#all the art discourse makes me want to go to a museum with him

[tessa-quayle]

Pedro Pascal Podcast Interviews

These two interviews from 2018 and 2022 are lovely and showcase Pedro’s warmth, empathy, humor, and wit.  Russell+Robert (Talk Art) and Sam Fragoso (Talk Easy) do a stellar job engaging Pedro and asking insightful questions.  Topics range from art, cinema, his childhood, politics, and family (tw: grief, his mother’s death) to his years as a struggling actor and his current work at the time of the recordings.  You can listen on Spotify with a basic (free) account.  Each interview runs about 56 minutes.

Nov 2018: Talk Art interview with Pedro Pascal 

May 2022: Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso - Pedro Pascal, A Life of Dreaming

[sneasedtosneaseyou]

anonymousunovan -> sneasedtosneaseyou

Hi hello! You've likely seen me around before in some capacity. I used to go by Arsène if you knew me by that name, but now I prefer most people call me Reese! Use he/they pronouns for me only please! Friends closer to me may use other pronouns that I don't publicly advertise as much. I'm 24 as of writing this post, dunno if I will remember to regularly update this.

I'm not sure what hub blogs are actually used for. Figure I can share some of the posts from my various blogs with artwork either from me or my friends so that I have a quick archive of them. Might also include some general discussion about my muses and the canon I situate them in—headcanons and such. Some of my longer form writing will go up on my AO3 with links to them also included here. Went ahead and tossed my animation channel in too, though who knows when I'll be using that sucker again.

Disclaimer: I'm an adult and my time is limited for various reasons including my health. PKMNIRL is a hobby of mine, but it is not by any means my entire life. I am selective with who I write with and where I invest my time and effort, it's nothing personal. That said, there are people in this community who have harassed me or people I care about and if I see you publicly interacting with those individuals I will likely just block or ignore you to maintain separation from those individuals. Not interested in making call out posts or stupid drama, but I won't tolerate their presence anywhere near me, thanks.

I also don't plan on posting much about current events unless they are directly relevant to me. Posts regarding things like crowdfunding or current events should be directed to my actual main blog. Do not contact me there about roleplay stuff.

Do not use me or my roleplay blogs as replacements for real life advice, counseling, or factual sources as the topics I am writing about are fictitious in nature.

Current Roleplay Blogs:

@sneasedtomeetyou - ACTIVE. Main muse. Sinnohan researcher who is reintroducing Hisuian Sneasel to their natural habitat in a manner similar to reintroduction of the Yellowstone wolves.

@rotomblrheritageposts - ACTIVE. In universe gimmick blog meant to reblog iconic posts from the community. Run by a Johtonian trainer named Cyn who cannot stop breaking character to complain about supposed "Team Rocket sympathizers" and discourse online about celebrities. Low stakes but commentates on higher stakes posts sometimes. You can actually submit whatever posts you want to him and I'll probably reblog it. Please do actually, it helps me maintain his gimmick.

@militarygradebeast - ACTIVE. Grill OP at a 24 hour diner in Fula City, Johto who managed to somehow befriend a Zeraora without even knowing what it is. Posts his day to day life with Cat. Internet liar and shitposter. Low stakes. Girlfriend will have a blog later.

@carchacrok - ACTIVE. Canon divergent Augustine. Former Team Flare Scientist (Admin), father of Jaycé, romantically involved with Valentin. His involvement with Flare was never made public, to the outside perspective Augustine is the same as typical canon, with all divergent traits and backstory only being known by those close enough to poke holes in his version of events.

@bloomingsolarflare - HIATUS. Former Team Flare grunt in hiding. Art museum thief with a fondness for Impressionist paintings in particular. Rewrites in progress.

@basculegionswake - INDEFINITE. Casi's ancestor in Hisui, Celeste. Faller blog, Post-Canon PLA, married to Volo. Originally from Nacrene City, Unova. Amputated left arm after a particularly nasty run in with an Alpha Gabite.

@venoshocked - HIATUS. Unovan teenager who one day gained the ability to use poison type moves. Descendent and spitting image of Melli. Originally part of a sub-community dedicated to magical girls based on the plates of Arceus, current revival planned, but not written. She's based on the trope of spiteful rival secretly jealous of the protagonist for having friends that later joins the main group. I love her so much she's one of my favorite blogs.

@blunderpolicy - HIATUS. Zoroark pretending to be a regular person. The one behind my accidental misinfo spreading post about an official Professor Wild Days video game. They're just for fun. Probably gonna get a rewrite soon.

@sh1nyd3x - NEW! Blueberry Academy exchange student from the Orange Islands. Collector of shiny and rare Pokémon. Still a bit of a WIP, but the blog is technically up and running. Just trying to build a "believable" backlog of posts.

Other Blogs I Run:

@pkmnirlevents - ACTIVE. OOC resource blog for pokemon irl as a wider community.

...And several more I don't have listed here as they're either incomplete, abandoned, or part of closed communities! If you have questions please feel free to ask me!

Links:

My Animation Channel

My AO3

My Toyhouse

[chemnections]

It really bothers me that so few people on this site seem to genuinely like Frank. I'm glad I found this blog.

There are so many people who only post about him when he mentions MCR, or only post about Frank when there is some nonsense drama fabricated around him and those people want to get in on the memes.

It's almost as though people can't be genuine or sincere about Frank. There's always a level of sarcasm or criticism or slight hostility when they talk about him. They can write novel length posts about anyone else in MCR with no snark, but can't do the same for Frank. The only exception to this is the Sydney bus accident, and honestly I dread the day some fucking ghoul tries to make a joke post about that incident.

these past few days really have been disheartening on that front.

i did expect there to be some anger and typical capitalism discourse from people who really do not understand what they are talking about. but it is so crazy to see anger from people i actually didn't expect to lash out in that way. seeing users change their frank profile pictures because they were so mad over the reverb sale, or i have even seen someone keep theirs but with a red x over his face. as if frank doesn't see what happens online and like his feelings can't be hurt. all because they objected to him selling old clothes (conveniently forgetting that were part of iconic shows/tours/photographs) for a proper collectors fee? significant figures in music have their 'old clothes' in museums or on display or in private collections - these pieces have the potential to increase in value or have donation value to future music exhibitions.) the turn around from being excited to try and buy something of frank's to straight up condemning him is weird. like you said, like they never really liked him in the first place.

mikey literally just had a signature bass line where the bass costed over $1000 and i never saw anyone comment or complain about it. no one accused mikey of 'going for the cash grab'. and this isn't a dig at mikey, just shows the double standard.

long time frank fans should know that 'being critical of your favs' is not dished out fairly and often leads to certain fans attempting smear campaigns against frank. it's why i tend to be protective of him on this blog, to try and counteract that bs.

there were some particular tweets that really pissed me off and i thought about responding, but i also didn't want more attention on them. it's a thin line.

and then with the context of certain meddling/manipulation that goes on in the fandom space where frank is often targeted with unfounded rumours. . . i'm usually out of the loop on that one but i've been curious with lola's reemergence. on that topic i can think of a certain person with a deleted possum post making fun of a car crash.

frank cares and puts in extraordinary effort into his career, truly giving fans so much, and for his efforts he is unappreciated or has his name dragged through the mud. from his efforts to reunite mcr in the first place, to the amazing ls dunes content recently and giving fans opportunity to purchased reasonably priced collectors items tagged with stories where all fans can learn more. have fans ever heard of thank you? and appreciating what you get instead of demanding for something else? truly biting the hand that feeds. and then there is a controlling aspect to it as well - not accepting who frank is as a person, the art and opportunities he is putting out and bullying him online to get things out of it. i'm glad he won't bend to that pressure and his snarky response tweets were gold.

this is the same behaviour that ran frank off of twitter in the first place. so it's hard not to get upset about it when it is being ruined for the rest of us. but we also can't change other people. it is what it is.

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Choose Violence asks! Pick the most inflammatory ones you can find on the list and answer them. If Danger!Josh has an unpopular opinion on specific things mentioned therein, he can share them too.

Oh yes! Let's get riekling over here! This includes ART! Under the cut for length. I'm mostly just gushing about a Danger!Josh HC that I have. :3 You know the one ;)

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

So I have two of these, the first one being Cicero and the second being Miraak. Prior to seeing any discourse I either gave zero shits or just didn't care for them (based off of Cicero, I can't handle his voice, it's so grating and hurts my ears.) But I didn't think that much about either of them until I started actually participating in the fandom (in my own way, I don't really contribute outside of personal conversations and any of the art I produce...which has nothing to do with either of those characters...except my one joke about Miraak as a Shoggoth being sexy).

I had no idea that it was immoral or moral to dislike either character and I'm sorry but Cicero makes me think of smelly ham water (as someone who is very mentally ill from trauma I also find him a bit insulting.) and Miraak is a missed opportunity that has been pulled in so many directions that I just can't. I won't.

18. It's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Teldryn Sero! Blade for hire, best swordsman in all Morrowind and absolute goddamn Dwemer-loving dorkface! Yes, you heard me! That guy is astounded by those ruins! I present to you his vanilla dialogue when you encounter a Dwemer ruin: "The dwarves were a clever race. I wonder what happened to them?"

And his Markarth line:

"Can you imagine what Markarth must have looked like when the dwarves were living here? I can't even begin to imagine." It's there hidden amongst all that dramatic cynicism, sarcastic bravado and slight "Dunmer are better than you" attitude. This guy is a nerd for anything Dwemer! I never see anyone point this out though. I think it's a missed opportunity for character-building. His tone, still sarcastic as ever (because he is dripping in it) does change to one of awe. The only other thing he gets this way about are the Telvanni mushroom Tels. So he seems to appreciate grand architecture (though not Nordic or Imperial styles interestingly enough), it would explain why every town you walk into in Skyrim elicits a bitch-a-thon from him. He hates everything because it looks unimpressive to him. Blacklight must be as grand as Markarth is intended to be in the lore. Since he compares that city to everything. I have my own thoughts on what it looks like too ;) Guess who else is a dork for ancient shit? Me! So naturally I grabbed onto these lines and ran with them. I HC his interest in Dwemer is a full-on obsession. He wants to go to that museum, he wants to go dungeon diving with you and he insists on dumping as many dwemer nick-nacks into his pack as he can. He also does this with knives lol.

I also HC him as the Nerevarine, so on top of that I have him swiping that Dwemer Coherer back from Divayth Fyr as payback for not actually curing his corprus. Now what on earth is a coherer? An electrical component formerly used to detect radio waves. It consists of a tube containing loosely packed metal particles. They were used to pick up and measure radiowaves. And so Dwifi was born! Danger!Josh wants to reverse-engineer that shit! And I ran with that and created this <3

My baby bird fiddling with that damn machine part!

[brehaaorgana]

Also just to be clear, because again, I wrote this ten years ago — there were a lot of Palestinians criticizing Banksy's work from back in 2005 in the west bank.

The one I remembered and that stuck with me was:

Banksy’s conversation with an old Palestinian man emphasizes this bizarre interlacing between aesthetics and protest.

When the man said Banksy made the wall beautiful, he initially thanked him. However, the [Palestinian] man responded,

“We don’t want it to be beautiful, we hate this wall. Go home."

The Harvard crimson

To my knowledge he last painted in Gaza back in 2015, which again, was almost a decade ago so I'm not sure which instance of painting in Gaza and then appearing across the world this person is referring to. It's been a long time.

He also typically stands to profit from the conflict (bizarrely, even as he protests it) because of The Walled Off Hotel. (It's currently closed.) Because he owns a hotel in Bethlehem where all the rooms have a view of the wall for tourists! It's full of his art and is also a museum! You have to give a $1,000 security deposit that only gets refunded after your stay.

The website literally includes this in the FAQ's:

Are you just making a profit from other people's misery?

The hotel is now an independent local business. The aim is to break even and put any profits back into local projects.

THAT DIDN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION???

And it's worth debating! It's a valuable question! The concept is rife for discourse.

But here's the more important questions that are part of my point:

1. How many Palestinian street artists can an average person name? How many Palestinian artists are overlooked in favor of Banksy, who, if nothing else, claims a British identity (whether or not he's actually an artist's collective)?

2. How many people have both seen this art and known anything about its context? Did this actually raise any awareness?

as an art historian, may i just say: fuck banksy. 

instead of banksy, the white guy who has been funded and coddled by the elite as the darling of the circle-jerking art white male art world, TRY:

Women on Walls - AKA  Sit El 7eta (in Arabic), which is about women in Egypt who are street artists 

Malina Suliman, Afghanistan — Kabul Art Project

Shamsia Hassani, Afghanistan — Kabul Art Project

Jean-Michel Basquiat — Black American Artist 

Women Street artists painting in Lima, Peru for International Women’s Day

Lee Quinones - forefather of American street art and Puerto Rican/Latino American

LADY PINK - Latina/Ecuadoran American, you’ll know her by the “abuse of power comes as no surprise” shirt. 

Mata Ruda - also Latino

El Dercetor - Peruvian Muralist/Street Artist

Tati Suarez - Latina Woman

Bastardilla - a woman from Colombia 

Fatcap is a street art website resource — I linked to Cape Town, but you can search geographically 

Global Street Art

Ralph Ziman just made the world’s largest wheat paste art in South Africa

10 women artists better than banksy check out Lady Aiko!

HAVE YOU HEARD OF SWOON?

African-American and Iranian artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh of “STOP TELLING WOMEN TO SMILE” fame 

 Nardstar* from South Africa

Zhang Dali - China

literally ANYONE BUT BANKSY

FUCK BANKSY

[bisognamorire]

Beloved and dearly missed A.,

Happy Friday!

I am unsure what you would think of me writing these, because isn’t this kind of ‘not letting go’? But I thought: for me it is in a way, because I’m not asking for a response or acknowledgement and whether I type it out or not is a bit of the same, because I would tell you in my mind, if I wasn’t writing it down. I always want to talk with you. I always miss you. And you know I am always delusional and pathetic.

Two days ago, I had some nervousness inducing conversations with my therapist about me being dissociated most of the time, up to the point that I even dissociate in therapy sessions and can’t really process or understand/accept what is being said to me. And that I feel anxious to ask questions because I worry my therapist might not be honest to me when I ask her to be upfront (which is ofc my own trust issues) or might feel I’m annoying her.

We then looked closer at that cycle of dissociation and anxiety. I felt horrified to see how torn that inner insecurity (almost a grappling for the perception of reality between the “trauma brain/adult brain”) makes me feel and act at times. Sure you remember. And to get a sense of all the potential damage that volatile dynamic can cause others and myself.

This week has started with many people calling in sick to work, so I was obliged to take on more shifts than I originally had. Needless to mention that that isn’t very pleasant. I feel rather knocked out by this week. Patients and coworkers have been rather rude too — it reminded me of the time you worked in the city museum front desk. I, too, experience the general public’s madness everyday. So many bizarre things that I can’t possibly write it all down or remember it. I was once asked out of the blue, mid conversation, by a grandpa whether I was wearing a wig. An other patient complained to me that his taxi was taking too long to pick him up, but he apparently hadn’t even called one (?). Then the general babylonic discourses with russian people who are unfazed at me telling them I don’t speak russian and who proceed to speak russian anyway… 🫨

Im just constantly tired and exhausted— it reminded me of that little sketch you drew of yourself of rotting in bed and saying ‘surely theres a better way to live my life than that’.

Yesterday I rolled over in bed and stared at my wall. My blanket had wrapped around my torso tightly. I remembered you hugging me like that in the bed you had set up for me in your room on that last night and just began to cry horribly.

Not all that I feel can be expressed in words about all that.

I’ve also not slept very well all week and woke up in the middle of the night. I suppose dad and you are haunting me in my subconscious.

But — on to more ‘joyous’ things.

You know how I read up about the Somerton Man (scary) and I was very intrigued by the process of identifying him and just the mystery around that ‘Tamam Shud’ from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat in his pocket. I had wanted to have a copy of that for myself (there are such nice editions with art nouveau illustrations which you would surely appreciate too) and went to a nearby antique book store after my massage last Saturday. They had a battered 1913 copy (unfortunately without illustrations) of it and some of the poems really resonated with how I feel.

Heres some of my favourites:

Three days ago the rest of my Yamato Cosplay unexpectedly arrived in the mail, so I took some joy out of completing the costume for now. I feel like my inner transmasc oni was turned outward finally! 👹

For my birthday last year Sharon’s boyfriend gifted me a box of Basilur Green Tea assortment from the russian supermarket in front of my house. I usually don’t like green tea, so I only tried it recently. In that assortment they had a few sachets of milk oolong tea, do you know it? I love it now. I drink it with two or three spoons of sugar and a bit of milk. Its not as irritating to the stomach as the Earl Grey I favour, maybe you can try it? ♥️

While we are on the topic of Earl Grey — after I have completed a cosplay of Transmasc Oni Yamato (my alter ego) I am now thinking of doing a Ciel Phantomhive or Pinocchio from Lies of P cosplay, just because they’re both giving off that assholish midget horse-lady Laurent vibes, which — as you know — is also my alter ego 😏

I’ve been doodling a bit in the evenings after work (I’ve not drawn something in so long, and why? for who?), and listening to anime openings etc. Sometimes I wonder if it is a bit cringe that I still gain joy from the same things I had when I was 13, living with my parents back then and feeling utterly lonely (still do). Here are some of the things I’ve drawn:

The first one is depicting how I feel when I am experiencing an episode of mania (also, also, blood thing/our Laurent, self insert?). I called this emotional state ‘Archangel’, because it isn’t actually me, or thats how it feels at least. It is this righteous entity, that is entitled to anger and vengeful feelings. He is 100% sure his feelings are justified. I don’t often experience the archangel or that inner ‘surety’ of my own perception, of reality. But when I do — not only does he feel anger, he also punishes me bodily for — by proxy — feeling anger through him. He humiliates me. It is almost as if I was taking on the persona’s of the people who abused me as a child. Who disallowed me from standing up for myself, and who discouraged protecting myself from them, who disallowed me from feeling angry. I am not allowed to be upset.

I’m sorry if thats tmi and makes you uncomfortable, you know I’m always too open.

The second one is Romano and Antonio in the traditional clothes of the Fallas Carnival in Valencia. This year is the tenth year anniversary of me first visiting the city (I can’t believe it! I have memories of 10 years ago!!) I booked a one week vacation there for March to go by myself and finally see the Fallas! Valencia’s main festival! I’m very excited to drink Horchata de Chufa and draw some Antonio/Romano doodles and take naps. I also booked a tour to see the atelier’s of the artists building the statues, that will surely be interesting. I already wish I could send you a postcard, but I’m not supposed to, am I? Maybe I will get one anyway and just post it here and then add it to your little box of things I keep.

Again, I’m looking forward to rest and play my video game on the weekend, when I am off (I’m currently trying to level myself up to take on that acid monster in the Cathedral of St. Frangelico) 🙄

Thinking of you fondly at the sight of the stars & moon,

your Sabo

[marvelmusing]

Gorgon!Billy Russo x Goddess!Reader

headcanons under the cut

A/N: features brief mentions of sex and violence. Reader is based on Athena, and the gods in this are based on the Greek Gods but it’s a loose inspiration

»»---------------------►

Growing up in the group home, one of Billy’s only sources of refuge was reading myths and stories about the old gods and how they used to bless mortals who were dedicated enough.

Several years later, Billy is struggling to keep Anvil afloat. He hadn’t been caught up in the illegal activities of Rawlins, but his old commander’s actions still had an impact on Billy.

He’s walking by a trinket shop when he spots a familiar symbol. The Goddess of Wisdom’s symbol. It’s a dull golden charm, hanging from a thin piece of black string. Something inside him calls out to the charm, and he buys it.

Billy hasn’t had time for reading or hobbies over the years, too busy fighting, trying to stay alive, then create a business for himself. Alone. But after buying the necklace, he feels the urge to go back to the stories he had read as a child.

All the while, he keeps the necklace on, the charm settled next to his beating heart.

He goes to the library, spending hours reading through countless books. Anything about the old gods - but particularly the Wisdom goddess. Original texts. Academic analysis. Poems and plays. Trashy romantic retellings written for teenagers. Billy devours every word of it.

He reads online discourse and debates. He goes to museums and art galleries, admiring how the artists tried to capture the Goddess’ likeness.

Eventually, he finds a summoning spell, to call the Goddess to you. He doesn’t really think it will work, so he tucks it away in his office at Anvil.

He only finds the spell again one Sunday morning when he comes into work, hoping to distract himself from the ache in his chest.

He knew people saw him as a one-time thing. He knew that the girl he’d been flirting with over the last week probably wouldn’t want to stay and have breakfast with him. He would settle for whatever morning sex she wanted and hopefully she’d want to see him again. Because he liked her. He always liked them.

Only for her to wake up and immediately get dressed, telling him she had only gone out with him because her father wanted to make an offer on Anvil.

Now here Billy was, in his office on a Sunday, feeling used, when he wanted to still be in bed with someone who cares about him. Clearly that’s too much to ask for, he thinks bitterly, swiping his papers to the floor in pain-fuelled frustration.

Then he spots the summoning spell.

He draws the complex diagram on a piece of paper, writes his name in the centre, encircled by the many names of the Goddess. Billy says the words of the spell, his tongue pronouncing the syllables clumsily.

He waits for a long moment, looking around for any sense of another presence. He strains his ears, listening for some sort of sign for the God’s. Something to take away the awful ache inside him. To make him feel whole.

Nothing.

Then Billy passes out.

When he comes to, he’s on a cliff top, overlooking the sea. The wind whips at his hair as he looks around wildly. A voice calls out calmly,

“Hello William Russo.”

He turns. You’re sitting on a tree stump, leaning back on your arms as you enjoy the warm glow of the sun on your skin. Your eyes are hooded, due to the brightness, as you look over at him.

The breath catches in Billy’s throat. You’re ethereal. More gorgeous than he could ever imagine. His lips part, and you appear to be amused at his expression. He briefly wonders whether he should kneel at your feet. Then he shakes himself.

“What’s going on? Where am I?”

“You called out to me.” Your voice is soft, and he could listen to you all day long. “So I brought you here, to my island.”

“Why?” You shrug lightly.

“I’ve seen your pursuits, William Russo. It’s been quite some time since a mortal was so dedicated to me.”

The skin over his cheekbones reddens.

“I’ve seen your struggles too. I’d like to make you an offer.” He narrows his eyes. He knows to be wary of the gods and their gifts, but you don’t seem to mean him any harm. “Any mortal that looks at you with ill intentions in their heart will suffer greatly for it.” His stomach flips. That’s what he’s always wanted.

“What’s the catch?”

“You will be bound to this island, and serve here as the protector of my temple for the rest of your life.”

“Temple?”

You point through the trees to where a large marble structure stands, though it looks like it’s seen better days.

“That’s all?” He asks. You nod. He runs it through his mind. He doesn’t have much waiting for him back in his old life. Here, he would have safety, and a purpose, and you. “I’ll do it.”

“Will you swear it?”

“One condition.” You nod. “I want your blessing as well.”

A smile creeps over your lips. You do love it when mortals are clever.

“Done.”

Then Billy swears an oath to remain on your island, and protect your temple for the rest of his life. You step closer to him, asking him to close his eyes. There’s only a moment of hesitation, before he obeys.

Leaning close, you press a featherlight kiss to each of his closed eyelids. Then one on his forehead.

“Say goodbye to your mortality, William Russo.”

He breathes out a nervous laugh.

“I think you can call me Billy, all things considered.” You chuckle quietly, and Billy wants to hear that sound for the rest of his life. You step back, allowing your magic to settle over him.

“Open your eyes then, Billy.”

You smile at your work, taking his hand in yours and leading him towards the temple. There’s an adorable frown of confusion on his face. He doesn’t feel any different.

His eyes widen when you step foot in the temple. High ceilings and beautiful paintings on the walls, now faded with the sun and smudged by rain. Ornate columns and carvings that are crumbling slowly with time. You stop in front of a large mirror, and Billy finally sees his reflection.

He stares in shock.

If he could tear his eyes away he would notice that you look nervous.

“A Gorgon?” He says faintly, reaching up towards the mass of dark snakes sitting on the top of his head.

“I kept most of your human features. No hooves or wings or tail.”

“Snakes.” He says, running his hand tentatively over the creatures.

“Yes.” Your voice is very quiet. “I sharpened your teeth, and nails.” He observes these features, looking them over curiously. “Changed your hair, obviously. And your eyes.”

“My eyes?”

He looks closer into the mirror, studying his eyes. They look the same dark brown as they always have, though when the sunlight hits them appear to shimmer like moonlight over a still lake.

“So I can turn people into stone?”

“Only those who wish you ill will.” You remind him, before adding in a soft, dangerous tone, “I’ve heard it’s quite an agonising way to die.”

Billy tilts his head as he looks at you. So kind and gentle with him, but he sees the cruelty underneath. He sees how dangerous your beauty is. You’re just like him.

“Thank you.”

From then onwards Billy lives in your temple. After his first day on the island, you’re called away to the Council of the God’s. You warn Billy that you may be gone a long time. Years feel different to immortals, and trying to gather all twelve of you, then come to a decision together takes the patience of a saint.

Billy assures you that he’s used to being alone. Though that doesn’t make you feel better as you dematerialise and drift away to the Council.

While you’re away, Billy cleans up the rubble and the weeds growing in the cracks of the temple. He then patches up those cracks, to the best of his ability. He manages to come to an agreement with the local bees, and makes beeswax candles for your altar.

As you’re sitting through the meeting, sighing as your sibling falls from their chair after one too many glasses of wine, you feel the changes Billy is making. With every pile of dust removed, your head feels clearer. With every animal he befriends, your heart flutters. When he lights the candles on your altar, you feel powerful for the first time in years.

Your brother observes the change as the two of you walk out of the Council Hall once the meeting has finally concluded.

“You seem happy. Don’t tell me you’ve finally found someone to warm your temple.” He teases with a smug grin, and you shove his shoulder, eyeing the sky as sunrise is about to begin.

“Don’t you have a chariot to pull, little brother?”

Before he can respond, you shift into an owl and soar off into the night.

Billy is in the temple when you arrive. He turns when he hears you coming, his eyes wide as you move towards him in a glistening silver gown, the thin fabric rippling as you walk.

“My Goddess.” He greets you with such awe in his voice that you shiver.

“Hello Billy.”

He grins wickedly with a confidence he hadn’t shown you before.

“I never got to thank you properly.” You frown at him, and he steps closer, pressing his body against yours. His fingers trace under your jaw, as he breathes the words against your skin, “May I?”

“Yes.”

He perches you on your altar, parts your thighs, and buries his face between them, worshipping you with every ounce of devotion in his body.

From then onwards you slowly become lovers.

One day you’re working in the forest together. Picking berries as Billy chops at some wood. You drop your basket when you hear a startled cry from Billy.

“You should be more careful, my love.” You warn him, the endearment slipping out at the alarming sight of his blood. You feed him ambrosia to heal his wound, and his eyelids flutter at the sweet taste.

You are very affectionate towards his snakes. He often lowers his head into your lap, allowing you to thread your fingers through them and coo at them.

“Hello, my darlings. Oh you poor things, all tangled up aren’t you? Let me help you.”

Billy hides his grin when you help his snakes to detangle themselves, knowing full well that they could do it on their own.

Your siblings soon hear about the mortal man turned immortal by your hand, who now protects your temple. Of course, they decide to visit.

“This is my brother. You probably know him as Apollo, or Helios, or… Well he’ll probably list all his titles and ask you to choose your favourite. He’s rather vain in that sense.” You remark teasingly, at which your brother rolls his eyes.

You tell Billy that should be want to bed any of them, he’s more than welcome to. As long as he doesn’t do it in the prayer room. He tilts his head in confusion at your words.

“I thought the gods were possessive over their mortals.”

“You aren’t mortal anymore, Billy. Forever is a long time, and I wouldn’t want to confine you anymore than I have done already. Besides, my siblings may have you for a night or two, but I’m the one who gets to keep you on my island, in my temple.”

He smiles at your words, but he still has questions.

“They’re your siblings though. Isn’t that a little weird?”

“We’re not actually related you know.” He frowns at you, and you explain, “God’s aren’t made up of genetics like humans are, we’re intangible. After all, can you hold wisdom in your hands?”

“Yes.” Billy says immediately and you frown at him.

He cups your face in his hands and you laugh.

“Very clever, Mr Russo.” He shrugs lightly with a bright smile on his face.

“I try.”

When the word spreads of the Gorgon in your temple, you begin to feel worry for the first time in centuries.

“Please be careful, Billy. Now that the gods know about you, before long it will reach the demigods, then the humans. They’ll see your head as a prize to claim.” He kisses your forehead in reassurance.

“I’ll be careful.”

You’re lying in bed one night when Billy asks you,

“What happens when a monster dies?”

You turn to face him with a frown, eyeing the distant look in his eyes.

“I didn’t turn you into a monster, Billy.” You state firmly, holding his face in your hands. “Despite the things you did, even as a mortal, you have never been a monster.” He nods and you continue. “If you did die, I would go straight down to Hades or Tartarus or wherever you ended up, and I would bring you right back.”

“Gods can’t go to Hades.”

You smile mischievously.

“I have my connections.”

Said connections visit a month later, when Spring arrives at your island.

Persephone sits in the sunlit field with you as she weaves Billy a flower crown, and you discover that his snakes can sneeze - much to his embarrassment.

You and Billy Russo have a very long existence ahead of you, but you’re sticking together through it all.

»»---------------------►

marvelmusing Tag List: @dreamlandcreations @blanchedelioncourt @idaofinfinity

Billy Russo Tag List: @blackbirddaredevil23 @rafaelakelley @theysayitscrazy @nyx2021 @skybridgerton @dragon-of-winterfell @chickensarentcheap @stardustmorozov @sweetwritingfanficfriend @witchcraftandwit @ladyofsoa @ily2lia

BB Characters Tag List: @rachlovesactors

[harryspet]

secret service | bucky barnes

[Warnings] secret service!bucky x reader, reader is vp’s daughter, bodyguard!bucky, agegap, noncon/dubcon sex, brat tamer bucky, dominant x submissive, rough sex (wear protection kids!!)

A/N: this is for @nsfwsebbie​ ‘s dream fic challenge. Happy b-day sab! this is @mypoisonedvine​ ‘s dream fic and the prompt was “I would love anything dark bucky, especially if he starts out all nice and stuff but then he's all manipulative and it gets worse and worse until we're in heavy dub con/non con territory”. hope you enjoy bb!

In which a political trip to London allows you to be reunited with your favorite secret service member, Bucky Barnes. 

taglist: @peterztinglez @lovelynerdytraveler @buckybarney @hollandsdream @micki-smiles @buckybarnesplumwhore @arts-ismything​ @saharzek​ @lovemassivelybeautifulbouquet​ @what-is-your-wish​ @marvelslut-musicalnerd​ @brattypeony​ @hermayone​ @buckysugar​ @mandiiblanche​ @cherienymphe​

word count: 3.9k 

main masterlist

“You’ll need to be on your best behavior this weekend. We can’t have an incident like last year.”

You didn’t meet your mother’s eyes as you looked out the window of the private plane. Surprising to most, this time you spent watching her read her millions of paperwork was the most time you spent with her. Your mother cared for you but she was not warm. You didn’t believe a warm person could make it so high in the government. Being the daughter of the Vice President, you saw the kinds of dirty, manipulative politics that went on behind the scene. 

You wanted little part of it but, here you were, about to land in London for an important public event. 

“Y/N? Are you listening?” She continued to talk despite your lack of an answer, “That means you tell your agents when you’re going somewhere. I don’t care if you’re only walking down the hall to the ice machine, you tell them. You’ve known this since you were a little girl, I don’t know why you always give me a hard time.”

“I’m already here alone, Mom. Must you torture me further by suffocating me?”

“I know you must think it’s fun to rendezvous with some foreign prince but I must ask you to keep your legs closed for this trip and listen to your security.”

Your mouth parted. She thought of you as some whore but the truth was that you were far from the persona she forced upon you, “You don’t know me at all. And Alden isn’t a prince, his father is a prince. He’s just a duke,” You faked a smile and she scowled at you. 

You weren’t expecting her next words, “I have a surprise for you when we land.”

You paused for a moment, trying to read her face. She was perfect at disguising her true emotions and, as her daughter, the thought that you didn’t really know your mother was saddening, “A surprise? I thought you were lecturing me.”

“You won’t listen unless I bribe you, Y/N,” Just as the words left her mouth, the pilot spoke on the intercom. The plane was beginning its descent and in a moment you’d be landing. One of your mother's assistants had to approve all your outfits for this trip. After some discourse, you decided on a light pink dress for your arrival look. It hugged your curves the way you liked but it reached down to your knees modestly as your mother preferred. 

When you were finally stepping down the stairs to the plane, watching your mother wave to the press, and the diplomats ready to greet her, you realized what your surprise was. Two sleek, black cars waited at the end of the red carpet and the sight of the man standing in front of the second one made your heart race. 

It took everything in you not to run to him. His dark hair was styled neatly, his arms folded over his nicely pressed black suit and a soft look of happiness was displayed on his strong face. He was just like you remembered him, the earpiece in his ear and the gold pin on his lapel reminded you of his position. 

“This is my surprise?” Your mother turned to you with a grin. 

“I know how much you like Agent Barnes, maybe you’ll actually listen to him. You’re going straight to your hotel room, I will see you later tonight.”

“Of course, my beloved mother.  Like all teenagers, I love sitting in my hotel room and doing nothing while I’m on a trip.”

You watched your mother walk away from you, going to the first car while you approached the second car. Your speed picked up as you neared him. He opened the door for you, winking, “Girl Scout is in the Stage Coach. I repeat, Girl Scout is in the Stage Coach.”

Everyone the secret service protected had a codename. You’d been a proud girl scout for most of elementary school and then middle school when your mother went from Senator to Vice President. The name stuck and you thought it was annoying now that you’d grown out of that phase but you liked the name on his lips. 

As you carefully slipped inside the car, you were beaming and, as Bucky slipped in beside you, you had to wait to pounce. You attacked him with a hug as soon as the doors closed and none of the crowd could see you through the tinted windows. You felt his hand against your back, hugging you tightly and it was then that you realized how touch starved you had been. 

Everyone you came in contact had to go through your guards and that was often an intimidating process for most guys. Even though you had started college, you decided to avoid boys altogether because of this. 

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Your eyes were wide even as you pulled away from him, “How?”

Bucky gave you a soft smile, “Well I can’t tell you all the details since they’re top secret but, let’s say, my mission didn’t take as long as predicted.”

Your eyes narrowed at him in curiosity, “So you killed the bad guys and they let you come back to play babysitter?”

Bucky shook his head, giving you an amused look, “So crass. I see nothing has changed,” He leaned over and, for the briefest second, you thought his face was leaning into yours. Instead, he had reached over to grab your seatbelt as he safely secured it around your waist. Your cheeks heated up and you found yourself looking into the rearview mirror where you could see the two agents sitting in the front seat, “I apologize for being gone so long.”

“You didn’t miss much,” You said to console him, “Just senior year which was nothing special.”

Seeing him now made you think about meeting him those six years ago. He was so young then, just having served in the Army, but somehow aging had made him look even better. You had a feeling he was just as king and loyal as before. You were just a middle schooler at the time, hormonal, and constantly fighting with your parents about your lack of freedom. Maybe you hadn’t changed much either. 

You watched him fasten his own seatbelt as the car began to take off, “Nothing special, hmm?” He cocked his eyebrow, “What about prom? Graduation?”

“Oh, it was effectively ruined by my arch-nemesis. He stole my spot as Salutatorian, my prom date wouldn’t stop talking to him about nanotech for the entire evening, and guess who got into Stanford for early admission just like yours truly?”

“Little Peter Parker?” Bucky chuckled. 

“He’s not so little anymore,” You crossed your arms, pouting, “He’s only jealous that my mother was chosen as Vice President and his uncle was chosen for the lousy Secretary of Labor position.”

“Seems he must like you a lot to follow you to Stanford. To move all the way across the country,” You gave him an incredulous look, “C’mon, princess, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

“Of course I’ve noticed,” You rushed out your words, trying to ignore that feeling you got when he called you princess. If anyone else had said that, you’d probably feel disgusted but … you couldn’t help but think that term of endearment had changed its meaning. The truth was that you never thought Peter liked you and now you were worrying that your lack of social awareness had caused you to ignore the warning signs, “The last person I want to talk about is Peter Parker, Bucky.”

“Fine,” He folded his hands in front of him, sighing. 

“Besides,” You side-eyed him mischievously, “I have someone far more important who feigns for my attention.”

“Oh yeah?” Bucky leaned in. 

“A duke,” You finished.

Bucky’s face seemed to fall, “I can’t imagine you as a duchess,” You couldn’t imagine yourself as one either but you liked the excitement that Alden brought you, “And your mother informed me of what happened last year. I’ll probably lose my job if something like that occurs again.”

“You’d tattle on me? I thought we were friends, Bucky.”

“That was when you were a harmless little girl. Now, you’re …” His eyes seemed to roam over your face then they fell to your neck but they moved back to your eyes before they could travel any lower, “You’re going to make this hard on me, aren’t you?”

You reached out to tap his cheek playfully and smirked, “I missed you.”

+

You weren’t sure exactly what holier-than-thou charity that these rich people had gathered in ball gowns to donate to. It was probably a minuscule fraction of their wealth and they most likely were only here to keep up appearances. Still, you enjoyed a chance to dress up. 

You moved through the historical museum in a red ball gown, admiring all the expensive artifacts, as Bucky escorted you. You expected your mother to be with you during the event she’d forced you to attend but it seemed that she was once again too busy. You would’ve felt lonely if Bucky hadn’t been there. The other agents kept their distance, wearing tuxedos to blend into the rest of the crowd as they watched you from a distance. 

Every now and then your conversation with Bucky would be interrupted by a message coming through his squiggly earpiece. 

He looked quite handsome tonight and by the outline of his biceps against the fabric of his tuxedo jacket, you could tell he had bulked up over the last year. 

“Madam Vice President had a run-in with the Prime Minister's wife. Turns out they’ve been dying to talk. She’ll meet you once the auction begins.”

“Oh, an auction, is that what this is? What endangered species are we saving tonight?”

“Funny,” Bucky added sarcastically, “... I don’t see your prince around. Perhaps he found another famous daughter to entertain for the night.”

You gave him a venomous look, “That cannot be possible when I look like this,” You emphasized your glamorous look that had taken nearly five hours to get on, “Now, would you please escort me to my table? I’m sure he’ll come and find me once you’re not standing beside me like a big tree.”

The truth was that you had no idea if Alden even remembered you from last year. He did make out with you but who knows how many famous daughters he had tried to entertain before. You hated how right Bucky seemed. 

Bucky didn’t add anything to your harsh words as he escorted you into a large ballroom. It was so elegantly decorated that the room smelled like money. Blue stripes of light wavered through the room making it feel like you were in the middle of the ocean. You couldn’t help that the feeling of drowning that she experienced was a bad touch on the organizer's part. 

Of course, your mother’s table was right near the front of the room. As Bucky pulled back the white chair, you took a seat, not meeting his eyes, “You’re dismissed, Mr. Barnes,” You spoke over your shoulder. 

To your surprise, he leaned down to whisper into your ear, “You cause any problems tonight, princess, and you deal with me.”

Your mouth pinched into a thin line as you were left speechless. When you looked back, he was already walking away, taking his position by the far wall. You looked away quickly, mentally cursing. So much for having the upper-hand. You slouched in your seat, looking around the hall which was now flooding with people. 

A few people you vaguely remembered having a conversation with approached you to talk. Hollywood celebrities, European politicians, and even famous designers hoping to get you to wear some of their designs. Lately, the paparazzi loved to follow you as you walked to class and gossip sites loved to talk about what you wore. 

Everyone was so busy trying to get your attention that you hadn’t noticed someone slip in the seat beside you, “You look like you need something to drink,” You were a bit startled but you immediately recognized his voice. It seemed a year had made him more handsome as well. With one hand he grabbed yours and kissed it and with the other he handed you a glass of champagne. 

“Your grace,” You greeted him, accepting the glass. You had almost forgotten that you could legally drink here. Despite that, you knew it would be improper to your mother. That’s why you took a sip, “Thank you so much-” You winced at the bitter taste but continued to sip. 

The young duke was tall and red-headed, his face peppered with adorable freckles. His royal get-up was even more attractive. 

You looked back at Bucky who was staring intently, “Is a night of fun in the cards for us?” You turned back to the Prince. 

“I’m not supposed to rendezvous with royalty anymore. My Mom was not happy with me.”

He leaned back casually in his chair, his leisurely nature was surprising to you, “Is she usually happy with you?”

“Touche,” You took another painful sip, “Still, I’m not supposed to leave this table and I’m supposed to go straight back to my hotel room. No funny business.”

“No shenanigans whatsoever?” He frowned and you wondered why the British accent was so heavenly, “You must, at the very least, keep me entertained through whatever ceremony this is-”

“An auction, your grace.”

“What endangered species are we trying to save this time? It won’t be enough money anyways since they decorated this place with literal diamonds,” You smiled as you saw him reach into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flask, “Something stronger, perhaps?”

+

Bucky tapped his foot, starting to tune out the voice in his ear. 

The room was now full of socialites, Madam Vice President had been escorted to her seat, and now the auction was beginning. The Vice President hadn’t so much as hugged her daughter so Bucky doubted she had noticed you were drinking yet. The young Duke would refill your glass with a clear liquid every time it ran low. 

You were now giggling and laughing with him as a serious speech was given. You had to be at least six shots in. You played with his hand in your lap, leaning over to whisper in his ear, as you had the time of your life. 

Bucky didn’t panic, only made a quick decision, “Girl Scout is in need of some rescuing. Clear the exit.” 

Bucky scanned the room and his men began to follow his orders, as he approached your table. Before you could take another sip of your drink, his hand was on your shoulder. Your mother flashed him a concerned look but Bucky gave her a look to tell her not to worry. Luckily, she hadn’t noticed yet that you were about to go off the rails. 

“Want some?” You smiled lazily as you lifted your glass. Bucky took it from you, setting back on the table. 

“I think you need to use the bathroom, Miss Y/L/N,” You gave him a confused look. You wondered why he was being so stern with you. 

“Nooo, I think you have the wrong woman, officer,” Bucky grabbed onto your hand, urging you up from your seat, “Let me deal with this rude man, your grace, I’ll be back soon.”

It seemed the Duke was in a similar, drunk state and simply replied with, “Return soon, my darling. I shall wait for your return-” You couldn’t respond because Bucky was trying to pull you away. Luckily, Bucky hadn’t managed to cause a scene but he knew you’d end up getting blackout drunk and embarrassing your mother if you continued. 

Agents flocked around the two of you as you were guided out of the room. You almost tripped on the long skirt of your dress though Bucky easily caught you. You held onto him, giggling, “You couldn’t make it one night, could you?” You walked through a long hallway, staff carrying large plates of food passed and stared. 

He brought you to the bathroom which was ginormous in itself, chandeliers hanging across the length of it, and completely empty, “I don’t think you’re supposed to be in here, officer.”

He leaned against the wall, “Walk around. Splash water on your face. Sober up.”

You rolled your eyes, leaning against the sink counter, as you stared at your makeup. As if you would ruin your makeup to “sober up”. 

You pouted, staring at him through the mirror, “I didn’t mean to make you mad, Bucky. Only my mother.”

“Your mother is my boss. When you upset her, she’s upset with me,” Bucky was terse, and you wondered where that soft side was starting to disappear to, “You shouldn’t be drinking anyway.”

You huffed, hating that this conversation was starting to ruin your buzz, “I’m not a child. Don’t tell me you never had a sip of alcohol before you were twenty-one.”

“You think you’re more mature than you actually are,” You couldn’t help the scowl that formed on your face, “You’re not drinking for fun. You’re drinking to spite your mother.” 

He moved closer, his hands behind his back as he sunk his words into you like a knife. You turned to him, taking a challenging step toward him. He towered over you but you clung to that anger and turned it to what you thought was confidence. 

You grinned up at him, reaching out to play with the buttons of his jacket, “I thought you knew me better, Bucky,” You looked up at him with longing eyes, “I’m not a little girl anymore and you know that. You look at me differently. Your eyes linger on places you shouldn’t even be watching.”

Bucky grabbed your wrist tightly, suddenly, “Stop,” You knew you had touched a nerve. 

“See, I know these things now,” You teased, “You like it when you can swoop me up and save me.”

“It’s my job, Y/N,” He spoke sternly. He was still holding you despite his words. 

“What is it that you really want from me?” You pressed yourself closer to him, “A kiss maybe? Or something more forbidden?”

His eyes were dark with lust and you watched them linger on your lips at the mention of a kiss. What exactly did you want from him and what hole had you just dug for yourself? The alcohol was giving you courage but you weren’t actually sure how to finish what you started. 

Bucky decided for you. He turned your body quickly, pressing your back into him, as a hand tightened around your throat. He faced you toward the mirror and the two of you were illuminated with bright lights. Your eyes widened as you watched him lean into your ear, “You’re such a brat ….”

Maybe part of him wanted you to mess up. Maybe he wanted a reason to get you alone with him and away from the royal douche that you were talking to. Maybe he let you get to this point ... 

“Bucky, what are you-” His hand tightened around your throat and you felt your knees go weak. 

He shushed you, “You asked what I really wanted. I want to punish you, princess,” Shivers went through your body as his warm breath tickled your ear, “I want to fuck you speechless so you can’t talk back with that smart little mouth of yours anymore.”

You started to struggle against you but you felt his fingers tighten around the sides of your throat. His hands were so big that they wrapped perfectly around your neck, “Hands on the counter,” He loosened his grip but only so he could push you forward. Like instinct, your hands held the sink counter. You turned your head to look back at him but he grabbed your hair, forcing your face forward, “Look forward, I want you to be able to see your pretty face while I fuck you.”

“Bucky, I’m sorry,” You forced out shakily as you felt the back of your dress being slowly unzipped. Through the mirror, you watched as he carefully took in the view of your body, “Please don’t hurt me-”

“Have I ever hurt you before?” He interrupted you, his hands traveling over your bareback, “I’ll always protect you, princess. I just think, if I’m going to keep doing my job, we need some new rules.”

The straps of your dress fell down your shoulder, exposing your breast. Again, as you tried to look away, he forced your face towards the mirror again, “Don’t be shy now,” He pulled down your panties, slapping your now exposed bottom, sending a stinging pain through your skin. 

There was aching between your legs and part of you feared what he’d discover when he took a closer look. As you watched him undo his belt, a dark look in his eyes, you knew that he was going to push you all the way. He slapped your ass again, watching your body convulse as you tried to run from the pain. Surprisingly, his intimate touch only made that aching grow. 

Upon closer examination, Bucky did discover the wetness between your legs. You bit down on your lip as his fingers roamed over your sweet spot, rubbing your sensitive bulb. You bent over further, allowing him more access which caused Bucky to smirk. 

Something switched in him once again because suddenly he was pouncing again, positioning himself behind you as he pushed you further against the counter. He wanted you to see his face as he entered you, roughly grabbing your hair as he teased you entrance with his hard, throbbing cock. 

“Please…” 

“Please what? You want me to fuck you?” You closed your eyes, unwilling to answer, only to receive another smack to your bottom, “Don’t worry about what you want, princess, I’m making the decisions here.”

He stretched you as he slowly entered you and you tightly wrapped around his member, “Fuck, Y/N,” He cursed, moving deeper inside of you. At that moment, he was all that could feel, and all that consumed your thoughts. He moved torturously slow in and out of you and you gasped every time he sunk his entire length within you. 

“Bucky!” You cried out, your mouth wide as you gripped the counter for dear life, “Ah, t-t-too big … p-please. Ah!”

He moved faster now, reaching around to grab ahold of your breast as he thrust inside of you. You called his name again and that only made him speed up his pace. He was torturing with his ferocity and now you wished he’d go back to taking it easy on you. You watched in the mirror as he split you apart, taking whatever innocence you had left within you, “Good girl, princess,” He praised you, “Taking my cock. So. Good.”

He was moving too fast now. With each thrust, he was hitting the right spot and sending pleasure in cascading waves through your body. You couldn’t take it, already tightening around his cock as you orgasm. You tried to run from it, trying to pull your body forward but he grabbed your arms, forcing you back onto his cock. Tears stung your eyes as he went even deeper. 

When he finally came, he grunted hard, his moaning deep and heavy. You were defeated, conquered, though you didn’t understand why being violated could feel so good. 

You leaned against the counter as you tried to catch your breath. Bucky ran his fingers through his hair, breathing heavily, before pulling up his pants and tightening his belt again. He adjusted his earpiece before looking at you over again. Shaking, you were pulling up the straps of your dress.

“Sober now?” He asked, a wicked smile on his face. “Let’s try yes sir and no sir from now on. Understand?”

“Yes… Sir.”

+

i love the whole secret service concept so i hope you enjoyed it too!

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Thurs 18 March ‘21

The Zayn/ Zach Sang interview is happening, for real this time (fingers crossed)! It’s scheduled for tomorrow!! Zach promises to ask lots of NIL questions. And I really believe it’ll happen this time, Zayn OUT THERE doing promo-- he did multiple radio spots yesterday and answered every question thrown his way however stupid, even throwing caution to the wind and taking on the one they’re all always trying to avoid (though not so far to the wind as to choose any of the other options each of which would be a scandal in a different way- you can take the boy out of the media training but...)- “I’ll tell you what,” he said, “Niall is my favorite. How about that? There you go. Niall makes the best music. Yeah I will say that he makes better music than me. Yeah, I’m a Niall fan." About the grammys he said, “It's nothing to do with my own personal gain because even if they nominated me at this stage, I wouldn't even go and accept the award because it doesn't mean anything to me.”

Zayn talked about how he just wanted to do a song with Ingrid, he didn’t know what, “I didn’t expect it to be anything less than great but it was better than that… it hit the nail on the head” and “the fact that it’s an important message in the song makes it better.” He also said that he listens to a lot of country music and would really like to collab with Chris Stapleton. OKAY! TBH I can hear how that makes sense- amazing, I am manifesting this, come on universe! He also said that he will have new music this year in an old school R&B style though and that he would like to do live shows after the pandemic!! If I didn’t think he was just saying things I would be LOSING MY MIND right now but omg WHAT IF?? He said Khai is an easy baby, a good sleeper and eater, that he likes singing to her, and that Gigi is a “wicked mom” and “a big help,” LMAO (RIP Zayn, strangled by his baby mama). RCA posted a couple more gorgeous new Zayn pics, and Ingrid raves about how Zayn’s fans are “the sweetest most supportive people” and she feels “like I’ve been hugged by a million stars today.” Am I to understand that it’s possible for stans to treat a woman working with their fave with kindness?? My mind is REELING!

Hopefully Harry has had enough time to process having achieved a great industry honor, because yesterday brought another- he was on Beyonce’s insta! She included a picture of the two of them talking backstage in her big grammys wrap up post (plus he’s visible behind her in a shot of her winning- say what you will about the orange jacket it’s great for visibility!) And Lil NasX, perfect as always, has something to say about Harry too- he says “stop using me as a bait against harry styles. I love harry, if y’all fw what I wear say it without mentioning him,” and posts a couple examples of the types of tweets he means such as “we have GOT to stop acting like Harry Styles is a male fashion icon when lil nas x is right there.” Stop pitting girls against each other2k21! Nas gets it, bless him. Oh yeah and an old pap video from DWD set of Harry going into Olivia’s trailer posted which I ignored because it was so completely uninteresting but apparently that’s a BIG DEAL to some people. My bad! You’re so right, the only reason someone would possibly go into a room with a coworker is obviously that they’re fucking! They probably had sex right there while the paps were outside! I mean there were a bunch of other people visibly in the trailer too but whatever. Oh and as long as we’re doing nonsense catch up- he was seen with a FEMALE in Malibu the other night omgggg they’re clearly dating. Oh but actually it might have been Mitch! LMAO, but that’s okay we can have discourse about how they’re obviously fucking anyway cause like… dinner! TOGETHER!! The scandal.

Anyway Louis has a message for us, can you guess what it is? Yes that’s right-- “Hope everyone's doing alright!!” No matter how many times he says it, I still love the hello, thanks love (even if it was an afterthought and he was actually there to follow a crypto currency trading account). A bunch of old videos of him were posted today, including one from 2019 where Louis says about acting in his music videos “I wasn’t acting it’s who I am hahahaha” (ahhhhh I miss that laugh) and he’s on the wall of a THIRD MUSEUM! Louis is Art pt lll-- A Doncaster history timeline at the local museum has a big entry for Doncaster’s finest export, labeled “Louis Tomlinson Achieves Super Stardom”! Earlier entries were his face (hung up high) in the National Portrait Gallery and the science museum employee who saw their chance and took it by crediting a mushroom joke to him, a deep Video Diaries reference in the year of 2019; whoever that unknown louie is I hope they are having a very nice day every day, what a hero.

And a photodump from Zayn’s favorite member of OT4! Labeled DUMP (charming thank you) Niall posts an assortment of selfies (that sunglasses one! Ashe agrees, commenting “photo number four thank you very much”) and aesthetic pics and one tiny snippet of a piano tune, and speaking of photodumps from favorites of Zayn’s, a BUNCH of outtakes from Liam’s Grinder Tetu photoshoot just got posted and if I were a gay man I’m pretty sure I would have just had a heart attack, view with care they should probably be PG13.

[tsundere-mitsuhide]

Hogwarts Students HCs

Also posted on AO3. I once had this planned as an AU, but I recently realized the worldbuilding works a lot better as headcanons. Ive sat on these for a long, long time because of the discourse with She Who Shall Not Be Named. I do not mean to bring up painful memories for anyone, I just wanted to have some fun in a world Ive enjoyed over the years.

Nobunaga - Ravenclaw

Nobunaga is always interested in learning of technology, information, and ways of life beyond the island of Japan. He wants to know as much as he can from the Potuguese traders. While Nobunaga could also be a Slytherin for his desire to dominate Japan, in a world where magic exists and he is not fighting the wars of the Sengoku, I think he would be more interested in learning than in fighting. Therefore, I have put him in Ravenclaw.

Hideyoshi - Gryffindor

Gryffindor is a simple choice for Hideyoshi. Always upright, just, loyal, and self-sacrificing, he is a classic fit. And he’s the most likely to have a grudge against Slytherin's methods.

Masamune - Gryffindor

I put Masamune in Gryffindor because of his headstrong, charge-first-ask-questions-later attitude. I think it's a very Gryffindor trait. Out of the warlords in Gryffindor, I think he’d be the most likely to have a bunch of Slytherin friends; he doesn’t judge on house but on ability, and Slytherin are certainly a capable lot. He often ends up the victim of Hideyoshi’s chastisement over his choice of friends.

Ieyasu - Slytherin

Ieyasu’s motivations in his own route focus on power. He has been powerless in the past, as a hostage of the Imagawa. And he never wants to be in that place again. He wants to prove his ability, and be stronger than those who have oppressed him; never again to be the victim. For this reason, I think he’s a Slytherin, as opposed to a Hufflepuff. Who's to say you have to be a Hufflepuff to like plants and healing?

Mitsunari - Ravenclaw

This one was easy, as we all know Mitsunari’s propensity to get lost in a sea of books. I like to think that he reads so often that he entirely forgets to attend class. The professors have tried to have him reprimanded for this but as he always knows so much more than the other students, Mitsunari manages to get away with his behavior.

Mitsuhide - Slytherin

Sneaky. Slippery. Secretive. These are all things that describe Mitsuhide and Slytherins. He respects the order of Slytherins, but also fights it. He occupies the darkness, the space behind everyone’s backs, never admitting what he is really up to. He embraces this dismal role to protect those outside of its clutches, much like other well-known Slytherins have done--or more appropriately, have been forced to choose. I think Mitsuhide would be mighty good at potions, as well as a skilled duelist.

Kenshin - Gryffindor

Kenshin is noble, honorable, and will stand by what he believes is right regardless of what other people try to convince him to do. Both Slytherin and Gryffindor like a good fight, but because of Kenshin’s upstanding values in a fair fight, he wouldn’t play dirty the way a Slytherin would. Thus I think he’d be one of the few Gryffindor’s who actually followed the rules, haha.

Shingen - Gryffindor / Ravenclaw

Shingen… this one is one of the hardest to pin down for me. I think he has traits of a Gryffindor in the loyalty to his land and to his people. But also traits of Ravenclaw in his tangled web of information which he manipulates like a well-trained puppetmaster. I guess that gives him a little bit of Slytherin aspects too. Though I don't think Slytherin would be a good fit for him though, as he desires power not for himself but for the people. Therefore I’m going to say he leans a bit more Gryffindor than Ravenclaw, but he could really be either.

Yukimura - Gryffindor

I imagine Yukimura is the Quidditch captain of Gryffindor. He already wears red, so its not that much of a change for him. He’s active and sporty, but yet respects the rules and the right thing to do. Most of the time. We won't talk about that one time out in the woods, he’s not proud of it either. Overall, like Hideyoshi, I think Yukimura is a pretty classic Gryffindor.

Sasuke -Ravenclaw

How could our astrophysicist ninja be anything but a Ravenclaw? The amount of learning, innovation, creativity, and tenacity it takes to track wormholes without the equipment and technology of the modern day is astounding. Let alone the sheer amount of math.

Kennyo - Hufflepuff

Kennyo is a big, softie and you can't change my mind. He loves all the things Hufflepuff stands for: hard work, nature, animals, kindness, etc. Kennyo won't hurt a fly if given a chance, and nor would a proper Hufflepuff. He embraces the common man, and rejects the racism of Slytherin, the elitism of Ravenclaw, as well as the arrogance of Gryffindor. Kennyo is the epitome of a Hufflepuff.

Ranmaru - Hufflepuff / Slytherin

Ranmaru is a strange one to place because he is a ninja of many secrets, loyal to opposing sides and stuck in the middle. I think he wants to be free of the tight-rope he walks daily, and if he is, he would likely embrace the philosophy of Hufflepuff in order to keep other people from being stuck in the same painful position he had been in. I also think he would make a damn good Slytherin.

Yoshimoto - Ravenclaw

Yoshimoto is interesting because his love of the aesthetic and art would seem to place him in Ravenclaw. And yet his desire to do nothing, to live out the remainder of his days in quiet obsolescence, can also be very Hufflepuff. They’ve cornered the market on cottage-core, after all. He desires to be left alone to admire the things he finds beautiful. I picture him kinda like the curator of a small, private museum. Ths collection of things are the beauties that give his life meaning, and it doesn’t matter if it's just a strange mushroom. He doesn't want to be bothered by anything else. He’s a rather eccentric Ravenclaw, who can be found admiring unnoticed artifacts in the castle instead of attending class. He’d get more detentions, but too many people are so entranced by his own beauty that they forget what they were upset with him about. He’s quite proud of how proficient he is with that charm.

Motonari - Slytherin

Motonari was almost a Gryffindor for his utter disregard for the rules. But I think his “watch the world burn” mentality fits into Slytherin more. Slytherin likes order to Motonari’s chaos, but I think it's the place that is most conducive to his out-for-no-one-but-myself attitude. I imagine that he’d be on good terms with the Bloody Baron, and there are stories after he graduates akin to the horror stories told at teenage sleepovers created about Motonari’s school years.

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing 23-29 May 2021

I’m so on the ball with this lately... >_> Sorry. Here’s this week’s roundup! May 23rd - 29th!

Remember to give your content creators some love! Be sure to join in on the events at the bottom! And remember to send in any new works you see or make next week!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

The Preventer Calendar https://archiveofourown.org/works/31561295

Gen, Reader, Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei, Zechs Merquise, OC - Character

Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, Humor, Partial Nudity, Reader-Insert, Nudity, A teeny hint of TrowaxReader, Rating because of some gratuitous nudity on Trowa's side

Twelve models, twelve shoots, twelve different locations in the Ardennes, and all of it in two fucking days. Because Preventer couldn’t spare you their agents any longer than that.

Why had you agreed to do this project again?

It's all for the arts.

boxofhatebrains

Helping Hand https://archiveofourown.org/works/31620146

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Explicit, No Archive Warnings Apply, Light Angst, Comfort/Angst, Minor Injuries, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, Not Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop Compliant, after series, Flirting, Not Beta Read, slight reference to Episode Zero, Swearing

Duo realizes that Heero comes around whenever he damn well feels like it. They’ve been in contact for the last seven years after the Mariemaia incident, but generally at Heero’s own whim. Duo stays in the same place, it’s Heero who gravitates.

This time is no different.

@duointherain

Silent Menace https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/652120818915115009/fic-silent-menace-11

1x2x1

Warnings: Mute Duo. Drugged and injured Heero.

Une always had the dark side of the job. She’d let others give out goodness, but bad news she owned herself. Duo had come to the conclusion that she was trying to take responsibility, trying to be a decent person. He could vibe with that.

@lifeaftermeteor

Touched by the Stars (Ch. 7) https://archiveofourown.org/works/26314657/chapters/77885468

M/M, Chang Wufei/Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei/Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton/Chang Wufei, Chang Wufei/Quatre Raberba Winner

Explicit, Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, thar be porn, Dubious Consent, Aliens, Alien Abduction, Alternate Universe, mention of MPREG, everyone takes a turn with Wufei, alien anatomy and interesting dicks, Tentacles, Monster Boys, Slime, Double Cocks, Cum Inflation, Knotting, Oral, multiple dicks, Xeno, Spitroasting, Oviposition, Body Modification, Polyamory, Unbirthing, Triple Penetration, Cervical Penetration

University instructor Chang Wufei didn't even believe in aliens, much less intentionally attract their attention. But that doesn't mean much when they decided he'd be the ideal final mate for their group and scoop him off of the planet to take home to their queen. Enjoying him on the trip there, of course. 

@noirangetrois

Of the Sea (Ch. 10) https://archiveofourown.org/works/12749670/chapters/78205124

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, fairytale my way, Meroctopus!Dorothy, Slow Burn, Multi POV, POV Third Person Limited, merman au, MerMay, Fantasy Politics, mentions of abuse, Unnatural November

Heero Yuy will soon be reaching the age of majority, at which time he will ascend the throne of Wingaria. Before such time, he must needs choose a bride. But what if there are no good choices? What if someone else has captured his heart?

The Story of Wrong (Ch. 8) https://archiveofourown.org/works/13849020/chapters/77856332

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Duo POV, Angst, Drama, Tragedy, Spoilers, very dark, Heero and Duo don’t die, I promise, Yaoi, slowburn, Mental Instability, Mental Health Issues, Mental Breakdown, If those are in any way an issue for you then go ahead and skip this, Eventual Smut, VERY eventual, this is mostly canon-compliant but I’ve changed a couple things here and there

Duo recounts his experiences during the war in order to explain… well, why he was wrong.

simulacraryn

love me like (tomorrow we’re) stardust https://archiveofourown.org/works/31458119/chapters/77811359

M/F, Treize Khushrenada/Lady Une

Treize Khushrenada, Lady Une, Original Characters, Hot Dog (gundam wing)

Explicit, Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Angst, Near Death Experiences, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, unredeemable villain, Sex, Smut, consent is fucking sexy, Spoiler: He wore the Astro Suit at last!, Newtypes (Gundam Wing), no predators or prey here, intact brains

The World Nation would face off against the White Fang to bring about an end to all conflict between the Colonies and Earth. The plan had called for the bitter end of the last bastion of the old regime, Treize Khushrenada. However, as with every play on the stage of war, the actors have chosen to adlib. Effectively throwing the course of history off the rails, the director finds himself faced with a new road to choose.

@zaganthi

Jiu Jie https://archiveofourown.org/works/31413956

M/M, M/F, Duo Maxwell/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Duo Maxwell; Duo Maxwell/Hilde Schbeiker

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Relationship Negotiation; Polyamorous Character; Quatre Raberba’s Uchuu no Kokoro | Space Heart; Aged-Up Character(s); Newtypes (Gundam Wing); Past Relationship(s); Jealousy; Awkward Flirting; Bathing/Washing; Cuddling & Snuggling; Museums; talking about feelings; Psychic Bond; Dealing with exes; Ex Sex; Colonists exploring earth

Hilde waved goodbye as she left and Duo went to look for Treize and Quatre. What the hell was wrong with him. His body seemed to be saying yes but his mind was definitely not in that space at all. What the everlasting hell was going on. He wanted to see her again but why?

Treize passed him a picture of tree frogs, apparently feeling the confusion as Duo half jogged through the aquarium to catch back up. What the hell. Just what the hell.

It took him a while to get there, but the moment he got close, Quatre saw him, beamed a happy smile and the link opened up with a rush and he was surrounded again in emotional warmth. It was addictive and a relief, and there wasn’t, there wasn’t any recrimination from either of them. Just run off and see an old flame, it’s cool, we’ll be here when you get back vibes.

Lebensmüde https://archiveofourown.org/works/31413278

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Duo Maxwell

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Aged-Up Character(s); Quatre Raberba’s Uchuu no Kokoro | Space Heart; Newtypes (Gundam Wing); Preventers (Gundam Wing); Cameos; Therapy; Aftermath of Torture; Aftermath of Violence; Rape Aftermath; Physical Disability; Gratuitous Smut; Psychic Bond; Psychic Abilities; Domestic; Injury Recovery

Treize remembered the discussion of gunpowder residue on his head; it was one of the things John had been livid about after everything, and unable to explain any more than Treize had at the time. Seeing it written down… was something else. Treize closed the book over his finger, gently tapping it on his thigh as he looked up at Quatre.

“The first hot chocolate of the season,” Quatre said sitting down next to him, comfort flowing over the link. “I really wanted something sweet.” He paused. “I can feel something is…oh.” He noticed the book in Treize’s hand.

“Adding to the list of things we need to probably talk about,” he said quietly, contemplating it as he reached with his other hand to take the cocoa. “Have you written everything up?”

Fanart/Crafts/Photo Manips:

@2pcbart

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31618103

Recollect - Trowa/WuFei, comic style

@alphaikaros

https://alphaikaros.tumblr.com/post/651358650733150208/little-angry-boi

WuFei Chang, fanart

@bettertasting

https://bettertasting.tumblr.com/post/652303436314017792/something-spicy-for-the-dash-im-really-digging

Heero/Duo, fanart, nsfw

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/652089738925359104/%F0%9D%98%9B%F0%9D%98%A9%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%B4-%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%B4-%F0%9D%98%97%F0%9D%98%B3%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%B7%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%B5%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%B3-%F0%9D%98%9E%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%A5-%F0%9D%98%A4%F0%9D%98%A2%F0%9D%98%AD%F0%9D%98%AD%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%A8-zechs-merquise

Tallgeese, gunpla

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/652448694036316160/sd-wing-gundam-ew

Wing, gunpla

@judaru

https://judaru.tumblr.com/post/651257960922857472/im-20-years-late-but-ive-been-reading-a-lot-of

Duo Maxwell, fanart

@keiko1183

https://keiko1183.tumblr.com/post/652327422940807168/completed-with-pencils-might-be-doing-the-acrylics

Trowa/Quatre, fanart

@not-so-dead-fandoms

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/651085636504272896/mermay-01

Heero Yuy, fanart

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/651494132071661568/mermay-02-duo-as-a-betta-fish-merlad

Duo Maxwell, fanart

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/652283083819810816/mermay-03-of-course-i-made-trowa-a-clownfish

Trowa Barton, fanart

@pineappleglazedham

https://pineappleglazedham.tumblr.com/post/651759824584966144

Trieze/Une, fanart, fanfiction, playlist

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@clair-audients

https://clair-audients.tumblr.com/post/652114120696594432

Wing & Altron, gif

@disturbed02girl

https://disturbed02girl.tumblr.com/post/617456995130294273/thoughtful-quatre-thursday

Quatre, manga page

@meggie-stardust

https://meggie-stardust.tumblr.com/post/652350439669547008/same-energy

Epyon is an icon.

Fandom Discourse:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/651423437954433024/a-homage-to-the-reader-insert

Reader Insert Homage

@cuteciboulette

https://cuteciboulette.tumblr.com/post/652076342033170432/shinigamis-coming-to-town-d-duo-just

Duo Maxwell, doujinshi

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/652102805897805825/in-the-groupchat-trowa-why-tf-do-we-have-20

Trowa & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/652356366558806016/heero-yeah-but-as-far-as-plans-go-this-is-not-a

Heero & Quatre

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/651830976331251712/duo-gesturing-to-heero-dont-worry-weve-got-an

Duo, Heero, & WuFei

Calendar Events:

@gundamzine

Rhythm Generation 2021

Meet the Mods: https://gundamzine.tumblr.com/post/636708854145613824/come-on-over-a-meet-your-2021-zine-mod-team-head

Check out the blog for the Zine schedule!

@gundam-wing-pride

Gundam Wing Pride 2k21 https://gundam-wing-pride.tumblr.com/post/648237909672083456/incoming-transmission-faq

A Beautiful Rainbow of Prompts https://gundam-wing-pride.tumblr.com/post/649898271517573120/a-beautiful-rainbow-of-prompts

@gwartserver

Month of WuFei https://gwartserver.tumblr.com/post/649995521569767424/month-of-wufei

Shooting Stars (online convention) https://gwartserver.tumblr.com/post/650013463432888320/once-upon-a-time-lifeaftermeteor-and-myself

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday, !

In need of Summer/Fall(Autumn) prompts!

(I’ll um... fix these when I have time to find more prompts.)

@gwlemonyshenanigans

May 23rd’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/651999227800600576/may-23rd-submission

May 24th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652131130827571200/may-24th-submissions

May 25th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652252350922342400/may-25th-submissions

May 26th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652312096032342016/may-26th-submissions

May 27th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652433653693136896/may-27th-submissions

May 28th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652434486286548992/may-28th-submission

May 29th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652648408588353536/may-29th-submissions

Friday Spotlight! https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652439213602684928/the-lastspotlight-friday

@oztober-rust

Welcome to Oztober Rust

We’re an up and coming Gundam Wing event with a slight twist! This page is still a work in progress, but you’re welcome to join us over on discord and get a feel for the event.

Have discord, will fan. https://oztober-rust.tumblr.com/post/647568110262566912/i-see-a-nice-and-steady-following-we-do-have-a

@seasons-of-gundamwing

Summer Event Voting https://seasons-of-gundamwing.tumblr.com/post/646220556727877633/seasons-of-gundamwing-okay-wingers-its-time-to

@thisweekingundamevents

Events Calendar https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/644080386309275648/events-calendar-update

If you are hosting an event currently, or are planning on one, hit us up with links and dates! We’ll add them to the Calendar and reblog your notices to get the word out!

[caltropspress]

FEEDBACK LOOP #7: Curly Castro’s “Weapon 13X” featuring Breeze Brewin

There was a very old man, an old white man out in the crowd, and he started screaming and crying like a baby and he kept crying and he said, “God damn, God damn, what is this God damn country coming to that the niggers have got guns, the niggers are armed and the police can’t even arrest them!” He kept crying and somebody led him away through the crowd.

—Robert F. Williams, Negroes with Guns (1962)

Gun flash beats the child’s head in, maniac teeth dance in a bloody grin blue lies, badge confessions, yng dude dead just beyond his mama’s arms

—Amiri Baraka, “Stop Killer Cops”

Police said Cleaver and Hutton were holed up at 1218 28th Street with two 9 mm automatic pistols, two AR-15 and one military-type M-14 automatic rifle, and a large supply of ammunition, some armor-piercing.

—Berkeley Barb, Volume 6, Number 15, Issue 139

1.

“Weapon 13X” is a diptych. Two verses; one pivot—or volta, for you bookworms. Curly Castro is first with a séance that summons the mysteries of Clarence 13X and Weapon X. These nullified variables and Roman numerals come together in an elixir mix so potent that it would make Aes Rock choke on the amalgam. Castro opens the fission gate and discharges two-hundred forty thousand mega-therms on the city of brotherly love, the city of bombs from above onto a 6221 Osage Avenue row house. Shameek just got bust in his arm, leg, leg, arm, head. The Black man is God personified, and Logan is regenerative. Adamantium claws. Mathematical jaws. Science dropped and experiments performed. Spark this like metal does when dragged across concrete.

2.  “Harriet would grab her balls, / This my gun, and this my rifle.”

Harriet Tubman gets cast by Kubrick for Full Metal Jacket, recites the Rifleman’s Creed, but it was actually a pistol she kept buried within the folds of her calico. She sallied forth seeing visions from the overseer’s heave of a weight—made her skull snap. Don’t sleep. “When the caliber’s inside you,” you can’t necessarily count on “the muzzle smoke revival.”

3.

Quelle Chris provides production, lest we forget his 2019 Guns album with its Dada-bullet, double-barreled barrage album art. The title track armed to the teeth: “Ain’t no cracking that code, / Ain’t no safety on locks, / Might as well get you one, / Procrastinating will get you popped.” The machine gun funk outs finks and COINTELPRO cooperators, conspirators, dispiriters. Here, Castro’s got those same turncoats and sucker MCs in his sights, so to speak.

4.  [The oppressor] teaches the Negro that he has no worth-while past, that his race has done nothing significant since the beginning of time, and that there is no evidence that he will ever achieve anything great. (Carter Godwin Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro, 1933)

Castro makes a promise, provoked by those who came before him, those who brandished firearms in the faces of their enemies:

We never will disarm: these are the lies that you were sold, When your glory tripped up, you trade your weapons in for gold. With Yakub in the schools, trade your dreams, knowledge folds. Found the tome, Mis-Education Negroes…

Dr. Yakub sloshing liquids in the lab—Bunsen burners explode and the lab leak is viral whiteness. Tricknology replaces Biology. Castro is looking back while moving forward. “Doomed to repeat it”-type forewarnings. He knows the ledge and also wants his people to.

5.

aim     get your sights & its sound in abstract or journal movements to a peace settlement

dude shot my man

dead,          precious lord blow off theres no willy in th blues theres no you.

—from Tom Weatherly’s Maumau American Cantos (1970)

Castro is a “gunhand, cybernetic with spray cans, / Basquiat, baklava, Mau Mau.” That’s likely an intentional malaprop—surely his militant stance calls for a balaclava. Even still, Castro doesn’t stutter. He will still sh-sh-shift his voice on you—the dynamics of his delivery raise stakes and get guttural, scraping against sewer plates. He’s potent, even if Basquiat’s pistol appears flaccid with its hand-scrawled linework. In another piece, Basquiat starts the decolonization process at the point of a safari helmet. The image detonates.  

6.  Free country? Man, I should fuck you up for sayin’ that stupid shit alone.

“This film is a call to racial violence!” a film critic shouted at Roger Ebert after a screening of Do the Right Thing. She worried Bed-Stuy would set fire to theaters, but Lee’s 1989 film wasn’t The Rite of Spring in Paris in 1913. An amerikan psychotic turn to theater violence would be postponed until Aurora in 2012, and it would be white violence, which would come as a shock to none who have tracked the trajectory of white violence. Displacement is white violence, too. White violence is a sine qua non for gentrification. And so Castro allies himself with “Buggin’ Out battle brownstone houses, some Bird fans, / While Mookie turns the radio up and launched the trashcan.”

7.  “We are the weapons.”

Of late, Castro has consistently been proving you’re out your depth, with verses so allusive they suggest a strong “Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith, nobody blink. / They don’t now who the fuck that is” vibe. So what, though? At this point, Castro’s a vet, an elder. The youngins need to catch up or cash out. Get KRS-One bookish, kiddies, or be left behind. Be the weapon or never prosper. Create your own mythos: “Omega built a mother by the sun and Cyclops sent / a blurred Baraka poem capable to raise the dead. / Yet instead I use the sword...”—with Wu-Tang pronunciation of the w in “sword,” of course. History moves backwards and forwards at the same time. Language is lost and recovered. The poem is “blurred” because it’s been duplicated on a mimeograph—a machine that involves a “drum.” The words are ink-smudged. Baraka’s former partner, Diane di Prima, shouted, “"Power to the people's mimeo machines!” Accuse and attack, Baraka sloganeered. We’re talking about agency—by hand-crank, handgun, or mic check.

8.

Castro creates imagery like Emory Douglas did with paint: painfully bold and saturated with color like blood soaks clothes. Baraka called Douglas’s art a combo of “expressionist agitprop and homeboy familiarity,” which applies to what Castro does on the track. I quote Mao who called literature and art “part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause,” and Mao quotes Lenin who called lit and art the “cogs and wheels in the whole revolutionary machine.” And Baraka also said Douglas’s work:

functioned as if you were in the middle of a rumble and somebody tossed you a machine pistol. It armed your mind and demeanor. Ruthlessly funny, but at the same time functional as the .45 slugs pouring out of that weapon.

The Panthers were trapped and tear-gassed in a West Oakland basement. Eldridge Cleaver told Bobby to go out naked—unarmed as the day he was born not quite eighteen years earlier—but he emerged from the burning house fully dressed, with dignity, and he was searchlighted and shotshotshotshotshotshotshot dead.

Castro needs Brewin to make the cypher complete—a two-man killarmy using loud words in quiet wars, no silencer.

9.  “Before blurting out, try analysis, brother.”

Breeze’s Yo, listen… at the start of his verse is comparable to Sir Thomas Wyatt intoning Whoso list to hunt… to begin his 16th-century sonnet. The amalgam here is less Five Percenter plus clandestine government experimentation and more a deconstruction of the both violent and sexualized language of braggadocio. “Anything you say isn’t played like Miranda Rights,” and so we’re already with our hands behind our backs, silenced by an pig officer’s gag order. The competition doesn’t get played; they play themselves.

Sir Thomas Wyatt sets it off like so:

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind, But as for me, hélas, I may no more. The vain travail hath wearied me so sore, I am of them that farthest cometh behind. Yet may I by no means my wearied mind Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore Fainting I follow.

Breeze has wanted to stay pleasant to the ears—you know, like Lauryn Hill phone sexing—so this isn’t new territory but rather a well-worn path. Wyatt’s wearied and “so sore” by “the hunt,” the pursuit of his love interest, even though he knows “where is an hind.” Still, “as she fleeth afore / Fainting [he] follows.” He can’t help himself.

Love is lost within violent pursuit. Breeze speaks of a “plan to strike” and “zero in” on a “target,” his quarry. He and Castro are “talking about broads often, no doubt, / We broad and burly as hell, / Brag about the hunt, you was jukin’ a girly gazelle.” Breeze’s assault is dizzying, a salvo from all angles: “Hit ’em with some counter clay rebuttals that’s subtle but still befuddle if dude slow.”

10.  “It’s nothin’, I gotcha, and that’s word to Super Lover Cee.”

Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rud’s 1988 single “Girls I Got ’Em Locked” articulates the carceral embrace of “locking” a girl down, which—consequently—requires violence to enforce: “Don’t ever touch a girl owned by me or I’ll ruin ya’, / Slap you with my mic simultaneously as I’m doin’ ya.” The girl is commodified, and Super Lover Cee takes a proprietary attitude toward the relationship. If you overstep, you’ll be ruined, that is, you’ll fall. And while you’re prostrate, you’ll be slapped with the phallic mic simultaneously. Is the Super Lover doin’ her or you, though? What’s truly getting him off? That hypermasculine posturing skews homoerotic. Breeze Brewin laughs at you for subscribing to the nonsense: “Dag, if that was what you believe then your world be a hell.”

11.

Liberal discourse suggests policing your impulses. Put down the gun—don’t touch it. “Touchy subjects,” like racism (apparently), get the “We need to have a conversation” treatment. Look, don’t touch. Don’t touch the exhibit of stolen artifacts—those Benin bronzes in the British Museum. Beneath the topic of orignoo gunn clapping, Curly Castro’s track is about the x’s and o’s of eros as well. Many gestures meant to protect women are merely some other man staking his claim, adorning her with “diamonds in letters plain,” as Wyatt writes of the collar around the deer’s “fair neck.” Wyatt’s sonnet warns against overstepping (or even half-stepping). The collar reads Noli me tangere (touch me not)—she belongs to someone else. It’s a bad touch example. Like his fellow Indelible J-Treds, Breeze Brewin is the living circle-circle-dot-dot: nobody can touch him.

12.

Let’s bring it back to Little Bobby Hutton. When Eldridge Cleaver told him to leave the ambushed basement naked, he was thinking of Bobby’s safety. He thought the extreme measure of appearing on the street without clothes would be enough to convince the pigs he wasn’t armed. Cleaver was naïve to think so. Bobby Hutton was right to emerge clothed. In doing so, he rejected the indignity of the auction block, the lynching, the mutilation and spreading of souvenir flesh. The searchlight made Bobby Hutton the subject of a spectacle, yes, but he refused to consent to the psychosexual desires of white supremacy. He refused the castration ritual. Little Bobby Hutton, in effect, threw down a challenge to the cops: Use your imagination once again. Try to think of a few situations where your own weapon might be used against you…used against you…used against you.

Images:

Emory Douglas, The Black Panther, Vol. IV, No. 78, 1971 (detail) | Weapon X (detail, issue unknown) | Emory Douglas, Rat Subterranean News (1970) | Harriet Tubman with gun sketch | Anti-Mau Mau British propaganda poster | Newspaper headline from Negroes with Guns | Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (date unknown) | Jean-Michel Basquiat, Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, and Amorites on Safari (1982) | Screenshot from Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) | Two images from the Berkeley Barb, Volume 6, Number 15, Issue 139 (1968) | Emory Douglas, The Black Panther (miscellaneous poster) | Medieval depiction of the hunt (unknown) | Image detail from the Berkeley Barb, Volume 6, Number 15, Issue 139 (1968)

[invitedeath]

SEPHIROTH                          — relationship & plotter call.

hello lovely isolians! it’s been actually ages since i made my first one, or my second one, so i’m coming back with new vigour & hopefully some new ideas to tempt you all into friendship ( or...enemy...ship) with sephiroth!

so liking this post means that you are 100% down with interacting with me in some fashion! ways this might happen may be... → me sending you im’s / tumblr asks to plot or chat! i can be quite a talkative person as a forewarning, as i love discussing rp things as well as getting to know my rp partner!  → if we are already friends on discord or twitter, i might message you that way to ask you about plots or ideas or to run things by you. → exchanging ask memes / meme day things that might be a bit more personal than a general sentence meme. → possible random starters or musings dedicated to your muse, sometimes i get sudden inspiration for these things! i will always check first that you’re okay with taking on a new thread, but yes this is for just... if i get inspired & want to put something up for you! → general tomfoolery and shenanigans in character ( and ooc if you like )

you can contact me via the im system here, by the /ask feature or you can ask for my discord/twitter if you prefer those. just let me know. discord is the most private however so we’d need to chat a bit more elsewhere first just for my comfort! i am in the isola discord sever however so we can totally talk in that server for a bit too!

FRIENDS.

↪ honestly friendships aren’t typically on the agenda for him. he is arrogant beyond belief and considers everyone to be weaker than him or to some degree unworthy of his time or energy. he really does not have any interest emotionally in anyone besides himself, instead he is far more likely to use and discard people when they are no longer needed. HOWEVER, in 2020 sephiroth underwent quite a big character development stage, essentially his long-term goal came to a head and it backfired pretty back when he got all his powers back, so while he’s super strong again now, he’s also semi-content (i guess) with living in isola for a while, if only so he can figure out how the multiverse works (meta, i know). he talks to people now (wow!) and engages in mostly philosophical conversations, about... life. death. etc.

↪  i am down to... vague villain-alliance type deals with fellow power players here. he wont consider your muse a friend, but rather a pawn or even a means to an end, that end being his goal of generally using this island for his means, apologies. preferably the intellectual, over-powered, edgy types will probably gravitate towards him more, but i’m willing to throw anything at the wall to see what sticks. he’s not a nice guy, by any means, but it would be interesting to see how he has to play the game here to his advantage until he regains powers. i especially would like to interact with other villains who are kind of just chilling, maybe they’re veterans in spirale also and they can share a glass of wine over watching all the citizens running around like ants. we could also do a murder if you are into that. 

↪ there are some cases where he might engage in conversation with non-villain types and these would likely be far more dialogue-heavy threads including metaphorical topics or debates. the conversations of life, death, mortality, good vs evil, frailty of existence, legacy, power and corruption, calamities, birthright and betrayal are just some of the topics possible to arise in discussion. that being said, whilst these topics would be of interest to him, the character themselves must meet his standard of what he considers worthy of his time eg. those just willing to argue with him will bore him whereas someone curious to his nature might be treated to an actual conversation. over time this has opened up into most people being capable of talking to him. he has less patience for over-eager plucky types, but anyone with a respectable manner who likes talking a lot will probably find an interesting conversation partner in this... ONLY SLIGHTLY CHILLED sephiroth. he’s not totally chill, he’s just a lil chill.

↪ warriors, outcasts, villains, intellectuals, fellow puppet-master type villains especially, those he ‘befriended’ in past events, perhaps even neighbours to his castle would all be likely connections. friends of those he has worked alongside or met, or those wishing to seek great power and know of his existence might seek him out also, but yes... ““““friends”“““ is a very difficult term for him. he’s getting better.

→ his most recent developments see him as a far more casual version of his canon self, over a year of living as close to a “domestic life” as possible have meant that whilst he is aloof and cold, he is also far more likely to be out and about, buying wine at some creepy gas station at 4:30am for example. he chats when he’s in the mood and might even stick around to cause some chaos for the sake of boredom eating him alive. so whilst he is still very much a dangerous inhabitant here in spirale, sephiroth is currently Domesticated somewhat. 

ENEMIES.

↪ heroes of all shapes and sizes might feel threatened by the ominous presence of a monster who seems inclined to side with chaos as opposed to peace. he’s not outright starting fires here but he is present in the more morbid moments of isolian discourse, an omen of death lingering on the sideline. he has his plans and he may just mock you with them, but in general since he does and WILL cut down npcs ( or players ) alike, he makes for the perfect villain. BE WARY he has all of his powers unlocked and knows the island well. fighting him would not guarantee your victory, especially if you are a freshly applied character.

in feb 2020 he almost brought chaos to spirale too so i’m sure anyone holding a grudge or wary of a potential threat like that would be very aggro towards him.

↪ he has traumas. plenty of them. some of them originate from labs and white coats, meaning he might just view you as an enemy if you’re a scientist or someone who dabbles in human experimentation. his reasons are his own, but let’s just say that if you consider him a good candidate for poking and prodding with scientific equipment, you may just lose an arm.

↪ i LOVE fight threads especially really gritty, bloody types. i would prefer to plot these out so we know what’s going on beforehand, but feel free to develop these with me honestly i love a good old classic villain hero showdown. he’s less likely to get into these without a good reason but if we do one, the winner is randomly determined via generator to make it fair if your character is also uncapped!

→ police/law enforcers/general crime stoppers might remember him for causing a bit of trouble in the past! insert how bad me be gif. try and ??? get him to apologise i guess. arresting sephiroth sounds like the plot of a funny movie. 

LOVERS.

↪ this man has a bf now, can you believe it? 2021...isola gay rights. 

MISC.

↪ pawns and such would be a fun dynamic later. his general presence is pretty terrifying, so it wouldn’t be a stretch if you have an appropriate muse for them to be fearful enough to carry out some little tasks for him. this might be more common later on, but i’m down to discussion for it currently!

↪ places you may find him can include:                 ↪ near his residence ( personal housing; castle in the mistwood  )                 ↪ fibonacci ward ( levels 3 and 4 especially due to the museums and things. but also the lowest levels, he tends to wander around there as if searching for something... feel free to try and figure out what it is )                 ↪ golden ward ( the university if only to borrow books from the library, he can read there for days at a time without sleep or food. he reads all kinds of things, both fiction and non fiction. )                 ↪ archimedes ward ( pretty much everywhere in this ward, it’s my favourite. he enjoys music and art sometimes. hit me with that biblical shit. )                ↪ the mistwood ( 100% down to be that cryptic creature that leads you from your path to your likely doom )                ↪ the city of yesteryear ( typically the underground areas, just investigating really. any strange occurrences would likely draw him there as would any presence of a strong power. )                ↪ atop skyscrapers, looming at the ‘edge’ of the world we can currently explore, typically more active at night, perhaps at the scene of a murder / attack ( plotted ), if he’s feeling extra ballsy he might be found in a bar but its very rare. very VERY rare, wandering broken buildings, invading scientific facilities or buildings. he’s not going to be found in busy, socially strained areas basically.

↪ i’m down for any ideas you might have too for plots so feel free to just message me if nothing here caters!

STATS PAGE | APPLICATION | PLOTTING PAGE

[zenithlux]

Cadence  Update - CH 23

In which Roxy and Vergil finally figure something out.

Catch up with the story on AO3 here!

I just think of you and everything you do You’re my one, my from now on… My first love song.

My First Love Song - Luke Bryan

It took Vergil a mere two weeks to not only feel his tail, but learn to control it. By the end of the summer he had a suitable attack pattern down with perfect precision. He could pierce enemies at his feet with a single stab. Swipe enemies away for Roxy to shoot down. The only downside were the extra scales that manifested along his cheek and chin whenever he used it for too long, but Vergil saw that as a promising sign. With more practice, he was certain he could phase different pieces of his devil trigger without a full transformation. He’d be faster, more efficient, and more prepared even without Yamato by his side. 

Once again, Kuro was not impressed. 

“If Sparda had had a tail,” The dragon huffed. “He would have learned all that in a quarter of the time.”

“My father was a more impressive demon than you’ll ever be.”

“I don’t deny that.”

Vergil scowled. “Regardless,”

“You have managed to learn something at least,” Kuro said. “I‘ll give you credit for that.”

And that marked the first time Vergil had ever wanted to strangle a demon rather than tear it to pieces. 

“Alright, alright,” Roxy said as she tossed her bow into the sky. “Stop antagonizing each other.” Aki landed on her shoulder with a distinct chirp of agreement, and purred when she scratched behind his ears. “Let Mori know the demons here are taken care of.”

‘Mori’ was Roxy’s new name for Morrison who she’d met two weeks ago before Nico and Nero left for Fortuna. Since Dante could only take so many jobs (and Vergil had a feeling he was “donating” a few to the other devil hunters in the area), there was an influx of tasks around Roxy’s hometown. Unfortunately for Dante, who wasn’t about to trample on “Vergil’s domain” as he called it, the people in Fallen West Abbey paid significantly more, as there were less devil hunters. They were, therefore, valued much higher. 

It was a lucrative market if Vergil were honest. One he was happy to exploit as much as possible. 

“Is that enough for you?” Vergil said as he sent his tail away. Kuro retreated back into Roxy alongside Aki who gave a soft coo of good-bye. 

“Yep,” She said. “Feeling better than ever.”

“No stasis then.”

She shook her head. “Kuro says his magic is holding stronger than before, so I might get half a year out of it.” She grinned. “All thanks to you.” 

Vergil didn’t bother trying to hide the blush. It would have been futile anyway, one thing he’d come to accept since his promise. She’d teased him about it a single time, but he’d argued that he’d been redder because of the heat (false- his demon regulated his temperature perfectly) and not because he’d just held her for far too long after a sudden demon attack (he’d never admit that). “You’ve been taking better care of yourself.”

That time, it was her turn to blush. “It helps to have someone I want to impress around.”

Vergil blinked. “Impress?”

Her face brightened even more. “Isn’t it strange how many portals have been opening lately?”

Vergil scowled but didn’t press the issue. She was just stubborn enough that the conversation would never go back in that direction. “Considering the current location of Yamato, yes.”

“You don’t think Mundus is behind it… do you?”

“He would have crossed over already if he were.”

Her voice went quiet. “I’m surprised he hasn’t yet.”

As much as he wanted to, Vergil couldn’t disagree. Both Dante and Nero had reported increased portal sightings, but all of them had been small. Most closed after only a few demons crossed, and even fewer could support something as large as Mundus himself. The demon’s voice had, for the most part, quieted in Vergil’s mind. He’d had a few nightmares since the loss of Yamato, but they’d been less… real. Now, instead of being dragged under into an endless, almost inescapable pit, he was aware of them. Twice, he’d managed to pull himself out, though he didn’t miss the way Aki just so happened to slip back through the walls whenever he did so. 

He still didn’t know if Roxy was aware of his nightmares, or if the demons were hyper attuned to his demonic half’s plight. But she’d never brought it up, he’d never asked, and it had remained a mystery ever since. 

Just because you’re afraid of her…

Nero’s words weighed heavier on Vergil’s mind than he expected. Afraid. What could he possibly be afraid of? Physically she was no match for him (not that he cared about such a thing). She was intelligent, yes, but he’d argue he was at least on par with her despite his lack of general “street smarts” as Dante put it. She rarely said no to anything he asked, so he doubted she would reject him if he did “ask her out” (Nero’s not so subtle wording that he smacked Vergil with when Roxy wasn’t listening). 

But Vergil didn’t know if it was the right time for such a thing. How long did people need to know each other before one ‘asked the other out’? Why did that feel like such a childish idea? Would asking her change their relationship at all? They were already close friends. They already lived together, as Vergil had decided there was no use in wasting a second apartment when he didn’t have many personal belongings. It was almost the same arrangement; Vergil on the couch when he actually slept, and Roxy on the bed. Their schedule was the same. Their lives were the same. 

So… are we already in a relationship? 

“Vergil?”

He blinked once before his gaze fell to hers. She was absurdly close now, so much so that if he breathed just a bit deeper, their bodies would touch. He didn’t know why she did that, as it required her to tilt her head at a rough angle to actually look up at him. Maybe it was so she could keep her voice down. 

Maybe I should ask. 

He shook his head. “I’m fine.”

She frowned. “You don’t seem fine.”

“Just a lot on my mind.”

“Like?”

His mouth went dry. “It’s not important.”

The look she gave him - the pain in her eyes - made his heart clench in his chest. She must have thought he didn’t trust her. That the discourse that was going on in his head was more important than her. Vergil wished he could tell her the truth. He wished he could tell her the million things whirling through his mind. But whenever he tried…

“It’s fine.” She said. “I get it.”

“Roxy.”

“Don’t worry,” She said with a sad smile. “I understand.”

“Are we a…?”

“How do you…?”

A phone call stopped them both. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then, Roxy reached for her phone, grimaced, and hit the accept button. “What do you want?”

Vergil blinked. He’d never heard such hostility from her before. Who was she talking to? She didn’t have any debt collectors like Dante (and smooth talk worked better on them anyway). It couldn’t be her mother (and Vergil doubted Roxy would talk to her like that either). 

“Good to hear from you too,” a man’s voice echoed from the other end of the line. “Trust me, I wish I wasn’t making this phone call either. But your presence has been requested at this year’s Art Gala. And I am bound by contract to invite anyone who receives even half the number of recommendations you did.” He sighed. “It seems you’re making a name for yourself, princess.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Again,” He snapped. “I wouldn’t be making this call if I had a choice. So are you coming or not?”

“No one ever responds over the phone,” She said, her voice a touch too smug. “Afraid you’re going to have to send the official invitation and I’ll get back to you.”

Vergil could practically hear the scowl. “I’ll be eagerly awaiting your response, Roxanna.”

She hung up on him, and Vergil knew from the look in her eyes alone exactly who that had been. Bryson. The infamous ex-boyfriend. Now it all made sense.

“He got your number.”

“Looks that way,” Roxy said. 

“Are you going to accept his… invitation?” Vergil asked slowly. He didn’t really know exactly what they were talking about. It sounded prestigious, but Vergil didn’t know anything about it. She’d never mentioned it before, and she clearly knew something. 

“I would rather not even see him again,” Roxy said. “He’s the whole reason I moved back here.” She crossed her arms, but Vergil didn’t miss the way they shook. He wasn’t, however, certain if it was rage, exhaustion, or if she was close to tears. Nothing else about her gave anything away. “But this stupid Gala...”

“It’s important to you.”

“Very,” She sighed. “It’s one of the biggest art shows on this side of the country. To have any art displayed, you need at least five hundred people to vouch for your work personally which is almost impossible. I gave up on the matter years ago, but it seems my clients are more aware of it than I thought.” She sighed again. “And if he’s telling the truth, I’ll get to display three pieces, which is astronomical. So much more exposure. More work. More money. You get the jist.” 

“You could have promoted yourself.”

“I’ve tried before,” She said. “I don’t really care about the money, Vergil. I just want people to enjoy my work. If that means sticking with a small group of clients, great. If it means I get to show my work to thousands of rich people, that’s great too.” She waved him off. “But that isn’t the point. Bryson is a museum director. That’s how we met. And this year, he’s one of the hosts. Which means if I accept this offer, then I will be showing my work under his watch. And knowing him, he’ll do nothing but complain about it for hours on end.” Her frown deepened. “It’s six months away and I can already feel him ruining everything.”

“Don’t let him.”

“He already has.”

“No,” Vergil said as he attempted to mimic her tone from earlier. It only half worked, but he saw the flicker of a smile on her face before she could hide it. “Because you aren’t going alone.”

“I mean…” She started “Going to the Gala with someone is like attending a wedding, you know?” Vergil’s head tilted ever so slightly, and she continued. “You don’t tend to invite people unless you’re like… a thing.”

A thing. Why was that the term people used for relationships? Vergil had just assumed it was Nero being… Nero. But throwing that aside, Vergil, in a rather bold display, said, “are we?”

She stared at him. “I… don’t know.”

He frowned. “How do you not…?”

“You’ve never asked.”

“... Am I supposed to?”

After a moment of silence, she broke into laughter. Again. At least he was good at getting that kind of reaction from her or they’d be in trouble. “Yes!” She said. “I mean… I could have I guess. But with everything going on… and what you’ve told me about your past and Mundus and…” Her shoulders sagged ever so slightly. “I just didn’t feel it was my place to ask you. Maybe I was… I don’t know... overthinking it.” She turned slightly away from him and glanced up at the sky. It was a cloudy day - maybe not the best weather for whatever this conversation was - and Vergil had felt at least a few droplets of rain in the last twenty minutes. “I care a lot about you,” She said as she met his gaze again. “But I wasn’t sure… if…”

“I wouldn’t take care of you if I didn’t,” Vergil said. “I never would have accepted.”

“Then you’ve been thinking about this awhile.”

“... Not consciously.”

She chuckled. “I get it.”

“Why me?”

It was Roxy’s turn to tilt her head. “What do you mean?”

“The day we met,” Vergil said. “And each time after that, I was nothing but cold to you. But you still talked with me. Made bookmarks for me. Left your number twice, even after I ignored you for weeks at a time,” He took a breath to slow his thoughts down. “Why?”

“Kuro asked me the same thing.”

“What?”

“When we first met,” She said. “Before he realized who you were, he called you pretentious and said I’d have better luck befriending a fish.”

“... A fish.”

“I know right?” She threw her hands up into the air. “How silly of a comparison is that? A damn fish!? Fish are boring. You’re…” She trailed off as her hands fell back to her sides. “You weren’t. And it just... I had this feeling. I wanted to get to know you, but something kept telling me to wait. Don’t push it. If he wants to, he’ll call you. Just wait. Yadda yadda.” She waved her hand in a vague gesture. “So… I did. And lo and behold…”

“Here I am.”

“Exactly.” She rubbed at her arm. “But I didn’t expect to… fall for you.”

Fall for you. Why did those three words knock the air from his lungs?

Maybe it was because she’d never admitted it before?

“But that voice kept telling me to wait. Because I’ve lost so many things in my life… I didn’t want to risk losing you too.”

Gently, Vergil ran his hand along her cheek. Her green eyes stared back; a torment of emotions he couldn’t quite pick apart. But he realized at that moment that he didn’t have to. Not when her own hand reached up to brush his cheek. Not when she stared into his eyes with more confidence than most of the people in his life. There was nothing to say between them that hadn’t already been said. Nothing to say that hadn’t already been shared in small, unspoken ways. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” He said.

“I know.”

When he leaned forward… when his lips brushed hers for the second time that month… His phone rang. Dante’s ringtone. Probably urgent. 

Roxy groaned. “What kind of luck is…?”

Vergil kissed her. A soft, slow, sensual kiss that had him seeing stars and he was the one leading it. Her lips were so impossibly soft, and he could taste the strawberry lip gloss she’d only recently started wearing. He didn’t think about it too much (clever), preferring to pull her just a bit closer. It was a bit awkward, and he knew they’d have a lot better time when she wasn’t having to stand on the tips of her toes to kiss him back. But, despite the hazy weather, the impending rain, and the second round of Dante’s ringtone, the moment felt right. His heart thundered in his ears as it pounded against his chest. He could hear hers doing the same, especially when her fingers brushed along the nape of his neck. Vergil shivered - why did that of all things feel so good? - but didn’t pull away. Neither of them wanted to. 

But when the phone started ringing for the third time, Vergil inwardly sighed and the moment ended in a silent, mutual agreement. He wrapped his arms around her, letting her head fall against his chest as he reached for the phone. “What do you want?” 

“I’ve got some bad news and some worse news.” 

“What is it, Dante?”

“Yamato’s missing, Verge,” His brother said. “And I don’t have a clue who took it.” 

Ko-fi – Master List – AO3

[frgt-me-not]

Angelic ~ Regret 

Previous part // Part 27 // Next part

(Words: ~1100)

When we pull into the bus station, the old man is still sleeping, and I contemplate waking him up. But as I stand up and swing my bag over my shoulder, he seems to stir.

I had been wrong when I thought I didn’t know him.

I have to do a double take to realize it’s my old geography teacher, and for a second, he stares at me with that awkward expression on his face that teachers have when they meet a student outside of school as if he’s deciding whether or not to say ‘hello’. But before he opens his mouth, I decide for him by hurrying of the bus.

I’m not sure if he has even heard about my disappearance. I doubt my parents began telling people about it after they found out – their image was too important.

The parking lot is almost completely deserted, except for a few cars scattered across the lot. 

And there it is again, the feeling of memories threatening to take over.

I glance over my shoulder at the train station right next to where the bus dropped me off. It’s a small station with a train coming every other hour or so.

I close my eyes momentarily, almost able to hear him as he shouts my name.

(Start of memory):

“Oh, come on Angel,” Jimin called through the darkness, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

“I promised I’d have you home by eleven tonight.”

I didn’t move, I just continued to watch him as he stood under the yellow light from the streetlamp.

Before going to the art museum with him today, I’d been skeptical about whether or not he was actually going to bring up the thing that happened at Sang-mi’s birthday party two weeks ago.

He hadn’t even mentioned a single thing.

“You remember what happened last time, right?” he called with his back to me.

I did remember.

My mom had given me a curfew and made Jungkook keep an eye on me, but considering my mom was rarely home and Jungkook had other matters to attend to – girls mostly – what did it really matter if I came home after eleven?

“Jungkook will cut my balls off,” he turned halfway towards me when I accidentally let out a short laugh.

I dove back down behind the bushes, still able to see him through the naked branches.

He spun on the spot, eyeing the bushes. “You think that’s funny?” he replied with a teasing tone, and even though he couldn’t see me, my cheeks turned scarlet.

He walked closer to the bushes, and I saw the moment his eyes found me.

I made a run for it.

A fraction of a second later, I heard him rushing after me - It wasn’t a fair race, but I gave it my all. In vain of course, mere seconds later he caught me.

“I’ll carry you if you try to run again,” he warned, but I didn’t miss the playful tone in his voice.

For the first twenty meters towards the car, I did as I was told, but when we got close enough to his car, and I knew he wouldn’t be able to catch me, I began to run again.

“Are you kidding me?” He laughed before storming after me.

I reached the car within seconds, slamming my hands onto the front of the car, almost crashing into it.

I panted until Jimin, still running, but trying to slow down, ran into my back. He, too, used his hands to stop himself with one on each side of mine.

Several seconds later he still had his front pressed against my back. He didn’t move.

“Why’d you run?” he asked, and I had a feeling he didn’t mean right now.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, “I wanted you to catch me.”

Even though my reply was childish, he didn’t laugh, “Well, I caught you and you’re not going anywhere,” he paused, “What’s my reward?”

I inhaled deeply and held my breath as I turned around.

My eyes were locked on his chest, knowing that if I looked up, I would try to get away.

“Am I too close?” he questioned, not moving an inch.

When I let the air out of my lungs, my breath rattled, “You’re not close enough,” I replied and balled my hands into fists by my side.

We stood there for what felt like an eternity before I finally mustered the courage to look up, staring at his lips for a fraction of a second – they made me think back to two weeks ago.

He tried to catch my gaze as I moved forward. His breath hitched, and my heart was beating so fast, I was sure it was trying to escape my body.

Could he hear my heart? I thought to myself.

I didn’t kiss him.

Instead, I pressed my lips against his soft cheek like I usually did before we parted.

I could sense the warmth of his hand before I felt it grasping my waist.

“Do you regret it?” he whispered suddenly, starling me, but I continued having my cheek against his, too terrified to lean back and meet his eyes.

“Regret what?” I muttered, my voice threatening to crack - I knew exactly what he was talking about, and I knew we wouldn’t be able to pretend like it hadn’t happened.

“I don’t regret it,” he continued as if he could read my thoughts.

Even though it had only been a few seconds with his lips on mine, it had been my first kiss, and that meant something.

I wanted Jimin to be all of my firsts.

My breaths were coming out quickly, and I felt seconds from fainting, but something kept me rooted to the spot.

“I want you, Angel,” he whispered.

I shut my eyes, telling myself to breathe and most importantly to get a grip. 

He moved back, and I opened my eyes. The look in his eyes definitely didn’t help my current breathing problems. Our breaths mingled as he moved closer, leaning his forehead against mine.

The silence was pressing against my eardrums, making me feel lightheaded. “The only thing I regret was not getting the chance to kiss you back.”

(End of memory)

I shake my head violently, forcing the memory away and into a locked chamber where it belongs, I don’t need to think about Jimin and me kissing right now.

I stare down the path that I know passes by my backyard.

I force myself to focus on what I’m doing - it’s like every part of this city is trying to make me remember everything I’ve been trying my hardest to forget.  

Masterlist: here  Ask box: here  Playlist: here

@books-netflix @namiiy @jjksbabybun @aesthetically-nonpleasing@ibelievein-goats @attaeboy @ilikeyoo-ngi @lovemusicn1d @rokathryn@goldngguk @taeandakookiewsuga @conslack @momdancingtomcr @bts-enthusiasts @jiminsbitchface @softyfor-sweaterpaws @decaffeinated1amwriting@a-lovers-discourse-ended @elena-0707-blog @moonfairyjoon @bts-lys@minniestudies @mar00nz @mochiilaudiaaa @dreamy-despairity @babybluebisexual @sensories

[originaljediinjeans]

MCU Rewatch: “Black Panther” (2018)

Summary: *Deep thematic discussion,* “lol that thing is cute,” “I love Shuri”, “wait a minute, I’m white, am I the bad guy?” *Shameless Killmonger shaming* *Bucky angst* “Seriously what is up in Wakanda?” *more deep thematic discussion* “look at this and this random cute stuff” *more Bucky angst* “White Gary Stu is an important character, in this essay I will--” *tries not to get into discussing racial issues that I know nothing about* *fails*

Actually, Okoye and W’kabi already DO have a kid: it’s the rhino!!!!! XD

Young T’challa in the prologue asking his father about the story of how Wakanda came to be and why they hide from the outside world--that is a kid trying to understand why the world is the way it is. And that is something that T’challa is still trying to grasp when we fast forward to present day. Even then, T’challa’s experiences in Civil War have already opened his eyes to the struggles in the outside world and the suffering of innocent people.

King T’chaka is VERY imposing in that flashback scene

The issue of Bucky Barnes is palpable in the subtext of the conversation between Nakia, Okoye, and T’challa when they bring Everett back with them from Korea, if nowhere else in the film. Anyone seeing BP for the first time after CACW would be aware of the context. Obviously Barnes is not a concern to them at the moment because he is on cryo and has one arm. Okoye probably had an easier time swallowing T’challa wanting to help Bucky because he was a fugitive who would not be safer anywhere else and he was framed for a crime he did not commit, aka killing the previous king. She might have thought it was fair, in fact, for T’challa to make reprimands for attempting to murder the poor thing.  Everett Ross is a white man also but in completely different circumstances that Okoye very pointedly outlines: he is a foreign intel operative, and if they let him live and leave Wakanda then he will tell the rest of the world what they saw there (unless the Wakandans have some kind of brainwashing tech of their own--maybe they’re too humane for that but why wouldn’t they? Or just leave Everett unconscious in Shuri’s lab until he recovers and then when he’s ready take him outside the border and leave him there to wake up). Okoye is basically saying, “Look, T’challa, Barnes was one thing, helping this guy is a terrible idea because he is more likely to betray us if we let him live.” But to Nakia and T’challa it makes no difference: Everett is a human being, if they have the means and resources to help Everett recover then they should help. Is a person’s life really worth less than an entire country’s safety? Shuri’s jibe “another broken white boy” serves to burst the bubble of that tension.

No, seriously, T’challa put the kimoyo bead into Everett’s wound and offered to take him to Wakanda and Okoye’s face was like WHAT

I’m just gonna call him Everett to differentiate him from Thunderbolt Ross. Maybe Everett the Leveret.

Okoye doesn’t care who she kills. She serves her country and whoever in her mind is legally the king. Anyone who is a threat to the throne that she is sworn to protect she will kill--”Without question.” It’s not that she doesn’t value life, but she values her oath as a member of the Dora Millaje. Her country, her people, her monarch: those are her priorities. 

But would she have been happy afterward about if if she had been forced to kill her own husband? Clearly she was conflicted about working for Killmonger, and as soon as she found a loophole she broke ranks and took all the Dora Millaje with her. She does not want to support a monarch who will cause Wakanda to commit needless bloodshed in the rest of the world. The other Dora Millaje saw how ruthlessly Killmonger murdered Zuri and then threw T’challa off the waterfall: they are not here for it.

If the new king of Wakanda wants to get into international relief, then Okoye will stand by her king. 

*smh* T’challa and Nakia flirting on the job. I’m not saying they shouldn’t do it. By all means, continue.

Just putting this out there: a film or mini-series about Nakia or Wakanda’s foreign operatives would be pretty sweet

Also, it’s nice to see Lupita N’yongo and Andy Serkis in roles that aren’t motion-captured. They are both incredible actors and having them did so much for this film.

The assault and robbery at the museum in London must have taken at least weeks of planning. 

I like how Queen Ramona wears a full-length gown with a fuller skirt to T’challa’s coronation. It’s still African in decoration but it’s a little more “European” than what everyone else is wearing. I guess in Wakanda the queen has the luxury of wearing a dress with that kind of skirt. 

Dealing with the loss of close family members is a theme throughout the film. The main Wakandan characters put aside their grief for King T’chaka for T’challa’s coronation, and I assume it was healing for T’challa to see his father again on the ancestral plain. But learning about his father’s covered mistakes shakes his perception of what his father was and how he ruled--how all the kings and queens before him ruled. And he has to address his grief again. T’challa decides that the best way forward for himself and his county is to change how Wakanda does things with the outside world. 

I don’t really like Shuri’s upgraded suit for T’challa. The purple nano-energy is kind of unsettling, or maybe I just don’t like how it looks against the black. I also don’t like how it tears up whatever clothes T’challa is wearing. But I understand why she did it.

On that note, Shuri is a princess, and that is WHY she has the time to do whatever she wants, and I just think it’s fun that she used her time to further her education during her teen years and go into technology research. It’s kind of like how modern royalty are advocates for the arts and certain pasttimes, but on the next level.

Apparently, some of Shuri’s technological advances (esp. the trains in the vibranium mine) have been pretty recent.

Also, Shuri is a multi-tasker, and she’s probably always working on six or seven projects at a time. And she’s not afraid to do more. She starts on one, puts it aside to work on another, and while she switches between tasks she thinks about how to do the others. This girl is...way ahead of everyone. Especially me. But I’d love to be friends with her. IDK how to make her not see that I’m just another “colonizer” but I’ll figure it out.

“Shuri calling people “GENIUS!” when they get on her nerves. 

She’s territorial about her lab.

Another point about Shuri: other Wakandans’ kimoyo beads might have a certain set of functions, but Shuri probably programmed hers to sync to everything she touches

My dad commented while watching that the potion that strips away the power of the heart-shaped herb is “nasty stuff.” No shucks, Sherlock. 

Gosh, I hate Killmonger. He is so smug, he is so condescending to everyone he meets. He is so convinced that he’s right that when he first enters the throne room he acts like he’s already won the challenge and become the king. He only wants to build a “Wakandan Empire” to satisfy his own angst--how much does he even care about his “brothers and sisters”? He is convinced that every person in the world is his enemy. EVERY. PERSON. Including me. Including T’challa. Including the aunt and cousin he’s never met. Including the white guy in the fridge he doesn’t know about. Erik is next-level messed up. He’s just the worst.

(I’m white--am I supposed to take the discourse that “white people are evil” personally?) 

“Hey Auntie.” Every time I hear that line I want to break through the fourth wall and slap him.

I mean, only a really heartless person would not feel sorry for the trauma that Erik went through when he lost his dad. And deep down, I sympathize with Killmonger’s anger, and I have such a rigid way of thinking that I admit that I am tempted to wonder about righting the world’s wrongs with violent means. Is he right that white colonizers ruined the world for Africans? Yes. But no, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves the whole world blind and toothless.” Punishing the “class” of people who have “wronged” the “oppressed” only furthers the cycle of pain and suffering. And pain and suffering are not limited by wealth and status and nationality. Solving the world’s problems isn’t about putting others down, it is about pulling people up and letting them heal. That is why T’challa’s strategy of international outreach is the right one. 

Which is why the post-credit scene with Bucky is actually relevant to the film as a whole: he was the first person in need that T’challa and Shuri were able to give to. T’challa choosing to help Bucky paved the way for  deciding to share Wakanda’s resources with the less fortunate in the world. 

(I’m saying that to myself like I’m angry that Bucky is there at all. It’s called having a mental illness that wants to destroy the things I care about the most. Like there’s this demon in my brain that wants to agree with the extremists who think that Bucky and Everett were “valued” more than Killmonger. Killmonger let himself die because he had the same outlook that all white people are scum and refused to open himself to the possibility that he was wrong--unlike T’challa.)  

“This movie vilifies African-Americans and puts native Africans on a pedestal.” SCREW THAT CRAP. Killmonger was as much a victim as he was a villain. And T’challa and his entire country got called out for not helping other people of African descent across the world. Gosh *rrrgh* 

Having the heir to the throne available to be challenged by the heirs of the other tribal leaders was part of the inter-tribal agreement of how to govern Wakanda. It’s supposed to make it “fair” to the different groups, including the Jabari. That probably implies that the tribal council members are interrelated to each other and the royal family since the monarch has been chosen from different ruling families and they would have intermarried to keep their status--the fact that T’challa has an on and off relationship with the daughter of the River Tribe chief kind of validates that theory. Which tribes were Ramona and T’chaka part of? I’m curious.

I’m not sure how much contact the Jabari have with the rest of Wakanda but I’ll bet M’baku enjoys sending the reigning monarch passive-aggressive letters or something like that. 

I am a huge fan of T’challa’s black robe that he wears on his first day as king.

I really hope the heart-shaped herb grows in the wild

(I wonder if average Wakandans have access to the heart-shaped herb, maybe for medicinal uses)

It is interesting how falling asleep into the trance from the heart-shaped herb is depicted as having flashbacks to the death of the new king’s predecessor/father. It’s kind of like falling asleep IRL and your subconscious slowly takes over.

T’challa dragging M’baku to the edge of the waterfall during their fight was a gutsy move. But I still think T’challa is a Hufflepuff.

T’challa does not like to compromise. It’s kind of unsettling to watch him talking to Everett in their first two scenes: it’s like T’challa thinks he is dictating actual reality while Everett still insists on what is real. 

Yeah, Everett, I hate 80s music too. Klaue probably listens to some real garbage.

I hate that they had to kill off such a great villain and he was being so villainous, but I think the screenwriters felt like that was the only way the Wakandans would let Killmonger into their country, War Dog tattoo or not.

I am just...really soft for the border tribe rhinos, okay?

I’m not sure how much Ulysses Klaue is pretending to be crazy and how much he’s been actually off his rocker since Ultron tore off his arm but after this viewing I’m pretty sure it’s mostly pretending. It is convincing, though.

Did W’kabi ever get counseling after his parents’ deaths?

...actually, does Wakanda even HAVE psychotherapy/counseling like the rest of the world does? Or do they count on technology and medicines to fix all our mental health and emotional problems? You’d think they would have counseling. You’d think they have everything we have except better, but what if they don’t? You’d think that could have been an option for Bucky, except he was so afraid of being triggered by his own shadow. 

I have, like, a lot of questions just about how things are done in Wakanda in general

Like they have access to foreign films and the rest of the world’s internet. The world just can’t tap into them. They see us but we can’t see them. Wakandans know what the outside world is like but they don’t bother about getting on the same page.

T’challa and Shuri are a great team, I want to see them in action together more in the future

I like the jacket that Okoye wears in Korea

In all fairness, Everett Ross is used to being the man in charge, and T’challa is a challenge to his authority. From T’challa’s perspective, he is rude and abrasive, but that’s why he does what he does. Even though T’challa is the king of another country, that doesn’t change anything in Everett’s playbook. Everett acts the way he was trained: he tries to speak up because it’s his job to inform people about his interpretation of the situation, he helps out Okoye and Nakia during the car chase but that’s because he’s after Klaue too so he might as well. He volunteers to help overthrow Killmonger--”hey, you’re going to need all the help you can get”--because he knows as well as the others that if Killmonger can carry out his plan then it could create a global catastrophe. His background info on Erik Stevens informs T’challa and company that Killmonger was not a good person, nor did he have good intentions being in Wakanda.

I don’t really like how Shuri kind of puts Everett down: “broken white boy”, “colonizer,” “I know everything about you plus I’m smarter than you so you do as I tell you because you’re a stupid outsider”. I get it, it’s supposed to be justice for hundreds of years of white people treating Africans like this. So me being white, naturally, it makes me uncomfortable. But I don’t see why it’s nice, even if it is cute. It’s like she’s treating him like a pet hamster, or a rabbit or a hare...a baby hare...a leveret.

How am I supposed to know that Shuri doesn’t see Bucky Barnes as just another fun science project? Or just a favor she’s doing for her brother? That’s my jealousy talking, but I think those are questions worth asking.

I’m glad that Shuri recognizes Everett’s skill as a pilot. But she barely explains to him what he’s supposed to do when they arrive in the laboratory--and then she and Nakia hurry off to change into their battle costumes (and Shuri does her hair and makeup, too). Did they not go over the plan in detail and explain things to the noob beforehand?

Zuri had a lot of survivor’s guilt. I don’t blame him but it’s still really sad. You didn’t have to do that, sir.

Even if the Jabari did eat white people, Everett Ross would be just a snack to them.

I kind of like the casual button-up outfit that Everett wears for most of his Wakanda scenes. I think that’s the sort of thing I’d like to see Bucky wearing while he’s in Wakanda

My mom says that in the scene where we see T’challa reenter the throne room she saw M’Baku in there. Really? Was Everett Ross there too? 

M’baku is a much nicer person than we give him credit for being. But he really is kind of a drama queen. An he’s just rude. He’s cool but like, come on, man. 

Seriously, when he teases Everett about eating him, Ramona, Nakia, and Shuri all give M’baku a look like, “Dude, he’s with us, not now. This isn’t helping.” : /

I’m definitely sticking around for the Black Panther sequel to see how M’baku and W’kabi continue to complicate or uncomplicate things for T’challa

I love how T’challa was shown taking the time processing the news that his father had killed his uncle and how Nakia was helping him through it. It’s like Ryan Coogler understood something that the writers and directors of Captain Marvel did not...

The Queen Mother doesn’t do much in the film but she shines in the scene where she administers the herb to her son. She knows the ritual, she knows how to prepare the herb, she knows just what to do.

“We may be creating a bigger monster with M’baku.” I just LOVE that line. When I was in college I went to the English symposium, and I went to a panel on Frankenstein. One of the papers discussed the relationship between the creator and the creation, and one of the examples the author used was Iron Man 2 and the relationship between Tony Stark and the “monster” that his father created. And the theme runs through the entire MCU and here Ramona Says the Thing Out Loud and it’s amazing.

Golly, that must’ve been a fun hike, up steep trails and slippery ice to Jabariland with a white guy who has no idea what’s going on and thinks he needs to be in charge. While you’re suffering from the fact that your son/brother/ex is most likely dead. Were any of the ladies tempted to just push him off a cliff? Well, I’m glad they didn’t because that wouldn’t have helped their cause.

OR MAYBE: Everett, because he is a nice person, helps the ladies climb up the steep, secret mountain trails safely, he lets them lead the way because clearly he doesn’t know his way around; he and Shuri help Ramona out because she is older, even with Wakandan treatments for aging joints and arthritis she’s still a little stiff, and Ramona tells him “Thank you” and looks him in the eyes when she does so. He catches Nakia when she slips on ice, “Thank you, but I am sure I can take care of myself.” “I know you can, ma’am. Just watch your step.” Everett wishes he and the others had better hiking gear and warm coats instead of just blankets. Shuri and Nakia catch Everett when he falls at least twice: he’s still recovering from his gunshot wound, and the altitude is getting to him. Everett and the three women don’t talk that much while they are hiking, they hold hands and pull each other up while going up the steeper trails. Getting up the mountain takes a team effort and Everett is a part of it.

Nakia; “You know, Okoye wanted to just leave you to die.”    Everett: “That’s comforting.”

Of course I get the symbolism of Killmonger and T’challa fighting in the vibranium mine--that mine is literally everything that Wakanda is built on. 

“Please stay--I know a way you can still fulfill your calling.” Nakia is like, okay, I’m not sure I believe you, lemme just kiss you.” T’challa is so soft I can’t even.

It is so cool that there are so many female lead characters that are powerful and influential. AND they’re warriors, how cool is that? I respect Nakia, Shuri, and Okoye so much. I might have more in common with them than I realize. More likely, they’re the ideal I should work for. Goes to show how badly I need a sequel.

The reason I like Black Panther so much is because I am white and this film gave me a way to empathize with the black experience. One of the superpowers of fiction is to be a medium to help us discover empathy for others.

It’s like what T’challa says to Steve Rogers in the Civil War mid-credit scene: his dad and the man framed for murdering his dad were both victims of a greater evil. Skin color, wealth, political status--there is nothing that makes that commonality invalid. And T’challa knew that he and his long-lost cousin Erik had a lot in common in spite of a lifetime of not knowing about his existence.

Every character in this film has a story that is beautifully told and I am here for every single one. (Maybe not so much Killmonger and Klaue)

If it’s not too much to ask, though, please be kind to Everett Ross, he is doing his best. He didn’t have to help T’challa take back his country, but it was his job anyway and he knew what T’challa and Nakia and Shuri were up against. (Plus they needed a gosh-darn pilot). T’challa, Nakia, and Shuri refusing his assistance because he was an ignorant outsider would have defeated the entire point of the the story. He is a better person for his experience in Wakanda, and the world is a better place for T’challa having saved his life at all. Everett is, at the very least, a role model for stepping up.

Everett also reminds me of a smol and determined epaulette shark--but then again, he’s played by the same actor who played Bilbo Baggins. 

I GUESS some feedback on this post would be helpful. There are some parts where I need to be more blunt about my perspective in order to express my thoughts. Also my feelings about Bucky are kind of not in a good place right now.