an outdated query, Dean has to decide if he can move past the other man’s awkward 1990s introduction, and finally take another chance on love.

Tags: Alternate Universe-Modern, Explicit Sexual Content, Explicit Language, Online Dating, Light BDSM, Spanking, Top Cas/Bottom Dean, Dirty Talk

NSFW

nickelkeep - @nickelkeep - nickelkeep

Like Home

Castiel's twin sister Hannah is getting married, and as the Man of Honor, he's been along for the Bridal Show and Wedding Planning ride. After talking about the last one with his best friend/roommate Dean, Dean suddenly wants to tag along (mostly for the free food). Can Cas handle pretending to be engaged to his best friend?

Tags: AU - Modern Setting, Fluff, AU - Roommates, Pining, Mutual Pining, Wedding Planning, Minor Angst, First Kiss, Castiel and Dean need to use their words. SFW

Anteros

Dean is stuck on some research for a book he is writing. Thanks to some help from his friend, he is able to get an audience with the premier expert of Greek Mythology. Part 2 of the Reincarnation Tales series.

Tags: AU - 1910s, AU- Reincarnation, Past Lives, Immortality, Memory Loss, Mythology References

SFW

Blue-Eyed Guy

Cas froze as the singer broke into the chorus. He had heard that song only an hour ago. It should be a brown-eyed girl.

Tags: Fluff, Light Angst, Pining, First Kiss, Singing in the Impala, Singing in the Shower, Songfic: Brown-Eyed Girl, Love Confessions, SPN Song Challenge Bingo SFW

MittensMorgul - @mittensmorgul - MittensWraith

Worst Case Scenario

Their lives have always masqueraded as works of fiction, but for anyone they've ever interacted with, there's a scarily high chance that someday they'll discover the strangest events of their lives have been immortalized in a moderately obscure series of pulp horror novels. For Sam, Dean, and Cas, this is old news. For the people who've learned the truth, it's often a life-changing experience. Here's the story of a handful of those lucky... yeah, let's call them lucky... people whose lives intersected once upon a time with the Winchesters. And the stories they get to tell the Winchesters.

Tags: Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Humor, Case Fic, wherein team free will becomes the case, Post-Canon, Sam's Orange Jacket, The Winchester Gospels (Supernatural), Sharing a Bed

NSFW

Darmys - @darmysasagiri - Darmys (Pillowfort)

Long Road Home - Home Is Where The Heart Is

Sam and Dean Winchester along with the crew of the Royal Sovereign are renegades. Their only hope lies across the fabled Highroad. There, in the birthplace of humanity they face treachery and madness, all in the quest to find a home. This is the third part of a massive space opera trilogy. Based on the original work of Alis A. Rasmussen.

Tags: AU - The Highroad Trilogy, AU - Space Opera, Past Benny/Dean, Past Dean/Nick Munroe, Robot!Baby, Canon Typical deaths, Canon-Typical Violence, Period-Typical Racism, Referenced Past Rape/Non-con

SFW

A Bite to Remember 

Alphas can't mate Alphas, everyone knows this, or do they?

Tags: Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Alpha,Alpha!Cas, Alpha!Dean, Mating, Bites, Come Inflation, Top!Cas/Bottom!Dean, Messy Bottom Alpha Dean, One Night Stands

NSFW

Jemariel - @jemariel - Jemariel 

Chicken Soup for Breakfast

Written for a Two AU prompt challenge: Werewolf AU + Sick fic

Tags: hurt/comfort, werewolf!Cas, sick fic, SFW

iCeDreams - iCeDreams

Look at this Food (Isn't it Neat?)

Dean swims up to shore and steals one of the best things he's ever tasted.

Tags: Little Mermaid Elements, Fairy Tale, Mermaid Dean, Hamburger

SFW

Dive Bars, Beers, and Names

Castiel isn't usually asked for his name, but when he does, he certainly has opinions on how he's called.

Tags: Walk Into A Bar, Sassy Castiel

SFW

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

blueeyesandpie - @blueeyesandpie - blueeyesandpie

No Right to Ask, No Reason to Give

Existential dread totally pairs well with spontaneous love confessions. Right?

Tags: Episode 14x20 coda, love confessions, canon compliant, angst, canon typical violence

SFW

Time is a Flat Circle

Lineart headshot of Castiel from sharkfish's Riptides.

Tags: Castiel, drug use (marijuana)

SFW

For a fic by Sharkfish

Wandering Angel

Illustration of Castiel from MaggieMaybe160's Wandering Angel.

Tags: Castiel, grief, past MCD in fic

SFW

For a fic by @maggiemaybe160

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Carrieosity - @carrieosity - Carrieosity (Pillowfort)

Castiel, in Loco Parentis

Some days at Castiel's library are harder than others. (Prompt from saltnhalo: "Fantasy AU with librarian Cas.") Notes: Based on an actual event at my own library, to me personally. (Though with less magic involvement.)

Tags: Librarian Castiel, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, Fairies, Libraries

SFW

One for the Books

When Castiel is selected to serve on an award council for the national library association, Dean couldn't be more proud of his amazing boyfriend. He had no idea what was about to happen. (Or: Castiel apologizes for nearly burying them both alive in piles of books with a promise and a question.) Part 5 of the "Understanding That Reference" series!

Tags: Librarian Castiel, Mechanic Dean, Libraries,Books, Fluff and Humor, Marriage Proposal

SFW

Make a Little History, Baby

When Dean chose his thesis subject, he wanted to capture someone else's fascinating story. He had no idea it would turn into a story of his own. (Tumblr prompt, anonymous: "What about archivist Castiel and grad student Dean? Maybe they finally meet after corresponding long-distance when Dean finally gets a small grant for travel funds for his dissertation?)

Tags: Archivist Castiel, Graduate Student Dean, Alternate Universe - College/University, Gratuitous History, Self-Indulgent, Long-Distance Friendship, Friends to Lovers

SFW

Hear Him Calling for my Soul

Castiel's soulmark was heartbreaking; Dean had no soulmark at all. Of course, at the end of the world, nobody's paying attention to soulmarks at all any more, let alone what they might mean. (Prompt, from holy-tax-accountant: "apocalypse/soulmate? Destiel or DCJ - Please and thanks so much")

Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Human, First Meetings, Deaf Character, Deaf Dean Winchester, Soulmarks

Payback is a Bitch, Jerk

Dean and Sam have been embroiled in a prank war for most of their lives. Some things are off-limits, though. Luckily, Dean's new coworker might have a solution. (Prompt: "Prank War/Nurse (or hospital) AU; Destiel!")

Tags: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Human, First Meetings, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Bees, Fluff and Humor

SFW

[gussolomonsjrtest]

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

The Ailey American Dance Theater at City Center continues to broaden and deepen its impact on dance in its 2019 City Center season, December 4 – January 5, with inspired dancing by the company and inspired repertory choices by director Robert Battle that sweep into the new decade, seemingly stronger than ever. The only program I was able to see included one work from repertory by Lar Lubovitch, a company premiere by Aszure Barton, and a world premiere by Donald Byrd. Under Robert Battle’s direction, the company’s dancing has reached a new level of proficiency, clarity, and assurance, elevating its popular appeal to a level that can satisfy even the most purist connoisseur. 

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Clifton Brown lifting Danica Paulos in Lar Lubovitch’s FANDANGO

Lubovitch’s “Fandango” sets a sensuous duet to the steady musical crescendo that is Ravel’s “Bolero.” On December 28, it was danced with maturity and passion by Danica Paulos and Clifton Brown, who returned to the Ailey company after a freelancing stint that included his dancing with Lubovitch’s company. Brown and Nicole Corea rehearsal directed the dance, and his performance of it with Paulos brought a sensuous seamlessness to its difficult lifts and complex physical entwining.

AAADT in Aszure Barton’s BUSK 

Aszure Barton’s “Busk” (2009), having its Ailey premiere this season was originally a full-evening piece. This one-act reduction preserves the original, slightly ominous mood of thirteen street performers, dressed baggy, black tunics with cowl hoods and floppy trousers by Michelle Jank. They confront us with grimaces like bogeymen and threaten with primordial grunts. Set to an assorted musical selection by 19th and 20th century composers – including Frenchman Camille Saint-Saens, Swede August Soderman, Russian Lev Zhurbin, and American eccentric Moondog. 

AAADT in Aszure Barton’s BUSK 

The music is percussive and reminiscent of modal, Medieval chants; Nicole Pearce’s strategically shadowy lighting, punctuated by blazing hot spots, maintains an air of mystery and surprise. Especially effective are passages where all the dancers clump together on the floor or on an upstage step platform and shift just their hooded heads to reveal and conceal their faces. And the orgiastic group unison finale sends the audience into a frenzied ovation. 

One world premiere of note this 2019 season is a ballet by Donald Byrd – director of Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater. A horrendous racial conflagration that took place in the Jim Crow Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 –  dubbed the Tulsa Race Riot – inspired “Greenwood.” The incident is little known in history for many reasons, but Byrd’s resurrection of it could hardly be timelier in today’s virulent reawakening of racism in Trump’s America.

Byrd’s dances always rest on a solid scaffolding informed by his astute study of classical and modern dance history, which firmly girds their structures. “Greenwood” – named for the street where black-owned Tulsa business prospered – is where white resentment of its success led to the event at the heart of the narrative. Although it is not known what actually happened in the elevator of an office building that day, Byrd organizes his ballet around three speculative scenarios that might have transpired between a white, female elevator operator and an African-American young man who stepped inside it. At the December 28 performance, the young woman in blue dress and blond wig (costumes by Doris Black) is Danica Paulos and the young man, Vernard J. Gilmore. 

Solid black drapes surround three sides of the stage, leaving the only way in or out a narrow gap at the center of the rear wall, suggesting the claustrophobic space of an elevator cab. A constant mist seeps through the portal, suggesting that the characters who emerge from it and the onstage action that transpires may or may not be factually definitive. Jack Mehler’s stark, white lighting turns the stage space into a Petri dish, muting the light, pastel colors of the Blacks’ clothing and reinforcing militaristic insinuations of the Whites’ shiny business suits, like a black and white documentary. 

AAADT in Donald Byrd’s GREENWOOD (kneeling, l-r): Solomon Dumas, Jacquelin Harris; (standing, l-r): Clifton Brown, Akua Noni Parker, Jacqueline Green. 

Tall, elegantly slim Courtney Celeste Spears, dressed like a domestic worker in a mid-calf-length skirt and hair wrapped in a bandana, portrays a kind of chorus. She never leaves the stage but witnesses everything. Her opening solo establishes her credibility with a mobile torso, spidery stretching arms, and sweeping leg extensions. Four middle-class citizens, James Gilmer, Akua Noni Parker, Renaldo Maurice, and  Belen Indhira Pereyra, intercut the elevator episodes with reactions and responses that represent soul of the Black Community. And a group of seven anonymous people, dressed identically in shiny, light gray business suits with hoods concealing their faces stand in for the White Establishment. They parade in martial formations and periodically attack the Community members.

AAADT in Donald Byrd’s GREENWOOD

Whenever dancers enter and leave the space, they walk, robotically forward or backward, like a rewinding film clip, and they sometimes move in forbidding slow motion. In a repeated motif, the Man (Vernard J. Gilmore, in dress shirt and trousers) desperately runs without getting anywhere, like in a nightmare. At the start of each new encounter in the elevator the elevator operator (Paulos in a baby-blue dress and blond wig) in a pool of white light, reinforcing her whiteness, graciously spreads and closes her arms, indicating the doors, and at the end of each encounter, a disembodied scream pierces the atmosphere. 

Byrd deftly builds emotional tension between episodes with interactions between the Black Community and the White Establishment, escalating suspense; the Blacks flow between dancing as couples, families, relatives, and neighbors, while being outnumbered, mocked, intimidated, and finally brutalized and massacred by the faceless Whites that surround them. 

AAADT in Donald Byrd’s GREENWOOD

Byrd’s eclectic, vocabulary of physically extreme, emotionally charged movement is more specific than I’ve not seen before in his work, especially in solos and duets. The fury escalates into frenzy and climaxes in the skewering of the Man, midair, on the grasping arms of the Whites, and culminates the massacre of the Black Community members. The Witness, triages the remains and doggedly carries the lone woman survivor on her back, through the portal into the enveloping fog of memory.

Robertson Witmer’s expert sound design heightens the dramatic tension with a rumbling, percussive aural palette underneath songs that include titles like “Pulsation Voices,” “Ominous,” “In the Last Light” of songs by Emmanuel Witzhum and Craig Tattersall and Field Recordings of Negro folk and religious songs from the South.

photos by Paul Kolnik

Gus Solomons jr, © 2020

[moviesnmisc]

Favorite Books

The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. It's a tale set in 17th century France where the three musketeers alongside the main character D'Artagnan is in the middle of a power struggle between the church and the crown. The fellowship are mostly virtous and are guided by their allegiance to the king trying to uphold virtues like honor and chivalry while battling with treason and deceit from the Cardinal. Fun fact Alexander Dumas Father was the first black officer in the French army.

Tarzan (don't remember which one the author wrote numerous of books) by Edgar Rice Borroughs. When I read it at the time the world was a much smaller place and Afrika was an exotic destination. So it was as much about the story as the setting and exotic location.

Birdie by William Whalton. The novel is about two young men and their journey into adulthood. Because of war and different other events one of the men becomes inflicted with mental illness and escapes this world to a world where he essentially becomes a bird (in his mind). It was an important book at the time when I read it because I also wanted to escape this world.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It is an expression today I guess chasing the great white whale. Nonetheless, it was first in adulthood that the symbolism became clear to me that you can waste your life chasing something you can never have.

A 1000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Saw the Disney movie first and read the book afterwards. It is still a powerful book about injustice and Captain Nemos quest for revenge.

Carrie by Stephen King. I liked the book but must confess that the movie with Sissy Spacek in the titular role is my favorite Stephen King adaptation.

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry. He explains Greek mythology in bite size portions which makes them extra palatable. A favorite story was the one with Arachne.

The Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. This is s book that deals with psychological issues such as alienation by other people ( Verfremdung in German) as well as other issues as far as I recall.

A certain sci fi book. The title of this book eludes me. I have read a few books in the sci fi genre for instance by William Gibson: Neuromancer, Johnny Nmemonic, Isac Asimov: I Robot, Philip K Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Paycheck and Ray Bradbury A Sound of Thunder.

The story in this book centers around spacecraft's left by aliens on some celestial entity. The twist is that the spacecraft can only fly to a preset destination but humans, firstly, don't know where the journey takes them and, secondly, the coordinates could have been corrupted by time. So in principle the vessel could end up at an inhabitable planet or a star a black hole etc. Anyway I just can't remember the title of the book.

Mephisto by Klaus Mann. It is a portrait of an actor who will do anything in order to succeed An opportunist who will sell his soul to achieve this and in the process he even betrays his (coloured) girlfriend. It is a chilling story written in the mid nineteen thirties of what some people was prepared to do in Nazi Germany.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. A book which has spawned its own catch phrase.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a book about the roaring twenties but for me at the time I could relate more to the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy and his futile infatuation.

Das Perfum by Patrick Suskind. Essentially it is a book about a serial killer but also about perfume and obsessions.

In the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. A great fictional historical book about a munk and his apprentice and the trappings of monastery life. Also a great film with Sean Connery.

The Call of the Wild by Jack London. A book about a wild America which has long gone.

Metamorphosis (in German: die Vervandlung) by Franz Kafka. It tells a story of a man who is slowly transformed into an insect and becomes totally unrecognisable to his family.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. A friendship between two unlikely men.

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. A portray of a fin de sicle generation caught up in a sense of being romantic for the sake of romance.

Animal Farm by George Orwell. Although he had left winged views, he would never fall into the trap of pandering to the Soviet Union as many of his contemporaries did. In fact Animal Farm written in the middle of WW2 is highly critical of the stalinistic cult of USSR and throughout his book pointed out that Stalin was a dictator and traitor to the cause (communism). Quote from Animal Farm "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".

Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe. Is a satire about the press as well as the upper class in the USA

The Trial (Der Prozess) by Franz Kafka. If you have ever felt caught up in a system which you were unable to control or understand you could relate to the main character in the book.

The Human Stain by Philip Roth. A modern take on the underlying racism in society.

The Rebus series by Ian Rankin. It is as much about the seedy Scottish underground and the relationships of Rebus as it is about the crime stories themselves. For fans of the books, the titular crime tv show with John Hannah is also worth watching. Books in the series include: The Hanging Garden, Hide and Seek, the Naming of the Dead to name a few.

The Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwall. The books centers around the Kay Scarpetta who is a medical examiner and at the same time solves crimes in conjunction with the detective Pete Morino. Again as with the Rebus series it is as much about the private life of the central character as it is about crime solving. A modern template for crime books. Books in the series include: the Body Farm, All that Remains, Post Mortem to name a few.