#and I always appreciate Cap being protective of Billy

[daydreamerdrew]

Captain Marvel Adventures (1941) #79

[elysiashelby]

In Another World - T. Shelby Imagine Ch. 11

Paring: (Eventual) Thomas Shelby x Aliena Welsh (OC) 

Fandom: Peaky Blinders 

Word Count: 8,081 

WARNINGS: Angst, Alcohol Consumption, Cursing, Brief Mention of Intimate Situations (smut HINTED, like joke about), Sexual Harassment

Summary: It’s a few weeks after the season 1 finale, Aliena finds herself lost within the family dynamic and her place in the their world. She’s no longer a nanny to John’s kids, Finn is rebelling against school work, and she finds herself done with her cleaning- fairly quickly. How will she deal with this restlessness? How will she cope in a world that’s not her own?

MASTERLIST  CHAPTER 10  CHAPTER 12

A/N: This chapter doesn’t have a lot of Tommy in it. This is the beginning of Aliena’s detachment from the Shelby Family. Thomas will be mentioned frequently, but he most likely have the bare minimum of involvement. 

It’s been abar two weeks since Tom killed Billy Kimber. Everything is...different. I can’t put it into words. Me place within the family is undefined. Since John’s married, I’m no longer needed to take care of the kids. Now, I knew this but he and Esme made it official. 

I wasn’t to be ‘round unless they called. 

I understood. I mean Esme is a new wife and they are in their honeymoon stage. Going at it like rabbits. I felt bad for the kids. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I only see them when they come ‘round the house.

Luckily, they are warming up to Esme. There wasn’t any bad blood in the first place, but— you just never know when a new wife comes into the picture. 

I was still teaching Finn, but since I didn’t have any other students, I was really grilling into him. He’s beginning to hate school even more. It’s just that I practically have nothing to do!

I don’t have to clean two places anymore. I just clean the main house and I kept on top of me tasks all the time, so that means I practically don’t have anything to do! That’s where Finn comes in. I assigned him more homework and reading, but he doesn’t want anything to do with it.

Especially after doing Kimber over, the boy idolizes Tom too much. 

So, here I am at me special place just relaxing. Letting the wind go through me hair was always welcomed. I was just swinging and adamantly trying not to think. I took in me surroundings. But, that soon came to an end when I started to get nauseous.

I put me feet down and stopped. I didn’t get up, though. I just sat there, silently. I reach down and started running me hands through the tips of the grass. I sang to meself “I just want to be the one you love.” I sang ‘til even that gave me a headache. 

I sighed and stopped singing. I sat up straight and hopped off the swing. I took two steps back and just appreciated the nice breeze. I tucked a piece of hair that was in me face and started walking back home. 

It didn’t feel nice walking by meself for so long. I mean it was nice at first, but then I started getting paranoid. Worried that I would just get pinched off the side of the road. Only when me feet hit the familiar cobblestone, did I feel safe. 

Safe under the Peaky Blinders’ protection. What if I’m no longer needed? Do they just give me money and send me on me way? Do I just go and mooch off of Cassie? I mean, technically, didn’t they have that right?

I stopped walking and took the time to massage me temples.

“Are you all right, love?” asked a concerned woman.

I picked up me head and put on a smile. It was fake, of course, but polite. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” 

We exchanged smiles and nods and I went on me way. The second I wasn’t facing her, me smile fell. I was starting to feel lethargic again. That was also a bad sign. 

By the time I reached the front door, I was feeling a lot of things at once. I was annoyed, tired, hungry, and lost. I sighed again while opening the door. It was probably abar six in the evening. I took the pins out of me hat and hung it up. Then, I had to put those same pins in me mouth as I took off me coat. I hung that up as well. 

I took those pins from me mouth and placed them in a pocket in me skirt. I dusted off me hands and walked into the kitchen. I was gonna start making dinner. Decided shepherd's pie would do everyone some good. 

As I was cooking Arthur came in. How did I know it was him, you ask? He brings along the stench of sweat and booze, of course. 

“Whatcha cookin’ there, Ali?” Arthur asked before he took a seat down at the table. He took off his cap and smooth down his hair.

I smiled. “I’m cooking some shepherd’s pie.”

“Ah, thank fuck! When’s it gonna be ready?” 

I shrugged. “Not long now. Are you gonna stay or do I need to hound you down like the rest of your family?”

He sniffed. “Nah, I’ll be in me office.” The chair scraped against the floor as he got up, and then he left the room.

I turned back ‘round and grumbled to meself, “So, I’m chasing ya down like the rest of them.” I took a step back and leaned on the table. I rubbed me forehead and exhaled audibly. Eventually, I sat down ‘til the scran was ready. 

I got three plates, put two forks in me pocket, and cut out three slices for the family members I knew where in the shop. I took only two, though. Using me bum, I opened the doors to the shop and heard the bustling of men.

Not men looking to lay bets, but employees shifting to count up bets and such. I walked past them all. Esme was sitting at a desk as was Polly. I walked up to Polly.

“Dinner, Pol.” I said, rather monotone. 

She looked up at me ‘n smiled. “Thank you, love. Leave it there.”

I nodded and set it down at the edge of her desk. As I took a fork out of me pocket, I asked. “Happen to know where Tommy is?” I set it on the plate.

She picked up her head again, but was gazing somewhere else in thought. Her finger pressed against her lip. “I think he’s doing some business. Talking up plans with the architect that’s designing the company headquarters. Better leave him a slice for him to get on his own. Don’t go chasing him at this time of night.”

I nodded and walked over to Arthur’s office while placing a fork on his plate. I knocked and he told me to come in.

“Here ya are!” I said as I placed his food beside him.

 He made some breathy noise of excitement before saying, “About damn time. I was about to chew me arm and leg off. Thanks, Ali.”

A quick smile flashed on me face and I said, “Your welcome” before leaving. It turns out I had another slice to cut. So, I served John and Esme some dinner. Finn was out and abar. Polly said to just let him be. That he was being a child, so I just ate by meself at the kitchen table. 

While I was eating, the phone was ringing off the hook. I rushed to it and answered. 

“Hello, this is 6 Watery Lane?”

“A call from suite 226 at the Ritz Hotel. A Ms. Cassiopeia Johnson for Ms. Aliena Welsh. Do you accept?”

“Yes, I accept.”

“Connecting you now.”

I sighed and twirled me finger ‘round to wire.

“Ali! Are you free tonight?” Cassie shouted through the phone.

I clutched me forehead. “Yeah and every other night. Why?”

“Feel like going to a party?”

Me eyes widened and anxiety shot through me body. I looked ‘round as if I was going to get in trouble for ‘aving this conversation.

“I- uh. I’m not sure, Cass.”

She groaned exaggeratedly. “Come on, Aliena. You said it yourself, you have nights off now. So, let’s go to a party.”

I scoffed. “What kind of party?”

“Don’t worry! It’s casual. The girls and I are going down to the London clubs, and we wanted you to come. So, don’t wear any of those extravagant dresses Angie bought you. Wear something you can sweat in.”

I rolled me eyes while wearing a smirk. “Cass, you and me have different definitions of clothes we can sweat in, but yeah— I get your meaning. Okay, let me just make sure, okay? Stay on the phone.”

“Okay, hurry up.”

I left the phone off the hook and sped walked back into the shop. I walked up to Polly.

“Hey, Polly. Is it alright if I go out?”

Her head snapped up and her face contorted in confusion. “Go out? With who?”

“Me friends. Cassie, Angie, Tina. I’ve told ya abar them before.”

Her eyes darted from side to side then she nodded. “All right. Before careful, love, all right. Don’t be out too late. You get into any trouble call Tommy or the house. Be safe.” She stood up, smooth me hair down, and kissed me cheek.

I couldn’t help the grin on me face as I thanked her and ran back to the phone. 

“She said yes! I’m gonna go get ready.”

Cassie squealed into the phone. “Yay! We are going to have so much fun!” 

I hung up the phone and raced into me room. I slammed the door behind me and threw open me closet. I took out any “party” dresses that I had hung up. 

I wanted to look absolutely breathtaking.

Between abar five different dresses, I decided on a navy blue dress. Your typical 1920’s design. 

I quickly threw off me previous clothes and even me undergarments. I went to me drawers and found black stockings and a garter belt to match. I had to go through a different drawer to get a black bra. When I finished putting those on, I scrambled to stand in front of me mirror. 

I had to back up a lot to see me whole body in it. I stared for a while. Looking for imperfections. I turned to me side and pinched me stomach. I had a little bump, but I didn’t find meself demeaning meself as usual. I felt...sexy.

I squealed at meself and bent over into meself. Me hair flying as I did so. After I had me little moment, I stood back up, me hair flipping back, and kept me hand over me mouth. I dropped it and went to put on the dress.

Once I had it on, I sat at me desk in front of me mirror and began to do me makeup. I went more for a blue smokey eye to match me dress.  I didn’t add any contour or blush, but I added highlight and a pink nude lip. I blew meself a kiss and got up. I walked back to me closet and bent down to open the drawer at the bottom. 

I picked out me black purse. I opened its doors and took out me four-inch black heels. I put them on and hiked the purse up me shoulder. Then, I was stuck waiting for Cassie’s honk.

As I waited, I kept brushing out me hair. I knew I would look like the odd women out with hair as long as mine, but I didn’t care. I liked how I looked. With me finger, I touched up me lipstick slightly when I heard that infamous honking.

A shit-eating grin spread across me face and I raced out the door. When I made it out the door, Cassie was standing there waiting for me.

We shrieked when we saw each other and ran into each other’s arms. We laughed as we swayed each other. 

“Oooh, I’m so glad you decided to come.” Cassie sighed and pushed me back a little while maintaining our hug. “Look at you! Oh, Angie, Tina! Look at our baby. All grown up.”

She used me shoulders to guide me in front of the car. Angie clapped before bringing her hands over her mouth. Tina was just all smiles. 

I was so hyped up that I couldn’t stop the ugly smile on me face. While fanning meself, I begged. “Guys, stop! Let’s just get this show on the road!”

I climbed into the car and Cassie followed suit.

Their hands were all over trying to inspect all of me outfit. I fought off their hands, eventually.

“Okay, okay, enough! Which club are we going to?”

Cassie looked at Angie as did Tina. Angie made eye contact with the both of them before she bugged out her eyes.

“What?” She shouted then sighed, defeatedly. “I mean, we can start with the one we frequent the most. It’s real nice there. Shiny.” Angie said that last part in a childish voice while looking at me.

I glared at her before grumbling, “Shut it.”

I may have disclosed me affliction for shiny things. 

The rest of the ride was filled with mindless chatter. Just catching up with what has happened in our lives. 

Tina shuffled over to me eventually and took me hand in hers. She was playing with me nails. 

“How are things with you and Thomas?” She asked me softly. Her eyes flicked up to mine before looking back at me nails.

I hummed while sighing deeply. “Well, we’re not the same. He’s just so much busier now. It’s a win in itself that we’re not at odds with each other, but I wish it was like before Grace. We were so close. Well, I was closer to him than he was with any of his family members.” I leaned closer to her ear and whispered. “We slept in the same bed for Christ’s sake.” 

She gasped while looking into me eyes, horrified.

I knew she wasn’t gonna take it well. I gave her a sheepish smile. “It was nothing indecent. I swear! Thomas has trouble sleeping because of the war. I put him to sleep while talking to him and sometimes he would talk to me too.” I looked off thinking abar all the moments we shared.

Tina said nothing for a while ‘til she asked. “So, are you two in a good place or not?”

I rolled me eyes. “If you’re looking for a direct answer then, yes. Yes, we’re in a good place.”

Her cheeks turned red and she gave me a sheepish smile. I softly scoffed. 

The car stopped and we all hopped off. I followed them as they walked into the club. The doormen greeted them and opened the door for us. 

Angie clapped her hands and turned toward me. “What are you drinking?” She asked me.

I shrugged me shoulders. “I’ll drink whatever youse drink.” 

She rolled her eyes before she turned back ‘round and toward the bar. I mocked her expression as she walked away. Cassie linked me arms with hers and began to lead me to a table.

We sat down and I set down me purse. Cassie did the same, but dug through her purse for a ciggie. She propositioned me for one and I took one.

“Wow! Look at you!” Cassie said with her jaw dropped, a smile fighting for its place. “Just going all out tonight, are you?” She then cackled to herself.

I giggled at her as I held the stick between me teeth. I fished through me purse and found me lighter. I’m not familiar with the types of lighters, but if I had to describe this one— it would be a lift arm. I think it was anyway. There was a time where I did research types of lighters for a story, but I wasn’t expecting to remember on the fly.

Oh, how I miss the internet!

I flicked the wheel and inhaled. I pushed the arm back down, snuffing out the flame then tossed it on the table. I took the ciggie from me lips and let out the smoke.

“So,” I began to ask. “What do you guys usually do?” I looked ‘round saw people dancing, talking. The room was super loud. I was, in a way, used to it, but it hurt me ears at the same time.

The dances were so old, to me. They danced like animals, but I saw a couple of tangos. Some were doing the Charleston. 

I would never experience modern clubs. Grinding against strangers and jumping like nobody was watching. Loud music pumping through speakers. Hell, club music! Electronic music, or for Christ’s sake— music with words! I would never get to listen to the music that got me blood pumping and made me feel like the most attractive woman in the room. 

Cassie chuckled before she puffed out a cloud of smoke. “Well, first, we have a drink or two. To take off the edge, then we dance.”

I looked over at Tina who nodded and smiled. I scoffed playfully before blowing raspberries. Angie came over, a bottle and drinks in hand, and a ciggie hanging off her lips. Tina shot up from her seat and rushed to help her. 

Cassie and I sneak a glance at each other. Though, in all honesty, the interaction was innocent. They distributed the drinks and I instantly went to drink when me hand was smack.

Angie had her eyebrows furrowed at me in a glare. I looked back at her confused.

“Let’s make a toast.” She announced over the blaring jazz music. “A toast for Aliena’s first outing!”

Everyone made mischievous smiles at me, I returned it with a mocking one as I tilted me head from side to side. 

Cassie giggled. “May she drunkenly hook up with a stranger and forget all about Mr. Thomas Shelby.”

While I didn’t want Cassie’s toast to come true, exactly, I still clinked glasses with the lot of them. We, collectively, tipped our heads back and downed our glasses. 

I groaned at the taste as did Tina. Angie and Cassie both whooped in excitement.

“More! More!” Cassie chanted as she grabbed the bottle and starting pouring us another round. 

I took another puff of me ciggie. I could see I didn’t have many left. Left it burning for too long. I shrugged me shoulders as I took another inhale. I could always bum one off of them. 

Two more glasses later, I was dragged to the dance floor by Cassie. I tried begging her to let me go, but she wouldn’t. I tried telling her that all I knew how to do was sway, but she said that she would teach me.

And, boy, did she try! 

I swear I was getting it all wrong, but she was swearing that I was doing great.

Our hands were entwined and I shouted. “I’m not doing it right, Cassie!”

She shook her head as she brought me in so close that our lips were practically touching. “You’re dancing better than me. Stop thinking about it, Ali. Let yourself go.”

I wanted to. I really wanted to, but how could I lose meself to jazz music! How was I supposed to lose meself to jazz music?

I cringed. I literally cringed. I took a deep breath and cradled me forehead. “Cass,” I shouted. “Let’s get a drink, yeah?”

She pouted and her face contorted in frustration, but she followed me back to the table nonetheless. At said table, was Angie and Tina along with two new gentlemen friends. Angie looked like she was having a good time while Tina— not so much.

Angie noticed us first. “You guys are back already?” She asked.

Cassie nodded. “Yeah. Aliena wanted another drink.” Her tone, somewhat snappy.

I resisted the urge to roll me eyes as I grabbed the bottle and poured meself a glass.

I heard one of the men clear their throat. Angie sighed before announcing their presence. I gave them each a polite smile and nodded. I didn’t acknowledge them. They weren’t me type anyhow. 

I tipped back abar two more drinks before I tapped Cassie’s shoulder and nodded back to the dance floor. Her face lit up in glee as she took me head and we ran to the dance floor. 

I felt the booze lower me inhibitions. I listened to her words and let meself go. I was in a mix between the music in me head and the music that thundered in the club. I was in a mix between the dances Cassie taught me and the dances I knew from back home.

I ran me fingers through me hair and kept them as I swayed me waist. I let me hands roam me body as I did a body roll. I swayed me hips from side to side. I let me eyes flutter close and I embraced the music in me head.

I only stopped when I felt someone’s hand creep on me shoulder. I twirled ‘round to face the man who dared lay a hand on me. 

He smirked and shouted. “Mind, if I joined you?”

I looked at him up and down then scoffed. “Fuck off!”

His eyes widened and he left. I watched him leave. I walked closer to Cassie and pulled her to me. She giggled and then I turned ‘round. I grabbed her hands and made them roam me body as I grinded into her. 

Eventually, she got into the groove of it. 

“Men are looking at us.” She whispered in me ear.

I smirked and reopened me eyes. I titled me head back and whispered into her ear. “Let them.”

We danced for a little while more. I could see and feel all of these eyes on us. I felt so ethereal yet scared at the same time. All it took was one macho man. One macho man to try and demand that either us are entitled to give him a dance. 

So, with thought like that plaguing me mind— I stopped dancing and pulled Cassie back to the table. 

I hadn’t even noticed that women were glaring at us as well ‘til we were walking back to our table. 

We sat down while panting. I felt so hot. Angie chuckled at the sight of us.

“Where’s tweedle dee and dum?” I asked as I pinched a ciggie from one of their cases.

Angie scoffed. “Hopefully somewhere else. Fucking pricks!”

I inhaled as I lit it up. I knocked down the arm as I asked. “The fuck happened?”

Angie’s eyes darted to Tina’s, who was looking down at the table.

Tina sat up straighter and I could see her gulp. Her eyes kept shifting to me from the table. “The bastard put his hand up me dress.”

I felt rage surge me. I held me ciggie between two fingers as I shot up. Me hands slammed on the table. “Where’s the fucking bastard? I fuckin’ kill ‘em.”

Angie scoffed. “Calm down, Aliena. Already embarrassed them as much as I could.”

I looked over at Angie and gave her a satisfied smile. If it was Angie, then yeah— she made them wish they’d never been born.

Cassie stroked Tina’s arm before saying, “How about you and Angie go and have your turn on the dance floor. Ali and I will hold down the fort.”

Angie looked at Tina who just nodded. They got up from their chairs and walked onto the dance floor. I exhaled smoke through me nose and looked over at Cassie.

She smiled at me. “What was that? On the floor.” 

I smirked. “I let myself go.”

She giggled while tipping her head back. “Now, if Mr. Thomas Shelby knew you could dance like that. I bet he would be the one on his knees for ya. Not the other way around.”

I chortled at that. The bad thing that once she said it, I could imagine it. I could see Thomas Shelby on all fours for me as I sat in his chair at his future office with me legs wide open. But the thing is, I didn’t want to be the one in control. It’s just a personal preference.

Cassie slid a glass to me and I happily took a drink. I tsked after. 

Cassie was staring at me with this questionable look in eyes.

“What?” I asked with a giggle.

She squinted before sighing. “Why won’t you make the first move? You’re about to turn 18 and that woman isn’t in the picture anymore. Why not just,” She began to flail her hands ‘round herself. “Make the first move!”

I glanced away as I thought abar how to answer her. I sat up straighter and rested me back against the chair. “I won’t ever make the first move because I’m afraid of rejection. I’ve been rejected by all the males in my life that I have asked out. In my mind, I can’t convince myself that he will be different. Why? Because I’m shielding myself from feeling that embarrassment and sadness that would come from a rejection. 

Plus, like you said. Grace isn’t in the picture anymore, but that was like two weeks ago, Cassie! If he accepted me right now, I wouldn’t be able to perceive that other than him using me to be his rebound.”

I took the ciggie from me lips and titled me head back as I exhaled. Then, I picked up me glass and downed it. 

Cassie tapped the table with her fingernail before sighing and looking away. I started bobbing me head to enjoy meself. Cassie’s face contorted into something devilish. I squinted me eyes in suspicion.

“What’re you looking at?” I turned ‘round and saw two men sitting at the bar. Me eyes widened and I just zipped back ‘round. I shook me head. “You better not even-!”

It was too late as I saw the shit-eating grin on her face as she looked at me. I blew raspberries while rolling me eyes. 

His name was Christian and he was an accountant. He was attractive, for sure. But, we weren’t hitting it off like that. I pretended to be engaged, but anything he was saying was going in one ear and out the other. 

I nursed me bevvy as I dragged me fingertip along the rim of the glass. When I picked up me head ‘n saw Angie and Tina walking back with more than a pep in their step, I swear I thanked God.

“Hey!” I shouted while effectively cutting off the dude. “How was it? Your feets aching yet?”

Angie scoffed before her tipped toward Christian. She stared at him even harder while arching her neck forward. “Can you get up? You see women coming back from the dance floor and you don’t give your seat up! What kind of man are you?”

I looked away as I slapped me hand over me mouth. The guy stuttered and scrambled out of the chair. Angie just held up her hand and began collecting her stuff.

“I, for one, am tired of this place. Let’s go, girls.” Angie announced. 

‘Say less.’ I thought.

I already had me stuff in me purse, so I got up and shuffled toward Tina. I stroked her arm and asked. “Are you alright, hun?”

She nodded while hiking up her purse on her shoulder. “Just want to get out of here. Too many eyes.” 

I looked ‘round and sure enough, she was right. Some men had the balls to keep on looking. I rolled me eyes as it contorted in disgust. 

“Yeah, we’ll leave soon.”

Cassie flirted with that guy ‘til we left. She groaned exaggeratedly as she raked her fingers through her hair. “What the fuck, guys? I was still talking to him.”

I scoffed. “Don’t worry, Cass. I’m sure you’ll find someone else to satisfy you at the next bar.”

Angie nodded. “Yep. Looks like scum raided that bar tonight.”

By the end of the night, I was a fucking mess. I was stumbling ‘round and me speech was slurred. I was conscious of everything. I felt like it anyway, but something was telling me that I would forget bits and pieces in the morning. 

Oh! Cassie did indeed get her scratch itched. She had sex in the restroom. We cheered and laughed at her for it. Turns out that Tina and I were more alike than I originally thought. Though, I believe the reason for that was because neither of us were on the prowl. Angie and Cass, on the other hand, were.

So, right now, Cass was giving me a ride back home. 

I stuck me head out of the car and let the wind whip through me hair. I howled while extending me arm out. I could hear giggles in the car. When I felt content, I went back into the car. I draped over Angie and rested me head on her shoulder. I was sitting on me knees, so it worked. 

I smiled, drunkenly. Angie stroked me face and whispered. “You are so beautiful. Like so beautiful. It kills me that you’re stuck in that dump of a home. If you were born into me own world, you’d be sought out by all the lords and their sons.”

I psh-ed her words while hiding me face in her arm. “Why, thank you! I think you’re quite stunning yourself.”

“Marry rich, Aliena. So, we can see each other all the time.”

We stared into each other’s eyes for a while. ‘Til I broke it by smiling and cackling. She joined in on me laughter. 

The car had to stop eventually and when it did— they wouldn’t let me go! 

I let all me weight go as I tried to get out of their grasps. “Let me go, you wenches!”

Cassie aw-ed. “Stay with us, Ali. Just come back into the car and sleep over!”

Tina, who was very fucking bladdered, chimed in. “Yeah, stay with us, Ali!”

I giggled while tipping me head back. “No!” I shouted. “I have work tomorrow!” 

Their grip on me, eventually, loosened and I fell back on me arse. I laughed and moaned from the pain as me hand sluggishly went to soothe the pain. They laughed while crashing into each other.

“Fuck off ‘n go home!” I shouted while waving them off.

With ungraceful movements, Angie closed the car door as the other two fell back into the car. I stumbled to get back on me feet and opened the door. 

I sighed and looked ‘round. It was fucking dark and nobody was there. I didn’t take a coat, so I just hung up me purse. I tried to bend over and take off me heels, but I ended up leaning forward ‘n had to catch meself.

I giggled at me actions. Then, I heaved a big sigh and raised a fist to me forehead as I winced in discomfort. I crashed into the wall on me left and debated whether or not I wanted to go into the kitchen for water ‘n bread.

I burped loudly which caused me hand to fly over me mouth and then I chuckled. But, then that feeling contorted into something bad. I ran over to the sink and held me hair back as I vomited into the sink. 

I coughed and gathered all the spit in me mouth and spat it out a couple of times. I groaned as I slumped to the side. 

I’m so fucking tired!

I coughed a few more times as I turned on the faucet. I let the water wash away me vomit and I scooped some water to wash away the taste in me mouth. When I was done, I stumbled back into the living room and threw meself on the couch. 

I got comfortable and fell asleep.

“For fuck’s sake, Aliena.” I heard someone say. I groaned and refrained from opening me eyes. I didn’t want to fucking wake up right now!

Then, I felt someone pick at the hem of me dress and suddenly, me lower half was warmer. Not a second later, arms were under me knees and neck. I furrowed me eyebrows and whined in annoyance. 

They started shushing me ‘n telling me to go back to sleep. However, against their wishes— me eyes fluttered open. It was Tommy. I couldn’t stop the smile on me face from happening and as I attempted to snuggle into his chest.

“Warm.” I muttered.

He shushed me again and repeated himself.

I could feel the both of us jolt as he walked upstairs. I tried falling back to sleep, but felt like that wasn’t becoming a possibility.

Slowly, with me hand, I hovered it over his cheekbone. He looked down at me. I stared into his eyes and whispered. “So pretty.” His facial expression didn’t change. 

He just repeated himself yet again before he began to walk again. I let me hand drop and I closed me eyes. I tried focusing on the sound of his breath and the way his chest rose and fell.

I let him lay me in bed and tuck me in. As he turned ‘round to leave, I shot me hand out and grasped his wrist. “Stay with me?” I asked. 

Tommy looked down at me hand and slowly, he backtracked and sat down next to me. A grin broke out on me face. I tried getting comfortable all while trying to cuddle with him, but it was too awkward since all I would be doing is putting me face near his arse. 

Tommy cleared his throat then said something. Me eyes fluttered open and I hummed questioningly.

“Move over.” He repeated. And so, I did. 

Tommy laid down next to me and I, immediately, cuddled into his side. I didn’t even give him time to properly lay his arm ‘round me shoulders. I just sought out to comfort of his scent and warmth.

I felt his torso shake with laughter, but no sound came out.

“Now, go back to sleep, Ali.”

I was able to follow through on that order that time.

 When I woke up, me head was pounding, there was this god awful taste in me mouth, and I had light sensitivity. I groaned and held me head as I slowly got up. I held me head up as me elbows rested on me knees. 

Then, I looked to me side. There was a note on me nightstand. I grabbed it and read it.

‘Take it easy today. - Thomas’

I rolled me eyes, but I was actually brimming with happiness on the inside.

‘So, that wasn’t a dream.’ I thought.

I got to me feet and worked on getting dressed for the day. I settled for a fuzzy, grey long-sleeved shirt, a blue pleated skirt, and stockings. These ones went all the way up to me waist. When I was done, I trudged over to me desk and worked on getting last night’s makeup off.

I’m such a better beaut! I had to use so many cotton balls and wipes. I sighed as I covered me face with me hands. I spread me hands and looked at meself in the mirror. I stretched down me face before letting it go. I let me left arm fall and I laid me head down on it.

I desperately did not want to go downstairs. But, I have a fucking job to do! I whimpered before getting up and slipping on boots. After that, I made me way downstairs. 

As I turned into the kitchen, I should have known Polly would have been there. Sipping away at her mornin’ cuppa tea. She looked at me through hooded eyes. I looked away before looking back at her.

She set her cup down and leaned forward in her seat. “Well, aren’t you going to tell me how your night was?”

The only thought that went through me mind was, ‘Thank fuck!’

For several nights in a row, me nights have been nothing but partying. I’ve been getting up with a hangover from the night before, finishing me duties, making dinner, eating dinner, getting ready to go out, and then Cassie would pick me up.

When I left, I would drink so much that anything would fly out of me mouth as slurs and I was stumbling into people. Then, I would be dropped off home and luckily, I have been making it to me room. Oh, but first. I would vomit in the sink, or eat bread and drink water. So far it’s been a 50/50 chance for either.

Right now, I was dancing with a bottle in me hand by meself. Being drunk and dancing was freeing. I wasn’t thinking for once and I was just letting go. I didn’t have to worry abar who I was within the Shelby clan. I wasn’t overthinking every interaction I had with everybody I came across. I wasn’t obsessing over Thomas fucking Shelby.

I brought the bottle to me lips and took a swig. Cassie looked over at me and stumbled toward me, and I did the same. With me free hand, I cradled the back of her head and brought her forehead to meet mine.

“Are you having fun?” She asked me over the blaring music.

I nodded while gigglin’. “Yeah, what about you?”

She nodded too before stealing me bottle away. I protested and reached for it, but she stomped away. She couldn’t exactly manage a run, right now. I spluttered at the sight. When I stood up straight, I felt someone place their hands on me hips.

I didn't have to look behind meself to know it was some fella.

“Want some company, love?” He asked me.

I pondered it for a while before I decided on me answer. “I’m only lookin’ to dance. You got that?”

As he chuckled, I could feel his chest vibrate. “Sure, love.”

I rolled me eyes and started to dance to me own music. When I felt something hard press up against me arse, I pushed him away and started walking away. He tugged me back.

“Oi, slag. Finish what you started.” He shouted in me face.

I scoffed before stomping on his foot and kneeing his crotch. “You have a hand, use it!” I yelled as he doubled over. I shoved him to the ground and walked away. 

I was instantly smothered by hands. 

“Oh my god! I can’t believe you just did that! You just did that!” Angie exclaimed.

“That was so fucking awesome. Look at you, bad-ass!” Cassie shouted.

Tina just had this big-arse smile on her face. 

I laughed while shaking me head. “I’m glad youse enjoyed it, but unless he came here alone— we need to leave.”

We shuffled to our table, got our stuff and left. The night breeze whipped through our hair. I was falling into Cassie and Tina as we walked side by side. 

I groaned exaggeratedly before shouting, “Should we just go to the flat? De’ fuckin’ weirdos are out tonight!”

Cassie cackled. “Maybe it’s because your dancing is driving men wild.”

I scoffed while pivoting me hip toward her. “I don’t give a fuck abar what they see. I’m not there to satisfy them. I’m ‘aving a fuckin’ dance.”

“So, you won’t make the first move, but you don’t want men to make the first move on you either… How does that work?” Tina quipped.

I craned me neck toward her before glaring at her. “Okay, Tina! Some liquid courage, right now, huh? No, I’m playing! I don’t know how it works, but it’s gonna be up to me if I want to give them me time. Okay? Okay.”

Angie snapped her fingers before saying. “Exactly! Exactly! Anyway, Ali’s right. Let’s head to the flat.” She hailed a taxi and we all got it.

I left the window open and leaned me head against it. That was ‘til Angie made me shut it. I blew raspberries at her, but did it anyway.

It didn’t take that long to reach the hotel and Angie paid. I was too busy walking up the steps. I saw the familiar doorman.

“Good evening, Ms. Welsh.” He greeted me. Mr. Wilson was an older man in his late 40s. That’s all you have to remember.

“Evening, Wilson.” I flashed him as smile and walked through the door he held open for me. I stumbled straight to the elevator and saw that I was walking way ahead of me friends. 

I groaned while tipping me head back. The met me eventually and when the liftman spoke, I jumped. I didn’t notice that he was in here.

Cassie had to practically drag me out of the things since I had snoozed off. We were all full of cackles and giggles as we stumbled to Cassie’s flat. Once the door open and I crossed the threshold, I groaned extra exaggeratedly.

Angie shouted at me to shut up. I ignored her and worked on taking off these fucking devil heels. I threw them out of sight, out of mind then launched meself onto the bed. 

“Open a bottle!” I chanted. “Open a bottle!” 

When I heard the pop of a bottle, I cheered and flung meself back up. Cassie, Tina, and Angie were all sitting at the table. I trudged over to it and sat down rather unlady like. 

I took the pins out of me hair and shook it out while throwing them on the table.

“So, Aliena, why did you turn down that man?” Angie asked.

I shrugged me shoulders. I didn’t expect her to be the one to ask that. “Didn’t feel like he was the one. Yaknow?” I reached for the glass of wine she’d just poured me and sipped it. 

“Who will be the one?” Cassie quipped as she drank some of her wine.

Me gaze snapped toward her and I said without hesitation. “Perhaps it could be you.”

She as well as Tina spluttered. I smirked, victorious.

I sighed. “Why are you all so concerned with me love life so much? If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Right now, I’m not looking for meaningless sex nor am I looking to be in a relationship.” I realize that I didn’t say those words with perfect clarity, but— perhaps I did at the same time.

Tina cleared her throat. Everyone’s head turned to her. 

“Because… Because we want to see you happy as the baby in the group.” 

I blinked a couple of times as did everyone else apparently ‘cause once the three of us made eye contact with each other, we started cackling. I mean this was some heavy cackling. The kind that would embarrass you if your significant other heard it. 

“No, but seriously— she’s right.” Cassie said through pants.

I sobered up real quick.

Angie continued. “Yeah. Look, this Thomas Shelby doesn’t seem like the kind of guy for you. I mean, hasn’t he made you cry like more than ten times, already? You don’t even want to find out if he likes you back. Why don’t you just find someone new?”

I blinked slowly as I tried to process what they said. I shook me head and muttered. “I’m gonna head to the loo.” 

I closed the door behind me and stumbled to the sink. I was holding meself up on the sink and I looked up at me reflection. I took in a loud shuddering breath.

They didn’t understand. Tommy wasn’t a bad person, he was just ambitious. They don’t know abar his affectionate side like I do. The Tommy who joked and smiled with me at night. That Tommy was mine to adore on sleepless nights. The Tommy that makes me cry is very real, but it’s not even his fault. It’s mine.

It’s me who’s a coward. I already told them me reasons for not confronting him abar me feelings, why can’t they just accept that. I don’t want to have a bunch of one-night stands that’s not me! Why are they pushing me to do it when they don’t even do that to Tina? Is it because I’m a virgin?

I choked as I exhaled and wiped me eyes. I looked up at me reflection again and saw that I now had raccoon eyes. I blinked quickly while groaning to meself. The mascara was stinging me eyes. I opened the cabinet and scavenged for Cassie’s makeup remover items. 

I’m not going to hold on to Tommy forever. I knew that in me heart. I had too precious of a goal to do that shit. Plus, the choice will be made for me in two years time. If Tommy knocks up Grace, that is. If he does, then I’m done. He loved her and only her. I have no right in the matter nor am I gonna kick up a fuss. I’m just glad to be in their lives.

I cherished his character for so long and so intensely that I actually managed to be “transported” to the Peaky Blinder Universe. Even if I don’t end up with him, this is still an excellent shot at life. I know things abar the future that will help me descendants. As ugly as this is, I can make a profit out of ideas that were invented in me timeline.

Me future doesn’t have to be completely uncertain anymore. 

But no one can ever understand that. Not Cassie, Angie, Tina, Polly, or even Tommy could understand. I can plan me future with almost 100% guarantees that it will be a success.   

It’s so tiring, though. I’m so tired of pretending to be someone I’m not. I have to remember lie after lie after lie. 

I heaved for air as I slid down the sink. There was a knock at the door.

“Aliena, are you all right in there?” 

I nodded, even though they couldn’t see me. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just need some time alone, please.”

“Okay.” Cassie said with a shaky voice.

I’m not upset at them. I’m upset with the truth their words held. I needed to get over Thomas Shelby. I knew that better than anyone. But, I was gonna do it me own way. Nobody can do it for me. I’m gonna do it at at me own time, nobody is gonna plan it for me. 

I got up and wiped the tears that fell. I crawled over to where the toilet paper was, rolled some ‘round me hand and blew me nose. I threw it away and finally stood up. I walked back into the room where they all stared out me.

I pointed to the bed and whispered that I was going to sleep. They acknowledged it and I did as I said I was going to do.

I knew better than anyone that I shouldn’t be in love with Thomas Shelby. That he could get me killed, cheat on me, or ya know— create a toxic relationship. But, I didn’t see us as that. That’s what we were like on the surface. There’s unspoken words that are exchanged between us, always. 

I knew he wasn’t good with words or actions because of the war and the business empire he wants to build. Do I get caught in the crossfire sometimes? Yes. Does me mental health suffer because of it? Yes, of course, it does! I’m human and a very emotional one at that! 

I knew that some people think that Thomas Shelby was an absoulte arsehole and he is, but I saw why he was like that. I understood it. I would be that way too. I am that way. I do harbor similar feelings, but I also don’t want to be in a leadership position. I don’t want that dominance that Tommy does.

And, he does crave it. 

I can’t fix him just like he can never fix me. But in my heart of hearts, I knew he may be the only one who understood these dark thoughts of mine just like I did his. But sometimes that isn’t enough. 

I knew people like him craved an innocent partner at times. Not innocent in nature, but in their actions. They see the good in people, they’re optimists. A “low-born” man who is fascinated with a “high-born” woman because of her naive feisty nature. 

I wasn’t any of that. I saw the worst in people. I consider meself a realist, but I’ve been called a pessimist.  I was born from a middle-class family. And while I am bratty, yes, bratty. I’ve been labeled this by too many friends and family members to try downplaying me character now. I just want to feel safe. I want warmth. I want someone to hold me and tell me that everything’s alright.

I sniffled and wiped me nose. 

Truth is, right now, I’m in limbo. I’m surrounded by people who have good intentions but I’m feeling more depressed than ever. 

TAG LIST: @amirahiddleston @nemesis729​ @salvatoreitmeanssaviour @tlfshelby1 @halepea @lilymurphy03 @marsfireeyes @masumiyetimziyanoldu

[sleeplessincairo]

[ dating steve rogers would include: ]

warnings: just a few cusses and a few sexual implications

///

He's an absolute gentlemen even in awkward, but adorable ways:

He’s always asking for permission before taking action whether it’s asking if you’re okay with him wrapping his arms around you in public or if you mind him kissing you even if you’ve been dating for 6 months.

He’s always racing to your side of the car or to the entrance of any room/building just so he can open the door for you-But despite him being super human, you still manage to beat him to it sometimes.

He even sometimes sprawls his jacket across a puddle just so your shoes don’t get wet, but you usually end up jumping in the puddle and splashing the water everywhere with an innocent grin. You do appreciate the thought and effort, though.

He constantly offers you his jacket just in case you’re cold and even sometimes goes ahead and drapes it over your shoulders, because he knows how stubborn you are to actually bother accepting it or asking for it.

He absolutely HAS to walk or drive you home every time just to make sure you arrive home safely and make sure no knucklehead dares to mess with you, but when you refuse to let him go through all that trouble he settles for ‘observing from a distance’ which is basically him stalking you.

Despite him having the spontaneous job of being a superhero, he never keeps you waiting too long-Mostly because of him missing his dance with Peggy by years resulted in him being as punctual as he can.

The list goes on...From him pulling your seat out for you to sit on and helping you put on your coat to paying for every date regardless of your protests.

In the beginning, he was extremely shy and flustered to the point where he would stutter uncontrollably and question every move he made so he wouldn't embarrass himself.

At the end of your dates, He tried to kiss you but usually ended up chickening out and end up kissing your cheek instead.

But finally, when he walked you to your apartment on your 4th date, he stood there awkwardly stuttering a goodnight while staring directly at your lips, only for you to grab him by the collar of his shirt and kiss him yourself.

When Tony heard the story of you being the one to make the first move and kiss him, he stayed about a whole month teasing Steve about it.

"Is (Y/N) gonna be the first one to make a move in the bedroom too, Steve?"

Him giving you those adorable sideways smiles with his eyes glimmering with adoration that’s reserved just for you.

You teaching him about the latest technology, slang, and trends after realizing that getting Tony to do it was a completely bad idea-He ended up just telling Cap’ either completely incorrect things or just things that would give him a good laugh.

“Wow (Y/N), that’s so fetch.”

"Alright let me get this straight, you tag people? Wasn’t that a game people played where you chase someone and if you touch them, they're it? Did they make that into an...app-apparatus?"

A lot of ‘Wait, I didn’t mean to send that’

You get to see the clumsy, imperfect, and wounded side of Captain America the world doesn’t get to see; you get to witness all the ‘Him getting up in the middle of the night to pee and accidentally stepping on his shield, making it hit him in the shin’s, all the sleepless nights spent together because the nightmares are getting too vivid, all the regrets and disappointments he holds for himself because he was too late, all the insecurities that eat him alive because of him having all of this strength and these abilities yet still not being enough, all the reckless and deadly actions he makes without even a second thought because he’s just not used to having someone to live for, the way he slightly flinches when Thor summons and uses his powers, all the times he misplaces his shield to the point where Tony ends up putting a tracker in it, the emptiness of his apartment because he’s too afraid to settle down, the bright red color that seeps through his cheeks when you press your body tightly against his, all the low swears that escape through his mouth when he thinks no one can hear him, all the uncertainties and hesitations that he never dares to show because he’s ‘Captain freaking America’. You get to witness all his deepest fears, thoughts, and feelings. You get to witness and love Steve Rogers.

Steve always making sure that his superhero life doesn't affect his private life especially when said superhero life concludes of spontaneous and agonizingly long missions. He makes it his personal duty to make time for dates, events, and well, you.

Steve doesn't like bullies. He doesn’t care who they are.

Steve woke up from almost 75 years of being frozen in ice after fighting wars and battles, fighting for America and it’s freedom only to wake up and find out the world is still a dark place and he can’t help but think that all his friends died for nothing. Steve makes it his new mission to fight for equality and power to the people, to make sure everyone has a voice, to make sure no one is overlooked or ignored, to make sure that everyone gets the God-given rights they have.

Captain America symbolizes freedom and protection and he'll be damned if he can’t offer minorities the freedom and protection they DESERVE. Captain America has always been for standing up for the little guy, for following what’s right not the law. Captain America is the symbol of how America should be.

Steve Rogers was a fugitive of the law at some point, there is no way he’d hold back on joining in on women’s marches, protests and riots, and pride parades.

Steve Rogers volunteering at Youth Centers to teach kids self-defense and offering them the guidance, support, and comfort Bucky always managed to offer him.

Steve Rogers protecting people from police brutality-His insomnia and Tony’s drones helped him keep an eye out for it and other forms of harassment.

Steve refusing to reinforce nor aid any governments that took part in the oppression of it’s own citizens and worked hard to striving for a better life for them with the help of T’challa and Tony help creating a treaty that ensures it.

A lot of slow dancing and slight swaying while being wrapped in each others arms.

Especially to Billie Holiday. Boy, is he a fan of Billie Holiday.

He's not exactly supportive of technology due to the unfortunate difference in human interactions between the 40s and now, so he sticks to some of his old habits.

Instead of sending text messages or calling during missions, he mostly writes you letters. Every single different alias he uses for each letter is inscribed into your brain.

Instead of staying home all day, he takes you out to soak in the beautiful weather of New York and tells you about how it used to be back in the 40’s.

Instead of watching a movie on your laptop or the TV, he takes you to the local cinema or even a drive-in.

Oh, how he loves taking you to the Smithsonian Museum just so he can point out all the inaccurate facts and exhibitions in display.

Leaving each other sticky notes everywhere to remind each other of events because of the fact that his unstable working hours so you don’t see each other much for you to tell each other face to face. Slowly, the both of you ended up developing a habit of leaving short cute love notes on each other’s things-Every single sticky note is saved in your own special places but Steve takes a few with him whenever he goes on missions to keep him company.

Although, you’d never tell Steve this, but his handwriting is absolutely terrible. Despite him being quite the artist, reading his notes is like decoding what a doctor’s prescription note says. However, with every not he wrote you, you started recognizing the way his I’s look like E’s, the way he curves and arcs his letters like he’s drawing loops, and the way punctuation is a stranger to him and soon enough it was like you were reading your own handwriting. You did enjoy decoding the notes he leaves you everyday. It was like a secret language only you could understand.

Him taking you to Brooklyn and telling you stories of the trouble he'd get himself into in EVERY spot.

He told you about how he almost got arrested at the Old Stone House because he snuck in there with Bucky. All because they couldn’t wait for the Grand re-opening. Bucky managed to talk the police out of it by lying to them, and saying that Steve had 2 weeks left to live and how it was his dying wish to see the place.

Oh, and how he had his first kiss with Leslie Jordan in front of Bamonte’s during their first and only date in the 11th grade. He remembered all the fights he got into with the jerks in his class that were always picking on her because of the birthmark on her face, he remembered all the times they sat together because no one wanted to sit with them, he remembered how he asked her to the school dance because every girl deserved the chance to have a special slow dance with a boy, he remembered how he saved up so that they could eat at that fancy italian place-Bamonte’s-afterwards. She ended up switching schools and moving to Wisconsin the following week.

Steve told you about all the places that were rundown and were there before all the replacements and modifications, all his happy childhood memories, all the alleys he got his ass kicked in, all the places him and Bucky got kicked out of. But it wasn’t until after you met Bucky and shared hundreds of stories about Steve that you realized that even before the serum Steve was still a fucking dumbass that went headfirst into reckless and dangerous trouble; Now, he didn’t jump out of planes without a parachute back then but he did climb 3 floors up the side of his apartment building just because he felt like it.

Helping and comforting Steve after Peggy dies and being his shoulder to cry on, to lean on, to hide his dorky smile in, and rest his head on that fit perfectly as if it was hand sculpted by God himself just for Steve.

He tells you everything. Absolutely everything. From how many punching bags he managed to make fly today to telling you about his failed missions or missions with casualties-Sometimes he didn’t even need to verbally tell you, you could tell what happened by the slouch of his shoulders and the lack of glimmer in his oh-so-bright eyes.

Jesus, the man can swear like a goddamn sailor. It took him about 2 months for him to feel comfortable enough swear in the presence of a lady, but it was expected that he’d break at some point considering all the pent up rage he has bottled up. The man makes punching bags fly for God’s sake! Not to mention the fact that he was in the army with the Howling Commandos of all people. He just couldn’t help the series of cusses that flew past his lips when-despite the years of training-he accidentally hits himself with his shield, the ‘Fucks’ and ‘Shits’ that escaped through clenched teeth when he got injured during a mission, the soft profanities whispered against your neck as you came apart underneath him, the loud and consistent obscenities that forced his way out of his throat during his road rage-God help anyone who dares to ride in a car with Steve Rogers. You asked him to drive you to work ONCE during rush hour while your car was in the shop and oh boy, he let out words so colorful and vibrant they’d bring Tony Stark to tears.

Tony having a habit of interrupting you and Steve whenever you’re clearly having a moment.

“Did I walk in on some pre-fonduing?” Of course Howard told Tony about it during one of this drunken rants about Captain America, The Living God, and of course Tony would bring it up from time to time just to see Steve’s face turn redder than the Ironman armor.

Getting a mini heart attack whenever you hear about another reckless thing he did despite him telling you that he’d be more careful.

At some point, Bucky and Natasha become your personal spies who inform you of every Godforsaken idiotic thing he does

“You got into a brawl with a God, seriously?"

"Well, so did Tony.”

“AGAIN? You jump out of a plane without a parachute AGAIN?”

He gets homesick quite often but thankfully you’re there to help him through it with ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ ready for him at any moments notice as well as trips to Coney Island and the Stark Expo, but mostly, even if Steve doesn’t admit it, your presence is what helps him through it. The way you run your fingers through his hair and draw circles with them on his skin takes him back to simpler times when he was a little boy lying in the arms of his beloved mother, Sarah. A time of safety and comfort.

Helping him go through his To-Do list.

One of the most precious memories you have of him was when he saw Rocky for the first time with you, he was in awe of the storyline and the colors-He was put in a wonderous state after seeing the deep red color of blood being spat onto the floor, the sweat shimmer of Rocky’s face darimg his opponent to come at him, the overwhelming saturation and hue of actually seeing colors on a screen, of no longer seeing the dull and bland black-and-white pictures he was so used to.

You’re pretty sure he has Marvin Gaye’s entire discography memorized by heart at this point. Steve is eternally grateful to Sam to mentioning Troubleman to him because it was the start of a great obsession.

Training with him. Steve Rogers will personally wake you up for a morning run everyday and honestly you wouldn’t mind it if he didn’t wake you up everyday at the break of dawn. He can’t help it though. Sleep has become a stranger to him since he’s been back.

You’d be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t enjoy it, running with him side-by-side during the rare moments where the city was actually asleep offered you solace. Sometimes the both of you would talk, othertimes you’d run in silence, but mostly on each run you’d use it as a chance to help him catch up on another music album you thought was culturally important for him to know-Dating Steve really diversified your music taste.

He’s a hugger. He just loves embracing you in any possible way whether its linking his arms around you while you’re working, resting his head on your shoulder and hugging you from behind while you’re cooking, or pulling you onto his lap so he can breathe in your scent while he’s doing paperwork.

He has dozens of notebooks filled with hundreds of illustrations he drew of you and The Avengers. You’ve got a few hung up on your fridge but your favorite is definitely the drawing he made of a ring, set in between the cushions of a tiny blue box, that he gave you right before he bent down on one knee.

[justahopelessssromantic]

Chapter 1

A/N: Hey guys here’s the first part of Finding Hope! I hope you all enjoy this story as I’m really excited to share it with you! Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think 💕 Love you all and appreciate all the support 💖

Warnings: A little angst

Daniella swung the door to the small apartment building open stepping inside the poorly lit entryway. She looked up at the long climb of stairs ahead of her and groaned. With Hope limp against her chest sleeping like a rock and her duffle in her other arm she made her way up stopping to readjust the child every few steps. The muffled shouting echoed through the stairway through the walls, a familiar sound really for both her and her sister. The shouting grew louder as she made it about halfway up the steps, a door above having clearly been opened.

“Fuck you! You don’t care about me and never have!” A younger female voice shouted from above.

“You ungrateful little shit! You don’t know the half of what I’ve given up for you!” Another voice shouted.

Daniella looked to the sleeping girl in her arms, surprisingly seeming unfazed by the whole thing which was a relief to her. The last thing she needed was the two bickering females to wake Hope up after the day they had.

“Hey don’t you fucking walk away from me, Leticia!” The older sounding woman screamed.

A young girl with long dark hair came whipping around the corner and rushed down the stairs. Daniella moved more to the side to clear a path for the young girl, who she was putting together as Leticia, to get out of there. At the top of the stairs appeared the older woman still shouting holding what appeared to be a slipper. She flung the shoe down the stairs at the girl just missing her as she managed to make it out of the door.

“Jesus Christ!” Daniella muttered through clenched teeth. “Watch what you’re fucking doing! I have a fucking kid.” She barked back at the woman no longer as concerned about the young girl sleeping as she was pissed off.

“Mind your own fucking business, puta!” The woman spat back at her before stomping back into her apartment and slamming the door shut so hard the building practically shook.

“Bitch,” Daniella muttered to herself.

Now little Hope was starting to stir. Daniella cursed to herself setting the duffle down and running soothing circles across the girls back until she settled back down snuggled against her chest. Letting out a sigh Daniella picked the bag back up and made her way up the rest of the steps stopping in front of the apartment across from the one the woman just disappeared into. Looks like she already made a great impression on her new neighbors.

She set her bag down once more. Fishing through all her pockets until she found the set of keys she pulled them out shifting the weight on her feet before unlocking the door and entering the apartment. She flicked the light on before turning back around, picking up her bag and setting it inside before closing the door and locking all three locks securely .

The apartment was small but nice. It was just enough space for her and now her new unexpected companion. She walked further in stopping in front of the brown leather sofa. Kicking her sneakers off beside it she kept going through the apartment until she finally found the bedroom. Inside was a fully made bed. Right now she was so thankful for her best friend for coming and setting all this up for her, she really didn't know what she'd do without her. She pulled back the covers and gently laid Hope down on the bed, tucking her in tightly.

Daniella never wanted kids. She didn’t want to fuck them up like she had been, dragging them into her mess of a life. They say you turn into your parents and that was her greatest fear. She wasn’t fit to be a mother, wouldn’t do that to an innocent life.

But now here she was, and she would do anything to protect the fragile life in her care.

She reached out brushing a strand of Hope’s dark hair behind her ear. “I promise I’m gonna give you the life I didn’t have,” she whispered, “You are going to be taken care of. You will feel loved.”

Pulling back she stepped out of the room to grab the bag and take it to the bathroom. Leaving the door open so she could keep an eye and ear on Hope she slipped the baseball cap off her head tossing it to the counter. She looked at her reflection, the long drive with no sleep showing all over her features. Her eyes were heavy, bags prominent beneath them and the cut on her lip still stung from the earlier blow but she had looked worse, far worse in her past.

Wincing she pulled the black hoodie off and over her head dropping it to the ground. Her body was scarred all over a constant reminder of what she had endured and how far she had come. Turning she glanced back, stealing a look at her now bare back, a large deep bruise forming just below her ribs. She grimaced as she straightened back and rolled her shoulders. Her body was stiff and sore. Now that the adrenaline had worn off she was feeling everything and her hands began trembling. She squeezed them into fists closing her eyes and took deep breaths until the trembling began to subside. It was moments like this when she wanted to crumble and find a release.

Stripping the rest of the way she unzipped the bag pulling out an oversized t-shirt and slipping it on. Reaching back in she pulled out the folded picture she had tucked away carefully. Switching the light off in the bathroom on her way out she padded back into the bedroom turning the lamp on beside the bed and climbing in beside Hope. Unfolding the picture she looked over the old photo for probably the hundredth time now taking in every detail like she had for years.

The man in the photo was handsome, a warm smile on his face with a cigarette in hand straddling a motorcycle. Her mother sitting behind him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist. They looked happy but looks can be deceiving, she knew that better than most.

This picture was the reason for Daniella coming to Santo Padre. In it was her biological father, the biker trash asshole who her mother had told her about, the now president of the Mayans MC Santo Padre charter, Obispo 'Bishop' Losa.

The sun shined down brightly on Daniella. Walking out the gate she closed her eyes soaking in her freedom and taking a deep breath of fresh air feeling lighter than ever.

"Heyyyy!" Daniella's best friend Rowena sang beaming as she made her way out. "Look at you! Do a little spin for us tiny.” She hollered.

Daniella chuckled, rolling her eyes but did a little spin anyways coming around once more to take a look at the Stockton State prison one last time as she walked backwards away from it flipping her middle finger towards the building. Coming back around she grinned as she was scooped into Rowena’s arms. “I missed you bitch.” Her voice was muffled in the embrace.

Rowena pulled back holding her at arms length and getting a good look at Daniella. “Missed you too,” she cooed smiling. She then examined Daniella’s face closely. Sure she had visited her often in the year she had been out but it felt different on the outside. Her eyes landed on the cut on Daniella’s lip and she smirked. “Nice new accessory.” She said pointing to the cut.

“Oh yeah? You like it?” Daniella said grinning, “just a little going away present from Carmen.” She said nonchalantly.

“I could have sworn you two would have killed each other by now.” Rowena said, pulling Daniella into her side and heading towards her car. “Shit must have really changed since I got out.”

“Yeah well what can I say? She warmed up to me. I mean what’s there not to like?” Daniella boasted as they made their way to Rowena's vehicle.

“Yeah, yeah.” Rowena said, waving her friend off. “You got me there.” Unlocking the door to her old yellow Volkswagen she slipped into the driver’s seat, Daniella making her way around to the passenger’s.

Rowena started the car rolling down the windows for Daniella. She knew the last thing her friend would want to feel after coming out was feeling confined some more. The only thing Rowena wanted when she got out was to feel everything, all the little things you couldn’t get from the inside, the rush of the wind being the first thing she got to. It was like a high in itself.

Daniella fastened her seatbelt and turned more towards her friend. “So did you find anything, Ro?” She asked eagerly.

“You mean did I find your Papi?” Rowena looked back at her raising a brow as she pulled out of the parking lot. “Damn right I did girl.” She grinned, “And by the way how come you never told me he was so hot?” She moaned dreamily, “Like damn Dani if he doesn’t wanna be your daddy he can most certainly be mine.” She wiggled her eyebrows at her.

Daniella’s mouth fell open as she shoved Rowena lightly, “Fuck you!” She laughed, “God you’re so disgusting.”

“Hey watch it I’m trying to drive here,” Rowena laughed, “You’re going to run us off the road and then neither one of us is gonna get to meet him.”

“If that’s what it’ll take to end this discussion about my hot,” Daniella cringed playfully, “daddy.” She managed out, “Then I’m willing to make that sacrifice.”

Rowena laughed, kicking on the AC and opening the vents in front of her. “Fine I won’t say anymore about it, for now.”

“Thank you,” Daniella scrunched her nose up smiling at Rowena. “So,” she started her tone more serious now, “Where is he?” Daniella had always been curious about who her real father was even with all the nasty things her mother would tell her about him. She wanted to know what he was like, if everything her mother said was true or not, and he had to be a hell of a lot better than her mother and her boyfriend Billy. He was what got her through those three long years inside.

“It took a little while to track him down and find which Mayans charter he belonged to but I was finally able to pin him down to the Santo Padre Charter,” Rowena stated, “He’s the president of the club there, Obispo Losa, goes by the name Bishop.”

“Bishop,” Daniella whispered to herself looking out her window. She stuck her hand out the open window, the rush of air blowing against her skin and rushing into the car to blow her hair back. She watched as the various houses and buildings passed by as they drove down the road getting lost in her thoughts.

“I got you an apartment there, set it up and everything.” Rowena continued stealing a glance at Daniella every now and then. “You’re all set, you can finally get the fuck out of this toxic place.”

Daniella turned her attention back to Rowena giving her a small smile. “Thank you so much Ro.” She said sincerely, “I don't know what I’d do without you or how I’m ever going to pay you back.”

“Find your dad, start fresh and live the life you fucking deserve Daniella.” Rowena said, “I’m so proud of you.”

“Stop,” Daniella groaned looking up to push the tears away that were beginning to pool in her eyes, “You are going to make me cry.” She would forever be thankful for her best friend and all the women who had helped her out throughout the years, her real family, the only people she could truly trust and count on.

“Right,” Rowena said, pushing her own tears away, “No time for all this sappy shit.” She laughed half heartedly taking a deep breath. “If you really want to make it up to me then the least you can do is introduce me to your daddy.” She teased playfully.

Daniella rolled her eyes again and burst out laughing. “You just don’t know when to quit!” She shook her head, “There’s something seriously wrong with you, you got some major daddy issues to work out.”

“Yeah, well take a good look in the mirror yourself bitch.” Rowena joked laughing.

“Fuck you.” Daniella smirked, flipping her friend off.

“Back at ya!” Rowena quipped back, returning the bird. The two women laughed together til it died down and Rowena spoke up once more. “So what’s first? You want to grab some food?”

“Nah,” Daniella said. She just wanted to get the band aid ripped off first and go home and then she could fully enjoy her new found freedom. “Take me home. I need to get my shit and then we can get some food or something, have a proper girls day before I leave tomorrow.” She smiled at Rowena.

“Are you sure you’re ready to see her?” Rowena asked.

“Yeah,” Daniella said. It had been three years since she saw her mother last, she never once came to visit Daniella when she was inside but she didn’t really care. “I just need to be done with it, get what’s rightfully mine then get the hell out of there.”

“You gonna give her a piece of your mind?”

Daniella shook her head, “She’s not worth it. I’ve wasted too much of my time on her. I just need to face her long enough to collect and then I’m never looking back. It’s time to put me first.”

“Alright Hope,” Daniella said as she squatted in front of the young girl and tied her shoes, “Today is the day. We are finally going to face him.” She finished the double knot and stood up. Hope looked back at her with her big brown eyes like she always did, her thumb a permanent fixture in her mouth and her little green stuffed bear held tightly in her arm. “I know that’s what I said the last three times but I mean it this time. I’m not gonna chicken out anymore.” She told her or really more herself. Hope had yet to utter a single word since they were together only offering maybe a nod here and there.

Three times now Daniella had stopped outside the scrapyard where Bishop worked and each time she had psyched herself out and would head back home. She wasn’t usually so easily scared but something about approaching this man, her father, who she was told wanted nothing to do with her growing up just sent her mind in a downward spiral. What if he still wanted nothing to do with her? What if he sent her away? What if he rejected her once more? Then coming all the way to Santo Padre would be for nothing. She had nowhere else to go. It was taking a big risk coming here and bringing Hope along.

“Now,” she continued talking to her sister some more, “I know it’s confusing but we’re going to have to tell people I’m your mama, okay?” She said, looking into the girl’s eyes, almost an exact copy of her own. At least it would be believable. Hope could definitely pass as her own. “It’s just better that way. Raises less questions.” She nodded to the girl patting her gently on the leg.

"How does this sound?" Daniella asked Hope standing straight, "Hey I don't know if you remember but it's me, your daughter, the one you didn't want." She trailer off. "Yeah you're right, that sounds ridiculous." Daniella let out a sigh running her hand over her face. "We'll work on it on the way over." Daniella extended her hand out to Hope who took it with her free hand, the other still attached to her mouth, and she helped her off the couch. Walking hand in hand they exited their apartment and Daniella locked the door behind them. At the same time Letty was exiting her apartment across the way.

“Hey,” Daniella greeted with a smile, “Leticia, right?” She recalled from the argument they had walked into when they first arrived.

“Letty,” She said slightly annoyed. There was a sense of hesitation that the young girl gave off to Daniella. She seemed very guarded and distrustful, a lot like Daniella herself.

“Dani,” Daniellla introduced herself. “And this is little Hope.” She said smiling down at the young girl.

They began walking down the stairs together as they headed out. “So,” Letty spoke up breaking the silence, “Is it just you two? Her dad’s not around?” She asked looking at the tiny girl as they made their way down slowly due to her little legs.

“Yep, just me and her against the world.” Daniella said guiding Hope down the steps carefully. “Her dad’s a piece of shit anyways. She’s better off without him.” The guilt tugged in the back of Daniella’s mind briefly before she shook it off, shoving it away mentally. “What about you? Just you and your mom?” Daniella asked to change the subject back to Letty.

“Unfortunately yeah,” Letty signed, “I can't wait to get away from the bitch. I never knew my dad.” She added.

“Hey there’s one thing we have in common.” Daniella said with a light chuckled. “I never knew my father either and my mother was a real fucking piece of work.”

Letty smiled, it was nice to have someone to talk to, who she felt could maybe understand her. “Well to absent fathers and to shitty mothers.” She laughed.

“And to doing better than them,” Daniella added, smiling down at Hope as she watched her toddle down the last step. “It’s up to us, you know? You and me, to break that cycle.” She said looking to Letty. “We aren’t going to be like them. If not for us then for them” She smiled back down at Hope.

Letty smiled at the young mother. "You seem like you're already doing it. You look like a good mother."

Daniella smiled. It had only been a few days in the role of "mother" and she really hoped she would not fuck it up for her sister. "Thank you, that means a lot. Now I just need to find a damn job. Maybe we'll find something today."

"Having trouble?" Letty asked. Daniella looked like someone who shouldn't have much trouble finding work to Letty.

Daniella sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'm just a little rusty and nervous." She said honestly, "There's not many options for people straight out of prison with no real resume."

Letty felt for her. Unfortunately that was a struggle many of the residents of Santo Padre had. "Well if you don't find anything I could maybe hook you up, put in a good word for porn." She offered. That was one job that wouldn't have any qualms about her past.

Daniella's heart broke a little at Letty's offer. "Thank you." She said sincerely, "I'm trying to get away from shit like that though but when I find a job," she said trying to remain positive, "I'm gonna need someone to watch Hope and I don't really have anyone I can trust. Do you think you'd maybe be interested?" She offered back to her.

Letty smiled wide at her and then down at the cute little girl. "Yeah, maybe. That'd be great."

"Awesome," Daniella said, "Well we better get going. Have a great day Letty. We'll see you around." Daniella opened the door holding it for Letty.

"See ya!" Letty called out heading in the opposite direction of Daniella and Hope, "Good luck!"

Angel sat with Coco, Gilly, and Riz on break as they watched EZ wash the bikes, heckling him now and then just for fun.

"Hey boy scout," Coco called out, "Watch it. Fuck up the paint and I'll fuck you up."

Angel chuckled watching his brother doing the grunt work as he took a swig of his beer. It was a nice change in their dynamic for him and truth be told he loved having his little brother wanting to be a part of the club, a part of something of Angel’s.

Taza and Hank rode in, parking next to where EZ was working on Coco’s bike and instructing him to do theirs next. Taking their helmets off they made their way over to the men sitting at the picnic table. “Who’s baby mama lurking outside?” Taza asked the men, “that’s what? The third or fourth time I’ve seen her out there.”

Gilly, Riz, and Angel all looked at Coco. “What?” Coco snapped, “Don’t look at me. She’s not mine. Haven’t seen her a day in my life.”

“Well we know it’s not the prospects,” Riz stated nodding over to EZ who was now drying off Coco’s bike. “Unless there’s something you're not telling us about your time inside.” The men chuckled.

“No, definitely not mine.” EZ replied grinning.

“Well as much as I’d like to claim that as mine,” Angel said, setting his beer down. He had seen the woman and small child now everyday for the last few days as well as the other guys. He wanted to approach her but everytime he went she’d be gone just as quickly as she’d arrive.“I’ve never met her,” he said shaking his head, “And trust me, I’d remember if I did.”

“Maybe she’s just here about the job,” Creeper offered up. They had put out word looking for someone to lend a hand to Chucky with the office and accounting now that their business with the Cartel had picked up some.

Angel stood up straightening his shirt out. “I’ll go find out.” He was determined to catch her this time. He’d be lying if he said she didn’t captivate him, that he wasn’t thinking about her often and all he wanted was to at least know her name.

“Better hurry,” Gilly teased. He and the guys had been having to listen to him complain and talk about the woman the last few days. There was no denying her beauty and he could see why Angel was so caught up in the woman, still it was always fun to be able to tease him about it. “Don’t wanna miss her again.” He and the guys got a good laugh watching Angel as he’d try to catch her and fail every time.

“Oh, today’s the day hermano.” Angel called out heading out. “I’m not missing her again.”

“You know what Hope?” Daniella said looking down at Hope standing beside her. Her stomach was flipping as the nerves set in hard like they always did when she’d get her. “I think we should wait until tomorrow.” She said not for the first time, “It’ll just be better. Tomorrow is a good day.”

Hope looked up at her sucking on her thumb like always, her teddy gripped tightly. She held her one one arm up signaling to her older sister that she wanted to be picked up.

“Tired of walking?” Daniella asked. “Girl me too but I don’t have anyone to carry me.” The girl’s naturally big puppy dog eyes worked like a charm on Daniella without Hope even trying. “Fine, just this once.” She smiled giving in. Leaning down she picked up Hope and settled her on her hip. The green teddy fell from her grasp on the way up and landed on the cement. Daniella cursed getting ready to lean over and scoop it up when another’s hand came down and picked up the small stuffed animal.

Angel grinned at the woman handing the stuffed animal to her daughter. “Here you go.”

Daniella looked up at the tall man, her heartbeat picking up when their eyes met. He was wearing a cut, another member of the charter she put together. She swallowed her mouth suddenly feeling dry. “Thank you.”

“Angel,” he offered, introducing himself. “And this is?” He asked, looking to the small girl with the wide, deep brown eyes.

“Hope,” Daniella smiled looking over at her as well before back at him.

“That’s a beautiful name,” he grinned looking just a little longer at Hope before turning his attention back to her mother. “And how about you, querida?”

“Dani,” she said simply.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Dani.” He loved the name already and would be thinking of her even more now that he knew it. “And you too pequeña princesa.”

Hope snuggled closer to Dani, burying half of her face in her shoulder. A lot had changed for the young girl in the past few days so it was no wonder she had not been very vocal. In time Daniella hoped she would warm up to her.

“So none of the guys recognize you, you must not be here to collect for the kid.” He began, “which there’s only really one other reason you might be here.”

“Yeah?” She asked, raising her eyebrow. “And what might that be?”

“You and I were destined to meet.” He smirked looking down at her.

Daniella chuckled to herself internally. Not even a week out and she was already getting hit on. However attractive this Angel may be, she wasn't gonna fall into the trap, her main priority was Hope now and she was done giving herself away to others who would only just use her. "Heard that one before," she smiled sickeningly sweetly at him. "Got anything original?"

Angel was taken aback a moment but recovered quickly. He opened his mouth to quip back when Creeper called out from just outside the gate. "Yo Angel, stop with the flirting!" He hollered, "Bish wants to know if she's here for the damn job or not!"

Daniella's heart stopped at the mention of his name. Her fight or flight instincts were kicking in and she was ready to bolt but couldn't see how she'd manage to get away with that now.

"Right," Angel nodded, licking his lips, "So you here for the position?"

She thought about it quickly for a moment. She wasn't sure what the job entailed but she could use one and maybe this could be her in. Two birds with one stone right? She looked at Hope who was watching her intently and decided she better answer before the pause became too long. "Yeah," she smiled at Angel. "I'm here for the job."

Tag List: @everyhowlmarksthedead @cind-in-real-life @ifoundmyhappythought @woahitslucyylu @briannab1234 @carlaangel86 @sammskellington @chibsytelford @mheart27 @scuzmunkie @vsfavs @starrynite7114

[diary-of-deadweight]

Being op isn’t all it’s made out to be.

Summary: you’re strong, hella strong, so strong that your aspirations of becoming a hero are dwindling until a bald hero makes his appearance.

Authors note: this is a BNHA x opm crossover fic that I’ve been wanting to write for a while but had to get some shit out of the way first, hope you enjoy this.

Ever since your were a child in kindergarten you always wanted to become as great of a hero as your idol, who didn’t live in Musutafu like most heroes but in a once populated town called City Z; it all started during recess just as Billy Beale, the class bully, followed by his nameless goons, was about to kick sand from the sand pit into your friend’s eyes for the hell of it, you stepped up to protect them by putting yourself between Billy and them as you punched him in the gut with your small chubby fist that sent him flying further then you’d expected.

Billy’s goons were left stood there, faces unsettlingly pale as they watched their group leader being punched harder then normal, scared stiff as identical dark patches expanded across their trousers from fright as they got laughed and pointed at for pissing their pants by the other kids in your class while you looked at your tiny hands in awe and shock as if they held all the answers you’ve been searching for, whilst also taken back at how much power they held without trying; that was when you found your calling to become a hero like your idol like many other quirk possessing kids across Japan and a hero is what you’d be even if the odds were stacked against you.

Even if you did get in trouble for engaging in a ,obviously, one sided fight and a scolding from your parents that were soon subsided by them not being able to be mad at you for long, especially when you were jumping up and down, waving your arms wildly screaming, “I HAVE A QUIRK! LOOK AT ME MOMMY, LOOK DADDY! I HAVE A QURIK!!”

Flash forward 13 years later and you were perched upon a wooden bench in a flowerless garden downtown just as a gust of early January air came by, making you involuntarily shiver in your heavily layered form as it brushed the honey brown leaves littering the street an inch across your peripheral vision as if it was playing monopoly with itself as a second draft of winter air ruffled the bare naked trees in the nearby area, the sounds of bustling city life just barely reached your ears, leaving you with a sense of serenity which was greatly appreciated while yet a tad unnerving thanks to your constant run ins with the League of villains that left you with less the pleasant memories and all within the spam of your first few months of attending UA none the less; they started out as nothing more then a dysfunctional group when they made their grand debut in the USJ in hopes of killing Allmight, only to find you, your classmates, Aizawa and pro hero 13 instead which lead to an all out brawl ,after standing around all stiff limbed and breaths being caught in your throats at the sight of villains somehow infiltrating a disclosed location; only to be bested by Allmight who finished off the nomu, with some minor help as you punched the brain dead bird monster off of an injured Aizawa and into a wall while knocking some lesser known villains off their feet by the blowback of the punch itself earning you some praises from fellow classmates and heroes alike which, at the time made you feel all warm inside, now didn’t make you feel as if you achieved anything really the more time that passed by and the more times you’ve ended things with a singular blow making you scream to the heavens, scaring off some birds in the process, “WHY DOES IT ALWAYS END WITH ONE PUNCH, DAMN IT!!!”

After the disaster that taken place in Kamino Ward, leading to Allmight’s retirement after giving all for one a farewell gift in the disguise of a knuckle sandwich and a unforeseen future that sent everyone in a blind panic to find the next symbol of peace meanwhile the villains lurking in the shadows took this as a blessing to wreak havoc, resulting in the percentage of villain activity to skyrocket more then ever before, unsettling the civilians even more then they already were came the introduction of the big three during a relatively calm day of school, well as calm as it could get, only for Mirio to offer a challenge to fight everyone in your class singlehandedly which peaked your interest greatly as you thought that you’ve finally found your match after defeating Midoriya, Bakugou and todoroki during the sports festival awhile back, coming out with your skin unscathed, your sports wear a complete mess of rips, punctures and burnt cloth that it was absolutely baffling to everyone in attendance, some believing that it all came down to your quirk being the solution and leaving it at that.

Turns out that not even the great Mirio Togata could take you down as you exhausted him easily with your unlimited stamina, insane durability at everything he threw at you and godlike reflexes, countering his attacks with those you’ve picked up from tv with your photogenic memory even if he switched strategies form time to time, all with a blank look on your face that left him struggling to figure out your next move as throughout most of the fight you just stood there with the patience of a saint. Needless to say that your ambitions of becoming a hero were at an all time low at this point as you found yourself becoming less and less committed to your craft to the point where even your most oblivious of classmates were starting to notice the dying fire within your heart, the loss of feeling such emotions as happiness, excitement, fulfilment, exhilarating among other positive emotions but most of all...you can’t remember the last time you’ve felt the heart pounding, adrenaline rush a fight could bring...you didn’t feel much of anything as you once did 13 years ago ever since coming to terms that you were practically unstoppable to overcome that you don’t think that even Allmight could beat you in an arm wrestling match!

Which all lead up to where you were now, sat upon that bench, now digging through your pockets for the class transfer papers just as a bald male in his 30s, dressed from head to toe in a orange jumpsuit, matching set of ruby red gloves and boots with a white cape that fluttered and swayed behind him in the breeze as he made a checklist of how his day went wrong which he spoke out loud as there was no one around to glance at him with concerning or creeped out looks “I lost sight of Genos, my phone is dead so I can’t contact him or nothing, on top of that,” he stopped his chatter to inhale air deeply into his lungs, “HE HAS ALL THE GROCERIES!!”

“Oi, old man,” you said just as you looked over your arm that was resting against the back of the bench, “mind keeping your thoughts to yourself, that would be greatly-“ your breath caught in your throat mid-way your rant as you got a good look at who you were unknowingly scolding, eyes widening as memories of your childhood flashed before you in snapshots.

A man stood before what looked like remnants of a monster dressed in a orange jumpsuit, red boots and gloves now stained with the monsters blood, white cape flapping in the wind, a shiny bald head complete with a deadpan face, after getting a little girl out of the crossfire of the monsters attack in record time, proclaiming to the self proclaimed vaccine man that he was a hero for fun before proceeding the kill him in one blow. The man you wished to follow in the footsteps of. The hero known as capped baldy...not really a name that screamed hero like names such as Allmight and Midnight but it screamed hero to you

“Oh my god...am I dreaming? Capped baldy in Musutafu!!!” You then squinted your eyes into slits as your voice dropped a octave “ you ARE capped baldy? Right?” He only grunted in response, not really expecting to find his first fan in...what did you say? Musutafu? Well...he was a looonnnggg way from home just for some sales shopping that might never happen again; You squealed for the first time in a long time since you were a child as you ran over to him within a blink of an eye, leaving him momentarily stunned as he regained his bearings as when you called him by his hero name that he became civil with overtime when he saw that there were other heroes with even shittier names then his own.

“I-I’m a massive fan of your work!” You began, already feeling yourself shake in the presence of your idol as you hoped that it wasn’t visible, “I’ve watched you fight monsters ever since I was a little child and from then on I’ve always wanted to be just like you when I grow up” you concluded as you peered up at him to notice that he had a shadow casted upon his eyes.

“Trust me kid you don’t wanna be like me...having a lot of power in your possession can only lead to a loss of many things, I don’t feel the thrill of entering battle anymore, my heart doesn’t pump as fast as it use to...I’m stuck in a constant state of melancholy.” he stated as he saw a lot of himself in you, when he was is middle school he wanted to be the strongest hero there ever was, then when he turned 23 he trained so Intensively that his hair fell out. He didn’t want you to wish upon the same fate that granted him the ability to incapacitate or straight up kill a being in one punch no matter how strong they are. He just couldn’t, you deserved better then that.

“That sucks because the second I turned 5 my quirk-“ He quirked a brow at the word, never having heard it up until now, “my power ,basically, when I punched this little asshole but ending up sending him flying further that I thought I would’ve...ever since then I’ve managed to defeat villains, students heck even heroes alike with a single punch that my ambition to becoming a hero has vanished chunk by chunk, piece by piece until nothing of it remained. It started to become less and less of a priority to me that I went and asked for a class transfer form hero course to general studies because it’s gotten that bad,” you paused as you felt the tears began to build up steadily within the corners of you eyes, inhaling deeply you asked the one question you’ve been meaning to ask him ever since you were little, “how do you cope with it?”

A silence hung between the two of you as a gust of air battered your frames, whipping your hair and his cape wildly before calming down once more, the sound of your heartbeat was just about the only thing you heard in the deafening silence besides yours and his semi-synchronised breathing, the rustle of trees and bushes; your hands began to felt more clammy as time passed on quicker and you swore you felt a bead of sweat trail past your temple, almost phasing out entirely until you saw the bald mans mouth move.

“Come again?”

“I didn’t, if anything I try to live my best life even with my overwhelming strength, I’m still looking for someone who I can take on without killing them in a single punch, I’ve met so many strong opponents who could easily surpass me yet I could still lay them out flat with out trying as if they’ve never progressed at all...but the take away from this kid is that even though you may be the most powerful person in the room doesn’t mean there isn’t someone out there who will push you to your limits, so it takes months, years, decades, try and hold out until then even if your tried from the same thing from dusk till dawn. All you have to do is have patience, until then you can kick everybody’s ass to your hearts desire.” You both shared a chuckle at his finishing statement just a monotonous voice rang out from behind the caped baldy.

“Sensei! I’ve seen to have lost you awhile back and for that I apologise greatly for” the male bowed low, letting get a right good look at his synthetic blonde strands before he stood back to his full height, his eyes reminded you of Mina’s eyes as the whites of his eyes were completely pitch black, making his golden orbs pop out, his face was smooth as a babies bottom, his cybernetic body obviously went through some upgrades since the last time you saw him on tv,unlike his sensei, Genos was wearing some casual civilian clothes so he wouldn’t get spotted in public.

“Ah no need to be so...you, anyways we should better get back to city Z in case there have been any sightings,” Saitama said nonchalantly as he waltzed over to his companion, shopping in hand, before turning back to you with a minuscule smile upon his usually bland face.

“I hope to see you again someday kid, when we do we shall see who’s stronger, sound like a plan?” He rose a brow awaiting your response,

“Your on baldy and I’ll win for sure” he smirked at your eagerness before fishing his for something before whipping out a piece a paper from almost nowhere, scribbled something upon it before hanging it to over to you just as the pair took their leave.

You looked down at the price of paper which read:

‘You’ve got spunk kid, gimme a call someday when your feeling confident enough to spar. - saitama’

Below it was a combination of numbers you presumed was his number, a wide spread grin appeared on your face as you tried to control your excitement form leaking out and making you look like a right weirdo, you pocketed the slip of paper into your coat polecat before taking out the class transfer papers out of the other one, looking at the form you remembered his words.

“Even if it takes months, years or even decades...all it takes is a bit of patience” with that you tore up the form into pieces, tossing them up in the air like confetti, watching it fall to the sidewalk like fresh snow before making your way to school and bumping into a skittish Midoriya who asked about your change of personality and all you said was as you looked up into the grey cloud clad sky with a smile.

“I had an epiphany from an unlikely source”

[sugar-petals]

Tarot Reading: How BTS See Billie Eilish

a/n ➝  highly requested by several anons, here it goes 💕

the card that represents her: SIX OF CUPS

now, this is a sweet card. BTS view billie as an imaginative newcomer who has a very gentle vibe around her. this is not how billie is perceived by the general public that hypes her in other ways and constructs tougher images, however, BTS see her softer side. the SIX OF CUPS often indicates a dreamy and sentimental person, someone child-like. perhaps, BTS almost feel like poker-faced veterans compared to her, but they don’t look down on billie that way. they feel like she has to be protected and cherished. and, first and foremost, be given a chance to play in her own league. they don’t want to see her overwhelmed, pressured, or saddened. 

traditionally, the card indicates some kind of illusion (more on the positive side of the word) and nostalgia. BTS are well aware that billie navigates a fantasy world in the industry, but also creates fantasy worlds based on her past experiences herself. they are great fans of her music videos and think she’s inspiring start to finish. they feel no attraction towards her, their admiration is as innocent as can be. they can really understand how it’s like to start out so early, that connection really makes them appreciate billie’s music and personality.

visually, the card depicts a seemingly medieval scene of kids playing: a short boy with a red cap — who i always saw as a kind of vendor or jester, or even a fantasy figure like a dwarf — hands a girl a cup with a flower in a castle yard. around him, he has arranged several other bouquets. he’s probably planning to hand them out to other bypassers. i identify this boy as perhaps her brother or particularly the grammys giving billie her awards. the parallel is too glaring. especially given that BTS were present and could get an idea of her up close. they see her presented with all these awards as such a youngster in the game; that she feels so guileless to them also makes them think that she is deserving and attracts so much attention because of being such a wunderkind in the first place. 

BTS could observe that her talent and imagination makes mentors and patrons generous and supportive. on the other hand, much like the girl on the card, billie really looks up to people giving her praise. BTS see her as humble through and through because of that. maybe, the boy on the card also represents the members who want to show Billie their encouragement. she has a vitalizing presence toward them and her music helps them feel playful despite their responsibilities. they think she is a gifted story-teller, BTS identify with her narratives and want to see her rewarded for her artistic work. they think she will really grow as an artist and live without burdens.

TL;DR — BTS see billie eilish in a positive light, as a creative rookie who receives accolades with good reason. much like the blue sky on the card, their appreciation for her is wholesome.

↳ tarot masterpost | ko-fi

[xaz-fr]

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Set in a fantasy world of the semi socialist society Fey Alliance with magic, dick head dragon riders, benevolent necromancers, and even bigger dick head gods of mischief. The Zealous Servant is the story about a guy named Spayar who, has to keep his crown prince of a bff from being murdered by his entire family by murdering them first. Though Spayar just wants to take a nap and find a cute boy to kiss and not have to worry about his corpse potentially being dragged through the street after a war. Better win that shit then.

I will only ping this particular list once and if you want to be pinged for future posts a like or reblog will get you on the next pinglist. Reblogs (especially with a dumb comment but not required) are way more appreciated as it allows other people to see the work

@deadpool-scar-bro @starry-ampelope @golden-lionsnake @aw-some-musics @fullbearauthorclam @ragirl243 @redlion-fr @purple-forget-me-nots @unburdened-billy @trashcano08 @typefulls @slighteyewing @incel-tears @dgmana @genonehell @frxemriss

My favorite thing about Spayar is that no matter how cool he is or becomes this chapter still happens and shows he’a fucking idiot lols.

On the few clear days in the Meltong Basin during the wet season Assarus came to life like an ant hive. Most people tried to stay indoors as often as possible in the autumn because it rained nearly every day, so when the sky was clear and the weather warlockd predicted no rain everyone made sure to make the most of it. Spayar was on his mare in traffic, Duren sitting in front of him, sitting straight up and looking all around. Thankfully Spayar still had several inches on him or it would be a problem. 

His mare barely noticed the extra weight. She had a deep brown coat, thick legs, and great big hooves with great feathering. She was a horse who's ancestors had once worked the fields and now were the mounts of royalty and their favored. Von had gifted her to Spayar three years ago when Spayar complained about always having different horses wherever they went. Now she was his, he couldn't even begin to think of how expensive a horse like Spayar's was, trained for battle and didn't even flinch when her rider used magic. Not to mention the size, she was massive, and everyone got out of her way.

"Where are we going?"  Duren asked, turning around to look at Spayar, holding onto the pommel to keep from falling off.

"You'll see," though of course Duren knew why. He'd begged and begged Spayar over breakfast to show him how to ride and Spayar had given in if only to just make him shut up. By now they were leaving Bellringer and into South Garden which looked like it was trying very hard to mimic the style of Nedrag and the Garden with it's clean, boxy, buildings and covered in fauna. The city of Assarus or Surassa themselves had no one culture. They were a melting pot of all the provinces, and thus all the kingdoms the Alliance had conquered in its two thousand year being. Parts of South Garden looked like Nedalia or Dalican, there were motifs from the Yellow Hills in South Garden and he saw symbols from the city Peonia painted on the sides of buildings. People from the west of the Alliance had settled South Garden, much like the east had settled in Bellringer with it's gray stone buildings and clocks and its focus on craft rather than aesthetic.

"Shouldn't we be going outside the city?" Duren asked since South Garden was further in and really Spayar just wanted to get to Tradesmens as quickly as possible since unlike Peonia it sometimes mimicked itself after South Garden was one of the most twisting and confusing districts in the capital other than perhaps Cat's Cradle, even the Mire and Downriver were more organized than this.

"You'll see," Spayar just said again pushing his mare through a busy intersection full of people. When they saw his big war horse they jumped out of the way. Spayar was trying to be nice but he was getting annoyed with how busy this damn city was and he had a big horse. Big horses won over busy pedestrians.

"I can see Swan Island from here," Duren pointed once they finally got through South Garden and into Tradesmens. Spayar looked and indeed they could see the holy island from here over the low buildings and warehouses of Tradesmens, meaning Spayar was way off course. "Are we going to Swan Island?" Duren asked, confused.

"No," even as he made his mare head for the river. They came up to the walled bank of the Meltong and could see Swan Island easily. A small lake had formed here in the Meltong river in a low part of the land before it continued its journey south to the Break and the Fea’staal Sea. behind. Swan Island sat in the middle of the lake and it was a large, beautiful park, filled with temples. From here they could see people going in and out of them and people on horses or people enjoying the sunlight on the grass or under the trees. 

"Can we go to Swan Island?" Duren asked.

"I thought you wanted to learn to ride," Spayar said.

"Yeah I know, but we rarely go to Swan Island."

"Another time. I'll take you and the girls on Asumsest if you want," and he turned his horse to start down the road, running parallel to the river, towards the Winter Palace at the top of the hill in the distance. Tradesmens was full of canals that went into warehouses from the river and looked more like something from the country of Tipin or even Joti than anything else. Bridges spanned every canal for horses and pedestrians, though they were too steep and high to allow bigger boats through, so carriages had to take other routes. Few people were on the River Road but there were a lot of boats in the river. The Meltong was always full of boats and today was especially bad since it was full of trade ships and barges as well as personal boats with brightly colored sails or sides. At the very least both the river and the river road were orderly. 

The River Road wound north and east, through parts of South Garden, where Spayar didn’t let anyone get in his way lest they get trampled by war horse hooves, and then through the entire length of Uptown. The Hillsman children all went to school in Uptown. Mostly because their father could afford the cabby ride there and back every day and Anora’s private secondary schooling there. It was a wealthy neighborhood and it seemed like the was a bank on every street from every major city in the Alliance. At the last everyone moved with purpose here, no dawdling or frolicking about like in South Garden. Here people were all business and people stayed on the side walks and out of the traffic of horses, carriages, and some strange two wheeled contraption Spayar had never seen but flew down the street as quick as any horse. It looked like a buggy but wasn't pulled by a horse. He have to look into that.

When the River Road finally dumped them into Fey's Shadow Duren turned to Spayar accusingly. Spayar just rose his brows at his brother. Duren frowned the Hillsman frown at Spayar and turned back around. In Fey's Shadow the roads were wide and well kept, the manses behind their tall, thick, walls, were every style in the Alliance. The wealthiest people lived in Fey's Shadow and most nobles had houses here as well, and built their mansions in the style of their home province. You could see the entire gambit of architectural styles in Fey's Shadow from the low, spider web-like dwellings of the Wren-Kel, to the tall, low eaved, state house of the Peony. Spayar kept his horse on still and Duren's head kept moving, looking all around, trying to see everything. A lot of the houses were out of sight behind the walls but he tried, to caught glimpses of them through the gates.

At some point they came to the Twin Switches bridges, where the Meltong looped back around to itself and were only a few hundred feet apart. Two identical bridges built in a northern style spanned both parts of the Meltong and as they crossed the first bridge you could sort of see over the thick, protective, wall of the North estate. Duren raised himself up in the saddle a bit as though to see better before sitting back down. The North estate was the most heavily fortified estate they’d seen thus far, and the largest. Spayar knew there were bigger ones than the North’s, but it was up there.

“Who lives there?” Duren asked Spayar.

“The Norths,” Spayar said.

“Wow,” he said, “Do you know them?”

“By reputation, now sit down I can’t see,” and Duren turned right way round and sat properly as they started to cross the second Switch. Very shortly after they’d passed the North estate the road started to slant upwards to the Palace which gleamed like a snow capped mountain from the peak. 

There were no walls around the grounds of the Winter Palace, just like the rest of Assarus. There hadn't been an attack on the capital in two thousand years when neighboring nations had thought the young Alliance weak. Even the Federation wasn't stupid enough to attack their northern capital. You touched Assarus and a wrath that couldn't be imagined was unleashed. Not since Sinou's death had anyone tried to take Assarus or rather, Surassa, with any serious intent. The first Asuras had made sure the fear of what the Le'Acard could do would be felt through the ages until the end of time.

No one stopped Spayar as he rode up to the palace and Duren started to shift in front of him in wonder. It was above Duren to ever think of coming to the Winter Palace. His brother had been born and raised in Bellringer and he wasn't a knight, or a courtier or anyone of importance really.

Spayar didn't get too close to the Palace, instead he went around to the side where the stables were, where his own horse had been bred. A stable hand came out to see him when he got closer. "Sir," he bowed when he saw Spayar. Spayar recognized him.

"Oh stand up Jill," Spayar said, unimpressed. The stable hand, Jill, looked up, a rueful smile on his face like what Spayar did to Von Jill bowed to Spayar to annoy him.

The oldest son of a talented seamstress Jill was a spry young man Spayar's age with a gap in his front teeth, large ears, big green eyes, and hair the color of a carrot that stuck out wildly from any hat he tried to wear. They'd been sort of friends before Spayar had met Von, more friends because their mothers were friends. After Jill had finished his mandatory schooling in Bellringer he’d begged Spayar to get him a job in the Palace. So Spayar had and now he worked in the stables, right where Jill wanted to be with his love of animals. "You ain't impression' no one,” casually taking on the low born drawl of those in Middleton where he knew Jill lived, across the river from Bellringer.

Jill laughed and stood up straight, walking over to take the mare's bridle as Spayar dismounted with a grunt. Damn horse sometimes felt too big for him, even with his long legs. "Wha'cha here for?" Jill asked.

"Riding lessons, c'mon Duren," he held his arms up for his little brother. Duren dragged one leg over the saddle so he was sitting with both on the same side and then slid down into Spayar's arms. He wasn't strong enough to catch Duren anymore, his brother too big for that, but he could make sure he got to the ground safely.

"For who? You? You’re one of the best riders I know," and Jill sucked on his gap.

"No no, for my brother," Duren stood behind Spayar. He didn't know Jill, Spayar wasn't surprised, the damn guy slept with the horses now and rarely went home to Middleton despite talking like he'd lived there his entire life. Spayar also didn’t see or mention Jill like he did his actual friends. They’d been boys together but had nothing in common anymore and didn’t really interact except for times like these. "I need an easy horse, lower to the ground than her," he patted his mare's neck fondly.

"Wan’a pony?" he asked, "We have a few of ‘em marshy geldings.”

"Yeah, that sounds fine."

"You got it," and then he turned back towards the stables, leading Spayar's horse away. As he did Jill yelled, "Mavok, get one of the ponies saddled up!"

"Who was that?" Duren asked him.

"A friend," Spayar said, Duren just looked confused. "What?" he asked.

"You have other friends other than the prince?" Duren asked.

"Of course I do," Spayar said irritably. Spayar had a lot of friends, though few good ones, and countless acquaintances he knew more about than he had any right to. "Vondugard isn't my only friend."

"Seems like," Duren said, making a face, "dooim says so a least."

"Dad doesn't know half the things I do," thank the gods for that. “Don’t listen to everything dad says, he’s not always right.”

Duren frowned, not liking Spayar talking about their dad in any negative light. “Why do I have to ride a pony? I want to ride a horse," Duren decided to complain about that instead.

"A pony is fine to start with and probably as much as a horse as you'll ever ride," he patted Duren's shoulder. Duren looked at him sourly. "You're a smith brother, not a knight, you got no need for a horse."

"What about you then? Are you a knight?"

"No," Spayar agreed. Gods no he wasn't a knight.

"Then why do you have a horse?"

Spayar laughed, "More than just knights own horses, Duren. You see people not knights on horses don't you?" Duren nodded slowly. "A horse is just expensive. Expensive to buy, expensive to care for, expensive to house. I'm really lucky to have a horse like mine. But you," he tapped his brother's nose, "will be fine with a pony for today. Once you get better we'll move you to a horse."

"Okay," Duren said, Spayar could see the wheels of Duren's mind turning. But before he could figure it all out Jill was back leading a pony, fully saddled. It was a fairly tall pony, rather thin, with long, narrow, legs, but still many hands shorter than Spayar’s mare.

"Here w’are, one of them marshy ponies of LoHanJo'in," meaning it was a Adoshade horse. They'd bred them from the water ponies who lived in and around the Boggart swamps that took up most of LoHanJo'in province. They were just tall enough to stand above the water line most places and short enough to stay out of the way of the lower branches of the trees in the swamps and small enough to squeeze between trees to escape predators.

"Thanks," Spayar said and Jill handed him the lead.

"His name's Ollie, ‘e's a good boy," and Jill patted the pony's rump, Ollie swished his tail.

"We'll have him back before lunch probably," Spayar said.

"No rush. Hillsman can take him out as long as he wants, Stablemaster said that."

“Really?’ Spayar asked, raising his brows at Jill.

“Aaaah, not in so many words,” Jill said, grinning a gap toothed grin.

“Great,” Spayar said, half laughing, “Take care of my horse while I'm out."

Jill laughed, "She'll be a princess while she's here," he promised.

Spayar grinned and motioned to his brother to follow him as he led him and the pony away from the stables. "Spayar," Duren asked as they went to a field. Unlike most of the land around the capital the hill the palace sat on was hard ground. It was why Spayar had picked up here and not just anywhere, Duren wouldn't have to worry about potholes or wetland.

"Yeah?" Spayar asked.

"Does your horse have a name?"

Spayar looked up from where he was checking the pony's bridal, "Uh... no," he realized. He'd never named his horse. Three years and his horse didn't have a name. It had honestly never occurred to him.

Duren hadn’t been expecting Spayar to actually agree with him that his horse didn’t have a name. "It doesn't?"

"I guess not," Spayar admitted and looked back on his life choices where he hadn’t named his own horse.

"You should name her," Duren insisted.

"I wouldn't even know what to call her," Spayar said, "I always just call her girl."

"That's a terrible name." Spayar frowned, now he felt weird about it. How had he not noticed he'd never named his own horse? He’d had her for three years. How hadn't anyone noticed? Or what if they had but had felt like it wasn’t their place to point it out? Maybe everyone knew Spayar’s horse didn’t have a name and wondered what was wrong with him. It made Spayar feel self conscious about the entire thing. He couldn’t just go around asking people if they knew his horse’s name either because then if they didn’t know then they would. "You should think of a name for her," Duren said.

"I guess," Spayar said, though honestly giving his horse a name now would be more weird since he was so used to her not having one. "I'll think about it, now lets get you up.” Mainly he just wanted to get off the subject of his horse not having a name. Hopefully Duren would forget that they’d ever had this conversation.

He showed Duren how to mount a horse. Duren climbed onto Ollie's back with only a bit of trouble. Spayar handed Duren the reigns and saw that Jill had also given him a long lead line as well. Thanks Jill. "Marshy ponies are really well trained," Spayar told his brother to continue to stay off the subject of his own horse. “So you just need to give it a little nudge to get him going. With your heel... yeah like that," and Duren got the pony to start to walk. "Not so tight on the reins," he said as he let the lead rope out.

"How do I turn?" Duren asked.

"Pull them the direction you want them to go. Not too hard," and Duren did so. The pony started to moved in an arc with Spayar as it's center point. Spayar turned as the pony walked and Duren was so focused on the pony it was like he’d forgotten his brother was an absolute idiot.

"Spayar," Duren said after he'd walked the pony around Spayar in a circle a few times "what's a gelding?"

"It's a boy horse that can't have children."

Duren was paying attention to the pony when he asked, "Like you?"

"What! No. I'm not a gelding," thank the gods he wasn't. He rather enjoyed all his equipment, and all their functions.

"But you can't have children," Duren looked at Spayar.

"I am fully capable," Spayar said, trying not to be irritated. Duren was only eight, he was allowed to be stupid. It was surprisingly difficult to not be angry though. "I just won't."

"Cause boys can't have babies?"

"Exactly," Spayar said, "And a gelding is a horse who's been castrated. It's different."

"Well what's castrated mean?"

"It means they cut the balls off." Spayar laughed at Duren's horrified face. His brother looked down at his lap like to assure himself he was still in one piece. "They only do it to horses,” he assured Duren. That didn't mean Spayar couldn't think of at least a dozen reasons or crimes that would get a man castrated, and not just the balls either.

"Why do they do that?"

"To make them calmer."

"But what about making more horses?"

"They don't geld all the stallions Duren," Spayar sighed, "and the Adoshade only gift out or sell gelded marshy ponies, so other places can't breed them."

"Why?"

"Politics, don't worry about it," yeah only Spayar had to worry about that sort of stuff. "Try and make your pony go faster," Spayar encouraged to get them off the talk of horse balls. First making Spayar come to the realization his horse didn’t have a name and now horse balls. Something was wrong with his little brother. Duren tapped the pony again and Ollie started to go faster.

They were out there for a while until Duren said his legs hurt. "Owww," he complained as he got off Ollie. "Why does that hurt so much?"

"You aren't used to it," Spayar said, patting Ollie who looked ready for a rest and to not go in circles anymore. Duren was rubbing the inside of his thighs, looking pained. "Lets head back to the stable, I'm sure Ollie wants his lunch," and he started to walk, Duren rubbed for a few more seconds before following.

"You rode all the way to Peonia and back in like two weeks,” Duren said, looking at Spayar with something like awe.

"I did," he agreed.

"Didn't it hurt?"

Spayar shrugged, "It's just uncomfortable. You get used to it honestly, from being in the saddle so much."

"Doesn't your dick hurt though?"

Spayar snorted, "Usually the whole area just goes numb before it starts to hurt."

"You've ridden a horse with a numb butt?" Duren cried, eyes wide.

"Yeap," Spayar said. "But I ride all the time. The more you do the less it hurts."

"Oh," Duren looked contemplative a moment. "You're not a knight, right Spayar?"

"Nope."

"Then what are you? You can fight and do magic like a knight and a  warlock, but you aren't are you?"

"I'm not a knight," Spayar said, "all magic users are warlocks, you know that."

"Then what are you?" Spayar thought about that a moment. What was he? "Spayar?"

"I'm thinkin'," Spayar said as they approached the stables. Jill didn't meet them this time and they entered the building. "Hello," he called. The royal stables were huge and each stall had a name plaque beside the door. Despite that it was easy to get lost and it wasn’t best to wander without a stablehand to guide you. "Hello," he called again. It'd take them forever to find Ollie's stall on their own. He sighed and started down the stall lined corridor, at the very least he could find Ollie's stall. Though he also needed to find his horse. This was probably a horrible idea. Where was everyone?

They walked through the stables to the other side where there was a covered area that led to one of the two large courtyards that stood guard next to the large looping drive at the front of the palace. There they found seemingly all the stable hands, standing back and out of the way. In front of them was a gilt carriage pulled by a team of four, black, horses of the same sick as his own made and standing beside it was a fair haired woman who was yelling at the holsters. Spayar recognized her by voice alone, it was Von's second oldest sister; Obi. 

"What's going on?" Spayar asked one of the stable hands quietly, thankfully Duren had enough sense to be silent.

"Her highness keeps changing her mind about what she wants," they said, frowning. "First she wanted white horses, than brown horses, now black horses, and only females. Something' wrong with the carriage, this or that uhg.” 

"Well... I have a pony that needs to be put away," Spayar said.

"At least it's something to do, what's his name?"

"Ollie."

"Right, I'll take him. You got a horse, sir?” they said and took Ollie’s lead. Meanwhile Obi was still yelling, irritated something wasn't happening fast enough. Spayar hated Obi. Spayar genuinely hated few people, but Obi was one of them. She was a handful.

“Yes, she’s a royal breed, dark brown coat, white hairs, Jill put her away for me.”

“Ah, I know that one. I’ll bring her here, sir,” and they left with Ollie.

Spayar turned around when he heard Obi crack one stable hand across the face. "Do not talk back to me," she yelled at the man who was now on the ground, hand over one side of their face.

"Apologizes your highness, I was merely-

She stepped on him, stomped was more a correct term honestly. The stable hand cried out, his sound of pain startling the horses. "I said do not talk back to me!" 

"I'm sorry," the stable hand stammered. Spayar knew he shouldn’t intervene. He didn’t really have much to do with the other royals unless they put themselves in front of him. It was less messy and he wouldn’t get to know them and feel bad when he plotted their murder. He was about to turn away and take Duren with him when he recognized the stablehand. He cursed to himself. Of course it had to be Jill. Of course it had to be because Can’dhe liked to torment him. Liked to put things in his way and test his character.

He looked down at his brother and saw his brother recognized Jill as well. What would it look like if Spayar just turned a blind eye? How could he explain to his baby brother that it was better if he didn’t get involved? He couldn’t. Not after Spayar had called Jill his friend. What sort of person left their ‘friend’ to be beat over nothing. He sighed a little. He was about to do something stupid and reckless and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

"Learn to listen when your betters speak," Obi spat made to stomp on Jill again. This time Spayar flicked his hand to cast a spell and caught her heeled foot in mid air with a messy weave that clung to the air on spider silk connections. It did hold her though. She whirled on the stable hands accusingly, fire in her cerulean blue eyes. "Who's doing that?" she demanded.

Nothing for it. He’d started this, he had to finish it. Spayar stepped forward, leaving Duren with another stable hand who didn't need to be told to hold his brother back. "Hello your highness," he bowed to her neatly, extending his arms a bit and wishing he was wearing a bit nicer clothes. Anyone watching saw it as mocking but Obi, unobservant as always, saw it as respectful. What she did see was that he didn’t bow nearly as low as he would to Von or even the king. The king. Her nostrils flared angrily.

Obi was the prettiest of Von’s siblings and loved the gut, emulating all the most popular styles from there. Obi had long, delicate, golden locks she wore in immaculate ringlets of the Dalicites. Her nails were always freshly manicured and painted like a Nedalian. Today they were apple red with yellow tips. Her bright blue eyes were ringed in Aldashi style liner, the wings conservative like she’d done them herself and was intimidated by them. They weren’t nearly as long or elegant as Tassa’s. Even her clothes were western Alliance with a high hem on her skirt over a pair of lace tights and a bodice that showed off her flat, golden, stomach and pushed her breasts together while keeping her shoulders bare. For the aesthetics she was lovely. Under that gilded facade she was a miasma of stupidity and temper made of methane that just needed the slightest spark to erupt in either spouting off something so ignorant it actually gave you pause, or she’d turn you inside out with a temper tantrum.

"Spayar," she said his name like he was a piece of shit on her shoe, "what do you think you're doing?"

"Keeping you from hurting an innocent man," Spayar said calmly, standing up again. He didn't avert his eyes when he spoke to Obi either, he didn't know how to anymore. Von demanded that Spayar looked at him on level when they spoke and he did it out of habit to all people of standing.

Obi looked down and sneered at Jill who swallowed. "If I want to it's my prerogative," she said and snapped Spayar's weave holding her leg like he knew she would. This time when Obi made to stomp on Jill Spayar uttered one word and Obi lost her footing and fell ass up on her back. There was a stunned silence in the courtyard. Here Spayar had to play carefully or he’d have a fire on his hands. He wasn’t a pyromacer either and Von want here.

"That man is under your mother's employ and thus under the protection of the Le'Acard," Spayar said, hands behind his back so no one could see how hard they were trembling. He wasn't angry. He was afraid. He wasn't afraid of much but pissing off someone who could kill him effortlessly was one of them. Von wasn't around to protect him from his sister like sometimes. It was one thing to kill your brother’s best friend when he was alone, it was quite another to do it in front of him. Especially a d’aelar. Normally that would make him immune from most attacks by the Le’Acard. Not from Obi. Obi didn’t care. When she was angry or insulted and not handled carefully she’d take on anyone.

Obi stared at him like she couldn't believe he'd really just done that. He'd just humiliated her in front of a bunch of stable hands. "What are you looking at?" she snarled at Jill who was also staring, slightly slack jawed.

"Nothing, your highness," he looked away quickly

She got to her feet and marched over to Spayar. Obi was shorter than him, but it didn't matter, she was like fire. Literally she was fire and was a pyromacer like her brother Von. For a second Spayar thought the tips of her coiled hair sparked and became flame. Not unheard of for a powerful pyromacer. "You would do such a thing?" she hissed.

Spayar kept very calm. Obi won when you talked back, when you got angry. He'd seen enough of her fighting with Teldin, Tallalsala and Dellin to know how she was, what she did, and how temperamental she was. When Obi started to smolder if you struck back in anger like she did she’d just ignite and you’d lose. It was something that happened often enough and only staying perfectly calm in the face of her wrath would see her be handled out of that spark of rage. “I would," he said. 

"I am a Le'Acard, you would lay a hand on me?" she demanded, fire in her eyes, her breath as hot as a forge on his face.

"I did no such thing-

"You still-

"I simply stopped you from making a mistake," he just talked right over her. The only way for Obi to hear you was to just talk over her.

"Me? A mistake?" she laughed.

"So you would rather me tell the stable master you beat one of his best stable boys and then he would tell your mother?" Spayar asked her curiously.

Obi froze. She hadn't thought of that. Of course she hadn't. Obi was an idiot of the first degree. Of Von's siblings she was the least he was worried about because Obi didn't have the patience or brain power to plan a coup, let alone the temperament to see it through to completion. She might know Tallalsala was meeting with the Clan and Teldin had the White Foot and Wren-Kal in his pocket, but that meant nothing to Obi. It was like telling her there was a particular bad thunderstorm outside. It would pass, as it always did. "My mother?" she asked and it was like Spayar had dropped a block of ice on white hot iron.

"Yes," Spayar said, "Asuras Virilia takes great pride in the horses her stable breeds, and thus those who work there. You wouldn't want her to know you were abusing them would you?" Spayar was talking out of his ass of course. Obi was too dumb to know differently. She believed everything people told her. A temper with gullibility did not make a good match and was how you threw sand over the tinder of her temper. He looked at the carriage, "Didn't you have somewhere to be, my lady?" he asked her rather innocently, switching topics and confusing her by now being worried for her well being and her time table.

"I do," she said slowly, unsure what he was doing or how to react appropriately since just a moment ago she’d been ready to burn him alive.

"I would hate for you to be late," there was a driver already sitting in the seat up front, staring at Spayar like he was crazy. "Since I'm sure it's terribly important if you need to go."

"It is," she said and pursed her lips at him. She hadn't even realized what he was doing. How did Von have a sibling like Obi?

"I'm sure they're waiting for you," he moved his fingers and the carriage door opened, beckoning Obi.

"This idiot-

"Had the best intentions your highness. You really shouldn't worry about such trvilalries," and already Obi had gone from being mad at him for humiliating her to complacent and ready to do what he said. If you didn’t set her off Obi was actually very easy to deal with. It was just she was easily set off. You just had to use a certain tone with her and she cooled down and did what you said once you showed her that yes; you were the boss here, not her. Honestly she was a bit like a horse. If the rumors were true she was ridden about as much as the common use horses in the stables too. "Driver," he called, "where are you going?"

"We're going to Mirin, my lord," the driver said. The capital of Kou. That made Spayar slightly uneasy. A million possibilities ran through his head about why Obi would be going to the capital of Kou. She had to have a handler, behind the scenes, trying to put her on the throne. If only so she’d be a figurehead.

"That's a long way," Spayar said, “Who are you going to see?”

“The Lady Lenni,” she said. Spayar wracked his brain. Who was the Lady Lenni?

“Well if you don’t leave soon it’ll be too late in the day to make any way down the Westernlance. You wouldn’t want to put off seeing her another day would you?”

“No,” Obi said adamantly.

“Then we should get you on your way,” he said, barely even in the moment with Obi. He was thinking of who the Lady Lenni was. He helped her into the carriage and Spayar closed the door with a pleasant smile. He waved to the driver once he stepped back and the driver, who finally had to look away from his stupefied amazement at Spayar, flicked the reins to put the horses into a trot. Obi would be out of the city before she realized Spayar had manipulated her and she’d told him where she was going and who she was seeing.

"That was amazing," Jill said from the ground. "How'd you do that?"

"I have a lot of practice dealing with Le'Acard," Spayar offered Jill his hand. Jill took it and Spayar hauled him to his feet. Jill wasn't  really wounded, but he was a bit battered. "Go to the palace healer, get healed up, if they throw a fuss say I sent you."

"You're right amazing Spayar," Jill said.

Spayar just shrugged, "Go on, me and Duren are for home."

"Right right," Jill said, and dusted himself off a bit. "Thanks," he said again, grinning his gap toothed grin at Spayar. Spayar went back to find his brother, "What you lot standing around for?" Jill cried at the other stable hands, "You gots stuff to do, so go do it!" and they scattered.

Duren was standing with his mare and another man that made Spayar stop dead, the warm feeling of victory over Obi leeching away instantly. 

Teldin was holding onto Spayar's horse’s reins and standing next to Duren like it was the most natural thing he could do. "Your highness," he bowed to Teldin much lower than he had for Obi. Unlike her Teldin actually garnered real respect. 

As with the rest of the past few generations of Le’Acard Teldin was fair and blonde, his hair in last decade’s style of long and slicked back. Unlike some of his siblings his skin was the color of flour and his eyes were such a brown they were practically black. He had mean eyes like an owl's and a long, proud looking face. He was well built and filled his autumn coat well. This was the man who threatened Von's life, and thus Spayar's own life; the oldest son of the Asuras.

"What can I do for you, your highness?" Spayar asked, straightening. As he did he noticed that twined around Teldin’s neck was a long, leaf green, snake with eyes too smart to be an animal. A shapeshifter. Spayar knew who it was instantly and it put him on more edge than he already was with Teldin’s appearance. Sade was a powerful warlock and shifter and practically Teldin’s second in command. She was practically another Spayar. Why would she be here with Teldin now?

"That was very impressive," Teldin said, he had the voice of a singer, the type you could listen to forever. "Not many people can so expertly manipulate Obi out of a rage," he said it thoughtfully but also like he didn’t actually care.

"You're too kind, your highness," Spayar said.

"Where's my brother?" he asked.

"Vondugard, your highness?"

"Who else would I ask you about?" though they both knew realistically Spayar probably knew the whereabouts of all the Le'Acard children despite only having been in Assarus a few days since his trip to the gut.

"I don't know. I just came home from serving time a few days ago. He wasn't here when I arrived,” he lied.

Teldin put a mean stare onto Spayar but he didn't flinch, didn't move a single inch. "You're a good d'alaer," Teldin said and cocked his head at Spayar in a very predatory fashion. "But you're wasted on my brother." Teldin knew Spayar was lying. He knew and knew Spayar knew he knew but pushing Spayar to answer would get him no where nor would it actually help him. He was just testing Spayar, like he always did, to see what he could get out of him.

"Your brother takes very good care of me," Spayar swallowed. This wasn't the first time Teldin had approached Spayar about changing his alliances. Teldin and Tallalsala had both done it, since they were the two better players on the field. They knew what it meant that Von had a d'alaer and they didn't. Sinou had had a famous d'alaer who helped him conquer the first realms of the Alliance. It was the opinion of most of the Alliance and especially the Le'Acard that Asuras who had a d'alaer on their sides were more competent rulers, better  in every way. That they could instill such zealous devotion in someone meant they knew what they were doing. Teldin, Tallalsala and Dellin all hated Von in equal measure they were jealous of him because he had Spayar; his d'alaer.

Spayar was the d'aelar of this generation, the first one since since the early eighteen hundreds. His kind weren’t common and there was only ever one at a time. If there were more they’d constantly be compared until one was proclaimed the true d'aelar in the style of the d'aelar of old. The only way to get the benefit of a d'aelar now was to either kill Spayar and get your own or convince him that it was in his best interest to side with them. He’d been on the end of enough threats to himself and his family and promises of the world, stars and everything in between to know that it was serious for the Le’Acard. They knew the importance of his title, what it meant for them and the nobles, commoners and soldiers of the Alliance in the coming Conflict. The greatest Asuri had d’aelar. They wanted one too. Unfortunately there was only one Spayar.

"I would do better," Teldin said, "whatever he does for you I can do better.” Not the first promise Teldin had ever given him. “Or whatever he doesn’t do for you,” and Spayar did his best not to just grab his brother and bolt. It sounded like he was being courted and not asked to betray his best friend. Knowing Teldin there was all sorts of meaning behind those words and promises he’d follow up on to get the advantage over his siblings. Spayar did his best to not think about Von like that, let alone his viper of a brother.

"I'm not interested," Spayar said instead, once again putting his hands behind his back so Teldin wouldn’t see how they trembled. He just wanted Teldin to leave him alone. "I am Vondugard's d’aelar. His d'aelar I shall stay. As I’ve said before, I want nothing from you, Teldin,” he said. Sade’s body extended out towards Spayar a bit and the human eyes in a snake’s head were reproachful.

Teldin frowned, “You’re sure? Now’s the time to pick sides, d’aelar. Do you really want to be one of those who visits a temple of Lemp?” All the hair stood up on Spayar’s body. Most of the time just the presence of a d'aelar by a Le’Acard’s side was enough to rally most of the nation to them and they’d come through and sit on the throne. But sometimes, it wasn’t. The crown heir in question was killed. D’aelar knew they wouldn’t be spared after a Conflict’s close like their donalim. The only way out was to leave the Alliance and never return, leaving behind everything and one you’d ever known, or kill yourself. Since suicide was against their religion and the will of Lemp necromancers would assist people in their suicides. The d'aelar who went to temples of Lemp were a select few, and they all did so out of shame and grief when their best friends, or - in one case - their lover, had lost the Conflict.

“Careful,” Spayar said slowly, to not betray the hard beating of his heart. “Your dread is showing, your highness,” he said and bowed a little. Sade flicked her tongue at Spayar hatefully and he wondered what the hell had just gotten into him to say that to Teldin’s face. The prince wasn’t the least bit amused.

Teldin dropped his mare's lead and walked away without goodbye. Spayar's heart was all the way up in his throat as he walked away. He lurched forward, grabbed his horse’s lead and his brother’s hand and dragged them away.

"Spayar-

"Later," and Spayar said and stopped long enough to help Duren onto his horse. He scrambled up after his brother.

"But who was that-

"Duren," Spayar said sharply and kicked his mare into a canter to get away from the stables. “Not. Now.” He looked over his shoulder but didn’t see Teldin. Thankfully Duren didn’t ask any more questions and Spayar could focus on putting as much distance between them and the Palace as humanely possible. It was of course this time, when Spayar felt the stress of Teldin and the Conflict on his shoulders, that he remembered that Lady Lenni was the name of a the High Priestess of Belladha, goddess of wisdom. What a stupid thing he’d think of now and what a pointless person Obi was going to see. Spayar didn’t know if he was more annoyed with himself for knowing who Lenni even was, or for thinking about that instead of the fact that Teldin had just promised him if he didn’t join him that he’d make sure Spayar visited a temple of Lemp.

He really hated the royals.

[kirayamidemon]

More Mag7 Things

Because I love this movie too much and just more mag7 things to note even tho there’s prolly hundreds of these and if we could share just every single second in this film we prolly would also a bit of some of my thoughts and questions included here (be warned, this is reaaaally fucking long and I prolly should split it into 2 parts or something haaaaaa also lot of caps i apologize)

literally everyone quiets down when Matthew goes to speak, like leaDER MARRIED COUPLE MATTHEW AND EMMA RUNNING THIS TOWN

everybody, even the freakin preacher, getting sick of Gavin’s shit

CAN WE ALL JUST APPRECIATE THE CLICHED BUT STILL KINDA FUNNY TIMING OF BOGUE, LIKE MATTHEW GOES ALL “THIS VALLEY IS OURS” AND IN COMES BOGUE KICKING THE DOOR OPEN LIKE “WAT UP BITCHES THIS LAND IS MINE NOW”

look, we all know and say that Goody, and by extension Billy, are dramatic but can we also just sAY THE SAME CAN BE APPLIED FOR SAM, WITH SEVERAL INSTANCES IN THE MOVIE, LIKE WHEN HE’S TALKING BOUT HOW JULY BULLY DIED. LIKE, YEA, I’M PRETTY SURE WE CAN ALL GUESS AS TO HOW HE ACTUALLY DIED BUT I’M STILL JUST FUCKING LAUGHING AT HIS RESPONSE. DAN GOES “HOW’D HE DIE” AND FUKCING SAM “ I WHISPERED HIM TO DEATH” LIKE LKDJFSJ

ok so I am really so curious as to how the initial confrontation would go down between Sam and Vasquez if Emma hadn’t come along. Immediately after Powder Dan, Sam replies to the sheriff “off into the mountains, hunting a vaquero” so I wonder how their first meeting would’ve actually gone down

ON THE SAME NOTE SAM’S GOING AFTER VASQUEZ IMMEDIATELY AND THEN EMMA COMES ALONG WITH HIS LONG AWAITED CHANCE AT REVENGE AGAINST BOGUE AND SAM’S LIKE “ALRIGHT IM IN, BUT I’M STILL GONNA GO INTO THE MOUNTAINS LOOKING FOR THAT VAQUERO”

fucking Faraday trying to get his horse back, like goddamn son you ain’t doing yourself any favors by being honest and insulting the man you know fucking hell

DUDE I WANNA KNOW THE BACKSTORY OF FARADAY AND JACK LIKE SO FUCKING MUCH. GIVE ME THE HISTORY BETWEEN THESE TWO. I WANNA KNOW HOW THEY MET, HOW FARADAY ENDED UP GETTING JACK AND WHAT IT IS ABOUT FARADAY THAT JACK STAYS LOYALLY BY THIS DUMBASS’ SIDE WHEN SAID DUMBASS WOULD JUST AS EASILY AND SOON AS GAMBLE HIM AWAY IN EXCHANGE FOR ALCOHOL

THE ONLY TIME FARADAY DOESN’T CONTINUE BEING A LITTLE SHIT LIKE IMMEDIATELY AFTER HIS “KILLING A MAN WITH A HAIRPIN” BILLY LOOKS AT HIM AND FARADAY JUST IMMEDIATELY STOPS JOKING AND SMILING LIKE “SHIT THIS IS ACTUALLY ONE GUY I DON’T WANNA PISS OFF LEST I ALSO END UP WITH A HAIRPIN STICKING OUT OF MY CHEST”

AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER HE CONTINUES TO BE A LIL SHIT, EXCEPT IT’S TO VASQUEZ. LIKE YEA VASQUEZ DOES LOOK AT GOODY AND BILLY FOR A LIL BIT WHEN THEY GO BY, BUT HIS GAZE IS MOSTLY TRAINED ON FARADAY, LIKE HE KNOWS WHO IMMEDIATELY TO WATCH FOR IN TERMS OF ASSHOLISHNESS AND DUMBASSERY

when Sam gives Vasquez his gun and jusT THE WAY VASQUEZ TRANSFERS HIS GUN TO HIS OTHER HAND TO TAKE SAM’S LIKE VAS DARLING IF YOU WERE REQUIRED TO SHOOT AT THAT VERY MOMENT THAT WOULD’VE BEEN A BIT INCONVENIENT

SAM IMMEDIATELY GOING FROM TENSE TO  “OH SHIT I THINK I KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING AND I DON’T LIKE IT”

also previously, the moment we can all see Emma regretting and questioning her choice like “ these idiots are going to stop bogue and fight for the town? shit”

NOBODY REACTING IN ANY WAY WHEN RED JUST STRAIGHT UP SHOOTS AN ARROW INTO A DUDE

CAN WE ALL NOTE THAT WERE IT NOT FOR SAM, FARADAY WOULD’VE LITERALLY BEEN THE FIRST CASUALTY FOR THEIR GROUP LIKE OF COURSE OUT OF ALL THE SEVEN, YOU WOULD BE THE FIRST TO GET SHOT

while yes the blackstone’s shooting and aim was atrocious and complete shit, just badass Faraday not moving or flinching and calmly aiming hitting his target

GOODY’S EXPRESSION TO FARADAY, JUST SO MUCH GUILT AND REGRET

Red looking at Faraday and Vasquez having a staredown like “man I’d see that, you two gonna start fighting or what” while Sam’s just like “that’s great and all, but I’ve got more important shit to do than watch you guys duking it out in a dick measuring contest”

ok so I actually went and tallied exactly how many each of them got and it goes like this          Sam-6          Faraday-6          Vasquez-5          Billy-5          Goody-0          Horne-4          Red-5 unless I missed one or he killed one offscreen, WE ALL KNOW FARADAY WAS JUST BEING A SHIT WHEN HE CHANGED HIS KILL COUNT BUT FOR THE MOST PART THEY WERE ALL RIGHT ON THE NUMBERS, EXCEPT FOR YOU VASQUEZ YOU FUCKING LIAR

ok look, so hilarity and funniness aside on the subject of Billy’s teaching methods, WHO HONEST TO GOD THOUGHT THAT ANY OF THESE FUCKING FARMERS, WHO MOST HAVE NEVER EVEN SHOT AT A PERSON, WOULD ACTUALLY USE KNIVES. LIKE WHO LITERALLY THOUGHT THAT ANY OF THESE PEOPLE WOULD WILLINGLY GO UP CLOSE ENOUGH TO STAB A BITCH WHEN THEY CAN BARELY EVEN HIT THEIR TARGET WITH A BULLET. SAM? WAS IT YOU SAM? BILLY? I BET IT WAS YOU, FARADAY, YOU FUCKER

FARADAY DOESN’T KNOW THE WORD “SYLLABLE” BUT KNOWS THE WORD “STATISTICALLY” (BLESS CINEMASINS FOR THAT)

I love that we get a lil look on Sam’s actual  feelings on the whole Rose Creek thing when he’s talking to the preacher, like you can see the regret that he’s showing a bit when the preacher is thanking him because none of them know the actual reason why he’s helping them out and they all think it’s something along the lines of justice or goodness and we see that there’s actual more to it when it comes to Sam and just afdkskdsjlf

BILLY HAVING A LEGITIMATE GOOD AND FUN TIME WITH EVERYONE ELSE AT DINNER. HIS SMALL LITTLE SMILES AND SHAKING HIS HEAD FONDLY AT THEIR ANTICS, PARTICULARLY  FARADAY AND VASQUEZ’S

SAM “I NEED YOU” CHISOLM LIKE JUST FUCKING RIP MY HEART OUT

look, just all the actors and their acting and theIR FUCKING EXPRESSIONS IN THEIR SCENES, JUSSST SO FUCKING GOOD AND SPOTON AND PERFECT AND FFFFF, A+++++++++ OK

RED’S LIL SHITEATING SMILE WHEN THEY FIND OUT HE CAN ACTUALLY SPEAK ENGLISH ALL THIS TIME

and subsequently Horne and Vasquez’s expression after that fact,like they both can’t believe it but Horne is all smiling and laughing while Vasquez is just “wtf”

FUCKING AGAIN WITH THE DRAMATICS, LIKE SAM LITERALLY BUSTS OUT OF THE FUCKING RESTAURANT ON HORSEBACK AND BULLDOZING THE DUDE

AND WHILE WE’RE ON DRAMATIC, FUCKING BILLY TOO.HE COULDN’T JUST TURN AROUND AND SHOOT, NO HE’S GOTTA RUN ON THE PORCH, JUMP AND DO A FUCKING PIROUETTE TO SHOOT  ONLY 1 GUY BEHIND THEM BEFORE GRAVITY COMES BACK AND MAKES AN OH SO GRACIOUS LAND AGAINST THE NEXT SHACK

ok, so I’m still trying to figure out all the spanish that Vasquez says that don’t have translations (pls note what little spanish i remember are really just basic stuff and so am not an expert in any way especially just by hearing it) HOWEVER HE DOES CALL MCCANN “CABRON” (andiwillgotomygravethinkingthatheactuallydoessaytexican)

okok, so this is very fast and quick, but just that scene where Sam is exiting out of the Elysium Hotel and he bUTTS THE GUN TO THE GUY IN FRONT AND THEN ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY SHOOTS THE GUY BEHIND BEFORE SHOOTING THE GUY IN FRONT

AND TO COMPLETE THE DRAMATIC TRIO, FUCKING GOODY COMES GALLOPING BACK AND LITERALLY SHOOTS AND KILLS A GUY MIDJUMP WHEN HE’S JUMPING OVER THE WAGONS LIKE A GODDAMN BADASS

THAT DUDE PUTTING EMMA AS HIS TOP PRIORITY, FUCKING HELL, EMMA’S LIFE AND SAFETY ARE AT THE TOP OF HIS LIST AND HIS MAIN CONCERN KEEPING EMMA ALIVE AND GETTTING HER SAFE FROM THE GATLING GUN

Can we all just appreciate that Horne, who’s killed 300 Native Americans, gets taken down and killed by Denali, a Comanche, BUT ALSO IS AVENGED BY RED, ALSO A COMANCHE, WHETHER HE WAS CONSCIOUS OF THAT FACT OR NOT

SAM’S SHOCKED EXPRESSION AND THAT 1 SECOND PAUSE BEFORE HE MOVES INTO ACTION AND FOLLOWS RIGHT BEHIND FARADAY

BILLY AND GOODY COVERING FARADAY NO MATTER WHAT AND NOT TAKING COVER EVEN WHEN THE GATLING GUN TURNS ON THE CHURCH ALKSJDFLKSDJLLK KILL ME

ALL FOUR DEATHS WERE A SACRIFICE TO PROTECT SOMETHING. HORNE’S WAS PROTECTING TEDDY, BILLY AND GOODY’S WERE FOR PROTECTING FARADAY, AND FARADAY WAS PROTECTING THE REMAINING INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN FROM THE GATLING GUN

AND ON THAT NOTE, NOBODY ACTUALLY KNEW THE SPECIFICS OF FARADAY’S PLAN TO TAKE OUT THE GATLING GUN. CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW GOODY AND BILLY WOULD’VE FELT HAD THEY KNOWN WHAT FARADAY WAS GONNA DO AND TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT HE SACRIFICED HIMSELF LKJSDDLSKL

act of heroism and sacrificing aside, Faraday’s plan to take out the gatling gun is to literally blow it up. That would mean he either had the stick of dynamite on his person the entire time or he grabbed it sometime on his run from his starting position to when he takes cover from the gatling gun with sam behind the undertaker’s shop, which looking and going with his route somehow kinda doubt the latter being possible. So my question is, FARADAY THE FUCK WERE YOU RUNNING AROUND WITH A STICK OF DYNAMITE FOR. DID YOU JUST GO LIKE “OH I’LL SAVE THIS ONE STICK OF DYNAMITE AND KEEP IT ON ME, YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN ONE MIGHT NEED TO SELF-SACRIFICE AND BLOW UP A GATLING GUN”

gooooooooooood, the fucking musicccccc, the end part of House of Judgement will always kill me

ohohoh so I just now noticed this but fucKING VASQUEZ GIVING TEDDY JACK AND NEVER LOOKING AWAY. HE LITERALLY DOESN’T LOOK AWAY FROM JACK AND TEDDY UNTIL TEDDY’S GOT A HOLD OF HIM AND ONLY WHEN HE SEES AND IS SURE TEDDY’S GOT JACK’S LEAD DOES HE TURN AWAY TO LOOK WHERE HE’S GOING FUCKING KILL ME

also I’d like to think that Vasquez actually went to the field to try and look for Faraday, like they’d all prolly would’ve seen and heard the explosion but there might be a chance, a slim chance that maybe Faraday made it, and Vasquez had to be somewhere when the whole Sam and Bogue thing was going down, so he goes to where the gatling gun was and looks and looks but there is no Faraday and Vasquez would know he didn’t make it when he’s shaking his head ‘no’ in response to Sam because he tried, he looked and dalkksjfl I’M SORRY

ALKFJALKSDJFLJSAJLK LEMME JUST RANT ABOUT THIS MOVIE AND THESE ASSHOLES GOD I FUCKING LOVE THEM TOO MUCH

[dtswritingthing]

Movie Review: Power Rangers (2017)

I know this is intended to be a game news and review blog, but I haven’t had any news to post in like, two days, and I wrote this for school, so screw it.

I love Power Rangers. I love everything about it. I love the cheesy one-liners, the spandex suits, the big boxy robots, all of it. So you can imagine my slight trepidation when a big screen movie reboot of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was announced, featuring CGI suits and more humanoid robots. But, as was the case in my childhood, no matter how nervous I may be, all you have to do is slap Power Rangers on something, and I’ll cough up for it. Such was the case when I saw the film last night with two of my friends, both Ranger-fans in their own rights, in a theater packed with both children and adults (there was one guy wearing a Green Ranger bathrobe). In the end, it was a grand old time, but in retrospect, I have to wonder whether that was because of the actual movie, or the presence of like-minded individuals.

The Plot

At the beginning of the film, we get a brief glimpse at the Cenozoic Era, and a team of Power Rangers getting their asses handed to them by the Green Ranger, Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). The Red Ranger, Zordon (Bryan Cranston), buries all of the Rangers’ Power Coins to keep them safe, and knocks Rita off a cliff into the ocean. Years later, in the city of Angel Grove, we see Jason Scott (Dacre Montgomery) botching some kind of prank involving a cow in a locker room, and ending up under house arrest and forced to attend Saturday detention for the rest of the school year. Here, in a very Breakfast Club fashion, Jason meets Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler) an inventor on the spectrum, and Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott) a cheerleader who has been exiled from her social group. After Jason protects him from a bully, Billy offers to disable his house arrest anklet, in exchange for giving him a ride up into a gold mining facility on a local mountain. While on the mountain, Jason runs into Kimberly again, as well as two other high schoolers, Zack (Ludi Lin), a school-ditcher whose mother is ill, and Trini (Becky G), whose family has moved multiple times in three years. Billy blows open a rock wall, and the five find multicolored coins.

When they wake up the next morning, they find that they have all developed super strength, and we get a few funny moments of them toying with their powers. Returning to the mountain, the teens discover a derelict spaceship underground, and meet Zordon, whose consciousness has been uploaded into the ship, and his robot assistant Alpha 5 (Bill Hader). Zordon explains that Rita will be returning soon, and plans to create Goldar, a gigantic monster made of molten gold, in order to locate and exhume the Zeo Crystal, a stone that provides energy to the entire planet. To save the planet, the teens have to use the Power Coins to become the Power Rangers, a team of fighting heroes. Though incredulous at first, they decide to give being heroes a try, and we get a training montage of Alpha teaching them martial arts. No matter how skilled they become, however, they are unable to actually morph into their armor. Meanwhile, Rita has begun gathering gold from the city and killing whoever gets in her way.

Alpha shows the team the Zords, giant robotic dinosaurs, to motivate them, but when Zack takes the Mastodon Zord for a joyride and almost gets them all killed, he and Jason get into a fight. Billy tries to stop the two of them and inadvertently morphs, but is unable to hold it, and Zordon kicks them out of the ship in disgust, save for Jason, to whom he reveals that the only reason he wants them to morph is that the surge of energy it would create would allow him to return to life. That night, Rita attacks Trini in her bed, and tries to convince her to betray the team and give her the location of the crystal. Trini tells the others, and they go to confront Rita without their armor. They are defeated and captured, and Rita threatens to kill all of them unless they tell her where the crystal is. Billy, not wanting to see his new friends hurt, tells Rita that the crystal is under a Krispy Kreme (something they remind us of at least six times in this movie, in case you were wondering who paid for it). She kills him and frees the others to witness her triumph. The team takes Billy back to the ship and, united in purpose and resolve, gain access to their armor. Zordon uses the power surge to revive Billy, and the team finally morphs.

Rita pulls the gold from the mountain and summons Goldar, as well as an army of stone minions, the Putties. The Rangers fight the Putties off and, spotting Goldar heading toward the city, take off after him in their Zords (and we get a brief sting of “Go Go Power Rangers,” and you better believe the audience erupted in applause). The Zords manage to destroy the remaining Putties, but Goldar and Rita demolish the Krispy Kreme and find the crystal. The Rangers try to hold the line in front of the crystal’s fiery pit, but are pushed in. In the heat of the pit, the Zords merge together, and form the colossal Megazord. The Megazord defeats Goldar, and Jason offers Rita the chance to come quietly and be judged by Zordon. She refuses, and the Megazord slaps her into space. The Rangers are hailed as heroes, and reconstruction efforts begin, while the teenagers return to their normal lives, ready to answer the call if it comes again.

Thoughts

I mentioned The Breakfast Club earlier, and that’s a pretty apt comparison, considering this movie was essentially The Breakfast Club with superpowers and CG giant robots. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing; I like The Breakfast Club, and I like superpowers and CG giant robots. However, while each Ranger does receive a quick character arc, most of them capping off during a brief scene around a campfire, it feels like the flaws they mention are all they really have to define them. Jason’s botched prank cost him a football career and his dad is pissed off at him, and that… kind of resolves later when Jason, as the Red Ranger, pulls his dad from a burning car, but not really since his dad doesn’t know it’s him. Kimberly did something really bitchy to a friend and lost her social status, but the only one she actually confides this to is Jason, in the middle of the night, disconnected from any other scene. Zack is scared of when his mom will eventually die, but that doesn’t really explain why he ditches school and takes constant risks. We only get one scene of Trini’s family, in which she jokingly reveals her super powers to her parents and her neurotic mother demands she pee in a sample cup (funny, but not exactly introspective). And Billy… doesn’t really have any flaws. He’s autistic, yeah, but that doesn’t seem to bother anybody on the team. I’m not saying it should, but his condition seems at least notable enough that in teenagers, it would at least raise some eyebrows.

Still, even with a bit of poorly divvied character development, the Rangers do have an enjoyable dynamic once they get into the swing of things, passing notes in detention and spending time together in Zordon’s ship. Zordon himself is a bit of an asshole in this movie, in contrast to his kind and wise nature in the old show. Alpha balances him out with some quality comic relief, throwing out interjections and quips independent of whatever’s going on and doing his best to lighten the mood. Rita is just gleefully evil, nailing that perfect Joker smile; while she’s a little more intense than her old school space witch counterpart, I can always appreciate a self-actualized villain who knows that they’re evil and loves it.

As I implied at the start, this is a movie that is best enjoyed with like-minded individuals (a theater-full, if you can manage it). Multiple times, mostly when the Rangers first morph and the Zords deploy, the audience at my showing went up in whoops and applause, both from the die-hard fans and the little kids who didn’t know why everyone was excited, but enjoyed it nonetheless. Though this might not be a movie you should take your kids to, considering the surprising amount of death and cursing. If you like Power Rangers, and you have some friends who like Power Rangers, then check this movie out together and let the hype suck you in.