#Zara Recruitment

[mariacallous]

On Boxing Day pro-Palestine demonstrators met customers at the Zara sale in the Westfield shopping centre, in Stratford, east London. They were not there to wish them the compliments of the season.

‘Bombs are dropping while you’re shopping,’ they chanted, as police stood by to make sure the protests did not turn violent. ‘Zara is enabling genocide,’ their placards read.

Quite what they wanted bargain hunters to do about the Israeli forces bombing the Gaza Strip, they never said. Lobby their MPs? Politicians are on their Christmas holidays. Join the Palestinian armed struggle?  It was unclear whether the shopping centre had a Hamas recruitment office.

But on one point the demonstrators were certain: no one should be buying from Zara. Even though the fashion chain has not encouraged Israel’s war against Hamas, earned income from it, or supported Israel in any material way, it was nevertheless “exploiting a genocide and commodifying Palestine's pain for profit”.

Zara, in short, has become the object of a paranoid fantasy: a QAnon conspiracy theory for the postcolonial left.

The Zara conspiracy is an entirely modern phenomenon. It has no original author. Antisemitic Russians sat down and wrote the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the early 20th century. There was an actual “Q” behind the QAnon conspiracy: a far-right activist who first appeared on 4chan message boards in 2017 to claim that a cabal of child abusers was conspiring against Donald Trump.

The Zara conspiracy was mass produced by social media users: an example of the madness of crowds rather than their supposed wisdom. The cause of the descent into hysteria was bizarre.

In early December Zara launched an advertising campaign featuring the model Kristen McMenamy wearing its latest collection in a sculptor’s studio. It clearly was a studio, by the way, and not a war zone in southern Israel or Gaza. McMenamy carried a mannequin wrapped in white fabric. The cry went up that the Spanish company was exploiting the suffering of Palestinians and that the mannequin was meant to represent a victim of Israeli aggression wrapped in a shroud.

The accusation was insane. No one in the photo shoot resembled a soldier or a casualty of war. Anyone who thought for 30 seconds before resorting to social media would have known that global brands plan their advertising campaigns months in advance.

Zara said the campaign presented “a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”. The idea for the studio setting was conceived in July. The photo shoot was in September, weeks before the Hamas assault on Israel on 7 October.

No one cared. Melanie Elturk, the CEO of fashion brand Haute Hijab, said of the campaign, ‘this is sick. What kind of sick, twisted, and sadistic images am I looking at?’ #BoycottZara trended on Twitter, as users said that Zara was ‘utterly shameful and disgraceful”’.

To justify their condemnations, activists developed ever-weirder theories. A piece of cardboard in the photoshoot was meant to be a map of Israel/Palestine turned upside down. Because a Zara executive had once invited an extreme right-wing Israeli politician to a meeting, the whole company was damned.

Astonishingly, or maybe not so astonishingly to anyone who follows online manias, the fake accusations worked. Zara stores in Glasgow, Toronto. Hanover, Melbourne and Amsterdam were targeted.

What on earth could Zara do? PR specialists normally say that the worst type of apology is the non-apology apology, when a public figure or institution shows no remorse, but instead says that they are sorry that people are offended. Yet Zara had not sought to trivialize or profit from the war so what else could it do but offer a non-apology apology? The company duly said it was sorry that people were upset.

“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created,” it said on 13 December, and pulled the advertising campaign

That was two-weeks ago and yet still the protests in Zara stores continue. On 23 December activists targeted Zara on Oxford Street chanting , 'Zara, Zara, you can't hide, stop supporting genocide', even though Zara was not, in fact,  supporting genocide. On Boxing Day, they were at the Stratford shopping centre.

Zara has apologised for an offence it did not commit. There is no way that any serious person can believe the charges against it. And yet believe them the protestors do. Or at the very least they pretend to believe for the sake of keeping in with their allies.

Maybe nothing will come of the protests. One could have argued in 2017, after all, that QAnon was essentially simple-minded people living out their fantasies online. Certainly, every sane American knew that there was no clique of paedophiles running the Democrat party, but where was the harm in the conspiracy theory?

Then QAnon supporters stormed the US capitol in January 2021. Will the same story play out from the Gaza protests? As far as I can tell, no one on the left is challenging the paranoia. I have yet to see the fact-checkers of the BBC and Channel 4 warning about the fake news on the left with anything like the gusto with which they treat its counterparts on the right.

To be fair, the scale of disinformation around the Gaza war is off the charts, and it is impossible to chase down every lie. But when fake news goes from online fantasies to real world protests, from 4chan to the Capitol, from Twitter to the Westfield shopping centre, it’s worth taking notice.

Sensible supporters of a Palestinian state ought to be the most concerned. No one apart from fascists, Islamists and far leftists believes that Israel should not defend itself. And yet the scale of its military action in Gaza is outraging world opinion. Mainstream politicians, who might one day put pressure on Israel, remain very wary about reflecting the anger on the streets.

They look at the insane conspiracy theories on the western left and see them as no different from the insane conspiracy theories that motivate Hamas, and they back away.

The Palestinians need many things: an end to the Netanyahu government, and an end to Hamas. But they could also use allies in the West who do not discredit their cause with dark, gibbering fantasies.

[niofo]

there's half a mention in eight little talons about teia having a tattoo of house cantori and i just keep thinking about those tattoos. do all crows have them? if so they can't be a common knowledge, or else they couldn't go undercover as someone's lover or they would be discovered the moment they undress. are the tattoos in the same places, too? teia's one was on the back, so visible even in some of her dresses. would the placement of the tattoos dependent on the house? are they having some sort of an ownership meaning (considering a lot of crows were bought as children, not recruited), or maybe they're more a symbol of camaraderie? i guess both is possible depending on one's particular relationship to the crows.

i wonder about zevran's tattoo in context of romanced warden - if he maybe dismissed it to his lover as just a regular tattoo and only later disclosed its meaning? would he want to cover it with sth else now that he's not part of the crows? (i don't think the tattoo on his face is the house arainai symbol, bcos again, i would assume that you want it in a place where it's at least possible to conceal it for undercover contracts). i wonder if in dav rook will be given a tattoo of the house they're from in the crows origin. would lucanis have one as well and if so, what would be the circumstances of him showing it to rook? or if the theory about zara renata capturing and putting a demon into him is correct, wouldn't she want to destroy any symbol of house dellamorte as well?

[violet-shroud]

I’ve been working on this OC for literal weeks and FINALLY decided on a design I liked last night. Her name is Zara Fuli and the animal I based her off of is a king cheetah (I didn’t even know king cheetahs existed until it came up while I was doing research for this character) she is twisted from the character Fuli (a queen cheetah) from the lion guard animated series.

I made her a king cheetah to compliment the character she’s based off of and, like Fuli, she is second in command of the sunset warriors and she shares a birthday with the animated series as well (just for some added lore she also has beef with Leona since he “forgot” to attend the last few Cloud Calling Festivals leaving her to deal with training the new recruits with Neji💀😭 I also liked the idea of some beast folk being more animal than human so that’s what I did with her🥰 since she’s also pretty athletic I also tried too give her a more muscular build as well as mimicking the body type of a cheetah. I like to imagine that her and Jack are athletic rivals😊🤭

[astra-galaxie]

🫂😬👻💝💔❤️‍🔥 for zara tien??? ‘w’

I hope that when I write season 6, I can do Zara and the team justice! I appreciate getting requests like this because they help me think about their characters in ways I wasn’t able to while playing Travel in Time!

(Nothing against the season itself, the gameplay just sucked, and I couldn't get into it like I could with the other seasons.)

That being said, please enjoy these headcanons for Zara!

🫂 A friendship headcanon

Zara will always have her friends’ backs, no matter how big or scary her opponent is. She never backs down from a fight, especially to protect someone she cares about. She has given people countless black eyes, cuts, bruises and even some broken bones. If you think you can get away with hurting one of Zara’s friends, then you better have a good hiding spot because Zara WILL get her revenge!

👻 A headcanon about what scares them

Zara is scared of being alone. Growing up, she didn’t have many people she could trust or rely on; for the most part, she raised herself. And while she likes having alone time, that doesn't mean she wants to be alone. That is why she tries to spend a lot of time with Theo and Kai. Even when they’re apart, Zara doesn't feel alone, but she still prefers having at least one of her boyfriends or a friend with her to fill the void she fears.

💝 A headcanon about their love language

Zara loves giving and receiving physical affection. Head pats, hugs, kisses, holding hands, and cuddling always make her feel loved. She grew up touch-starved, and while she didn’t realize how much it was hurting her since she had gone without it most of her life, Zara came to use touch as a way to show her love. And with Theo and Kai, she can give and get double the affection!

💔 An angsty headcanon

SOMBRA nearly successfully recruited Zara. She was 12 at the time of their defeat by the Bureau and had been targeted as a potential recruit during their final year of operation. She hadn't gotten far enough into the program to be experimented on, but she did participate in The Hunt alongside other recruits. She thought the things SOMBRA was promising were good and that she would help the world become a better palace, but after the Bureau freed her following The Hunt and she was placed into the Spring Angels Foundation, Zara realized how terrible SOMBRA was.

She’s yet to bring up her past with SOMBRA to her team, mainly because of Jack and Marina. She’s seen them look at her as if they should remember her, but Zara’s always deflected their questions. Maybe one day she’ll tell them the truth, but for now, that secret is best left in the shadows…

😬 A headcanon about the worst thing they’ve done

(I moved this one to relate it to the angsty headcanon.)

Having been recruited by SOMBRA, Zara did many things to prove her worth to them. Along with participating in The Hunt, she also committed minor crimes for them, like stealing. One such crime involved her breaking into a small shop to steal their money. SOMBRA had given Zara a gun to defend herself, but she was scared to use it. Given the late hour, she thought she wouldn’t need it, but she got caught while stuffing the money from the safe into her bag. In the ensuing panic, Zara shot the man who caught her, thankfully not killing him, but she did shoot him in his kneecap. Zara couldn't believe what she’d done and ran before the cops arrived, but the man’s screams of pain still haunt her.

❤️‍🔥 A romantic headcanon

Zara HATED when Theo and Kai were fighting over her. She loved both of them but had no idea how to tell them or if they would accept her feelings. But being stuck on a time machine gives you plenty of time to figure things out. In the end, Zara confesses to Theo and Kai, and in turn, the men are able to set aside their rivalry and replace it with love.

The downside to being stuck in a time machine is that you're stuck in a ship with your teammates, which leads to them being almost caught and caught in several intimate situations. But Zara, Theo, and Kai didn’t care if they got caught; as long as they were being caught together, it was fun, especially when Jack once walked in on them making out and left screaming that he needed to bleach his eyes.

There we go! Another ask down and on to the next one! Thank you for the request!

[delinquentbookworm]

pathetic you say- okay I'll go full evil with this: so, off/on situationship or not... What's it like if Jace and Porter take a break. Who's being the most normal of them

Oooo excellent question, thank you so much!!! The thing is, if Porter ended things, that'd be it, they would just be over. So for it to be a break, it has to be Jace calling it off.

Neither one of them are normal, but Porter looks the most okay, on the surface. He's civil to Jace when he bumps into him in the hallway (which pisses Jace off more than if he was mean). None of Porter's students or any of the other teachers can even tell anything is wrong, barring Zara, who notices that he's a lot more pent-up than usual, a lot more flirtatious, like he really needs it.

In private Porter is absolutely pissed. He's locking himself in the barbarian classroom after school and trashing the training dummies. Because how dare Jace do this, how dare he throw away what they've been building, how dare he make Porter feel like this treat Porter as disposable? He tells himself that this time he isn't going to chase after Jace, this time he isn't going to go try and win him back. He tells himself that he doesn't need Jace, that his plan will work just as well without him. He ignores the relationship part and focuses on the fact that he just lost a co-conspirator. He makes lists of other spellcasters he could recruit instead of Jace, and finds weaker and weaker reasons to rule them out as candidates. Zara has a celestial paramour who would kill him if he tried to shatter-star her, Terpsichore and Lucilla are impossible to be around for extended periods of time, Tiberia Runestaff honestly might have her own nefarious schemes already.

Meanwhile, Jace is acting like he's in his 20s again. He's doing his best to look like he's having an amazing time. He's going out and getting drunk on school nights, he's deep in Fantasy Grindr, he's rethinking his policy on not fucking in public bathrooms. If anyone at any of the various bars he visits asks what brings him out, he says he's 'celebrating', though he doesn't explain what.

He gets a little sloppy with it, a couple times he's hungover enough at school the next day that he has to beg Lucilla to cast Lesser Restoration on him. He still puts up the front of cheeriness, but when he lets his mask drop, he's bitchier and more irritable than usual. He's annoyed that he has to ask for the Restoration, when Porter would usually do it without a word, just to stop him complaining. He's annoyed at the strangers he's fucking, because they don't instinctively know what he wants, because they're too soft, or they're rough but not in the right way, or they're too respectful, or they disrespect him but not in the right way.

After the first couple of weeks he calms down a bit, but there's still a gaping hole inside him. He's lost without Porter, even if he doesn't want to admit that to himself. Porter gave him a purpose, something to work towards. What is he without that? He tries to find something to fill that void, tries throwing himself back into teaching, tries to recapture the enthusiasm he had in his first couple of years, but it doesn't last.

As much as he insists that it's over, for good this time, that he's never going back, he doesn't do the one thing that would actually make his leaving permanent - he doesn't turn Porter in. He has more than enough evidence to hand over to the Council of Chosen, and he could utterly destroy Porter if he wanted. But he won't. And Porter is never worried that he will.

[kharmii]

Here me out, -I spent a bunch of time thinking about this at work- but I think that Julius Novachrono gave Captain Yami a nudge to recruit Zora Ideale to the Black Bulls. He didn't come right out and order him to, but this is how it went down.

-So in an act of savage evil, a member of the Purple Orcas murders Zara Ideale because he's a commoner not knowing or caring that he's a single dad with a son who is now an orphan. Julius knows about Zora and even says, "Is that...?" when the child runs by him while he's visiting Zara's grave.

Despite knowing about the existence of Zara's son, Zora slips through the cracks and has a tough childhood. Revenge fantasies are constantly cycling in his thoughts throughout the years, and he is clever like his dad focusing on traps that use others' power against them while honing his magical technique. When he's in his late teens, he seeks revenge on the people who killed his father. While he successfully injures them, there's blow back that severely injures his face. It's unclear the details, (because I haven't fleshed it out in my mind) but it could be that his Uno Reverse Card spell got messed up causing some of the attack against him to get through that burned his lower face and neck. It could be a spell went wrong forcing him to draw runes on his own body spur-of-the-moment which caused him to injure himself. IE: His ash nature almost made himself ash.

Either way, he ended up injured on the point of death, and only an accidental tapping into forbidden magic saved his life but left him disfigured and forced to wrap part of his face, neck and chest to hide it. Years go by, and he gets better at exacting his revenge without any pain coming back on him. He is really, really careful and will only attack when he's 100% sure of success. He's very grounded in reality and has a good concept of his own mortality after that traumatic incident where he almost died.

Fast forward to Zora's early twenties when he has violently put a lot of corrupt magic knights in their place. Since anyone has since failed to apprehend Zora, complaints about a vigilante eventually get to Marx and through him, the Wizard King. The corrupt magic knights don't want to admit they were targeted for being dirty, so they frame it like they were approached by a male prostitute in a slutty little crop top who offered to turn tricks for cash. When they refused -they are pure magic knights who would never give into such temptation- Zora in a rage beat them up and ripped them off. "You'll know him when you see him", they claimed.

Julius, through a spirit of adventure, looks into it personally. At first, he believes the lies he was told, mainly that Zora does look like a typical street worker who's a perfect ten from the neck down but sort of a butterface. He eventually works out who Zora is and the motivation behind his actions. He feels sorry for him and doesn't want to punish him for doing them a useful service, albeit something illegal. The corrupt among them have it coming and should be kept on their toes.

One day when Yami is in the area, Julius tells him about Zora -his circumstances behind why he does what he does- and asks him to deal with him how he sees fit. He doesn't come out and ask Yami to recruit Zora, but he hopes that he will at least talk sense into him, even if he's not interested in letting him join. Yami finds Zora hard at work beating the crap out of some magic knights he believes deserve a comeuppance, and in a rage, Zora attacks him thinking he's part of their group.

Zora finds himself outclassed by Yami. He thinks....well, it was good while it lasted...... He believed death was imminent only to be taken by surprise when Yami throws him a Black Bulls cape with the 'take it or leave it' attitude.

Zora stews on this for weeks-months-years, like he wants to be a magic knight like his dad, but it would be awkward as frick to just show up at the Black Bulls base and confront a room full of strangers who might be evil people who'd chew him up and spit him out. They'd probably expect him to ditch his super awesome look modeled after the doll his dad gave him and make him dress up all classy and sheeit.. It didn't quite click that maybe the Black Bulls wouldn't care so much about appearances when their captain is a crusty chain-smoking guy in a wife-beater. He angsts over the expectation they'd look down on him for not being nobility, and they might not respect his abilities or take him seriously. Finally, he decides it's best to confront them on neutral ground to feel them out, but where to do it?

His chance comes when he finds out Xerx Lugner is invited to the Royal Knights Selection Exam. Since nobody knows who that even is, the usually level-headed careful Zora goes on a suicide mission to impersonate Xerx under the threat of capital punishment. Fuck it, his life is in shambles at this point with the fact he was given the opportunity to be a magic knight but is too messed up emotionally to take Yami up on it. It's better to go out with a bang while putting a bunch of them in their place right in the Wizard King's face.

Lucky for him, the Wizard King is a fun-loving guy who appreciates a good prank. He knows who Zora is but doesn't let on. Still, he was startled by Zora rocking up out of nowhere impersonating a magic knight whose whereabouts are unknown. When Zora puts an arm around him, he was repulsed by his injuries, his look that doesn't appear fully human, and the pungent nose-hair burning stench emanating off him because a stink bug went off in his pocket. Still, since they are vying for selection to fight a powerful unknown enemy, Julius thinks it would be good for the others to be exposed to an enigmatic person like Zora who might teach them out-of-the-box thinking.

Everyone else wonders why 'Xerx' calls himself the "Saint of Pure Ice" but they quickly come to the conclusion it's because he's a stone-cold douche. Even though Julius likes a good prank, he has regrets because he's more of the light-hearted prankster with a child-like spirit, whereas Zora is bitter and mean-spirited roasting the others in a way that cuts to their souls.

They also wonder why he has his tiddies out and wears low riding pants that shows most of his happy trail. After all, the doll his dad gave him (that he shows everybody like a weirdo) is fully clothed. "Because I have to draw runes on my own body sometimes," Zora eventually reveals, "It's easier to draw runes on my own body when there is a lot of exposed skin!"

[memento-morri-writes]

hi !! I was wondering if you have any dnd characters you wanna talk about :) (in response to ur tags on my post)

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, OF COURSE I DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is going under the cut because I talk too much!

So, the love of my fucking life is my swashbuckler rogue, Rook. (art of him here and here.) He has a very, very fucked up backstory, which I talked about here. (mind the tws on that post.)

I posted several snippets of the prose version I did of my favorite session I've ever played with him here. (again, mind the tws.) (I will gladly share the link to that entire doc if anyone wants to read it, as I'm very proud of it.)

But to be brief, he's the bastard son of a nobleman who's father hated him. He ran away from home as a teen, booked it to the nearest port town, and joined the crew of a pirate ship, captained by a woman named Zara. She was his mentor for YEARS and taught him everything. She also gifted him his magic rapier.

He got named first mate, which some people took issue with since he was one of the youngest crew members. They betrayed him and kidnapped him, giving him to rival pirate captain Kora Wolf, who kept him prisoner for two years before he was able to escape.

He ran away and entered the Feywild and was hiding there for several months before he was recruited by the party.

Currently, my poor man is having a terrible time. Two of the his party members are close with Captain Wolf, and one of them bought her lies about Rook, and now doesn't trust him. On top of this, he's been cursed by a demon lord, which is currently affecting him by not letting him sleep, partly due to terrible nightmares.

He's a super interesting character because on one hand he's very paranoid and mistrusting (especially now with his lack of sleep), but he also has never been shown much kindness in life, and it doesn't take all that much for him to be willing to die for you. He's incredibly reckless and will dive into dangerous situations without a second's thought, especially to save his friends. He joined a pirate crew because he was terrified of getting stuck in one boring place, and that says a lot about him. He idolizes Zara, and I have NO IDEA how he'll react when he meets her again, since he never got to say goodbye and has changed so much in the nearly 3 years since he saw her. Our party's gunslinger lowkey adopted him, and after the scene I linked above, he told someone "I missed having someone to take care of." which almost broke me.

As you can tell, I'm obsessed with this man, and I love making his life miserable. But don't worry, he'll get his happy ending. I have plans for an Inigo Montoya-style revenge duel between him and Wolf, and it's gonna be great.

My other current character is Cyra (she/they), a fire genasi barbarian/fighter. She was raised by a cult-like warband following the destruction of her hometown as a child. Later, she ended up falling in "love" with the daughter of the leader, and having a very toxic, fucked-up relationship with her. She eventually realized how bad her situation was, and realized there was no saving her gf or changing her mind, so she ran off, stealing a sand skiff as she left. They're currently becoming buddies with our party rogue, which was completely unexpected to all of us, players and characters. Last session we left off mid-combat with undead pirates in attempts to get some cursed treasure. Oh, and they have a flaming metal quarterstaff that they can summon by pulling it out of their chest. Which a major villain (who happens to be the rogue's ex-wife) wants so badly she tried to rip it out of Cyra's chest...

As for other characters, I have some very, very fun concepts for a few, including:

Zenara (they/them): tiefling warlock who was an accidental mix of a bunch of character from Critical Role Campaign 2. Occasionally gets possessed by their patron and wakes up with no memories of the shit they've done.

Avra: shadar-kai/reborn assassin who should be dead, but woke up somehow "alive" again after a mission gone wrong.

Morana: character for a future pathfinder game that will happen someday. Autistic necromancer witch with a raven familiar. Creepy as hell and very morbid. No empathy and very practical, to a degree that other people occasionally find disconcerting. Exiled from her hometown for graverobbing and necromancy. Apprenticed under a guy who turned himself into a lich.

I have literally over 30 other character concepts, but most of them are not well-developed, and this post is already WAY too long.

Now, PLEASE, TELL ME EVERYTHING. I wanna hear about your characters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how long have you been playing? what's your favorite class? Tell me all about your fucked up little guys!!!

[yahoo201027]

October 3: Happy 37th Birthday to Actress Natalie, who provided the voice of the secondary characters in the series and one of the members of the Agency as a new recruit, currently running under Lana Kane as of Season 14, as the Archer character of Zara Khan.

[thesugarclubs-blog]

Stuck On You - Kate Bishop x F!OC

warnings: new young avengers au, flustered crushing kate, lots of fluff

word count: 6.3k

WP: https://www.wattpad.com/1345334345-stuck-on-you-zara

Masterlist

The spring breeze blew through her bangs as she bounded up the stairs leading to the New Avengers Tower with Lucky in tow. One successful morning run later and they were both ready to refuel before going about their day. Lucky especially had a very busy day ahead of himself, chasing any bird that dared set foot on the balcony. 

Once they were inside the elevator, Kate kneeled and took off his leash scratching the back of his ear playfully as he lifted his snout upwards to sniff her chin. She stood as the elevator was coming to a stop and Lucky barked, wagging his tail as he stared at the door. As soon as the doors opened he ran straight towards the kitchen making Kate laugh as she tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ears and followed his lead.

“No pizza for you this morning bud, I’m sorry. Your uncle Pete ate the last one.” 

“Kate Bishop you are laaate.” Yelena sang as she walked into the room. 

Kate turned around, brows furrowed in confusion as she watched her take a seat at the counter, “Late?”

“Yes, late. You know, the opposite of early, as in not on time” Yelena explained, picking an apple out of the fruit bowl in front of her and tossing it in the air.

“I know what late means you Russian ball of sarcasm,” Kate huffed, taking the seat across from her. “I’m just a little unsure what I’m late for.”

“Oh dear,” Yelena tutted, shaking her head. “Kate Bishop, you are impossible.”

“What… what does that mean exactly?” Kate leaned closer, her expression confused and head tilted to the left trying to catch Yelena’s squirrelly gaze. “We talked about this. Straight forward, clear, concise conversation topics.” 

“We also spoke about using your big girl voice,” Yelena quipped, her eyes finally dipping to meet Kate’s.  “And you my pretty plum, have not used your big girl voice on Zara.” 

“That was a secret! What did you do—” Kate leans further in, her voice dropping an octave. She’s tried to hide the crush she really has but Yelena was quick and Kate’s tongue always seemed to tie itself in knots around the new recruit. No matter how much she practiced in the mirror her words always came out backwards. 

“Yelena no scheming. Please. I can’t! We talked about this too!” Lucky barked in response. 

“We talk about a lot of things, you don’t talk enough to Zara. So I am leaving,” Yelena smirks. “I am taking MJ and Kamala with me so you are alone. It’s a perfect… scheme,” she smiles brighter, showing her pretty teeth.

“No. No no no no,” She jumped out of her chair and began to pace as she protested, “no. NO. I am not on training duties today first of all and- and just no. You can’t just spring this on me, Leen.” 

“Oh, but you are and I did,” The blonde stated matter-of-factly before she stood and walked over to Kate. Placing her hands on either side of her face before she pressed their foreheads together. Her green eyes bore into Kate’s, serving as a slice of calm amidst the growing heap of nerves in her stomach. 

“You are going to be fine, you need to relax and you need to stop avoiding her,” she pulled back from her with a soft smile on her lips and scrunched her nose, “fix your hair a little bit though and hurry, it is not nice to be late.”

“I hate you,” Kate whispered through her teeth, her eyes wide with panic.

“You won’t,” Yelena hummed, backing away from her friend and towards the door.

“I will. Forever. I’ll get you back for this Belova.”

“Yeah? What will you do Kate Bishop? Glare at me?”

“I’ll…I’ll…cut holes in all your pockets. I’ll swap out your hot sauce with ketchup. I’ll…” a look of triumph crossed her face. “I’ll tell Clint!”

Yelena doubled over with laughter and dramatically wiped pretend tears from her eyes. 

“You’re funny Kate Bishop.” Then her face turned serious. “Go and train with Zara. Now.”

Yelena turned and headed towards the door. “Fanny, come,” she whistled, and the floofy American Akita rose from her place under the table, cast a disdainful side eye in Kate’s direction, and then followed her mistress out of the door.

Kate stood there and chewed on the inside of her cheek, staring out into the hallway for a minute, trying to both calm the butterflies that had taken over her belly and come up with her revenge plan. Spending the afternoon with Zara didn't sound like the worst idea, but it was the amount of ways she could embarrass herself in the gym that had her worried. She already made a fool of herself every time she tried to speak to her. 

The brunette huffed out a breath and turned to look at her reflection in the glass window. She pulled her hair out of its place on top of her head and ran her fingers through it quickly before combing it back into a secure pony. 

With a small hum, she turned to the golden retriever lying quietly in the corner, "Lucky, why don't you go train and I'll stay here and take a nap?" 

Lucky wagged his tail and barked in response, snapping his teeth playfully. 

"Fine, I'm goin-" her words cut off when she saw another avenger walking down the hall and an idea sparked quickly, "Hey Sam! What are you doing? Are you going to the gym? Listen I think I might have strained something on my-" 

Sam put his hand up with a laugh and shook his head as he kept walking towards the elevator, "Yelena filled me in already, you're on your own. Buck and I have a mission. The training duties are yours, Bishop! Aren't you late?" he called back.

Kate spun with a nervous huff and picked up her pace. She was moving so fast that when she stumbled past Peter hunched over a desk full of scrap metal she barely had time to stop as she slammed into the door frame. 

Peter jumped and metal flew everywhere. She watched it soar through the air before his hands reached out and scooped everything into his chest nervously before it hit the ground.  He swallowed tightly and set it back on the table. “A little warning next time,” he whined, organizing all the parts again. 

“Do you wanna—”

“Nope,” he answered before she asked. 

“But what if I—”

“Not gonna happen,” he said without looking up. 

“What did she threaten you with I can—”

“No way. Last time I helped after Yel told me not to, she shrunk all my suits in the washing machine and turned all my socks pink!” He said with the shake of his head, his curly brown hair bouncy from the movement. “Besides you can do this, you’re an avenger!” He finally looked up at her, his eyes confident and encouraging. 

“Right,” Kate chewed her lip, “thanks Pete,” she said, turning to walk away but before she left she stuck her head back in the door. “What are you building?” 

“Oh a bomb,” he beamed with pride as if he hadn’t just almost blown up the west wing of the Avengers building not minutes before. 

Lucky barked at her feet, just as nervous as she was. 

“I’m going to go…” she nodded with a grimace. “I’m late…”

“Good luck!” She heard him call after her as she darted down the hall.

Kate made her way to the stairs deciding they’d likely be faster than waiting for the elevator seeing as the usual training session should have started fifteen minutes ago. She raced down to the basement floor faster than she ever had in her life. Well, she probably ran faster when Yelena was mad but that was a totally different running motivation than right now and her mind was racing just as fast if not more in the anticipation of seeing her. 

Her heart pounded against her ribcage as she jumped the last two steps and ran to the training room door. She pulled it open and went inside, her heavy breaths catching in her throat when she saw Zara stretching her legs on the mat. 

She looked up through her lashes at Kate and smiled brightly, the playful twinkle that always seemed to be in her eyes when Kate was in the room even more noticeable to the brunette now that they were alone. 

“Hi Kate,” she purred, “just us today?”

Kate gulped, eyes wide and feeling slightly light headed. She couldn't figure out if it was from the running or from butterflies causing a storm in her belly from the way the pretty– prettiest girl was looking at her. 

Maybe she'd been quiet a little too long because suddenly Zara was coming closer, her sweet rose perfume filling Kate's lungs. A playful grin on her face as she questioned with a raised brow, "Katie?"

“Pretty…I mean sorry! Lorry I’m sate. No! I mean…sorry I’m late! Shit!” Kate fumbled, her face going redder by the second as Zara’s eyes crinkled in amusement.

“Not a problem. If it was anyone else I’d have left already but for you I’ll make an exception. Did you run here just for little old me?” She winked.

Kate imagined she looked like that emoji, the one that was melting onto the floor. Her face flamed and not just from her run to the training room. 

“Maybe,” she mumbled, looking anywhere but at the woman she’d harboured a raging crush on since the moment she’d first set eyes on her.

Zara's little giggle escaped her lips and made Kate's heart flutter. She'd just walked into the room and already it was harder to breathe. Her bold, sweet personality took over any room she was in; it was one of the things Kate loved about her. 

"Well consider me flattered," Zara scrunched up her nose and lept up to her feet, "what are we training today, boss?" 

Kate cleared her throat, and shook her head once, bringing herself back to the present and away from Zara's sparkling blue eyes, "We're uh, we're working on - hand to hand combat," she stuttered.

"Up close and personal?" Zara reached out brushing a hand against Kate's wrist and tugging the extra elastic she had over her hand onto her fingers, "can I borrow this? I forgot mine!" 

"Ok," Kate nodded, whispering the word over and over again as she tried to remember the other twenty four letters in the alphabet. She watched as Zara tugged her soft, shoulder length hair up into a ponytail, exposing the long curve of her neck. Kate's bow fingers twitched at her side, itching to touch Zara skin in a way that didn't involve training or combat. 

"Kate?" Zara said, her eyes wide as she waited for Kate to come back to earth. 

Her head had tilted to the side and she could feel herself drifting into la la land with every smile and touch. I can't do this, she thought, panicking for a moment. And then she remembered what Clint had taught her. She could be brave, hell, she was a god damn Avenger...avenger in training...

"Katie," Zara laughed, reaching out to take her hand, she pulled her into the center of the mat, "you're doing that inner monologue thing again."

“What? I don’t d-” she argued only to be interrupted by a soft squeeze to her hand.

“You do do that, but I think it’s cute.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth slightly before she smiled, brushing her thumb across Kate’s knuckles as she let go of her hand slowly. 

Kate felt the heat creep up her neck, unable to rip her eyes away from hers and longing for the feel of her skin on hers once more. Thoughts of how the graze of her thumb could feel against her lips set her nerves ablaze but she shook them out of her head before breaking her gaze away from hers. 

“I- um, thanks. Ok, are you good to start then?” 

“I am, yes” she laughed, “Are you? I know you went for a run but if you need help stretching I’m all for it.”

Kate could feel the blush deepen on her cheeks as heat spread through her face at the thought of Zara helping her stretch, touching her with a purpose. It was enough of a struggle, the little grazes of skin here and there but willingly putting herself under the hands of the woman she was pining over was another thing entirely.

"Uh no– no thank you, I'm all warmed up," she answered dumbly. Watching as a grin took over Zara's face as she took a couple of steps back, took a stance and fixed Kate with a smouldering look as she gestured to her confidently with a come hither motion with her fingers.

"Alright then. Gimme you best, Katie."

“Ok, well I guess we, umm, we should start with, umm…”

“Are you always this articulate?” Zara laughed.

“Just punch me,” Kate forced out through her clenched jaw, “and put me out of my misery,” she finished under her breath.

Zara complied with a swift one-two, keeping her guard up. Kate dodged the swings easily despite being distracted by the way Zara’s lithe frame moved so fluidly.

“Again,” she nodded, indicating for Zara to continue.

Luckily, the concentration of combat quickly took over most Kate's mind as Zara's fist went flying by her face once more. Kate dodged back as she was lunged at, swinging her own hand but she was caught by surprise as Zara grasped her wrist loosely and spun her into her body, holding Kate's free wrist tight against her stomach. 

Kate was convinced that Zara could feel the hammering of her heart as the two of them paused and breathed heavily. 

"Now what?" Zara mused against Kate's ear. 

Through her fuzzy thoughts, Kate swallowed thickly and thought for a second, "That was - good," she muttered, "now you have to stop me from getting free," as soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them. She could have stayed there all day with Zara's arms wrapped around her and her lips brushing the shell of her ear.

Zara didn't waste a moment securing her hold on Kate, brushing her leg out in a sweeping movement; they both rolled through the movement and tumbled to the ground in a pile. Kate rolled beneath her, hoping to get her legs up into her stomach to put space between them but Zara was swift and pushed her legs away before getting control and flattening them against the back.

"What the hell," Kate groaned, dizzy from the tumbling. Zara's leg's pinned Kate to the mat, squeezing tightly as she wiggled beneath her to get free but she was stuck, defeated and embarrassed. 

"Lenny taught me that one!" Zara beamed proudly, fixing Kate's hands above her head and leaning over until their faces were inches apart. 

"I don't know if I'm upset over the fact that she taught you that and not me, or the fact that she lets you call her Lenny," Kate fought to control her breathing and her lips. Her chin tilting upward against her will and into the gravitational pull of Zara.

She watched Zara’s eyes admiring the green flecks in her iris as she looked down, head slightly tilted almost like she was studying her. Kate took a steadying breath as she felt the hold on her wrists soften, unwilling to let herself get distracted by the brush of their chests together, she pulled her arms down and finally broke her wrists out of her hold. She pushed her legs open until she was able to cross her leg over her calf pushing her weight off the mat and rolling the over until she was on top of Zara pinning her hands down. 

The tips of their noses brushed together when she leaned forward to move Zara’s hands up. 

“Your hold faltered, I told you not to let me get free.” 

Zara smirked beneath her, blue eyes narrowing playfully, “are you? how do you know I didn’t just want you in this position?”

“You should have…wait, what?!” Kate spluttered, completely discombobulated.

A throaty chuckle from the woman pinned below her sent Kate’s brain spiralling. 

“You were saying?” Zara teased, her lips raising in a lopsided smile. 

“I was?” Kate asked dazedly.

“Yeah, we’re training, remember? I’m lying here eagerly awaiting your instruction.”

“Holy shit.” Kate whispered, not even sure whether it was out loud.

Letting out a deep breath, Kate sat back on her haunches quickly before standing up over Zara and extending her hand to help her up. She knew there were ways that she could have taught Zara to retaliate and get her back, but the thought of rolling around on the mat with the girl made her brain malfunction and she couldn't remember anything other than the small fleck of navy blue that sat at the top of Zara's right iris. 

Their fingers tangled together as Kate pulled Zara from the mat, electricity shooting up her arm at the smallest touch. She turned abruptly when her sparring partner was firmly on her feet and walked over to her water, pulling off the cap. 

"You're doing a lot better," she complimented before chugging back the last of her. 

Zara giggled and swiped her tongue along her bottom lip as she stepped beside Kate, following suit with her water, "Well I've had a pretty good coach," she winked as she sipped at her drink before setting it down again on the bench. 

Watching the way her throat bobbed when she swallowed, the brunette realized how hard she was staring and whipped her head back to stare at the wall in front of them, squeezing her eyes shut for just a moment, "I - yeah, Yelena is a really good teacher, she uh -" 

"I meant you, Katie," Zara commented quietly, nudging her hip into Kate's and brushing their arms lightly together. 

She felt Zara's fingers dance between her own at their sides as if she might tangle them together and hold on but she spun away and grabbed her bottle of water again from the bench against the wall, taking a swig of it before handing it out to Kate. 

"What," Zara's nose scrunched up and Kate's chest got warmer, "afraid of my cooties?" 

"No," Kate grabbed the bottle, and drowned all the words she did want to say with water. She turned away from Zara but the rookie didn't like that and skipped around her, bringing her big beautiful eyes back in view.  She felt her cheeks flush again, looking up to the clock that hung above the training room. "I know I was late but-" she started. 

"Time's up?" Zara finished. "Feels like time always moves a little faster when you're in here with me." She said and Kate's world tipped a little further off its axis then it already was. "I just mean..." Zara started and stopped. "It's my turn to fumble my words I guess," she laughed, "I really like having you as a teacher," she smiled at her.

Kate's eyes widened at her words before shaking her head and shrugging trying to play off the butterflies exploding in her chest. 

"Th--thanks, I uh.. I mean.. you--" A laugh bubbled from her throat as Zara brought her fingers to her lips hiding the growing smile, "you make a good student." The last words came out rushed as she sucked in a breath taking another swig from her bottle and silently cursing herself. You can't just play it cool, can you Bishop. 

Zara took a step towards her, slowly peeling the bottle from her fingers, "Thanks." Her voice was a whisper and her eyes glued to Kate's as she brought the bottle to her lips. Kate watched as she took a drink, her perfect lips wrapping around the mouth of the bottle before her eyes dragged to where her throat worked to swallow the liquid. Zara's skin gleamed from sweat with the midday sun shining through the gym windows and only spurred on the tornado of wings in her stomach.

Kate gulped in tandem with Zara, her tongue swiping out to moisten her bottom lip.

“I guess we should c-call it a day then,” she stammered, unable to tear her eyes away from the woman before her.

“That’s a shame,” Zara hummed, “I could have done that all day.”

She locked eyes with Kate for a second, the air growing thick around them, before both of them burst into peals of laughter.

“I think that line has been done already,” Kate grinned, nudging her shoulder into Zara. 

Their small laughs filled the gym and the two girls stood there, smiling softly at each other. Kate's hazel eyes danced around Zara's features, taking in every inch she could. The way the dimple on her left cheek was slightly deeper than the right, the small freckle that kissed the skin at the base of her jaw, the soft crinkles at the side of her eyes when she smiled so brightly she lit up the whole of New York. 

Her breath caught in her throat and Kate cleared it away, "I have to - go feed Lucky..." She mumbled, pulling her lips into a thin line as she spun slowly and walked quickly to the gym doors. 

"Thanks for your help today, Kate!" Zara's voice faded as the door shut behind her and Kate pressed herself onto the cold stone wall, letting the feeling wash over her. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop the grin that threatened to take over her lips and she shook her head. 

I guess it could have been worse, she thought to herself, finally heading back down the hallway and making her way upstairs. 

The hallway was empty when she stepped out onto the floor but she could hear Yelena and  Kamala laughing in the common room. "You best run little Kamala, I can feel her storm from here," Yelena teased and Before Kate even rounded the corner, the door to Kamala's door clicked shut. 

"What happened?" Yelena leaned against the red backed couch and crossed her legs, her fingers digging into a bag of pretzels. 

"I made a fool of myself," Kate sunk into the couch beside her and grabbed a pretzel, popping it into her mouth only to spit it directly out onto her hand. "Those are disgusting and hotter than the fires of Mordor." 

"The what?" Yelena's brows scrunched up in confusion. 

"Nevermind, she was flirting with me," Kate sighed, "she was flirting and I called time on class. I sent her away!" She put her face in her hands and groaned loudly.

Yelena threw back her head and laughed, "let me get this straight little arrow." 

Kate peeled her hands from her face and glanced up at her. 

"She flirted with you and instead of--" Yelena waved her hand in the air, "rolling around on the floor with the girl, you sent her away?" 

"I couldn't breathe around her Leen." Kate admitted, "every time I looked at her I got distracted by those big doe eyes." her voice trailed off at the end. She really really really wanted to roll around more but she also knew herself and Kate Bishop was anything but smooth. 

Yelena watched her for a moment before popping another pretzel in her mouth, "You know what I think you should do?" 

Kate glanced up at her again waiting for whatever advice she had. 

"Tell her how you feel!" She laughed, "it's really not that hard." 

"That's easy for you to say. Every time I talk to her, my words get jumbled and I turn into Parker trying to tell Bucky a story."

“Come on Kate Biiiiishop, it can’t be that bad!” Yelena urged, wrapping her arm around Kate’s neck and pulling her into a side hug.

“I swear Leena, every time I see her I turn into a total wreck with the worst verbal diarrhoea. I need to be locked up or something.” Kate groaned, turning her head into her friend’s shoulder.

“Does she know you are interested in bondage?”

Kate shoved backwards, looking at Yelena in horror. “That’s not…I didn’t mean…”

“My God, Kate Bishop. I am fucking with you!” Yelena chuckled, rolling her eyes. “But seriously, just talk to her. Tell her how you feel.”

"You know not to do that when I'm in this state, Belova!" Kate whined, leaning back on the couch and throwing her arm over her eyes, "What if she doesn't -"

Laughter echoed through the hallway as Zara and America rounded the corner into the living space, "Hey guys we were thinking of ordering a - sorry did we interrupt something?" Zara questioned, looking between Yelena and a very surprised Kate as she sat up and stared at the blonde next to her.

"Not at all, Kate Bishop here was just telling me about your training session," Yelena mused with a playful smirk, turning her gaze to meet Kate's shocked eyes, "something about ending up on top of you... she said you did good work" 

Kate could feel the heat creeping up her neck as she continued to stare daggers at her best friend. This couldn't be happening. Her heart thumped in her chest and she felt frozen, unable to turn around and meet her crush’s eyes. 

Zara scrunched up her nose and shook her head with a smile, "Yeah well Kate's a good coach, we did have fun today with it though," she winked and linked her arm with the brunette's beside her. 

"Anyway!" America chimed in, "We were going to order shawarma for dinner, Peter already offered to pick it up as he's swinging by, are you guys in?"

"We are," Yelena answered for them. "But Bishop needs to go over your performance review first," she clapped a hand on Kate's back as Zara looked between them all trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "Go now," Yelena clapped and yelled a little louder. 

Kate inhaled slowly, as she started to walk toward her room she turned and out of Zara's sight she gave Yelena a dirty look, I'm going to kill you she mouthed and this only made the black widow laugh. 

"You can come in here," Kate opened her door. 

Zara spun in a lazy circle taking in all the decorations that Kate had used, during the summer most of the younger avengers stayed on the compound like camp but less outhouses and more guns. Kate had put up posters and photos of the original Avengers, to hype herself up and remind herself why she was here but as Zara took it all in she suddenly felt like a little kid. 

"So what's this really about?" Zara looked at her, she had let her hair down and was picking at the elastic around her wrist.

Kate’s heart fluttered at the sight, there it was her nervous tick. It was one of those little things that you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t pay attention or didn’t really know a person. But Kate saw her. 

She saw it the first time she set foot in the tower and it was one of the things Kate liked most about her. She’d take a breath, flick her hair tie a few times to ground herself and keep talking like nothing had happened. 

Zara was the embodiment of the word confidence and she had the ability to turn Kate into a babbling mess with just saying the word “hi” but deep inside she seemed to be just as nervous of being in her presence as her. 

Kate let out a nervous laugh before she moved closer to Zara, come on Bishop, it’s now or never. She took her hands in hers and led her over to the edge of the bed urging her to follow her lead as she sat. She tapped her finger against Zara’s knuckle before she lifted her gaze up to hers. 

“Ok just, bare with me yeah?”

Zara's brows kissed as she studied Kate's face. "Okay..." She said softly, her hand only squeezing Kate's fingers as if silently urging her. 

Kate watched her, sucking in a breath as the four million things she wanted to say scrambled in her head. How was she going to start this? What if she didn't feel the same. Her eyes slid shut and felt Zara's hand pull from hers and delicate fingers rest on the edge of her jaw. "Kate?" 

Her hazel eyes flew open. You can do this. 

"Would you..." She paused, feeling her heart slam against her chest, "I just- I really," she paused again, sighing as the words once again became jumbled. Zara's thumb trailed along her chin, stopping just below her lip sending fireworks through Kate. "I really like you." She rushed out. "I really really like you." Kate let out a breathy laugh at the ridiculousness of how quickly she said it.

Blue eyes stayed glued to her, as Zara sat there silently for a moment, a soft smile gracing her beautifully pink lips. Kate couldn't help as her eyes flickered down to them, doing anything she could to gauge the reaction she was about to hear. The deafening silence almost making things worse for her while she chewed on her cheek and tried to stop herself from oversharing. It was a bad habit Kate knew she had, continuing to talk when the other person hadn't spoken but in this moment, most words that would have made sense leaked from her mind and they were left with quiet. 

Zara's smile grew into a playful smirk as her hand moved to cup Kate's cheek fully, running her thumb over her skin and keeping her gaze held, "It's about time..." she whispered, leaning in slightly and tilting her head. 

"Wha - you knew?" Kate questioned, trying to steady her breathing as the tips of their noses brushed. 

She giggled softly, moving her other fingertips up Kate's arm to rest on the side of her neck, "Yelena isn't very subtle," Zara admitted, swiping her tongue over her bottom lip, "are you going to kiss me, or not?" 

Kate let out a breath, a beat of confidence surging through her as she leaned forward and pressed their lips softly together, taking Zara's top lip between hers. The swarm of butterflies in her body only seemed to get worse in the best way possible, and for the first time all day, every thought in her mind was clear. 

"I really really like you too by the way," Zara pulled back and whispered quickly before smiling into another deep kiss.

"Finally," Yelena's voice floated through the door followed by a soft kick from her boot. "I've been waiting out here for ages, Kate Bishop." 

"We talked about the eavesdropping Yelena!" Kate sighed, as she pressed her forehead against Zara's, "I'm sorry." 

"Don't be, it's a win for her too. Six hundred dollars give or take," Zara shrugged with a laugh, snaking her hand fully around her neck and pulling her back for another kiss before Kate could protest. 

The kiss sent sparks through her chest and into her toes as Zara leaned up to deepen the kiss. Her tongue slid easily across Kate's bottom lip and into her mouth without hesitation as they tangled together. Two becoming one. Kate wrapped her arms around Zara and giggled against her lips, enjoying every second of it far too much. She had finally gotten the girl, and she couldn't get enough.

She slid her hands down Zara's back resting them on her hips, her hold on her firm as pushed herself off the bed just a touch and lifted her further onto the bed. She felt Zara kick her shoes off under her before pushing her heel down on the mattress to aid her. 

The pads of her fingers dug into Kate's skin as she smiled into the kiss and deepened it further pulling her down with her. Kate pulled away, releasing her lip with a pop. As they caught their breath, Zara tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Is this what you actually wanted to do during that training session, Bishop?"

Kate licked her bottom lip, bringing it between her teeth. "Can I plead the fifth on that one?" She asked lowly, dragging her fingers up Zara's side. 

She felt Zara squirm beneath her at the slight touch along her ribcage forcing a giggle from the both of them, "not this time Katie." Zara's hand wrapped around the back of Kate's neck tugging her down to her again as their lips touched. "Ticklish?" Kate asked against her mouth, "interesting." 

Zara tilted her head back and laughed giving Kate full access to her neck. She took full advantage and dipped her head, pressing chaste kisses along the column of her soft skin until she reached her pulse point. 

"Is this part of my review?" Zara groaned. 

"If you want it to be." Kate smirked.

A playful grin graced Zara's lips as she let a short whimper escape, "look who's miss confident now..." she commented, tangling her fingers into Kate's hair and arching her back into her touch. 

In truth, Kate was no less nervous now than she was before, but her sense seemed to have taken over, allowing her to move just as far as Zara would let her and take what she'd been longing for for months. The feeling of her soft skin against her lips, her fit body shuddering beneath her from her touch, it was more than Kate had allowed herself to imagine. 

Kate ghosted her lips over Zara's throat and across her jaw, to pull her earlobe between her teeth, "only for you," she whispered, moving her lips back to attach to Zara's. Her hand skated farther up her side and rested on her ribs, fingertips digging just enough into her skin as her thumb drew small circles into her, pulling another whine from her girl's lips.

Kate pulled back breathlessly, admiring Zara's kiss stained lips and big glossy eyes, "I have been waiting weeks to do that," Kate confessed, "from the moment I saw you walk into the Avengers compound. I swear my heart started beating in a new pattern around you, that's how nervous you make me and now," she paused, resting their foreheads together. 

"Keep going Katie," she urged, watching her with a patient, loving expression. 

"Now I have you all to myself and I don't know where to start, what to kiss, how to tell you, it's all one big mess."

"How about I start?" Zara offered.

"Please," she whispered against her lips, eyes fluttering closed when Zara pressed her lips to hers tenderly. 

Zara's lips twitched into a smile against hers before she rolled them over on the bed, a huff escaping Kate's lips as her head hit the mattress. She settled atop Kate's lap, fingers dancing up her stomach and chest as widened pupils amidst a sea of blue stared back down at her. 

"I think," she began, pressing a kiss to the exposed skin of Kate's stomach, "you are the most amazing," she continued pressing kisses to every bit of unclothed skin she could find as she made her way up her chest with her lips, her hands following closely.

Electricity shot up through Kate's body and her breaths grew heavier in anticipation. 

"Woman I have ever laid eyes on, Kate Bishop." she declared, leaving a trail of wet kisses up her neck. Her lips hovered at her ear as her thumbs grazed the hem of her sports bra.

"Tell me when to stop, Katie." she whispered, sending a shiver up Kate's spine. 

Kate brought a hand to her neck, urging her to look her way, "Don't stop, please Z." 

They smiled at each other before Zara leaned down her lips grazing Kate's slowly, "I've been waiting for you too, and as grateful as I am that we’re finally in this moment... I would wait forever more if you asked me to." 

Kate brushed her thumb down her neck before taking her lips in hers. They swallowed each other's moans as Zara's hands continued studying her body deepening their kiss. Kate settled her free hand on the back of her thigh squeezing playfully at her taut skin. 

The screech of the door hinge stopped them before Peter's voice sounded through the room, "Food's here guys! OH- oh god I'm so sorry guys I didn't- I should have knocked, I just thought- You did it Kate! Well, not that I mean I don't know right-" 

Both girls turned their heads, a snicker slipping from Zara's lips as Kate squeezed her eyes shut, "Pete!" 

"Sorry, sorry. Leaving now." he rushed, hands up in surrender. 

Their laughs filled the room as the door closed once more. Kate's fingers traced figures absentmindedly at Zara's side as she stared into her eyes, committing every second of this moment between them to memory. 

"We should probably go eat." she said with a playful pout on her lips. 

Zara pulled her bottom lip down with the pad of her thumb and she pressed her forehead against hers, "Fine, but we have unfinished business Bishop, don't leave me hanging." 

Kate smiled and pressed a kiss to her finger, heart hammering against her chest at the thought of everything that was to come between them after today. 

"I wouldn't dream of it, sunshine.” 

[doinggreat]

this pic does something to me……

this one compensated the recruitment photos for zara models 🥵

[hiroshotreplica]

also can u infodump about ur agents

hi i will but its kind of a lot. Putting a break on this cause its long

Alister's a chill but still serious guy. He used to play turf war and ranked a ton as a kid while also working as agent 3 for the new squidbeak splatoon. His parents are missing. Cuttlefish took care of him cause of that, kinda treated him like a grandson. He almost outranked callie and marie in terms of skill before he was partially sanitized. He's a bit bad at taking care of himself. The only medication he's willing to take is his antidepressants. He loves the squid sisters and has so much merch of them, mainly from his youth. He has no fashion sense and will walk out of the house in the worst outfit you've ever seen thinking he did ok. He renamed the nss to neo squidbeak splatoon when he was promoted to captain. He loves his boyfriend josh a lot, ignore the fact they tried to kill each other in their first encounter. They live together.

Zara is cheerful and seemingly confident. But she thinks of herself as a fraud and is worried about people finding that out. She's good at her job as agent 4 and more but she focuses on her mistakes a lot. She is really good at building and using computers and the like. Her laptop is enhanced by octarian technology, she has reverse-engineered it. She prefers making friends more than splatting enemies, but knows when she needs to stop being friendly. She used to have a celebrity crush on Pearl and Marina when she was young. It didn't stick but she still loves the two. She has worked with them and still does as a social media manager. She is a lot less involved in agent work than she was as a kid due to her job + being with her girlfriend but she still loves it.

Josh is really mysterious, but still very talkative and nice. He has a lot of repressed memories. He's glad he can't remember some of them. He used to be a trainee in the octarian military. The calamari inkantation changed his life. He used to be a lot more daring and reckless, but he'll never remember. He's agent 8 of the new squidbeak splatoon. Something's wrong with him, but he's okay. He has a special interest (inkling culture) that he studies a lot. He isn't the best at socializing sometimes. He's loved alister since the two were stuck in the deepsea metro. He likes wearing most clothing, except for things that are tight. He loves loose, baggy sweaters. It took him awhile to do agent work, but he's good at it. He still can't play turf war matches with pink and teal as the ink colors without feeling dread. Ink bombs scare him a little.

Orion is a bit of a loner. He was recruited as agent 7, by his own request mainly. He's an old friend of josh, though josh doesn't remember that much, and josh seems like a completely different person. He worked in the octarian military until the domes stabilized. He mainly did it for his family, who he still visits often, no matter how awful travelling conditions are. He values connections the most despite insisting on going on missions alone often. He has a bit of an ego due to his experience. It won't ever hurt him though. He wants to train the new agents, though they're hard to work with. He doesn't mind.

Violet is the most energetic of the group. They feel a lot of pressure being neo agent 3, they have a feeling captain alister did a lot as agent 3, from what they've heard. They were an orphan that learned to survive in the wilderness with their best friend, scope. They got help from another soon-to-be close friend, too, and want to repay them by secretly letting them explore alterna (that will definitely go well). They love alterna. They hate the fuzzy ooze. Theyve been partially infected by the fuzzy ooze, though this doesnt show too much. Mr. grizz considered them partially mammalian when the two first met. They hated that. They want to be a pro splatterscope player when theyre older. They love the z+f one in particular. They do aim drills with their friends. They love their friends dearly.

Scope is quite rowdy but still well meaning. He had gotten lost from his family while on a salmon run, and violet had found him. He couldn't have asked for a better friend. He doesn't know his original name, he feels bad about it, he wants to learn about his culture. He's agent 5 for the neo squidbeak splatoon. He helps out violet on missions. He was apart of a family of stingers, and strives to be one himself. He really wants to work with violet as snipers some day.

I have an agent 6 in the works, but ill talk about them later

[niofo]

i'm trying to put together a timeline for house de riva in my fic. morgan's initial sympathy for viago was bcos viago killed the previous talon, who morgan really hated. i had this idea that maybe she was the one to buy/kidnap the mage recruits to experiment on creating a mage-assassin, but the dates really not aligning. viago most likely was a talon for less than 10 years, so if morgan is 53, and was taken to the crows around 10, then the previous talon would have to be in power for 30+ years, and that's some caterina dellamorte level of bullshit. i'm thinking maybe she wasn't a talon first, just another high ranking assassin interested in some experiments - i imagine her vibe as something between ghilan'nain and zara. so morgan was just hating her from a distance, watching as she climbs the ladder all the way to the top, but unable to do anything (she prob had some phylacteries created as well) up until viago came and got rid of her like a knight on a white horse (only that the knight being a grumpy paranoid assassin and the white horse being a box full of poisons). morgan prob couldn't do much to help with that, but he could certainly do a lot to not prevent it, like "accidentally" not having a correct antidote at hand.

[shdwtouch]

universes I am developing for shade <3

modern: version 1 [normal]

foster home kid with an uncanny relationship with death who put herself through school to become a mortician. currently completing her apprenticeship before being fully licensed. lowkey punk / goth bab, introverted extrovert, does gigs as a DJ in her spare time, complete with glow-y costume.

modern: version 2 [supernatural]

same as version 1 except she actually has developed psychic abilities and is learning how to be a medium while training to be a mortician. doing her best to help the deceased, as well as using her powers to try and help the living.

modern: mutant

raised in a lab kept at the edge of the eclipse zone, a region thrust in perpetual twilight by a strange meteor shower. tapping into the power of the meteorites, a scientist experimented on shade, a child left in her charge. shade consequently developed strange abilities complimented by an eerie physical appearance. after the lab is shut down and the scientist is arrested shade flees into the eclipse zone; the region is put under quarantine due to strange phenomenon, and shade adapts her power to eventually leave in search of the scientist for answers. will most likely have a marvel adaption involving recruitment to the x-men !

post-BG3: the good ending

a universe set after the epilogue of BG3, in which shade is working to restore the shadow-cursed lands. her appearance has changed and she now goes by the name remedy.

post-BG3: the bad ending

a universe set after the epilogue of BG3, in which tav helped shade kill thaniel and oliver, absorbing their power to harness the shadow curse. now a very avatar of the curse, shade has taken over moonrise and rules the landscape. with every passing day a piece of her is consumed by the curse, but somehow she persists with a smile on her face, even if it is a twisted grin.

shadow druid / monk

a world in which zaras never perished, raising shade within her library, certain she was the key to understanding the curse. trained as shadow monk and bonded to the landscape as a druid, shade is an emotionally starved young woman seeking a purpose under the iron fist of her patron / mother, who claims she is the chosen of shar and will bring eternal night to faerun. routes: 1) tav encourages shade and supports zaras. 2) tav helps shade escape zaras control. 3) tav kills zaras or convinces shade to kill zaras. 4) tav kills both zaras and shade due to their allegiance with shar.

champion of shar

a world in which shade's mind was consumed by the curse, but shar found a willing and capable soul to brandish her power. deranged after spending years wandering the shadow-cursed lands, shade is a blessed champion of shar, protecting the curse and bending it to her will. truly, she is little more than a puppet directed by the will of the lady of loss, an empty shell held by the curse. routes: 1) tav accepts shars offer for help in traversing the curse and defeating ketheric [conditions: must kill isobel, must ensure the curse isn't lifted, must kill the nightsong] and shade joins the party. 2) tav rejects shars offer and kills shade. 3) tav rejects shars offer but manages to collect shards of shades memory, allowing her to break free of the curse and reject the control of shar. she joins the party. [this can be done even if shadowheart becomes a dark justiciar]

[ukrfeminism]

2 minute read

The Met Police will start using data to identify the 100 "most dangerous" men in London who prey on women and children.

The plans aim to gather data on tens of thousands of men recently convicted of domestic assault, rape, sex offences, stalking, and harassment.

It comes amid plans to reform the force following several damning reviews.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley announced the details in a speech on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Institute of Engineering and Technology in Westminster, Sir Mark said the force has "a practical plan for turning things around", adding: "I expect to be held accountable for how that transformation of London's police service evolves in the weeks, months and years ahead."

Sir Mark said the Met would focus on three priorities including "targeting men who perpetuate violence against women and children", building "the strongest ever neighbourhood policing", and "taking an increasingly proactive approach to reducing crime".

He stressed the force would be "cracking down on men who are violent predators", by adopting "counter terrorism and organised crime" tactics, including using intelligence to build a list of tens of thousands of violent male offenders and to target the 100 most dangerous men.

"Most crimes are committed by a small number of individuals, and a small number of victims and areas are the most impacted by crime," Sir Mark explained.

Stop and search

In addition, the commissioner highlighted "countless examples" of where the Met's stop-and-search programme had intercepted criminals, but said the force's goal was to "create better data" by identifying hotspots of violence in order to minimise unnecessary stop-and-search activity.

It comes after figures from the London mayor's office last month showed black Londoners are still three times more likely to be stopped by police.

Sir Mark added the plans would also see an "overhaul" of neighbourhood policing, "becoming more visible, more engaged and more responsive to local crime and anti-social behaviour - precisely targeting priorities identified with local people".

As part of his mission to modernise policing, Sir Mark said the force's recruitment and pay systems must also be improved to attract officers with "core traditional skills" who also specialise in areas like cyber security and fraud.

Analysis

BBC London's home affairs correspondent Sonja Jessup

The public outcry over the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, along with a series of cases of misogyny within the Metropolitan police, has put the force under pressure to take tougher action on male violence against women and girls.

But why this approach, using science and technology - and why hasn't it been tried before?

It's being driven by commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who took up his post in September 2022, and spoke about the difficulties of what he calls "Woolworths policing in an Amazon age".

As a former counter-terror chief he says the same work that goes on there - ranking which individuals present the most risk to the public - can be applied to predatory male offenders.

Will it work? Could it stop men like Jordan McSweeney, who murdered Zara Aleena? He had a string of previous convictions for offences such as assault on a young woman, as well as a restraining order - but police said he didn't fit the normal profile for someone later labelled "a danger to any woman."

It's not yet clear exactly what criteria will be used to measure risk, and Sir Mark says it'll take a few months yet for the data to be pulled together.

'Met must change'

The commissioner also emphasised the Met's progress in making policing more "innovative" and "efficient" such as decisions to issue every officer a mobile phone, put more 'fast response' patrol cars on the streets and build a new Met leadership academy.

London's mayor Sadiq Khan responded to the plans on Twitter, saying: "Sir Mark is right - the Met must change for our communities and for our officers and for our staff who serve them.

"I am committed to holding the Met to account as we work together to build a safer city for all Londoners."

A draft version of the policing plans is set to be published in the next few days, after which the force will seek community and partner feedback.

A further version of the plan will then be published before April.

[msclaritea]

"Rachel Chandler, a professional photographer and modeling agent, was reportedly involved in the casting process for Balenciaga. Chandler is being scrutinized online for her alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The speculation comes amid the scandal surrounding Balenciaga's recent controversial ad. The luxury fashion house landed in hot water for its gift collection campaign that featured children posing with plush bear purses wearing outfits based on themes of b*ndage.

The company also faced backlash over its Spring 2023 campaign ad that consisted of a photo featuring printouts of a 2008 Supreme Court ruling on child p*rnography.

Amid the ongoing controversy, British influencer Oli London has claimed that the brand deliberately designed the campaign and is "deeply involved in child abuse and exploitation." London has been quite vocal in condemning Balenciaga's campaign.London has also asked their followers to research about Balenciaga's association with Rachel Chandler. They further opened up about a theory on the latter's alleged connection to Epstein while speaking to GBN Live:

“In 2016, one of the people who recruited all of the models for Balenciaga’s runway show was a woman called Rachel Chandler who has been on Jeffrey Epstein’s island. She has even posted the picture on Instagram of CCTV footage back in 2013, bragging about being on an island.”

They further added:

“If you look at her modeling agency every single one of the models looks like a trafficking victim. You can see they’ve got very dark circles under the eye and people need to research that.”

While Chandler is the co-founder of the Midland modeling agency, which lists Balenciaga as one of its clients, there is no official account of the former's connection to Epstein.

Chandler previously went viral over an old photo with former US president Bill Clinton. Several conspiracy theorists claimed the photo was allegedly taken on Epstein's private plane while on their way to the latter's infamous island.

Sue Knows Best

@sues86453

Who remembers Rachel Chandler? Think #Epstein Island…..

Coincidence that she also recruited models for #Balenciaga?

I don’t believe in coincidence. #grooming

However, no official confirmation about the photograph's actual location has been made available to the public.

Rachel Chandler's modeling agency represents renowned clients

Rachel Chandler is a professional photographer and modeling agent from Los Angeles. She reportedly moved to New York to study History of Art at Gallatin School and eventually started interning for arts organizations and photographers, including Patrick Demarchelier.

According to her official bio, Chandler provides an "intimate portrayal of the social and creative scene in which she works, lives and operates in" through her work. She reportedly began serving as a photographer for Purple Diary after meeting editor Olivier Zahm through mutual friends.

She has also been a contributing photographer for Industrie online and Vogue. Chandler also founded the New York-based Midland Agency with Walter Pearce in September 2016.

The modeling agency focuses on casting and management and represents a large group of models. Some of their clients include brands like Gucci, Marni, Fenty, Balenciaga, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Zara, Gap, Comme Des Garcons, Telfar, and Jason Wu.

Twitter shares theories about Rachel Chandler's alleged Epstein connection

Netizens are sharing conspiracy theories about Rachel Chandler's Epstein link amid the Balenciaga scandal (Image via Twitter/Savage Daughter)

Balenciaga continues to face outrage on social media over its latest controversial ad campaign featuring children. Photographer Rachel Chandler's association with the brand and alleged connection to Jeffrey Epstein has also gone viral online.

In an old interview with Vice's i-D Magazine, Chandler claimed that she helped curate the lineup for Balenciaga Creative Director Demna Gvsalia's fall/winter 2016 Balenciaga show.

“The casting director was a friend of a friend and he needed help," she said at the time. "I suggested a few people for them and they ended up taking all of my suggestions! So I thought, ‘Ok, I must be good at this.’”

Chandler was later identified in a photo where she was seen posing with Bill Clinton inside an airplane.

According to fact-checking site Snopes, the picture first surfaced online in 2006. It was originally shared with a caption that suggested Clinton was posing with a 19-year-old college student inside billionaire venture capitalist Ron Burkle's private plane.

Several years later, conspiracy theorists claimed that Clinton and Chandler's photo was from Epstein's "Lolita Express" private plane. As the theory has resurfaced online amid Balenciaga's ad campaign controversy, several social media users have taken to Twitter to share their theories about Chandler.

@OliLondonTV

You want to see how deep and dark Balenciaga’s abuse of kids goes?

She is a model agent, provides a lot of models for brand. All models in her agency look like Trafficking Victims. She was on Epstein Island she even posted CCTV pic from Island

If they think Balenciaga is bad:

Wait until they hear about Rachel Chandler, Les Wexner and the modeling industry's deep ties to Epstein Island.

"I had a feeling there would be a Rachel Chandler-Balenciaga connection and there it is!🏻The models at Balenciaga and Midland, a “modeling & casting agency” founded by Chandler, look abused and like real trafficking victims!"

Rachel Chandler and Balenciaga connected - wow!!

Great find - thanks @Shorty56167141 twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The photography agency behind the Valenciaga shoot is run by Rachel Chandler a Jeffrey Epstein assistant. You've seen her photo taken on Epstein's Lolita Express with Bill Clinton. twitter.com/PowerOurPeople…

Balenciaga, Rachel Chandler… On the flight logs for Epstein Island. Did everyone who went to Epstein Island participate in Child Trafficking? I would assume not and certainly hope not. It is grounds for reasonable suspicion. What I can say, is the model woman, probably in on it.

While theories continue to pour in online, it is to be noted that Rachel Chandler has never been involved in any legal proceedings related to Epstein, who was convicted of child trafficking. Reports suggest that Chandler has also never been charged with any crime herself.

Although Clinton reportedly flew in Epstein's private plane in the past, his spokesperson has previously denied that his photo with Rachel Chandler was taken inside Lolita Express. The latter has also never publicly confirmed or denied rumors about the photograph."

We've talked about Rachel Chandler before, haven't we @gatorfisch

[ben-the-hyena]

A list I will probably edit little by little concerning that canon reverse Skeleton Warriors AU

Baron Light, just like Baron Dark who passed as good for years while secretly plotting, was passing as bad while secretly being an active rebel

Also just like how @papabirdurskeks and I HC "Dark" is a fake last name his ancestors took to go incognito after they got kicked out of the throne for being tyrans, "Light" is too they took in order to survive so that the tyranical current royals' ancestors would not kill them

Prince Justin/Darkstar also skeletonizes, he notably skeletonized supporting characters who in the normal continuity are too good to be

Baron Light did not get the dark equivalent of Lightstar's power as we see, Darkstar have it. Grimskull still has his shadow power and Princess Jennifer/Talyn still her flight power. All because Darkstar struggled much more violently than Lightstar and even used a knife to try to stab Baron Light in the face (giving him his scar on the eye) which had the crystal split not in 2 equal halves but a bigger piece for the evil prince

Prince Joshua/Grimskull's evil equivalent became half fleshy half skeleton too because he too was in the middle of Darkstar and Baron Light fighting over the Darkstar Crystal until it split. He uses his mystical connection to the main skeleton for communication. Later, he gets his wolf Darkstar skeletonizes, just like he skeletonizes Talyn's bird

The same way Baron Dark, until becoming crazy, still seemed to care for and was respectful towards his henchmen, so did Darkstar towards his friends and family, as evil as they are the Darkstar family love each other ; and just the same Baron Dark's gang is concerned and upset the more he becomes violent and crazy because of the crystal, Darkstar's uncle and siblings become more and more concerned with his changes

Even if they love each other, they still are evil. So Grimskull and Zara, instead of never interacting despite their feelings because they know she is promised to Lightstar, actively have an adulterous affair behind Darkstar's back, even more easily since once he becomes the supreme leader he brings her to his castle to become his queen with no idea he's been cucked all along. One of the reasons why he snaps in the very end is when he finds out

The royal family is just as racist as how @papabirdurskeks and I headcanon their ancestors and those who act and speak in their name to be in the normam continuity. Hence why they only have human skeletons on their side (I mean animals and pets aside), and regularly call Baron Light's non human allies freaks and don't hide their wish they should be killed off to purge Gloominaire from rejects like them

In that episode with the PTSD-ridden cowardly soldier, the roles are reversed. Shriek's good equivalent who is named Squeal plays normal continuity Talyn's role trying to help him by finding out the little red crystal inside can be destroyed and makes him human again and thinks she can save him and other skeletons, but as cowardly as he is he has no PTSD for HE liked being a skeleton but just wants to be alone without fighting and betrays them and sells them out just so that Darkstar can spare him for being a coward and turn him into a skeleton again. In the end, skeleton again, he runs away for his life knowing Darkstar will ne mad at the failure, with no regret, leaving Squeal who watches him leave with disgust mixed with sadness. She really had hopes

The king died also sent into an Araculean trap by the Baron. Good or not, Baron Light was ready to go through drastic measures for peace. That's actually how he meets Aracula and starts to learn his language and recruits him in both continuities

Baron Light recruited his team of misfits through the years just like Baron Dark did. Dark did it with the intent to have them serve him in his scheme in the long run and just got attached, Baron Light did to protect them and save from them from all these genocidal measures the regime take giving them his noble protection

Squeal and Dr Dagger in that universe too are like children to him, and here Cyborn as well, who never was tsundere about it. Dagger precisely became a doctor because he paid his studies and Cyborn, before losing braincels after the accident, without being a doctor because he never was allowed to study for it because of the racist laws, was still brilliant and made him curious and love that

Because yes in that AU too Baron Light and Cyborn are married, and Baron Light greatly suffers in silence to see such a brilliant man now turned into a shell of his former self because of irreperable brain damage as well as forever greatly crippled. Since he was not a doctor, the explosion here was not due to one of his own inventions backfiring while he was a royal scientist, but one of Ursak's backfiring who essentially used him as a shield. He was a servant, who would miss him ?

Ursark indeed was the one jealous of Cyborn here. Even if Cyborn was legally not allowed to study alongside him he FELT he had a lot of potential and felt threatened. He now has a blast calling him a retard whenever he can which enrages even more his found family

Squeal also crushes on Darkstar, but tries to fight it because she knows how evil he is. He often uses this knowledge to manipulate her

In the normal continuity, Claw, even if he is on the skeletons' side, never cares for them because he is a loner bounty hunter hired only recently who only cares about what he can earn. Here, Claw's good equivalent does help the rebels but same thing, only because he is hired and doesn't particularily like them. However, he also does have a sense of justice he represses deep down, so sometimes he will go help them or other people for free cursing under his breath for being too nice

Yes Baron Light still LOVES animals and still adopts as many as he can such as Good Dog and Noble Steed and EVEN A FUCKING DRAGON. There is a war, he must protecc. Cyborn is too much of a "simpleton" to be brothered, but Dr Dagger is greatly annoyed with his adoptive dad's shit. They can barely save people !

Cyborn's robotic parts are mirrored just like most merch does lol they were Dagger's first invention, as a kid