#for the purposes of the Equalities Act. so they COULD potentially win in court but they could also. not.

[thedreadvampy]

I really can't substantiate bc it's an ongoing situation but one of my best friends works at a formerly extremely inclusive and queer-friendly women's charity which has recently come under new management

and they told me the other day

that their 'gender interrogation' is this week (their words, not the employer's)

apparently, they and 2 other employees out of about 30-40 have been singled out and asked to say whether they self-identify as women. implicitly as a condition of continued employment.

because it's a women's charity they all already self-IDed as women when they started there for the purposes of the Equalities Act exemption on gender-specific services.

oh also as a Strange Coincidence all 3 of the staff who've been asked to reassert their gender are butch/GNC and there are femme nb people there who aren't being asked. My friend is nonbinary (but uses she/her at work), but is a dyke in Dickies and buttondowns so has to pinkie promise they're a woman in order to Protect The Women.

they're so fucking mad about it cause they're like. wild that as an afab person I have to self-ID as a woman for it to count, but self-ID means nothing for amab people (the charity has already jettisoned all its transfem staff)

and I'm just like

jesus well that's not a good sign on the Weimar Mindmap is it.

[wonder-worker]

“Although [Elizabeth of York] was presented as the ultimate Tudor trophy wife, her position and popularity were potential threats to her husband’s authority.” - Lauren Rose Browne

*sigh*

When are we going to move past this dismissive, simplistic and frankly rather problematic image of Elizabeth of York? Derek Neal encapsulates what exactly is so troubling about it far better than I could, which I'm quoting below:

“The first Tudor consort is mainly remembered as a dynastic symbol, one element of an equation: York plus Tudor equals peace. In this interpretation, handed down to us by the Tudor chroniclers via Shakespeare, Elizabeth accomplished her most important work, if not without lifting a finger, merely by proffering a finger for a wedding ring.”

We need to stop defining Elizabeth of York by the basic purpose of her marriage and queenship and begin understanding her through the actual practice of her queenship.*

Because the fact of the matter is, Elizabeth of York was a tremendously successful queen. She was an able intercessor, an active administrator of her lands, and a patroness in her own right. We have evidence that Henry listened to her on matters that people often assume he acted alone or only through his mother's advice. She contributed culturally to the court, including festivities and building projects, and played an active and positive role in queenly diplomacy, including but not limited to her involvement in her sisters’ and children’s marriages, her correspondence with the Pope and foreign rulers, and receiving important ambassadors in her husband’s absence**. She may have some discreet influence in some appointments in the Crown Prince's household. In short, Elizabeth of York excelled in spheres of queenship that were both conventional and powerful, because the two could and did co-exist, because medieval queenship was inherently political and the lines between public and private were blurred to the point of non-existence for queens just as they were for kings. As we can clearly see, Elizabeth was not presented as a “trophy wife” any more than literally any queen consort before or after her; she was, in fact, an evidently active and influential queen who greatly inspired both her daughter and her daughter-in-law's queenships respectively.

Furthermore, Elizabeth of York’s position was not a "threat" to her husband. Why would it be? As J.L. Laynesmith (whose reading of Elizabeth I don't agree with either) says, "Identification with Elizabeth of York's kin aided Henry VII in gaining an entire kingdom." The Croyland Chronicle, a contemporary source, likewise emphasizes her importance in cementing Henry VII's position: in Elizabeth "there could be found whatever appeared to be missing in the king's title elsewhere." Elizabeth of York's position, in fact, bolstered Henry VII's kingship, and this extended far beyond his marriage to her. We must remember that while Henry Tudor was Lancastrian in blood and allegiance, his fight for the throne was very much as a Yorkist claimant - specifically, a claimant for Edwardian Yorkists against Richard III's rule (The events of 1483 were a violent conflict within the Yorkist dynasty, not an external threat against the Yorkist dynasty). You could argue that Henry VII's road to the throne was, effectively, as Edward IV's symbolic heir rather than Henry VI's (who was quite irrelevent to the current conflict, tbh): Henry Tudor was the prospective husband of the Yorkist heiress and the 'avenger' of the dead Yorkist Princes. This was the widely recognized interpretation of contemporaries like Croyland and William Caxton*** and was also how he gained the majority of his new support in England which (without discounting his own initiative, actions and clear competence) were essential to both make him a credible threat and ultimately win Bosworth. He relied on several of her father's former councilors as well, ensuring a great deal of continuity between their reigns. In this context, Elizabeth of York's "position" as the Yorkist heiress, cemented by her formal proclamation as Duchess of York, was not a disadvantage to Henry VII but an indispensable advantage to him. Elizabeth herself was aware of this and played an important role in image politics for the new Tudor dynasty: "Her role as a daughter of the house of York was a major aspect of her identity. Whereas her mother and Margaret of Anjou had adopted emblems personal to them...Elizabeth of York used her father's white rose. Other Yorkist emblems such as the sun in splendour and the falcon and fetterlock were also used in Tudor iconography." As you can see, Elizabeth's contribution went far beyond merely standing at Henry's side with a wedding ring; she was actively involved in cementing the image of the Tudor dynasty in her own right, and was equally invested in doing so. In short: Elizabeth of York's "position" was not a threat to her husband’s rule; it was vital to her husband’s rule. In fact, her unique position was so important that, even years later, post-contemporary Tudor depictions gave her a uniquely equal footing to her husband: for example, in the first pageant of the coronation procession for her granddaughter Elizabeth I, Elizabeth of York was depicted as "a stabilising and legitimising force of the dynasty, and, incredibly, as the equal to her husband" - as Lauren Rose Browne herself writes.

You cannot claim that Henry VII needed Elizabeth of York to bolster his kingship and also claim that he shunted her aside because her position was a threat to his kingship. You cannot claim that Henry VII used Elizabeth of York’s Yorkist heritage to his benefit but also claim that he tried to avoid any implication of her royal inheritance. Those are fundamentally contradictory and make very little sense. You're trying to have your cake and eat it too.

Even more baffling is the idea that Elizabeth of York's "popularity" would have somehow been a threat to her husband's authority. She and Henry lived in a world where queens were meant to embody "the feminine element necessary to legitimate sovereignty", to perform their role as Marian-like intercessors on behalf of their subjects, to engage in appropriate charity and almsgiving, and to provide "models of womanhood for the realms' female subjects"****. If Elizabeth of York was "popular" due to the reaction of crowds gathered to watch her coronation, or because of the gifts she was frequently given by her subjects, or because she was hailed as the "most gracious and best beloved Princesses in the world" after her death, her popularity means that Elizabeth was successful as queen and is an indication of how much her queenship supported and endorsed Henry VII's kingship. A popular queen benefitted the King, not the other way around.*****

(What's especially funny about this traditional interpretation is that the only actual way Elizabeth of York's position and popularity could potentially worry Henry and become a genuine "threat" to his authority is if Elizabeth herself was actively opposed to Henry and was using them against him to undermine his rule (for whatever hypothetical reason). Which would automatically indicate agency on her part and ALSO end up contradicting the "trophy wife" image. So....?)

Enough with the traditional patronizing dismissal of Elizabeth of York. Give her the credit she's due.

*What's particularly silly about hyper-focusing on the point/purpose of Elizabeth of York's marriage (a political alliance and dynastic unification) is that fundamentally, its purpose was ultimately no different from the vast majority of other English royal marriage since the Norman conquest (sans, say, her parents'). Most of them were politically arranged and/or politically motivated, just like Henry and Elizabeth's. It would be ridiculous to judge Isabella of France or Philippa of Hainault's lives and queenships solely based on how politically important their marriages were, right? They obviously had an impact apart from that and beyond that. What exactly is different about Elizabeth of York? Admittedly, her and Henry's situation wasn't exactly the same: he needed her as a potential bride to cement his position as a threat to Richard III and as a King of England; and an English princess becoming an English queen consort was unprecedented at that juncture. But ultimately, there's no reason for why Elizabeth of York's entire life and queenship should be defined and decided on the basis of how and why she married Henry VII. She lived for almost two decades after that. It's more than a little frustrating.

**From what I can make out, so much more evidence has luckily survived for Elizabeth of York's diplomatic activities compared to many of her predecessors, and with far more details. I would literally kill to get similarly detailed evidence for Elizabeth Woodville. So it's certainly strange when Elizabeth of York's role in diplomacy is not emphasized more when it comes to her queenship - especially because it is, ultimately, an expected element of queenship which queens were traditionally meant to excel at. My guess is that it's not highlighted as much because it actually gives Elizabeth agency, which historians often refuse to do.

***Edward IV definitely wasn't the first or only one to claim the red dragon (it was used for/used by many others, and some poets used it for Henry himself in the early 1460s). However, at that point in time in England specifically, it would have very much been Edward IV who was most commonly and universally associated with it; after all, he was the one who won the throne and ruled for more than two decades. Its association with Edward IV is also what would have been the most familiar to Caxton, who established himself in England only in the 1470s, and who was a supporter of Edward IV's family (aka: the Woodvilles) during that time. His support of Henry (who he did not know) during this time would have been through that context as well, rather than loyalty to Henry in his own right.

****Obviously, we can recognize how problematic such inherently gendered expectations are now, but contextualization is important.

*****Elizabeth of York's popularity as queen, at least in the beginning, may have been partly due to the fact that she was English princess who grew up in the public eye, was the daughter of a fairly well-liked king, and the fact that her marriage played a vital role in "uniting" the two rival dynasties. So her circumstances probably played a role in her popularity as well. But we shouldn't discount Elizabeth's own affability and charm, nor her evident generosity, nor the fact that however this popularity emerged, it was Elizabeth who maintained it, and it ultimately signified the success of Elizabeth's queenship and bolstered her husband's kingship.

Sources:

Lauren Rose Browne, "Elizabeth of York: Tudor Trophy Wife", "Tudor and Stuart Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty

Derek Neal, "The Queen's Grace: English Queenship 1464-1503"

J.L. Laynesmith, "The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1545-1503"

Retha M. Warnicke, "Elizabeth of York and her six daughters-in-law: Fashioning Tudor Queenship

[mariacallous]

What Warnock’s Win Means for the Equality Act

Rev. Raphael Warnock won the special election runoff Tuesday, successfully defending his position as Georgia Senator, giving Democrats control of the upper chamber with 51 seats. For LGBTQ+ people, his win means Senate Democrats inched ever so slightly closer to having enough votes to pass the Equality Act, which would add gender identity and sexual orientation to federal civil rights legislation. As TransLash Founder Imara Jones argues, the Equality Act is not only important substantively but also symbolically at a time of significant attacks against the LGBTQ+ community. 

The legislation is currently blocked in the Senate because it doesn’t have enough Republican votes to overcome the 60-vote threshold and override a conservative filibuster. The bill continues to languish at the mercy of the filibuster even though another LGBTQ+ rights bill, the Respect for Marriage Act, which offers minimal federal protections for gay marriages, was recently passed in the Senate with a 61-37 decision.

The filibuster is a procedural rule requiring a 60-senator vote to end debate on a bill and proceed toward resolution. It’s somehow treated as an ancient tradition in the chamber even though it’s not mentioned anywhere in the constitution. It was first put to extensive use by segregationist senators in the 1960s and early 1970s who opposed civil rights legislation to block votes on bills.

Over the last two years, the filibuster has been the primary tool by which Republicans have blocked Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. A quick perusal of the president’s campaign promises shows a string of priorities, like codifying Roe v. Wade, passing comprehensive voting reforms, and passing the Equality Act, left for dead in the legislative graveyard of the Senate filibuster.

For the first time in several decades, Democrats made a serious effort early in Biden’s term to kill the filibuster and force through bigger pieces of legislation, however, Democrats didn’t have enough votes within their own caucus to do so.

Just two Democratic Senators stood in the way of overturning the filibuster, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema, though it’s possible that there are other senators who would vote against killing the filibuster if an actual vote were to be held on it.

With the midterms fully behind us, the push to end the filibuster faces critical crossroads. Democrats no longer have the ability to push through legislation, now that they’ve narrowly lost the majority in the House. And there would be little purpose in progressives killing the filibuster now, especially with a scary 2024 election ahead.

In two years, 21 Democratic Senators will be up for reelection, including a few from very conservative states, like the aforementioned Manchin, along with Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Jon Tester from Montana. Sinema will also be up for reelection in Arizona, though she will likely face a primary challenge given the way she has thumbed her nose at Democrats over the last few years.

In turn, Republicans are only defending 11 Senate seats, and all of them are from deep red states in the nation’s heartland. Even during a presidential election year, there’s a scary enough chance of a conservative takeover of the Senate in two years.

Without the filibuster, the only way Democrats could hope to stop potentially horrific federal anti-LGBTQ+ bills like the ones we’re seeing in red state legislatures would be to hope the House stays blue. This is a risky bet when so many conservative states have successfully gerrymandered themselves into having more congressional seats than their vote share would indicate they deserve. The court system has been a willing accomplice in the GOP gerrymandering attack—allowing non-partisan voting maps to be scrapped by conservative legislators and stopping reform efforts that would undercut Republican seat counts.

The filibuster isn’t sexy, but it might just be necessary for queer people if a federal Republican-controlled legislature is on the horizon. There is a worrisome possibility that we missed our window for substantive filibuster reform in order to pass bills like the Equality Act.

Conservatives, of course, could just kill the filibuster themselves in order to pass their extensive anti-LGBTQ+ agenda the next time they get the federal trifecta of control of the House, Senate, and the White House.

For now, however, we have 51 senate seats ostensibly on our side, which means that we can at least continue the record-breaking pace of confirming federal judges that believe LGBTQ+ people are free and equal members of society, especially as several important trans rights cases work their way through the court system.

For LGBTQ+ people, and trans people, in particular, the filibuster is both a blessing and a curse. We just lived through a time when the filibuster held back progress on our rights, but we may just be entering a time when the filibuster would be our chief weapon to hold back the darkness.

[cypher2]

Judge Favors USWNT in Class Certification Ruling, but U.S. Soccer Maintains Defenses in Equal Pay Case

In an important pretrial victory for the U.S. women's national team players who are suing U.S. Soccer for pay equity, U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner on Friday certified their case as a class action. In addition, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Carli Lloyd were officially appointed as class representatives.

In perhaps a preview of what’s to come, the federal judge also forcefully rejected legal arguments raised by U.S. Soccer while signaling that the players’ case appears to be strong.

The players proposed three classes. Here's a closer look at what they mean and what the overall ruling means in the bigger picture:

The Injunctive relief class

The first proposed class includes all USWNT players who will be on the team at whatever date the litigation ultimately ends. With potential appeals, the case could conceivably last until 2022 or 2023. While some of the current players will remain on the team at that point, others will have been replaced.

The injunctive relief class will benefit from any court order requiring U.S. Soccer to change its method of pay. This class is not about receiving monetary damages for past wrongs. It’s instead about equitable or injunctive relief, meaning an order to change rules going forward.

Back pay and punitive damages class

The second proposed class includes all USWNT players who have been members of the team at any time from Feb. 4, 2015, through the date of class certification, which is now Nov. 8, 2019. This class would receive any monetary damages ordered by the court should the players prevail in arguing that U.S. Soccer violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VII forbids employers from paying employees less on account of their gender. If the players prove that U.S. Soccer broke the law, players in this class would likely be owed “back pay”, meaning compensation they would have earned had U.S. Soccer complied with the law. These players would also receive any damages imposed on U.S. Soccer as a form of punishment (punitive damages).

Fair Labor Standards Act compensation class

The third proposed class includes all USWNT players who have been members of the team at any time from March 8, 2016, to the present. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a comprehensive federal law governing wages. It includes the Equal Pay Act, which is a key area of law for the players. Like Title VII, the Equal Pay Act makes it illegal for employers to discriminate employees’ pay on the basis of gender, among other demographic characteristics.

Players’ class certification arguments clearly convince the court

Judge Klausner, who earned a Bronze Star for his service as a United States Army captain in the Vietnam War and whom President George W. Bush nominated to the bench in 2002, approved all three of the proposed classes.

To reach that determination, the judge had to determine if each of the three classes met four criteria:

1. The proposed class is so numerous that joinder (joining individual claims) of all members would be impracticable.

2. There are questions of law or fact common to the proposed class.

3. The claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the proposed class.

4. The representatives would fairly and adequately protect the interest of the proposed class.

In assessing those criteria, Judge Klausner found ample reasons to support the players’ reasoning.

For instance, Judge Klausner’s written order stresses that the players “have offered evidentiary proof that they had they been paid on the same terms as [the men’s players], they would have earned more money per game and, as a result, more money per year.” In other words, the judge regards the players’ core contention—that they have been illegally paid less than men—to be based on fact and data rather than supposition or suspicion. That doesn’t mean the players have proven their case. As noted below, a jury trial would determine whether or not the law was broken. Still, Judge Klausner clearly sees the players as offering a logical argument grounded in reality.

In that same vein, the judge maintains that the players “have established a likelihood that they will again be wronged in a similar way.” This means there is a potential for repeat harm in the future: if U.S. Soccer broke the law in how they paid the players, that is likely to happen again in the future unless a court stops it.

Judge Klausner also bluntly rejects certain defenses raised by U.S. Soccer. For instance, U.S. Soccer maintains that Morgan, Rapinoe, Lloyd and Sauerbrunn have all been paid more than the highest earning U.S. men's players. Judge Klausner dismisses that possibility as irrelevant in terms of whether U.S. Soccer violated Title VII or the Equal Pay Act.

Indeed, in a sharp critique, Judge Klausner highlights that U.S. Soccer “cites no case law to support this premise.” He also underscores that other courts have “explicitly rejected this argument.” To cement the point, the judge writes that it would be an “absurd result” if women could only negate “obvious disparity” in pay by working twice as many hours.

Judge Klausner also places emphasis on the fact that the players’ alleged injuries go beyond pay. The players maintain that U.S. Soccer has treated them like second-class citizens compared to the men’s players. The women players contend they have been subjected to “unequal working conditions,” including playing on inferior and less-safe surfaces and traveling less often on chartered flights.

Judge Klausner’s order also blasts U.S. Soccer for equating conjecture with legal reasoning. Specifically, the judge takes issue with U.S. Soccer suggesting that more established players on the team might be inclined “to prioritize monetary and injunctive relief that is more favorable to them than to junior, non-contracted players.” Judge Klausner emphasizes that U.S. Soccer has offered no evidence backing up this “speculation” and that courts do “not favor denial class certification on the basis of speculative conflicts.”

Class certification is important, because it ensures that the litigation involves more plaintiffs than are currently listed in the case. The case now represents classes of former, current and future players (they can opt out of the classes and pursue their own cases against U.S. Soccer, but that is unlikely to happen). If the case proves successful at trial, class certification would likely require U.S. Soccer to pay more in monetary damages.

Morgan, Rapinoe, Lloyd and Sauerbrunn have also been designated as class representatives. This means Judge Klausner did not find their positions or backgrounds to contain any relevant conflicts of interest. As class representatives, the four will be obligated to ethically represent everyone in the three classes and also be expected to play active roles in the litigation.

This doesn't spell the end for U.S. Soccer's defense

The players defeating U.S. Soccer on the issue of class certification does not mean that the players will necessarily prevail in a trial. Judge Klausner’s focus was not on whether U.S. Soccer broke the law but rather on whether the players offered sufficiently convincing arguments for purpose of class certification. Those are two different legal considerations and could yield opposite results.

To that point, U.S. Soccer’s core defenses—which include that the players’ own union negotiated the pay policies at the heart of their complaint—remain available. It would be possible for the players to win on class certification and for U.S. Soccer to prevail in a trial. The fact that women players earn less than men counterparts does not, by itself, prove that U.S. Soccer broke the law. In a trial, U.S. Soccer would repeatedly frame pay differences as reflecting calculated and lawful choices by the respective unions for the women and men, with the former securing more guaranteed pay with less upside and the latter obtaining fewer salary guarantees and more lucrative bonuses.

Moreover, even if Judge Klausner is skeptical of some of U.S. Soccer’s defenses, it remains to be seen how jurors would react to competing arguments during a trial. In their complaint filed back in March, the players demanded a jury trial. Jurors, then, would determine whether U.S. Soccer violated the law. A trial would also feature witnesses and the presentation of evidence—the dynamic would be very different than what has occurred to date (that is, pretrial document filings and accompanying hearings).

Still, U.S. Soccer has reason to be concerned that the presiding judge appears supportive of the players’ position. This could motivate U.S. Soccer to offer more favorable settlement terms to the players. The parties have six months to negotiate before a trial starts. Chances are, they’ll strike a deal before May 5 and a trial will be averted. Until then, that date will inch closer and closer.

Michael McCann is SI’s Legal Analyst. He is also an attorney and the Director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.

-----

Important to note, and one reason why Hope might choose not to be included in the class and continue with her own legal case against USSF (which has a trial date set for Oct 2020 - 5 months later than the uswnt case) is that she has stated several times she believes the players will choose to settle on their case rather than let it go to trial and ultimately result in a legally binding court ruling. It’s not a guarantee though - a jury trial could find that ussf has not violated the law and the players could lose - but without letting a case like this travel the full length of the court system and exhaust all outcomes - settling ultimately undermines the chance for the legal system to hold ussf accountable. If the players settle, which has always been ussf’s modus operandi since the beginning of time, then the little bit above about “ In that same vein, the judge maintains that the players “have established a likelihood that they will again be wronged in a similar way.” This means there is a potential for repeat harm in the future: if U.S. Soccer broke the law in how they paid the players, that is likely to happen again in the future unless a court stops it.“ -- will most definitely be true however without a legally binding court decision to stop ussf from doing it again. Settlement in a class action case like this will not benefit the future of women’s soccer progression in this country and will never stop ussf from discriminating against the women’s team as they have all these years. The fact that the judge in this most recent certification ruling seems to acknowledge the uswnt’s case in a favorable way and dismiss some of ussf’s arguments as having no basis in fact is a good sign. But when it really comes down to the nitty gritty ugly side of this case coming closer to the court date, as hope has warned many times in the past, ussf will employ ugly tactics and threats. They will. They have before, they already low key have in a statement about how us soccer funds and pays for the nwsl player’s salaries. And when it comes down to it, when the federation starts to threaten these players contracts, bonus pay, benefits, training and travel amenities, league pay, and ultimately NT scheduled appearances (under the table, behind closed doors, targeting the younger more vulnerable players) the players could collectively agree to settle and keep their standing not only as individuals but as a team. It is sad though, because Hope has also mentioned before that she felt the entire team bringing a case like this as a united front or threatening to strike only as a united front was the best way to actually hold ussf accountable. And in the rulings and court statements so far, this has proven true. A class status is much more powerful than any individual player case could be. It’s unfortunate that the team never decided to take it to this level while she was still on the team - the timing of it all - I personally don’t like the disjointed nature of the two separate cases or the fact the Hope feels she has to battle her own former teammates for a say in a decision making process that could ultimately affect her too, as she was a part of this team’s past and was (potentially in the eyes of a jury) discriminated against and owed damages too if a jury finds that ussf did break the law.

“I’ve always prided myself on standing up for what I believe in,” she said. “And I’ll tell you one thing right now, I don’t care if they offer me a ton of money for a settlement, I will not settle because the only way things change is by changing the course of history and there has to be a court case that actually does that.” -Hope Solo

It makes sense that the players did not want Hope included in the player’s association legal decision making before she was fired, or in the recent mediation talks with this current case. She’s a wolf, she doesn’t back down. She’s always had a loud, persistent voice in the fight for equal pay. And in the past, the team has felt her approach was too sharp edged, too aggressive. Perhaps they still do. But she’s always also been right. She was arguing with facts and numbers for years before any legal case was presented. She was emailing people within ussf for explanations, for answers, and on things that went beyond just the pay structure. She always demanded better treatment, better league conditions, better accountability. She spoke up when everyone told her to shut up, long before the fight for equality went mainstream and became a standing ground for the players to show the world how determined they are. And she still does, even now when she is ignored. 

History will tell what happens. I just hope it’s for the benefit of all women’s soccer, or we will continue to see this and future teams have to legally battle this federation for many years to come. And in the midst of all these other national team federations coming forward and offering equal pay to their players, we still see the united states federation - arguably the most powerful, lucrative, and supposedly progressive one in the world - still fighting its own players rather than doing the right thing. They’ve been doing this since the beginning, and they will continue to. Powerful conglomerates like ussf with hundreds of millions of dollars and no one to power check them don’t change their behavior unless they’re legally forced to do so.

[madamslayyy]

For The Love Of Okoye

Pairing: T’Challa x Okoye, Erik x Okoye (kinda)

A/N: Y’all I haven’t written for T’Challa in forever. This is based off THIS POST that I wrote BEFORE BLACK PANTHER CAME OUT so please keep in mind it’s a little dated. I also wrote this last year but never released it and I’m tired of it taking up space in my draft so I’m just releasing it. Yes Haw ✌🏾(P.S. this isn’t edited so please forgive any mistakes but I’ll go back and fix it later 😁)

Special Thanks to the AMEEZING @wifin-niggaz who made the gifs I used. If you’re a BP OG you probably alrady know her but if not please check out her work, she’s insanely talented!!!

~*~

Growing up, T’Challa didn’t have many friends. He was royalty, however that seldom had anything to do with his interaction with people as his father tried his hardest to help his son not be isolated from his peers due to his status. No, the problem lied in that he was always much too mature for his age. While other kids would play hide and seek, T’Challa would wonder the purpose of the game in the first place. Why were we hiding?

That being said, he tried to join in anyway. That never really worked out too well either seeing as he always came up hiding places that were too elaborate or creative and the other children could never find him.

That is until he met Okoye.

He was hiding in the alcove of a small shop when she first saw him. He had to only be about 5 years old as was she. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes and her huge pineapple of hair on her head and simply stared at him. He stared back. Neither of them moved and it stayed that way for the longest until she poked him with a stick.

“Ow! Why would you do that?” T’Challa whispered and Okoye jumped back.

“I thought you might not be real,” she huffed. “ what you doing up there anyway?”

“I’m hiding. We are playing Hide and Seek.”

“Why? Why would you hide for no reason?”

“Because it’s fun,” T’Challa said even though he hadn’t had fun once ever playing with the other kids in town.

“My father says it imbrains cowardice,” she said matter of fact.

“Imbrains?”

“Mmhm.”

“I think you mean ‘Ingrains’,” T’Challa said climbing down from his hiding spot. She was a few inches taller than the boy Prince naturally but her hair amassed on top of her head made her seem even taller.

“Pssh, what would you know,” she said rolling her eyes and walking away. T’Challa couldn’t help but follow.

~*~

T’Challa and Okoye were quickly as thick as thieves. With both of them being more mature for their age, they found each other’s company easy and enjoyable. T’Challa would normally never lay a finger on any woman however Okoye wasn’t just any woman. She was a warrior in the making. And she was the only one in his class that could keep up with him when it came to training. So it was only natural that she was his routine sparring partner.

They were known to get pretty vicious during these sessions, no code of honor in place for the two young Wakandans. They would play any and every dirty trick in the book on each other if it ensured their victory.

During one particular session they were in the red room alone which meant their session was more cruel than usual as there were no eyes to judge them. Okoye, a mere fifteen years of age, had already managed to give the prince a black eye and bloody nose. T’Challa, also fifteen at the time, had grown considerably since they were children and now stood almost an foot taller than Okoye herself with a small clump of her hair in his hand, an insult to the teeth marks he engraved on her left shoulder only a couple moments earlier.

“You’ll pay for that!” Okoye y’alled before lunging at him. T’Challa predicted this but lost his footing at the last possible second, allowing Okoye to pin him to the ground. She straddled his waist, locking him in with her hips, rendering him completely immobile.

“I win,” she grinned, her eyes shining with mirth.

“Alright Alright I concede, now get the hell off me!” T’Challa bellowed, causing Okoye to let go of him, standing with a giggle.

“Oh come now, my prince. Ever you can’t be that upset over a loss, surely it’s not the first nor the last,” Okoye called after him as he stormed out of the training room.

T’Challa rushed into the nearest restroom, looking down at his embarrassing erection that sprouted the second Okoye pinned him to the ground. He wasn’t sure if it was the act of being subdued by a woman or her ample bottom pressed against his groin but it ignited a fire inside of him that he didn’t know could be stirred by Okoye of all people.

He’d always seen her as his oldest friend, a worthy opponent, even a trusted confidant at times but never as a.....potential mate. It was unfathomable to say the least. Or it was.... until T’Challa began to give the notion actual thought. And that was the moment he realized just how fathomable it actually was.

~*~

Four years later. Four long years later and T’Challa found himself even more infatuated with Okoye than ever.

She’d recently been accepted into the Dora Academy to begin her training to become one of the Milaje and the first requirement of the academy was for every young lady to shave her head. So with her acceptance into her new life, Okoye cut off the long trestles she’s been growing her entire existence without a second thought. And T’Challa couldn’t say he missed them in the least.

He was obsessed with the shape of her head. The perfect curve of her scalp, smooth and flawless, much like her face. T’Challa would often find himself wondering if she was that smooth and flawless everywhere....

Even Erik, forever stuck in his American ways, couldn’t deny praise to such a lovely form as she.

“Who told yo bald headed ass to look that good,” Erik joked as he walked into T’Challas room. Interrupting T’Challas precious and scarce time with his beloved.

“Nah but seriously though, it suits you,” Erik proclaimed, finding a seat across from her. She rolled her eyes but couldn’t deny the smirk that tipped the corners of her lips. Then her and Erik exchanged a look that didn’t quite settle right with T’Challa.

He was no fool. He knew his cousin had a certain aura about him that drew women to him, especially Wakandan women who were enthralled by his American bravado. But he’d thought his Okoye was above Erik tacky charm. With Erik being two years younger than both of them, she’d never entertained him for even a moment but things were different now.

Erik was rapidly leaving his boyhood behind, his heaight already equaling T’Challas even at the tender age of seventeen. He’d also began filling out, his once scrawny frame becoming engrossed with muscles that hadn’t been possible before.

“You’re dismissed N’Jadaka,” T’Challa stated coldly, causing both Okoye and Erik to look at the stoic prince before they both burst into laughter.

“Aight bet cuzzo. I’ll see yo lil fine ass later,” Erik winked at Okoye before sauntering off.

“I certainly hope not,” Okoye scoffed but T’Challa still detected a hint of mirth behind her eyes.

“Are you sure about that?” T’Challa couldn’t help the slight relief he felt when he heard her melodic laugh.

“The boy is as foolish as they come! Such clownery has never appeased me,” she giggled and T’Challa felt his heart flutter.

~*~

“Happy Birthday!!” They all chanted in unison while Erik smirked at the small crowd. It was his 21st birthday and the palace decided to recognize him in the same manner as T’Challa for once by granting him an extravagant party in the ballroom of the palace.

Erik was dressed in an extravagant gold and black tuxedo, his hair intricately braided back with gold dust interwoven to give him a shimmering appearance. With his custom made gold slugs in his mouth giving his canines an extra sharpness he looked like the living personification of a handsome devil.

Everyone of importance was there, not necessarily because they meant anything to Erik but because no one would miss an event hosted by the Royal court. So it was only natural Okoye would be there as well, finally having time to attend such social gatherings since her induction into the Dora Milaje has finally commenced.

The night was loud and long, with more alcohol and food going around that anyone could possible consume. T’Challa having reached his limit reframed from any more drinking to prevent making a fool of himself as a Prince and as a man. Erik, however, had no such qualms.

He took shot after shot, long ago abandoning his suit jacket and tie, giving him even more appeal than usual. His muscles protruded through his thin button down and he was garnering even more female attention than usual. Even Okoye, to T’Challa’s dismay, couldn’t keep her hands off of him.

T’Challa tried many times to break the two of them apart to no avail. Heavy eye contact soon turned to heavy petting with Okoye eventually ending up in Erik’s lap. T’Challa could have strangled Erik right then right there. How dare he corrupt the love of his life!? The strong warrior he’d always known had been reduced to a giggling schoolgirl right before his eyes.

“Okoye, please. This is no way for a Dora to present herself. Think of the young women who look up to you now,” T’Challa pleaded.

“Like who?” Okoye quipped, Erik’s grip on her thigh the only thing keeping her from sliding off his lap and onto the floor.

“Like Nakia for one,” T’Challa said nodding towards the aforementioned girl across the room. Nakia just a couple months younger than Erik but everyone knew of her burning desire to change the world and become a Dora. She also held a great respect for Okoye, seeing as how they hailed from the same tribe prior to Okoye entering the academy for the Dora.

“Trust, it’s not me she’s looking at,” she cackled, a huge smirk spreading across Erik’s face. Whatever the joke was, he was obviously in on it. Suddenly T’Challa began to feel like a fool. Here Okoye and Erik were, sharing inside jokes and wrapping in each others arms while T’Challa stood there pathetically trying to coax her out of his arms.

He was also taking the chance of going against the Dora Milaje Honor Code. Erik might have no respect for the staunch traditions carried out by the Milaje but T’Challa did. So he left the two of them to their own devices while he found three older Dora who were currently the protection of the event. Informing them of their comrade’s disposition, he left the party without a word, fuming.

~*~

The next morning T’Challa found himself headed to the throne room for his daily reports when Okoye ran to him, tears in her eyes!

“How could you!?” She screamed at the top of her lungs.

“How could I what?” T’Challa asked with genuine concern.

“I’ve been dismissed from the Dora! For fraternizing with the crown! T’Challa my entire standing with them is ruined,” she wailed, tears streaming down her face. T’Challa reached to comfort her but she slapped his hand away harshly.

“This is all your fault!” She yelled and T’Challa felt his anger blossom.

“Maybe you should have thought about your standing before you decided to spread your legs for my cousin,” T’Challa said coldly and Okoye slapped him, his head reeling to one side.

“I hate you! You’re dead to me!” She spat before running off. T’Challa touched his stinging cheek, the effect of her words hurting more than her slap ever could.

~*~

T’Challa drug himself into his father’s office later that evening with a heavy heart. He knew he shouldn’t use his Royal position for such selfish, secular tasks but for the first time in his life, T’Challa didn’t care about the honor of the crown. He didn’t care about nepotism, favoritism, or responsibility. All he cared about was doing right by the woman he loved and if that meant bending the rules then that was a small price to pay in his book.

“Father May I come in?” T’Challa asked knocking at the door.

“Of course, my son,” T’Chaka answered jovially. It was a rare occasion his son came to his office without being summoned.

“Take a seat, son,” he said, looking up from the papers he was focused on prior to T’Challa’s visit.

“What brings you to me, my boy.” T’Chaka asked, still surveying his paperwork.

“It’s Okoye, baba. She has been dismissed from the Dora Milaje. There must be a way she can be reinstated. By order of the crown.” T’Challa said seriously even though his heart was racing. He was nervous because being in his father’s presence always made him nervous.

“T’Challa, you are both a man and a Prince. You are the Black Panther of Wakanda. The Milaje are an independent agency that the crown has no control over, however, they have always been one to listen to reason. Especially that of royal blood.” T’Chaka smiled. T’Challa understood immediately, rising from his chair.

“Thank you, Baba. As always your counsel is invaluable.” T’Challa Bowes, heading towards the door.

“Just be mindful, T’Challa, that once she is reinstated in the Dora, it’s over. She will never be your wife. She will never be your Queen.” T’Chaka said solemnly. T’Challa didn’t even have to ask, he knew his was aware of his feelings. T’Chaka always has a way of knowing what was in his son’s heart.

“I know, Baba,” and with that T’Challa left, somehow feeling worse than before.

~*~

A week later T’Challa found himself walking down the one of the corridors of the palace, lost in his own thoughts when he felt two arms wrap around his torso from behind.

He knew immediately from the soft scent of orchids that it was none other that his love, Okoye.

“Thank you so much, my Prince,” she said nuzzling her face into his back.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” T’Challa said turning around in her embrace, a sad smile gracing his features.

“Whatever you said to the Dora worked. They’ve allowed me back under the guise of probation,” her eyes shone with pure joy.

“I simple spoke to your strength and leadership. Nothing I said was untrue,” T’Challa nodded, letting her go.

“Still, I owe you a great debt. Without you, there wouldn’t have been a second chance,” she said gravely.

“Well try not to loose it this time, eh. At least not over the likes of Erik,” he said conveniently not mentioning the fact that he was the only other option.

“Pfft, after his... performance last night, I don’t think I’ll ever touch another man again. He was squealing like a newborn lemur in a matter of seconds,” she scoffed. T’Challa pinched the bridge of his nose. That was more given information he’d ever needed to know about his Cousin.

~*~

Epilogue:

“Baby PLEASE give me one more chance! I know I can do better,” Erik begged, following Okoye.

“The answer, respectfully your highness, is HELL NO!”

“That’s wasn’t me baby, I promise I don’t nut quick! You just do something to me baby girl,”

“I don’t care! It’s never gonna happen-“

“We already-“

“AGAIN! Its never gonna happen AGAIN.” Okoye finished running faster, trying to give Erik the slip.

“Please baby just one more chance. I’ve never had pussy like your-

“I LIKE WOMEN N’JADAKA!”

“Me too, so you feel where I’m coming from-“

THE END

~*~

Taglist:

@chaneajoyyy @queennanayaa @terrablaze514 @cancerianprincess @bidibidibombaclaat @royalhearts @yoyolovesbucky @mbakusmbitch @ @notsomellowmushroom @ultracrii @jesforpres @thehomierobbstark @thadelightfulone @amelatonin @quietstorm-73 @destinio1 @wakanda-inspired @wawakanda-btch @steampunkprincess147 @purple-apricots @macfizzle @caswinchester2000 @marvelmaree @supersizemeplz @all-the-blog-names-were-gone @savagescorpion @ghostfacekill-monger @raysunshine78 @blessingz2x2 @sydneebleu @erikaintdead

[thegeminisage]

i have deep and conflicting thots about the gilli episode (3.11)

they’re long (they’re LONG!!!) so here’s a cut. you’re welcome

good things:

this is the ANTITHESIS to everything i was complaining about last night. this is what i was CRAVING. this show did me so good (and yet, so bad - more on that in a sec)

there was a touch of outside pov here (my weakness) since we got to see who merlin was from gilli’s point of view

and when i say we got to see who merlin was i mean we really for real got to SEE WHO HE WAS oh babey

something gilli said in this episode was that merlin has been pretending so long he forgot who he was and i think similarly he pretends so well that we the audience (me anyway) also kind of forget who he is because we see it SO rarely

but we saw it here! in this episode merlin was SMART?? those aren’t two words i’d normally use in the same sentence without sticking a “is not” between them but he WAS - he cottoned on right away that gilli was using magic, he confronted him immediately and in a way that didn’t invoke hostility (and what a nice little flip, what a TREAT to see someone else freaking out and covering their ass while merlin is keeping his cool), (some of) his normal little jabs at arthur were a tad wryer/slyer on the delivery, and he figured out, ON HIS OWN, how to save both gilli and uther, and used his magic in front of ALL THOSE PEOPLE without getting caught

and speaking of that, merlin being like “he’s braver than me, using magic in front of all those people” and gaisu going “brave or stupid” like... ok, at first my reaction was: come on, merlin uses magic in front of people ALL THE TIME...but when i think about it, my very own self was complaining just yesterday that he was keeping his shit buttoned up way too tightly. and i did notice merlin himself waiting until backs were turned more often, incantating aloud less often...he ACTUALLY HAS gotten less stupid, JUST a smidgen. i didn’t even realize

merlin seemed more grown-up and serious in this episode than he has in the entire series. maybe it’s the fact that he had someone younger and dumber to play off of (and i don’t think gilli was a strong enough character to carry an episode, but maybe it was enough to give us an excuse to develop merlin so much) but he did in fact seem WISE, and he seemed TIRED, which is a thing grownups usually are... the way he talked to the other characters seemed different too - he spoke to the dragon as an equal (last dragon & last dragonlord), not as some dumbass in over his head asking for help (very nice also that he didn’t go to gaius for advice but someone more on “his level”). he gave arthur clear and frank advice on how to go about fighting his dad, he STUCK UP FOR GILLI AGAINST GAIUS (backbone! compassion!) and then STUCK UP FOR HIMSELF against gilli!!!!!

(i like a slightly more serious merlin because while quirky dumbass country hick merlin IS charming and endearing that charm can only carry him so far without more meat involved, especially after some of the terrible things we’ve seen him suffer through and all the experiences he’s had to grow and change)

i have mixed feelings about merlin showing his magic to this particular person at this particular time, but i do also like that he was willing to open up about WHO HE IS if it could potentially save a life. that shows backbone. and it shows integrity. two things i was sorely missing from merlin before now

speaking of merlin’s integrity, we finally got to cover why he keeps saving uther, who he should hate and despise and want dead, which i have been DYING for

merlin and gilli have a sort of professor x/magneto stance about uther, by which i mean one of them argues that they should change things from within the system to court goodwill and avoid violence because acting violently would just make their detractors’ point for them, and the other argues that the system should be destroyed entirely through any means necessary because violence is the only language the oppressor understands

on a rewatch what really stands out to me is merlin chastising gilli at the end by saying “you’re better than that.” it makes me think of season 1 when merlin had the chance to let morgana’s allies assassinate uther and he asks gwen what he should do - gwen, who also has every reason to hate and despise uther, tells merlin that to allow him to die through inaction would be just as bad as murdering him directly, and that that would make merlin as bad uther is

i don’t want to give the people who fucked morgana over so thoroughly too much credit but it makes me wonder if that wasn’t when merlin decided that he was going to be the bigger man

he says it himself in this episode, near tears - it is LONELY, being what he is, and doing what he does. he could kill a man with a thought and he spends all his time mucking stables and polishing armor and when he gets a break from that it’s to save someone’s life without endangering his own. it is dangerous, tireless work for which he believes he will NEVER get any thanks. and what i was so frustrated about before was not understanding WHY - did he care THAT much about arthur’s feelings, that he couldn’t stand to watch arthur lose a father? was he just THAT afraid of uther and what uther would do to him if he found out?

but i get it now - it’s because he CHOOSES to. not to protect arthur or to protect himself but because he wholly believes that he’s playing the long game and he’s on the correct path to seeing a future where what he is is no longer outlawed - god, his FACE when he says “when that day arrives, we WILL be free” 

again not to overcredit the writers bc i DON’T think they were smart enough to do this on purpose but like in my heart he decided all the way back in season 1 that he wasn’t going to take the easy way out and just let uther die because THAT’S NOT WHAT MAGIC IS FOR. he’s stronger than everyone else around him and HE CHOOSES to keep his head down and wait it out because in his OWN WORDS “magic is not meant to bring you glory.” even gilli agrees - when used for personal gain, it is very easy for the power of the magic to corrupt. i thought merlin was weak, to have saved uther’s life so many times - but to resist that kind of temptation and corruption over and over, he’s actually the opposite. he doesn’t try so hard to protect the monarchy because he lacks self-respect or integrity, he protects the monarchy BECAUSE OF his self-respect and integrity. all along, he’s been fighting for a better future too - just in his way, not the way gilli or morgana would

and speaking of morgana...here’s the bad:

i. am. LIVID!!!!!

that merlin would tell this boy he BARELY KNOWS his secret in order to maybe possibly save this kid’s life and NOT TELL MORGANA in her worst hour of need when she most needed a friend

merlin got a whole lot more respect from me today but the fact remains that he’s a LYING LIAR WHO LIES and he has tried to kill morgana two and a half times (the poison, the bump on the head, knocking her off her horse) and as of the end of season 3 also MURDERED HER SISTER THAT IS APPARENTLY ALSO LOWKEY HER GIRLFRIEND (i know)

which really clashes with his whole deal that i just described above, of using his magic for good and not evil purposes, for trying to win over hearts instead of win battles. and it’s funny that it’s ONLY morgana that merlin acts out of character for...i think it’s because! and this is a crazy concept! the writers hate morgana!

morgana in season 1 and most of season 2 was a kind and loving person. she was a true ally to gwen and often used her status as the king’s ward to stand up for gwen when gwen was in trouble. the first time she tried to have uther killed it was because of what happened to gwen’s father. she was more than capable of feeling love and knowing right from wrong and doing what she believed was right at any cost as evidenced by her helping to sneak the little druid kid out of the castle at risk to herself

morgana in season 3 does nothing but smirk evilly. and while it’s a good look on her and she’s MORE than valid in wanting to fuck up merlin and uther and maybe even arthur too from a certain viewpoint her aggression against gwen is ENTIRELY unwarranted

even trying my BEST to be sympathetic towards her and remember what she’s gone through and that her bad characterization is the fault of the writers and not morgana herself it is VERY hard not to hate her when you see her delighting in gwen’s misery and watching her PANIC about gwen’s future as the queen was FAR more satisfying than it should have been because i was then delighting in MORGANA’S misery and that is NOT a feeling im comfy with

in fact! im furious! the fact that this gilli kid got a more sympathetic portrayal than morgana ever will makes me SEE RED!!! imagine if the professor x/magneto vibe had been played out with merlin and morgana throughout the entirety of season 3! imagine morgana still had feelings other than ~edgy evulz~ and kept trying to kill uther BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED IT WAS RIGHT but had no quarrel with people like gwen who had always loved her! imagine her being conflicted when there was every chance that gwen would die during the takeover! imagine how her feelings could have become even more complicated when she found out she had living family - a father and brother, one of whom she is plotting to kill! imagine her NOT wanting harm to come to gwen or arthur and trying to persuade them to her side with good yet flawed arguments! imagine uther having to face the fact that the daughter he dotes on is also the thing he hates! people talk about arthur’s conflict if he realizes merlin is magic, but he’s known merlin a lot less time than he’s known morgana and merlin’s not his sister, imagine arthur had to deal with that conflict of interests! we could have HAD IT ALL in season 3 and instead season 3 MOSTLY SUCKS

what if morgana had remembered how fucked up arthur was about learning about the true circumstances of his birth? what if she had persuaded him that uther’s stance against magic was wrong? what if she knew merlin had magic but she hated him so she blackmailed him with it? he could have told her and then spent the ENTIRETY of season 3 shitting himself about it and it would have TOTALLY JUSTIFIED how shifty he got later after gaius taught him how to lie.what if he had SEEN what choosing to hurt other people had wrought in morgana and truly felt remorse and it informed his character for the rest of the show and that’s why he’s always choosing the moral high ground! there were SO MANY possibilities that could have opened up by having morgana be even just a little bit 3-dimensional!!!

which brings me to my next complaint: as good as this episode was, as much as i loved it, as glad as i am to finally understand merlin or at the very least have an interpretation of him i’m happy with, i should not have had to wait ALL SEASON to get there. i know what kind of show this is but they could have slipped some of this stuff in WAY EARLIER so i didn’t have to spent the entirety of season 3 and quite a lot of season 2 thinking merlin was just some spineless fuckup

also i will say it again, gilli was NOT strong enough to have carried this episode. the work on merlin’s character was INCREDIBLE and it was fun enough to see gilli mirror who he was in early season 1 but imagine how much better it could have been if he’d gotten to play off of someone like morgana - gilli’s a one-off character, and he has to tell us about his history and struggles, but morgana’s struggle is something we’ve witnessed firsthand. when she makes her own arguments about how hard it is to be magic under uther’s rule it comes from a place of deep pain that could have and should have resonated with merlin just as deeply as gilli’s.

morgana works MUCH better as a foil to merlin because all the way back in season 1 when they were both angry on gwen’s behalf and both wanted uther to pay for what he’d done so that no more innocent people would die it was MORGANA who chose the magneto route and merlin who decided to go professor x. they had the potential to make something REALLY COOL out of that AND THEY DIDN’T and what makes me so mad about this episode is that the sheer CONCEPT of this was good enough to have carried the entire season and yet they crammed it into a single 45-minute block

here end my thots i guess, in conclusion morgana deserved better

[stedes-black-bonnet]

My Baby Does Me: Chapter 18

POV: John Deacon x reader

Notes: ongoing fic, we have a tag list; we take requests.

Warnings: n/a just pure fluff

Abstract: John is hungry for your touch; reader knows there’s so much left unspoken.

John Deacon couldn’t sleep. He usually could, but this wasn’t a problem for him. He was an extreme night owl, and he preferred the company of the murky twilight to that of the too bright day; this didn’t mean he wasn’t blessed with a naturally sunny disposition, or that he wasn’t also deeply pragmatic; rather, just that the night was meant for magic and art for him. These two ideas were inextricably united for him; magic and art danced together in his mind and were the impetus for his romantic sensibilities as much as his musical ones. He enjoyed being up late enough to see the sunrise and promptly surrendering to his bed and to a good day’s sleep, only preferably after writing some song lyric or lingering refrain down on paper.

That ineffable time between twilight and dawn was the time to write, to compose. There was something wholesome and transcendent about seeing the sunrise. No two were ever the same and yet the feelings they stirred in him were always the same; basic pleasure, satisfied contentment, and nostalgia. Sharing the sunrise with someone was inherently romantic. He wondered if you were big on sleeping. Would it be lethal to wake you to share the moment when it arrived? Was it too trite?

John Deacon felt like he was suddenly in some romance novel. He feared it might be too soon in this relationship thing to find out just how trite you liked your romance. Might be too embarrassing to ask, too, he figured. Wake up, baby; see the sunrise isn’t exactly a virile or creative stance to take with any partner, new or old. Towering romance and sweeping, dramatic romantic gestures can seem terribly disingenuous or earthshakingly heartfelt all depending on execution and timing.

He was overthinking this sunrise business. He was probably overthinking all of it--you, the bed, the music in your snores. However, and this was a big however, this tendency to overthink wasn’t one he indulged on the main; he usually acted with complete abandon and chaos, so overthinking every small detail as he was now led him to believe he was on the right path with you; if he didn’t care so much about you, he wouldn’t be obsessing about doing the right thing or even contemplating what the right thing was; he’d just Nike it up and just do it. He smiled to himself, knowing his head and heart were blissfully united.

Holding you and listening to your rhythmic snores gave him a purpose far beyond occupying his wandering mind; he enjoyed being the framework to your slumber. The knowledge the very way he was holding you meant sleep for you was oddly empowering and deeply sentimental. He knew he could get used to this: listening to you sleep, composing songs to your languid breaths, tapping out rhythms on your waist. This was a routine well worth preoccupying himself with. He might never sleep again, but it was worth it, you were worth it. If you were a song, he thought, it would have to include the rhythm of your drowsy dozing. He couldn’t get enough of it. Music was everywhere for John Deacon. Music was magic, and you occupied a place in the palace of musical creation even in your sleeping moments. He treasured that about you. He needed to write you as a song; everything you were he wanted to distill into notes so he’d have something of you to carry with him always. Something by him, that was undeniably yours together.

What would it be like to write a song with you? He wondered if you were a good musician; he realized he had never heard you play before. This needed to be remedied right away. You must be good, going to a Oxford and all, he figured. Clever girl. Maybe even his clever girl. It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet; slow down, he told himself. There would be all the time in the world together if it was meant to be, if you were right for each other; rushing did no one good in matters of love.

And speaking of rushing about, what about Roger? The surprise of Roger being here tonight had been such a misfire. They really couldn’t do anything without each other, could they? It was a little uncanny they had both fallen for girls who weren’t only incredibly close but also lived together. What were the odds? Especially since Roger and Deacy didn’t exactly have the same tastes in women. Roger preferred, well, a pulse. Deacy’s tastes were somewhat more refined.

What would it be like dating ladies who lived together? Courting a woman next to Roger’s too blond hair and perfect swagger wasn’t exactly appealing. Well, that was if Roger ever came back here in the first place. Deacy would have to deal with his teasing and prodding eventually no matter what Roger himself decided to do about the situation; that could be a bridge Deacy would conquer when and if the time ever came. Knowing Roger as well as Deacy did, he knew Rog wasn’t typically a repeat offender. It would be a miracle if Roger returned here at all. Which was really unfortunate; Deacy was sure someone could live a fulfilling life without a permanent partner; there were as many different successful relationship types as there were people to have them. Deacy was a serial monogamist; so he and Roger would never understand each other's chosen proclivities regarding dating, despite the fact they saw pretty much eye-to-eye regarding sexual expectations and desires.

This relationship drama, however, could easily create a fissure between you and Deacy, which he definitely did not want. If Roger decided to not come back, Lydia could be hurt, and you could take her side, and should, and this could make your relationship together awkward, since Roger was and always would be a best friend of Deacy’s. Come hell or high water, Deacy never wanted to know what life would be like without Roger Meddows Taylor stomping around in it.

Or, there was another option: it could be for the best and in accordance with Lydia’s own desires to never see Roger again, too. He didn’t know Lydia well enough to know, and Deacy, curiously enough, didn’t see her taking a backseat in any relationship she’d enter into, whether it was a passionate one night stand or a dedicated relationship spanning several months or years. Deacy also knew he didn’t know you well enough to know what you’d think about the situation; he’d have to ask you sooner rather than later to head off any potential issues.

There was another possibility, however unlikely it seemed: mainly that Roger was legitimately smitten with Lydia and would be back constantly and consistently to invade her life, and in doing so would make Deacy’s carefully balanced life hellishly chaotic. Chaos of his own doing was good, wonderful even, but chaos caused by others wasn’t always Deacy’s thing.

Roger had been acting rather bizarrely tonight, Deacy remembered. Not that Rog acted in the usual casually basic non-concerned ways of the normal folk; but, he seemed distracted, which was a state rarely seen from someone who was masterfully self-aware, so in self-known-harmony to a point most people confused him for being self-obsessed or self-absorbed. And, yes, fine, he was those things too, but only because he was naturally self-assured and confident: Roger might have many faults but Deacy didn’t consider his actualized confidence to be one of them. Quite the contrary: he envied him this blessing.

Would Rog return to woo Lydia? Deacy hoped so, not only to make his own life easier, but also for Roger’s sake. The fear in Roger’s eyes tonight probably related to his confusion and dire instincts of self-preservation of finally--finally, finding an equal, and what that would mean for his self-directed, devil-may-care lifestyle. Roger would be miserable if he denied this new revelation, and yet he’d be happy in his misery if he just embraced this new opportunity; change is rarely painless, especially when it is good for us.

Deacy wasn’t so sure his fear wouldn’t win out, though; he felt sorry for Roger. Yes, Roger was happy sleeping around and going from woman to woman to woman--sometimes in the same night. But now that Deacy had seen his reaction to finding a equal in Lydia, and seeing the reaction was so volatile and panicked, this made Deacy think maybe Roger wasn’t as happily satisfied as he appeared to be. Predicting what Rog may or may not do was like trying to predict the weather on Jupiter; why even bother and what purpose did it serve?

Deacy, on the other hand, was pleased as punch to find an equal, and he couldn’t wait to start the rest of his life with you.

Not that he could tell you--yet. That would be going too far. And, well, quite honestly, it would remove some of the game from the situation, and the game brought him greater satisfaction than he could readily explain. Or could he explain it, he wondered? Nothing makes a person feel desired more than the first blush of love. The snapshot of the first time someone gives in, relents, accepts a date, holds your hand, the first kiss that everything is in harmony...it all related to the chase for John Deacon. Every moment could be a chase, rather in miniature or grand situations, everything was a chase. He wanted stability with an ever changing sense of the chase.

This was another paradox. His life was governed by them. He couldn’t escape it, and he didn’t want to, but felt he should. Another paradox. And he certainly wanted you and definitely knew he needed to use good judgment over whatever it was his heart was telling him. Bad judgment could scare away a partner easier than breaking promises or relationship vows and standards. You couldn’t tell a woman you had just met you wanted to spend the rest of your life with her. It wasn’t romantic; it was bad judgment. Building the desire up over a course of time, however, was romantic. Showing you he wanted you was going to be his new favorite game.

He considered what time it was, but he couldn’t look at his watch, as it was wrapped around the wrist that was wrapped around your waist. And he hadn’t been able to locate your alarm clock, though he knew you had to have one. Unknowing, he wondered if time had sped up or slowed down. The party, he recalled, seemed to have lasted forever. A fact that had overjoyed him at the time, and weighed heavily on his heart now. There would come a time, and soon, when he’d have to let you go, and and you’d go about your business, and he’d go about his until you reunited for that dinner tonight.

Deacy sighed. The dinner with Miami Beach wasn’t going to be easy. The only thing making him feel comfortable at all was the notion you’d be there as his armor against Rog and Bri. At least Freddie was on his side. And more than anything else he hated thinking they were all on sides at all. It was abhorrent, the notion of them being on different sides. Whatever happened tonight, it wasn’t going to be pretty or easy and certainly nothing about it was going to be fair. The idea to hold the meeting in a public place had been Jim’s. He hoped it would help keep tempers to a calm simmer instead of throwing fuel on the fires and sending them raging around the room. Deacy was sure Jim had been mostly thinking of Roger for this arrangement. It wasn’t beyond him, or any of them, to flick anger or objects at each other when provoked.

Maybe everyone will get along and we can come to an agreement and just processed with the record, Deacy hoped. He sighed again, troubled in his thoughts, too wound up to sleep, and too surprised to have met you among the muck that was his professional life.

Maybe he was making the fighting out to be a bigger deal than it was? Maybe we all were, he thought. They had fought before, and this was surely no different. They’d make it over the disagreements and resentments and find their way back to the careful and cherished supportive love they had always had for each other. The creative times, when they were all writing together, were simultaneously the best and worst times they had as a band. Wonderfully robust sessions with new ideas and fantastic gems of songs wrought out of nowhere, and then there it all was, placed on a page, and then they’d record the magic, and suddenly they’d have music. Deacy lived for these times, and he knew the others did too. On the other hand, these times always also had fights, jabs, heavy hearts, dark piercing criticisms made threats, and too easily hurt feelings and egos. Nothing about Queen was clear cut and certain; they were always changing and redefining themselves while constantly and consistently staying true to who they were.

Another paradox. If he kept thinking about the business of Queen he’d never sleep. It’s difficult when you’ve created something with people you love and those people don’t always agree. Everything is personal. Everything is emotional. There’s just no way to separate the heart from one’s art. And Queen knows that more than any other band. They just needed to surmount this one slump and everything would be peachy.

Your skin smelled faintly of peaches, he thought, taking in your scent. He wondered if your bed would smell like him, and if you’d be able to stand it when you realized it. You were half on top of him and half on the bed, still snoring in a secure and carefree way he knew he’d have to get used to if he ever wanted to sleep again. It was comforting, yes. Endearing, too. Though not conducive to sleep when one plays in the rhythm section of a band.

His arm was falling asleep. How best to move it and you so you don’t wake up? He wasn’t sure how light or heavy a sleeper you were.

However, if he woke up you, he wasn’t sure he’d let you stay asleep…

Kissing you, he thought, was paramount. And it was a right well shame you weren’t kissing at that very moment. This wasn’t going anywhere good fast; he could feel himself getting excited and desirous of you in his mind that always led to a physical reaction. He either needed to wake you up right now and consider ravishing you, or think about electrical diagrams to distract his cock from waking up.

What use were electrical diagrams when you had a woman on top of you, he thought.

It was essentially what they called a no-brainer.

Your head was on his shoulder/chest area still. He traced a hand through your hair a couple times, gently saying your name.

Didn’t work. Okay, not a light sleeper. Noted.

He shook you, still tenderly, from his gripping point on your waist. The sensation of pin pricks shot up his hand and arm as he did so; his sleeping arm wasn’t recovering. He lifted you up, and slid his arm out from under you.

And that’s when you snapped awake.

“Am I late again?” You asked to the room. You sunk a hand under your bed and brought up your alarm clock. It said 6:27AM in damning red letters. You dropped it to the floor and began to snuggle back into the man in your bed.

There was a man in your bed.

And that’s when the party and it’s events raced to catch up with your not quite fully awake mind.

John Deacon was in your bed.

John Deacon, bassist of Queen, was in your bed.

You sat up. John was staring up at you from his grey eyes, a small, curiously engaged smile on his face.

He still looked great. Did sleeping attack men like it did women, you questioned? Didn’t seem fair he’d still be looking fabulous while you probably looked like something found at the bottom of a drain.

He reached up, slowly hooking a strand of wavy hair behind your ear. He wasn’t sure what to say, or even if he could make coherent sounds let alone string together the dance in his heart into coherent words. The dawn was rising, and its shy light was hitting you like a caress, and in that moment he knew he was looking at true beauty.

“This is my preferred moment.” He said this exceptionally quietly so you’d have to hear him.

“Oh? Right at dawn?” You yawned and noticed drool marks that could only be yours on his tank top, and rubbed the corners of your mouth as slyly as you could.

“No. Well, yes. I love this time of day. But I wasn’t referring to that.”

“What were you referring to, then? Out with it, Johnny.”

Smiling like the soft curve of a rose, he said, “You. How you look right now. You captivate me; you’re more captivating than any song I’ve ever written.” He shrugged then, as if to say, that’s just how it is. Deal with it.

You froze, thinking of your boring flannel pjs, your bed head hair, the sleepy breath you had to have had by now, and what you’d come to think of as the drooling incident of 1981. You studied his eyes, to see if he was teasing you, possibly playing some game he had yet tell you the rules of, or something like that. His eyes were steady and something about them was far away yet piercing; he was looking in your eyes but seeing all of you simultaneously. He was taking you in as each second passed as if he were committing you to memory. You figured he had really meant what he said. For no one had ever looked at you like that.

You thought what a life with Deacy would be like, then. In that moment, as he stared at you thinking the same exact thing, you wondered how it could work together. He travels for work. You don’t have a career to speak of, though if yours took off, you’d most likely be traveling too. The logistics weren’t the best. But those eyes. Those grey eyes. And how he kissed you, how he made you feel beautiful, and interesting, and desired. That meant more than a few months apart, surely. You sensed in him a great capability of devotion, a fantastic unshakable loyalty not only towards you, potentially, but with anyone he chose to form a bond with—including Queen. Once he entered into something, it would take a great cataclysmic event to end it. Once John Deacon was all in, he was in for good.

You couldn’t stop imagining a life with him. You didn’t want to stop.

And that’s when Deacy pulled you to him.

Tag List: @phantom-fangirl-stuff @triggeredpossum @obsessedwithrogertaylor @partydulce @richiethotzierz @groupiie-love @sophierobisonartfoundationblr @psychostarkid @teathymewithben @smittyjaws @just-ladyme @botinstqueen @mydogisthebest @little-welsh-wonder @maxjesty @deakysdiscos @yourealegendroger @marvellouspengwing @molethemollie @deakysgirl @arrowswithwifi 

[generation-of-kuroko-and-kagami]

Which GoM member is strongest?

I’ve been fascinated with this concept for a long time. So, I’m finally going to sit down and compare every member’s abilities to try and figure out who is the strongest member of the Generation of Miracles. I already have my own opinion, but I’ll save that for later. Be prepared here, there’s gonna be spoilers because I’ve seen the entire anime and the movie twice, and that’s just how it’s gonna go.

TL;DR will be in bold.

So, it was said in the beginning of Kuroko no Basket that Kise was the weakest member of the GoM, and it was said that Aomine bloomed faster and more so than the rest of the members. Is that the answer? They’ve all been called monsters, so is one really stronger than another, or are they all equally strong in their own ways? Just as an aside, I am including Kuroko in the lineup of the Generation of Miracles as he is the Phantom Sixth Man. I’m not including Haizaki because, to be honest, if he was of the caliber that the GoM is, then they would’ve been called the Generation of Miracles a lot sooner. Momoi won’t be in here either because she doesn’t actually play, although her mentality is said to be that of an athlete. Let’s get started and talk about this in order of appearance.

Kuroko Tetsuya

So, as we know, Kuroko’s talents come from his use of misdirection, which he painstakingly developed in Teiko under Akashi’s tutelage. Kuroko’s high intelligence allows him to observe his opponents and misdirect their line of sight to suit the ability he’s using. His abilities include: misdirection, invisible pass, Cyclone Pass, Ignite Pass, Ignite Pass Kai, Vanishing Drive, Misdirection Overflow, Phantom Shot, and Quasi-Emperor Eye. Not all of these tricks involve shifting his opponents line of sight, but they have all proven useful against the other five members of the Generation of Miracles.��

Kuroko’s passes use his lack of presence to pass the ball around to his teammates without the other team noticing. His Ignite Pass and Ignite Pass Kai (pictured above) simply speed the ball up to a point where the opposing team cannot block or steal them. His Cyclone Pass is useful for cutting the ball across the court in a matter of seconds, and his Phantom Shot is a shot that can’t be seen. In addition to these, his Misdirection Overflow can only be used when his invisibility runs out. This allows him to transfer his Vanishing Drive--an ability that lets him drive past his opponents without being seen--to his teammates. His Quasi-Emperor Eye also allows him to see the future of his teammates’ movements so he can act accordingly to help them.

So, is Kuroko potentially the strongest member? No, most likely not. At least, not on his own. However, the reason I’m bringing Kuroko up at all is because he is still deserving of the GoM title. Physically, he is clearly inferior to the other five members. The same goes for ability. However, his mentality is, hands down, the strongest in the group. His game-sense rivals that of Akashi, and in my opinion, exceeds Akashi’s. Kuroko’s abilities are awesome to watch, but his real strength is his will, his intelligence, and his observational skills. With those, he can easily find his opponents weaknesses and use them to help his team win.

It’s true that Kuroko is stronger if he’s coupled with a stronger opponent and works better when he’s a part of a team, however, what he contributes individually is something that not even the Generation of Miracles starters could replicate. 

Kise Ryōta

Kise is, personally, my favorite member of the GoM starters. However, I wasn’t all that impressed by his abilities the first time I saw them, and it wasn’t that far of a stretch for me to imagine that the other four members were stronger than he was. However, this was before I fully understood the merit of Kise’s abilities. They include: copying, Perfect Copy, and the Zone. It isn’t nearly as long as Kuroko’s list, but Kise’s use of these abilities aren’t something to overlook.

Kise can copy any player’s move or style and use it in his play. The reason I wasn’t that impressed with Kise in the beginning was because, to me, it just looked like Kise saw a move that he couldn’t beat and used it because he doesn’t have his own great ability. That’s extremely misguided, though. It isn’t that Kise can’t do his own plays, he just frequently uses things he sees other people do. Personally, I think it serves the double purpose of throwing off the opponents’ focus and reliving Kise of the task of trying to get around a barrier that he wouldn’t know how to get around otherwise. Also, I think Kise copying a player’s moves is a sign that he respects and admires that person’s abilities because he deems them good enough to use. 

Perfect Copy (pictured above) is a step up from his normal copying ability because he copies the Generation of Miracles’ moves, something he couldn’t do until the Winter Cup during his first year in high school. The issue with this ability is that he has to compensate for the imperfections with another element, which takes a huge toll on his body. For example, to replicate Midorima’s shots, he has to use his entire body’s strength at once because otherwise he wouldn’t have the power and accuracy that Midorima naturally has. This ability can only last for five minutes (unless Kise pushes it when he’s desperate), and it can be taxing for his injured foot as well as his stamina. 

The final ability listed for Kise is the Zone. This is not something that is exclusive to Kise as Aomine, Murasakibara, Akashi, and Kagami have all been in the Zone. The overhanging benefit for all people in the Zone is that their strength and speed increase. The difference for Kise, however, is that he used Perfect Copy in conjunction with the Zone. So, essentially, he could replicate the GoM members’ Zones. However, both the Zone and Perfect Copy use up an excessive amount of stamina, which is a negative side-effect for Kise’s injured body. The longest amount of time clocked for Kise using Perfect Copy and the Zone in conjunction is three minutes, but there is also no proof that he couldn’t hold both for the full five minutes he gets for Perfect Copy. Midorima stated that while Kise was in this state, he was the strongest player on the court.

So, is Kise the strongest member of the GoM? Well, he’s certainly up there. The simple fact that he can use something like Perfect Copy that is nearly unstoppable on its own at the same time as he’s in the Zone makes it evident that he must be one of the strongest members, if not the strongest. Not many other players could maintain both states at the same time for the period of time that Kise did, all while being injured. On top of that, Perfect Copy essentially means that Kise can be all six members at once. This was also stated by Kagami during their game at the Winter Cup. It is this fact that makes him probably the strongest contender to be the best member of the GoM.

Midorima Shintarō  

Midorima is the third member of the GoM to be introduced. Honestly, his abilities are pretty simply as they all have to with shooting, although Midorima is also said to have good strength and speed as well as being good on defense. The abilities that allowed him to be a part of the group known as the Generation of Miracles as well as the abilities he developed in high school include: a high projectile three-pointer, limitless range, sky direct three-pointer, and his perfect accuracy. 

Thankfully, his abilities are the easiest to explain. His high projectile three-pointers take a higher arc than normal, allowing him a hard-to-block shot that also never misses. Midorima is able to accurately calculate the distance between himself and the hoop, which lets him sink shots from any place on the court. However, the farther away he is, the longer he takes to get into his shooting form, and the bigger the toll is on his body as he has to use more strength for far shots, though he has been shown to exceed his endurance limit by quite a bit. Actually, Midorima takes a while to enter his shooting form compared to normal regardless. The sky direct three-pointer (pictured above) is a shot that can only be taken when Midorima cooperates with his teammate Takao, although he has been able to do it with Akashi as well. Midorima will enter his shooting form without the ball and then have the ball tossed to him by Takao. While this requires a lot of trust on Midorima’s part, and while sinking the shot requires great skill as well, Takao’s abilities contribute quite a lot to this technique as he has to accurately toss the ball into Midorima’s hands. So, this ability can’t be completely credited to Midorima’s ability. 

Could Midorima possibly be the strongest member of the GoM? Aside from the fact that Midorima’s skills are slightly underwhelming, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s one of the best bets for scoring points during a game. However, when it comes to the other aspects of basketball, Midorima could potentially fall short. While he can defend, block, and use his speed effectively, he isn’t much of a match for players like Aomine, and Akashi. Then again, in a shootout, Midorima would overtake players like Murasakibara and Kise pretty easily. My opinions are mixed on Midorima’s eligibility to be called the strongest member of the GoM. Let’s keep digging.

Aomine Daiki 

Aomine is... something else. I’m not even sure I can sum up his abilities, but I’m going to try. Aomine’s abilities are: his speed and agility, his knowledge of streetball, his ability to change the pace of his play, his animal instincts, and his formless shots. Aomine can also enter into the Zone.

His speed and agility are often combined with his knowledge of streetball to confuse and bypass his opponents. The unconventional movements are useful in a sport like basketball which has been reduced down to predictable plays and movements. Additionally, he can slow down his play while dribbling to fool his opponents into slowing their pace as well, only for Aomine to quickly drive past them. His animal instincts are similar to Kagami’s in that they both have extremely good senses when it comes to what move to make next, and they both do those things with surprising ferocity. Aomine’s real weapons, though, are his formless shots (pictured above). Aomine is able to shoot from any position, and has even made shots while his body was nearly parallel to the ground. They are extremely difficult to predict and block. 

The Zone is something else that is available to Aomine, and pretty much what it does for him is increase all of his abilities. So, his already inhuman speed and agility increase even more as well as his accuracy and reflexes. Aomine’s abilities are difficult to judge because he’s simply just an extraordinary player. Kagami has been the only player to beat Aomine, and that also came in conjunction with help from Kuroko and the other members of Seirin. 

Is Aomine the strongest player in the GoM? Instinct says there’s no way anyone else could be stronger. His natural talent has proven enough to beat the abilities of nearly every other opponent. In other words, he doesn’t seem to need a niche or ability that he specializes in (like Midorima’s shooting) because he’s pretty phenomenal at it all. Let’s just say the other five would have to do something unheard of to beat Aomine. Either that, or somehow become stronger than he is through their abilities. Who knows, though?

Murasakibara Atsushi 

Murasakibara’s name is gonna get real annoying to have to type over and over, let me tell you. Murasakibara towers over every other GoM member when it comes to height. He also has quick reflexes, which is useful considering the abilities he has. They include: a strong defense, a strong offense--including Thor’s Hammer, Vice Claw, and the Zone.

Due to his long limbs and quick reaction time, Murasakibara can easily knock away an opponent’s shot or dunk the ball himself. Thor’s Hammer (pictured above) is a powerful dunk that only Murasakibara can pull off (unless Kise is using Perfect Copy) by using both of his hands and spinning in the air to achieve momentum and power that can knock three players down easily. Because of his huge hands, he can also use Vice Claw to rebound with one hand, making him a difficult opponent to face on defense as well as offense. Murasakibara has also briefly entered the Zone, which increases his power and speed.

Will Murasakibara win the contest of the strongest GoM member? Possibly. He doesn’t have the agility of Aomine or the outside shooting strength of Midorima, but Murasakibara could potentially overpower all of those things with his strength and build. Aomine has even stated that it’s difficult for him to score against Murasakibara. Personally, I’d say Murasakibara’s overwhelming power could possibly trump the other five’s abilities in the same way that Aomine’s talent could. We’ll have to see.

Akashi Seijūrō

We finally come to the captain of the GoM. Seeing as how there are two Akashi’s, this may be a little bit difficult to explain, but I’m going to give it my best shot (no pun intended). Akashi has his Emperor Eye, the Complete Emperor Eye, Ankle Break, streetball handles, perfect-rhythmed plays, and the Zone. He’s also very physically adept and high intelligent, which makes his game-sense a dangerous tool as he can analyze the environment at a high level.

Akashi’s Emperor Eye, in short, allows him to predict the future of his opponents’ movements. He does this using his analytical prowess, picking up on the slightest hint of motion, which then allows him to accurately predict what his opponent is most likely to do so that he can stop it or get around it. The Ankle Break (pictured above) is an extension of this ability, as he uses his streetball handling ability to dribble and knock an opponent off balance by shifting their center of gravity once they step on their pivot foot. The Complete Emperor Eye, which was uncovered in the match with the Jabberwock, only appeared after Akashi’s other personality vanished and transferred his abilities to the real Akashi so that he could be stronger. Akashi’s ability to preform perfect plays, complete with perfect passes, was then combined with the other Akashi’s Emperor Eye to give the real Akashi the ability to predict the future while also being able to sense the entire court. He can also enter the Zone when he is the other Akashi, which increases his speed, defense, reaction time, and accuracy. When Akashi is himself, he can bring his teammates close to being in the Zone without actually being in it. This has similar effect for all of the players as being in the Zone without being completely in. This helps Akashi execute perfect-rhythmed plays. Basically, Akashi is just really good at being an exceptional point guard.

Okay, was that enough of an explanation to figure out if he’s the strongest? It sure seems like he would be the strongest considering all of those talents. He doesn’t have quite as many seperate moves as Kuroko, but he has more abilities combined together than any other member of the GoM. He can certainly lead better than any of them, but, as an individual, can he really beat out the other five? It’s time to deliberate.

Weaknesses

I’ve already discussed weaknesses for many of the members, but I’m going to summarize here so we can really compare each of their abilities. The overhanging weakness for all GoM members other than Kuroko is that their bodies are still too underdeveloped for the amount of talent they have, which makes them susceptible to injury if they exploit their power too much. Also, it should be noted that, of the members that can enter the Zone, none can enter the Zone Beyond the Zone. 

Kuroko’s main weakness is that he’s an average player when it comes to conventional means of playing basketball (blocking, defense, speed, shooting, etc.). He also can’t really stand on his own without a team because then his abilities are next to useless. Also, his abilities don’t last very long, especially if he’s using flashy ones. He also can’t enter the Zone, though the Zone probably isn’t needed for Kuroko’s abilities. 

Kise’s ability Perfect Copy, as stated, takes a big toll on his body. Because of this, his best ability can only be used for five minutes at a time. Kise also doesn’t appear to have much game-sense as he mostly just attacks rather than thinking out a play.

Midorima’s only exceptional strength is that he never misses his shots. That leaves him open for easy attacks and even blocks by the opponent. Additionally, he cannot enter the Zone at all, although, it is debated whether or not he would need to given his shooting range and accuracy. 

Aomine’s weakness is hard to pick out as he generally leave no holes. If I had to nail one down, it would be that his overwhelming strength prompted him to not practice for a while, which meant he took a while to reacquire his fast reflexes and agility in his second battle with Kagami. Also, Aomine doesn’t use team play at all, and that has proven to be really damaging. Moreover, Kagami has been shown to push the limits of his Zone while Aomine has not.

Murasakibara has issues maintaining his abilities throughout an entire, high-paced game because jumping to block, dunk, whatever takes a toll on his knees since his frame is so big. Additionally, it takes quite a while for Murasakibara to resort to team play, which can be a hindrance if he gets blocked when he could have passed.

Akashi’s weaknesses, honestly, would involve his split personality. For starters, his Emperor Eye has been incomplete for the majority of its use because the other Akashi is the only one that can use it. Also, the perfectly-rhythmed plays can only happen when Akashi is himself. This separation causes Akashi’s plays to inevitably have holes. For example, his Incomplete Emperor Eye can only predict one player’s movements at a time, and since he doesn’t have the court sense that the original Akashi does, it left him open to Kuroko using his Quasi-Emperor Eye to predict Kagami’s movements and assist in his play.

Team Play

Again, I mentioned this for a few people above, but extending on it will also help to decide who is the overall strongest, not only individually, but when a part of a team. 

Kuroko, hands down, has the best use of team play. Not only do his abilities depend on it, but his personality fosters it more than the other five. However, is that enough to bridge the gap in ability between him and the others?

Kise started off in middle school with no sense of team play at all, but pretty soon after he joined Kaijo, he started coordinating with his teammates. This has been helpful for him as he doesn’t have to carry the game on his own, which would put more strain on his body. Trusting in his teammates prevents damage and allows Kise to preform in top conditions.

Midorima also had issues initially with team play, and it took him longer to acclimate to it than it did Kise, but he eventually started believing in his teammates and their hard work. The best example of this would, obviously, be his sky direct three-pointer with Takao. Kise remarked that Midorima had to really trust his teammates to make that shot because the accuracy would always be lower than a shot he could take by himself. So, clearly, Midorima has learned to trust Takao’s passes as well as his senpai’s rebounds should he miss. Midorima and Takao’s partnership has also been compared to Kuroko and Kagami’s, which is very high praise for Midorima’s team play.

Aomine, as I mentioned, doesn’t have team play at all. That has been cited as the reason he cannot enter the Zone Beyond the Zone. I don’t know if it’s necessarily because he doesn’t trust his teammates, as he’s left games to them before, but rather that Aomine loves basketball so much that he wants to do everything himself. Nevertheless, this is a serious markdown for Aomine.

Murasakibara doesn’t typically use team play, either, which can be seen by the fact that he doesn’t play offense often. Though when he’s desperate to win, he will use any means necessary. I don’t know if that has to do with trust in his teammates’ abilities or if he uses team play because he knows that his current position isn’t the best for winning. It may just be a default for his own shortcomings, but nonetheless, he does use it occasionally. 

Akashi, unlike the other GoM starters, is all about team play... at least, the real Akashi is. If it was a contest between Kuroko and the real Akashi, Akashi could potentially win just because he’s so great at being a captain and point guard. However, because of his other personality, he isn’t that way all the time. He can’t even enter the Zone until he completely gives up on his teammates. So, Akashi is sort of a special case, because his state of mind will directly influence the quality of his team play. It could also be presumed that Akashi may be better at team play when he is the one dictating the plays rather than if he’s just a part of the team, though there’s no proof for that.

Conclusions

So, after this long post, have we figured out who the strongest GoM member is?

I kind of have three different answers for this. I will narrow it down to one, but for now here are my three:

Based on potential: Kise

Kise has the potential to be the strongest GoM member because he can have the abilities of all six members with Perfect Copy. Since he can’t copy things he can’t physically do, this means that Kise is at least able to keep up with the Generation of Miracles’ abilities, if not surpass them. The more Kise’s body develops, the longer he’ll be able to hold Perfect Copy. Not only that, but he can enter the Zone as well. Since he also uses team play, it’s not impossible to assume that he’ll be able to enter the Zone Beyond the Zone at some point. Overall, Kise has the highest potential to become the greatest member of the GoM.

Individually: Aomine

I feel like this was the obvious answer. Aomine is just extremely difficult to beat. Like I said, he doesn’t specialize in any one thing, but can do nearly everything. He doesn’t pay attention to plays, either, which allows him to use unpredictable movements that would be difficult to keep up with. Basically, Aomine’s that good that nobody could beat him in a one-on-one. Not only that, but he’ll keep growing. He’s dangerous for sure.

As a part of a team: Kuroko

Kuroko’s biggest strength is his ability to support his team. Not only with his team play, but with his mental strength and support. He can make everyone feel assured in their plays because he’s there to back them up if something goes off the rails. His abilities themselves depend on team play, which means that he’s been cultivating his basketball with a team in mind. That’s more than can be said for any other member of the GoM.

Before I explain who my personal pick for the strongest member of the Generation of Miracles, I’m going to explain why Midorima, Murasakibara, and Akashi are not contenders. 

Why not Midorima?

I think I’ve stated this a couple times already, but Midorima’s abilities really only lend themselves to scoring. That is an important and impressive skill, but he falls short when it comes to the other aspects of his play. Of course, he always has the potential to improve those things as well as his team play, but he just couldn’t be the winner of any of the above categories because overall, he’s not at a high enough level.

Why not Murasakibara? 

Murasakibara’s lack of team play is clearly the reason why he was beat out by Kuroko, but why isn’t the strongest individually or potentially? Murasakibara’s ability seems to lie with his reflexes and size, but not really anywhere else. His reaction time combined with his limbs sort of make his talent for basketball a given. Of course, he does have his passion for the game, but it just isn’t enough to beat out Kise and Aomine in terms of ability.

Why not Akashi? 

I’ll be honest, it was pretty close between Akashi and Kuroko for team play. What it ultimately came down to was the other Akashi’s Zone being triggered by giving up on his teammates and also his domineering attitude. The fact that he played for so long as a person that wanted his teammates to be subservient makes him lesser in terms of team play, in my opinion. Not to mention, he wasn’t successful in uniting the GoM in middle school as a team that used team play, so the real Akashi even failed at that aspect of being a part of and leading a team. Because of the morale Kuroko brings to his team, I still think that the current Akashi couldn’t beat him when it comes to being a part of and supporting a team.

So, who wins? Of course this is just my opinion, but to me, the clear winner is: Kise Ryōta.

I’ve explained why Midorima, Murasakibara, and Akashi aren’t on the list of contenders, but how did Kise beat out Kuroko and Aomine? It’s pretty simple, actually. His ability beat out Kuroko and his team play beat out Aomine. The fact that he can do the things he can do-- like Perfect Copy and the Zone-- as well as work with a team make him the strongest member of the Generation of Miracles. Would he win every game against Aomine? Probably not. Can he inspire his team as much as Kuroko? No way. But, as an overall player, Kise is the most promising. I mean how can a single player in the GoM beat someone who can imitate all of them? That’s a bit of a wonky justification, but I really do think that Kise is the strongest. Ironic, considering he was the last to join.

In case you want to know, here are my rankings based on ability from strongest to weakest: 

Kise

Aomine

Akashi

Murasakibara

Midorima

Kuroko

Let it be known, that if this was ranked on team play, the list would be:

Kuroko

Akashi

Kise

Midorima

Murasakibara

Aomine

One more based on passion for the game:

Kuroko

Aomine

Kise

Midorima 

Murasakibara

Akashi

So, that’s pretty much all I have for this post. I don’t mean to offend anyone who favors someone other than Kise. Hell, Kuroko is my favorite character, and I still couldn’t put him first. Really, Kise just made the most sense to me, so I apologize if my assessments made you mad or anything. 

I don’t know if you noticed, but I mentioned Kagami a few times in this post. In fact, I used him as a sort of ruler for how strong the GoM was. I know I compared him to Aomine a few times. Does that mean I think Kagami is the strongest basketball player in Kuroko no Basket? Do I think he’s stronger than the GoM? Well, that’ll be a nice little companion post to this one that I will be posting in the near future, so please stay tuned.

Let me know what you think of my results, and tell me who you think is the strongest GoM member. Thanks for reading!

[smashbuddies]

Do it for Them: Pt. 6

Daniel stood diligently by His Diamond’s side, eyes trained firmly on the warp pad. The entirety of the Alpha Kindergarten waited behind the two of them with baited breath, only the occasional whisper stirring up to be silenced with harsh, muttered scolding. The wind had long died and the air felt so heavy and warm all thanks to the crimson ship looming above. Or rather, it’s passenger.

“What do you think Red will say?” His Diamond whispered to him. “I mean… They can’t be too happy right now.”

“Red Diamond has a history of cowing enemies with words before engaging in battle,” Daniel whispered back. His fingers played with the frills of his skirt. “I believe they’re going to do the same to you. They’ll try to convince you to stand down and continue the colony.”

“As if I’ll let that happen…”

The warp pad lit up, banishing all shadow for a moment before revealing Red Diamond. Tall, proud, hands laced behind their back and face stoney. They glanced down at Snail with just the slightest glimmer of amusement.

“You’ve made Gray quite angry,” they noted. “If you wanted attention, you didn’t have to go so far, Purple. He would very much like his Pearl back. And I don’t want to deal with this… War you’ve declared.”

“I’m not giving Lorna back,” His Diamond said boldly and puffed up their chest. And he knew they’d stick to their word. Lorna was essentially off the radar. No one but them and Daniel could find her. “No gem deserves to be treated like that! We’re all equals, Red!”

“You’re young,” Red sighed out, rubbing their forehead with a disgruntled scowl. “You don’t quite realize the way the hierarchy works. But you will learn, Purple. Once you conquer more planets, Gray and I will-”

“No! I’m not destroying more planets for you!”

Red blinked, then looked them over with a sneer. “I see. It was a mistake to let you start your own colony. I thought you had matured in these last thousand years, but now I realize you’re nothing more than an optimistic, acting like you’ve just emerged, Purple. You think the world is so complex, with so much nuance, but it’s not.”

“It is,” His Diamond insisted, one hand to their chest and the other clenched tightly by their side. “We’ve been here for hundreds of years now, but you only need one day to see how amazing everything is! The life here, it’s so complex and diverse, and the people, they-”

“Enough, Purple!”

The snarl was accompanied by a wave of heat, like scorching hot fire washing over the whole area. Daniel swallowed thickly and put a gentle hand on His Diamond, hoping to comfort them. And maybe himself.

“Tell me,” Red finally said once they had calmed down, their fingers fanned out in front of them as they looked out into the sea of gems. “What is the purpose of a Jade, again?”

His Diamond drew their lips into a thin line. “On Earth, we don’t-”

“Their purpose, Purple. What did you make them for when you first started this colony?”

“...To help expand the kindergartens and build more gem injectors,” His Diamond muttered reluctantly. “But-”

“And the Quartz? What do they do?”

“They protect the Jades while they work, but-”

“The Agates?”

“Ugh, they make sure everyone’s doing their jobs, but-”

“And what is your job?” Red Finally asked, eyes narrowed dangerously. “What purpose do you have, Purple?”

His Diamond looked ready to explode. Through gritted teeth, they hissed, “My purpose is to expand the empire and lead it. But I don’t want to. And none of my gems want to be stuck doing all this! They have potential, they can be whatever they want! We can all be whatever we want, we just need the chance!”

Red glared down at them for a moment, then let out a deep sigh and took on a look of pity. “I see what’s happened. You’ve started to believe that these lesser gems have the same cognizance we do.”

“...What’s that supposed to mean?”

Red tutted and sauntered past them to more closely scrutinize the kindergarten gems. “It means that us Diamonds think on a more complex level than any other creature in the universe. We can feel, conceptualize, think outside the box and come up with ideas that no other could.” They turned back to Purple and swept their hand out. “But they can’t.”

“...That’s not true,” they said as they turned to Red, shoulders squared. “I know for a fact Daniel is way smarter than me! He comes up with most of my ideas!”

“Oh, you think your Pearl is that complex?” Red asked coldly, glancing at Daniel. “It’s just a doll. A toy for you to play with, nothing more than what you make it out to be. An extension of yourself, so to speak. It would never be anything without an owner.”

Those words stung, and he gingerly moved himself back behind His Diamond to try and hide from Red’s gaze. But it made Daniel think… Were they right? Was he really his own person, or just an empty vessel for a drop of His Diamond’s thoughts?

“He could be so much more if he wanted!” His Diamond argued with a step forward, as if trying to shield him from Red’s verbal onslaught. “On his own he could do amazing things! I know he could!”

Red’s eyes never left Daniel. “A Pearl is simply a tool for whoever owns it. If it breaks, it can be replaced. If its owner disappears, it can be reformatted for a new one…”

Invisible strings puppeteered him, forcing his arm up no matter how much he fought to keep it by his side. A star slowly appeared above his hand, but it wasn’t one of his. It was a jagged, uneven looking thing, all malformed and sinister, and every single second it took to form hurt. Like he was drawing too much of himself into it. And too much of something else that didn’t belong. His arm shook, and the pain only got worse as he held it, eyes still glued to Red Diamond’s, a haze settling over him and jumbling his thoughts.

Eliminate Purple Diamond. Do it. That is your order, you know they won’t win this war. They’ll be shattered. But now they’ll be poofed and kept safe. Isn’t that what you want, Daniel? To keep Your Diamond safe? Do it for them.

That was all he wanted. If they were safe, then he could exist happily knowing that he served his purpose. He slowly looked to His Diamond’s back. Yes, all he had to do was poof them…

“Daniel isn’t a tool!” His Diamond’s words cut through to him, striking deep. “He feels and he thinks and he has the most wonderful personality and… He cares about me so much! And I care about him! That’s why I know he’s a million times the gem any of us Diamonds are!”

What was he doing? He couldn’t betray His Diamond, but he couldn’t stop. It was like trying to push against a wall. The star he summoned wouldn’t go away, his body just wouldn’t listen to him. But he had to try something.

“Mmm…”

Red kept his mouth shut. But Daniel wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

“You just can’t understand something not having the same capacity that we do,” Red replied smoothly. “But in time, you will. We all have our place in the universe. Some are just lower than others.”

“My D-Dia…!”

Finally, they turned around. Both Diamonds looked equally shocked for a split-second before he let the star loose, unable to control himself any longer. As it shot right for His Diamond, he collapsed to his knees and used the last of his energy to shout.

“Move!”

A gasp resounded through the sea of gems. Daniel looked up to see that His Diamond had thrown themself out of the way, just in the knick of time. Much to his relief, they weren’t even harmed. But then their head whipped around to look at where the star actually hit, and he followed suit.

For a split-second, Red disappeared- only their glimmering gem floated in the air before they reformed around it, hair tousled, lips pulled back into a vicious snarl as waves of heat rolled off of them.

His Diamond scrambled to the feet and scooped him up, hands protectively cupped around him. Daniel couldn’t see anything but the purple of their gloves and the smallest sliver of sky.

“Alright, Purple,” Red spat, the sound of their boots against the warp pad loud. “If you want a war, then you best prepare yourself. It’s two against one, and you are severely lacking in everything.”

The warp pad whirred to life, only giving Red enough time for one last comment.

“And once this war is won, Black will make sure to fix each and every last gem in your court. Especially that Pearl.”

Their hold on him tightened, and he just then realized that he was shaking.

“I’m sorry, My Diamond… I c-couldn’t…”

They shushed him and moved quickly. “Don’t worry about it. Just get some rest.”

Daniel closed his eyes, and did just that. His Diamond’s warmth radiated off of him, and he fell into a pleasant state of just existing with no thoughts or worries. Just feelings.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Like, really sure?”

Daniel sighed and crossed one leg over the other, eyes firmly on His Diamond from his perch in their throne. “Of course. You really didn’t have to wait by my side this whole time. Now all the gems on Earth are probably worried to pieces.”

They blanched and glanced off to the side. “I, well- look, I had to make sure you were okay!”

“I appreciate the concern, My Diamond,” he said earnestly. “But, well… I’m more worried about you. How-”

“I’m fine,” they answered a little too quickly and swept a hand through their hair. “I just, you know. Almost got poofed. And now we’re in a war. And I don’t even want to know how Black is going to react to all this, or Gray, or how this war is gonna play out, is it gonna be here? Are we gonna fight on Homeworld? Or should I make ships so we can fight in space?”

Daniel frowned and stared down at his lap. “I don’t know, My Diamond. Sorry, I don’t think I’m quite in the right state to come up with ideas, or even try to figure out this whole mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.”

They hummed, then took a deep breath. “That’s okay,” they assured him after a long moment. Then they shot him that devious grin of theirs. “But hey, did you see how you poofed Red? I mean, I don’t think anyone’s poofed a diamond before, let alone a Pearl! And my Pearl too!”

Their Pearl. It was so wonderful to hear.

The look on his face must’ve been obvious. Their cheeks fill with color, and they waved their hands in front of themself while they stammered out, “Uh, I mean, not my Pearl, but… My Pearl, you know?”

He cocked his head. “No, My Diamond. I don’t.”

For a moment, they looked conflicted. Then they gingerly grabbed his hands, and took a knee, head bowed in almost reverence as they repeated themself softly, “My Pearl.”

Daniel froze. Every last ounce of his coding told him how wrong this was. A Diamond bowing to a Pearl? Preposterous! But a surge of emotion swelled inside him, and all he could do to fight against it was whisper a “My Diamond?”

“No, you don’t have to call me that anymore,” they said, finally looking up at him. Oh, that smile. “We’re equals. You can just call me Snail.”

Absolutely not.

But he forced a smile, and even if it felt too sweet on his tongue, he managed to say, “Of course, My… Snail. Whatever you want.”

Even if it felt a little wrong, the look on their face was worth it a million times over. They rose to their feet and let his hands fall from their hold, but then got a thoughtful look on their face. “Guess I have to go talk to everyone now, huh? What am I supposed to say?” A grimace crossed their face. “Sorry, I know you said-”

“Well,” he gently interrupted as he reached back up for their hands, “I think I can handle a little speech. Let’s see…”

Honesty. That was the first thing that came to mind. It was a virtue His Diamond held in spades- far better than the others. But it would be rough, of course.

“Let them know what lies ahead,” he suggested carefully. “Be honest, but not brutal. Let everyone know that it’ll be rough, but… That there’s hope. Even with a war, we can make this our home, and treat it the way it deserves. All we have to do is work together. Some can fight, others can build. Every gem can find its own purpose, and that’s what’ll help us pull through.”

They stared at him with bright eyes. “I can’t believe how good you are with words. Maybe you should lead this whole rebellion!”

“Oh no, I couldn’t!” The very thought made Daniel seize up inside. Even if it also made him feel warm. “I’m just a Pearl, I have no experience leading. And this is too important for me to try and take the reigns of. You have more of a presence, all of our gems will listen to you. You can be the voice and I’ll just help you as needed.”

“Right, yeah,” they said and swept the back of his hands with their thumbs. “And as much as I hate to say it, the other Diamonds wouldn’t take you seriously… But our gems will know that you’re second in command!”

His face grew hot and his hands tightened his hold on them just a touch. “I appreciate that, My- Snail. And I’m more than happy to serve by your side.”

For what felt like an eternity, they just stared down at him, their smile slowly fading but the pure affection never leaving their eyes. Then their hand cupped his face, and he leaned into it on instinct.

“You make me feel like I can do anything,” they whispered quite suddenly. “You have no idea how happy I am to have you, Daniel. And I suck with words, but it’s just so much.”

Daniel felt a fluttering inside him. It was so easy to fall deep into these feelings. So easy to open up. He gave them a cocky smirk. “Of course, My Diamond. You wouldn’t be where you are without me.”

Their eyes widened, then they snorted and poked at his side. “Someone’s getting a little full of himself, huh?”

Oh no. He immediately bowed his head. “I’m sorry, I-”

“Hey, no, it’s okay,” they soothed. “I like it. And I mean, if anyone deserves to be confident, it’s you. Daniel, the Pearl who poofed a Diamond! You’ll be like a hero or something! Everyone will know your name!”

Everyone will know his name? Hmmm...

That sounded quite nice.

[angstbotfic]

so first, a caveat: i’m talking only about U.S. law here. different countries have different protections and exceptions. 

it is false to say categorically that you “You cannot sell legally fanfiction in any way, shape or form [ . . . ] you can’t sell PDFs of your fanfiction, you can’t commission fanfiction with money. Can’t do it. Period.” as mentioned, the AO3 part is correct because that’s in their terms of service.

fan fiction is likely fair use under section 107 (Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use) of Title 17 of the U.S. Code. What does section 107 say?

the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include--

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

first, fan fiction has a good chance to be fair use as “criticism” or “commentary,” which depends on “whether and to what extent it is ‘transformative,’ altering the original with new expression, meaning, or message” (Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., No. 92-1292 (US Supreme Court March 7, 1994). fan fiction definitely alters the original most of the time, but we can also see that “to what extent” varies quite a lot. 

under factor 3, fan fiction generally uses a small portion of the copyrighted work. 

and then, nowhere does it say that a fair use work can’t be sold. the 1st factor does include commercial use, and 4th factor does say that the effect of the use upon the market will shape whether it’s fair use, and that’s where people get anxious about monetization, so those factors would count against it being a fair use. but they’re not automatically determinative. because fan fiction doesn’t serve as a market substitute for the copyrighted work (it’s “likely that the new work will not affect the market for the original in a way cognizable under this factor, that is, by acting as a substitute for it.” Campbell v. Acuff-Rose). you could argue that fan fiction could affect the market through disparaging the source text by giving it the gay, but that’s not relevant under the law ( “when a lethal parody, like a scathing theater review, kills demand for the original, it does not produce a harm cognizable under the Copyright Act.”  Campbell v. Acuff-Rose). 

moreover, there is no distinction between fan art and fan fiction from the perspective of the law. either can be transformative (or derivative, and therefore illegal). it is equally worth or not worth corporations’ time to hunt down fan artists and writers. fan fiction and fan art can equally serve as free promotion (or as criticism). fic and art can equally lead to lawsuits over influence claims (which is why often media makers won’t look at them.) there’s nothing magic about art that makes it safer. and in fact it’s kind of the opposite of what OP says, because corporations tend to police images more strongly than text because it’s easier to find, though that’s pretty fuzzy. 

that said, in my professional, though nonlegal, opinion (i have a PhD, not a JD), you still shouldn’t monetize your fan fiction, or should proceed with extreme caution if you do. not because it’s illegal. you actually have a pretty good shot at winning against a copyright infringement lawsuit. but monetizing changes the math on whether it’s worth it to go after you, and  you can’t afford to fight that lawsuit, even if you are likely to win. 

Time for a reminder: You cannot sell legally fanfiction in any way, shape or form. You cannot add a patreon link to your AO3 account, you can't sell PDFs of your fanfiction, you can't commission fanfiction with money. Can't do it. Period.

Now the question is, why can you make money off of fanart and not fanfiction? Technically speaking, fanart falls under the same legally dubious status. While an artist can claim fair use for creating an image, an company that owns the Intellectual Property (such as Disney) can and has shut down selling fanart in the past. But fanart in general poses less risk to IP holders. Not only is it not worth their time hunting down every piece of fanart at a convention art booth, fanart can be viewed as free promotion.

Fanfiction as a derivative work has added risks. If a fanfic author can claim a writer of a book, movie, or series took ideas from their fanfic, it can create huge legal snafus. This has been the bane of fandom past, and it's why multiple places have extra rules for fanfiction.

tl;dr both are risky, but companies are willing to look the other way for fanart in ways they won't for fanfiction. Be safe and don't land in legal hot water!

(See also why you can't make your own Spider-Man comic and sell it to Marvel, and why fan-made games are frequently given takedown notices despite not charging money for them.)

[leoncillo]

Okay, so idk if this is gonna turn into a theory or not I just need to...process things.

Why was Steven able to access Pink's memories?

When I think of the similarities between Steven's other emotional/spiritual reactions to gems, they all had one thing in common: the gems were feeling deep rooted negative emotion. When Lapis was still trapped under the sea with Jasper and fighting with herself and her purpose in the chaos, Steven found her through dreaming. When Steven started crying Blue's tears, Blue was shown to still be mourning. Then, in Jungle Moon, we see that was the exact planet and area Pink Diamond had her breakdown. Surprisingly..well not really, Steven has been able to soothe or eventually get the gems out of their moods. Lapis was freed, Blue finally got her trial, but what about Pink? Steven even helped the Cluster calm down!

Pink Diamond is defective.

She's significantly smaller than the other diamonds. While I was disappointed that she didn't look like what most of the fandom pictured, her characterization makes sense. As the youngest myself, I know what it's like to not feel equal to a sibling. People always say "Oh, someday it'll happen." "You're not ready yet." Yeah she's a brat, but she has reason to be. Gems are born with a purpose. All gems even diamonds. So imagine when you're supposed to be one of the most powerful beings known to your kind and you're born, in the eyes of others, as being less than so. Pink Diamond was supposed to have what they had because that's what she was born for, she knew this, and Homeworld never liked to deviate from roles you were supposed to be. Yet, they did so to her. Her mural making her look a lot stronger and mightier than she was was more than likely for propaganda purposes. So lesser gems didn't know a diamond could be born defective. That a diamond could be imperfect.

Pink and her gems obviously represent the "heart" of the gem civilization.

Gems created under Pink Diamond are fiery, strong, stubborn, and will fight for what they believe in. Noticeably more free...whether they used that freedom for good or bad varied. Think of the quartz soldiers at the Zoo, they acted more like a family than a military unit. Rose and all of her dates with Greg and making Steven, the flowers, strawberry fields, etc. Whereas gems created under the other diamonds seemed to be more accepting that they were just numbers to their diamonds. They were weak willed and did what they were told. Pink Diamond had power. Not through sheer force or size, but her heart. If Jasper, the most famous war hero known to gemkind on Homeworld (?), is any indication, then Pink Diamond's army was a real threat. Not just to organic life on potential colonies, but to the other armies of her sisters.

Do I think one of the diamonds killed her?

Not necessarily. I wouldn't put it past them to have had plans to take her down a notch. They definitely knew what power her gems held since Yellow took Jasper for herself and all the other Rose Quartz were bubbled as a precaution. I don't think they wanted to kill her, though.

Could she have shattered herself?

This theory is what's currently winning in my mind right now. For one, Pink shattered an image of herself in a window. When does the Crewniverse ever do something like that without meaning? Never. Although, the mere fact that her image shattered could've been just general foreshadowing to her downfall, but considering PD did it herself, I'm going with it being herself as the culprit. Also, only a diamond can damage a diamond. So if none of her sisters did, then she's the only other option. How the whole scenario could've went down for their to have been "witnesses" to see her get shattered with a sword, I don't know. Tbh, it doesn't add up at all at this point. So either someone is lying or forgot some very important details.

Why would Pink Diamond want to die?

We've all been there before. We've all idolized something or someone based simply on what we saw on the outside. Only for it to turn out to be a horrible job, title, etc. Take adulthood, for example. When you were a kid, you probably wanted to grow up really quickly. You wanted to get to stay out late, shave, date, drive, what have you. You never considered what else comes with growing up. Tons of emotion and heartbreak, bills, losses, TAXES (jk but not), money to pay for gas to drive that car. I could go on. While I wasn't exactly a perfectly happy child, adulthood still hit me like truck...especially when I tried to enter it too quickly.

Pink was the baby sister. She didn't have a single colony, planet, army,...pearl?... anything. Honestly, did any of the other lesser gems even see her outside of murals until she got a court and entourage? Probably not. So what you have here are all the things to entice someone to want to grow up too quickly. Not treat them as an equal (sometimes you can't in human standards with age, but in gem standards your role was supposed to be absolute), isolate them, and tell them "someday" and "because I said so".

So one or all of the other sisters probably relented and got her a tiny little planet to look after. For all we know, she probably got some fancy limb enhancers to make her a little taller like she's putting on her sister's heels. She got a palaquin and apparently a pearl and entourage. Although something still seems off about that...Did they even give her guards? They should've and you would think they would've, but did they?

Anyway, after a few centuries/millennia on Earth, Pink probably became disenchanted with the whole idea of being a diamond and ruler. She didn't think it'd be that much work or she just wasn't agreeing with Homeworld's mentality. Something happened. Maybe she came to love the planet and the organic life, love her gems as more than just servants (who we've yet to hear say anything bad about her and Big Bad Jasper seemed genuinely distraught just thinking of her). Maybe she didn't want her gems caught up in Homeworld crap and thought they deserved better and deserved to be whatever they wanted to be. However, her colony was creating the best soldiers, you think her sisters would just let her stop?

So maybe Pink decided to secretly fight back and became close with Rose who shared her same views of the world. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Rose was already labeled a criminal before Pink was shattered. Maybe she sent Rose to "rebel" and disrupt gem activity on Earth to not only stop Homeworld from draining Earth but to take a stand. This could've backfired in her face when her sisters truly believed she didn't have a grip on the situation and sent their soldiers to correct the issue.

Pink seeing she effed up and just put her gems and world in danger, probably freaked out. There was probably bickering amongst them Y: "This is why we didn't give you a colony!" B: "You weren't ready!" P: "I don't want to do this anymore! It's wrong!" Her sisters probably wanted to wipe Earth off the map or at least start over with someone else at the helm, but Pink wouldn't risk it. She loved her first and only colony. It was small, but it was hers. She found her OWN place and purpose.

Idk what events would lead up to her shattering herself (and I'm pretty sure her shards are bubbled somewhere ready to be healed). But maybe she did set up a clever scheme to make it look like one of her own did it. The sisters would hesitate if gems from Earth could take out one of their own and back off. Or maybe it wasn't a scheme and she was found on the verge of doing it herself and the gem that found her couldn't stop her in time. She wanted the responsibility not knowing what all it entailed, what all she would feel, the pressure (did I just make a gem joke?), what all she would wanna fight for. She just wanted to be important like them for so long and when she finally found herself but wasn't accepted for it...she couldn't take it anymore.

[equalexes]

How To Choose A Lawyer Who Won’t Fuel Your Divorce/Separation

Why do people need a lawyer when they go through divorce/separation?

If your scenario has any complicated issues such as custody, abuse or there is a question mark over your relationship property pool a lawyer can be a valuable resource.

Engaging an appropriate lawyer can also reduce your stress levels as it will allow you time to take care of yourself and your family rather than worrying about the legal aspects of your separation. Another reason to employ a lawyer is to ensure you avoid mistakes as the legal system is very complicated here in New Zealand and the stress of separation will be making you not think clearly understandably. The last thing you want is costly mistakes due to your rollercoaster ride that you might end up regretting for the rest of your life.

Utilising a lawyer will also mean that you can be certain that affidavits/other legal documentation which is presented to the court accurately states your wishes without error or unclear language. A potential issue with representing yourself in court is your paperwork may be incomplete or there may be other issues that may result in delays.  Hiring a lawyer will also help you avoid delays and get your separation sorted as soon as possible.

What steps do you need to take to choose an appropriate lawyer for your scenario? Be aware that there are lawyers that will fuel the fire and escalate the conflict so you need to be vigilant when choosing a lawyer. The right lawyer will save you time, money, huge amounts of stress and lessen the emotional toll on you and your family.

Be realistic – separation is a legal process with the sole purpose of dissolving your assets and resolving your custody issues.

Stay focused on the goal – your ultimate goal is to get separated without hopefully any major depreciation on your lifestyle.

Know what you want – before you sprint to get a divorce lawyer think about the other options available to litigation. Learn about mediation or consider a collaborative divorce. You may even be able to sort it out together as a couple ‘pro se’ without a lawyer.

Identify at least three divorce lawyers – interview them all before you make a decision. Obviously you need a lawyer who is experienced in family law and one who is experienced in the type of divorce that is ideal for you. The ideal lawyer has the legal experience and knowledge you need, helps you understand the process, communicates and negotiates well, solves problems creatively and is experienced in New Zealand’s court system.

Interview and research potential lawyers – start with a phone call and ask them some of the questions below.

Look for red flags– make sure the lawyer treats you with the respect and attention you deserve and they act according to their professional ethics.

Make your choice – The lawyer you want to choose to represent you is local, professional, knowledgeable, responsive and communicates well. You must feel like you can trust them and feel comfortable with them. They need to support your philosophy of divorce and have a style that works for you.

(Adapted and sourced from www.huffpost.com)

Questions to ask yourself before interviewing a lawyer

These questions will help you to determine what style of lawyering you want to engage with during the divorce process.  It will also help you to define the kind of service that you expect from your lawyer.

How will my spouse deal with the prospect of divorce after the initial emotional impact has diminished?  Will they be a bully, a “my way or the highway” negotiator or will they try to be fair and listen to all sides before making a decision?

How do you want to look back and remember how you were during the divorce process?  Do you want to be seen as angry and emotional or as someone who is credible and a good communicator?

Do you want to be a credible client who partners with the lawyer or do you want to give the power of decision making over to your lawyer and let him or her loose to get a “win” for your side?

How do you want to model effective behaviour to others, your children, your family, or your community?

How do you envision redefining the relationship with your spouse after the divorce is over – will you be co-parents, former spouses now still loyal to both of your families or will you cut all ties with his family and the communities you shared together?

What are you most afraid of during the divorce process?  How would you expect the lawyer to engage with you in this?

What kind of relationship do you want to have with your lawyer?

What is important to you in any business relationship?  Do you want top notch premium service or do you want options as to how you can use their services more cost effectively? Do you want to be a partner with that person or just have them lead the process?

Questions to ask a Family Lawyer before engaging:

Lawyer Style and Reputation:

Do you have a philosophy about divorce that underscores your practice?

What process for divorce do you most often engage in (Collaborative, Mediation, Litigation?)

How would another lawyer describe your style and approach to getting to a settlement?

How would your clients describe your style and approach to getting to settlement?

Who is your ideal client besides the one who pays their bills?

How does your ideal client conduct themselves during the divorce process?

Do you pay close attention to my financial and time constraints, my temperament, and my attitudes toward conflict?  How do you determine what those are?

What would others say about what you are like to work with?

What Kinds of Service Can I Expect

How will we work together?

How available will you be for me?

Will I have your mobile number?

Will you personally respond to my emails?

Will I actually be working with you, or with an associate?

How would I as a client get a question answered without an appointment with you?

Are there others in the firm who would be familiar with my case and could answer questions when you are not available?

What is your preferred method of communicating questions?

How can I best prepare for meetings that will be most cost effective for me?

Are you okay with your clients utilizing a divorce coach?

What is your role in effectuating the settlement?

Before charting a particular course, do you perform a corresponding evaluation of “the other side”?

Fees for Legal Services

Will you do either/or unbundled legal services versus retainer only?

How much is your retainer?

What is your hourly rate?

What are all of the transactions for which I will be billed?

Will I be billed for emails?  By the question?

How do you prefer payment? Credit cards etc?

To end the lawyer interview

What else should I be asking you so that I am confident we are a good match for representing me?

What else do you need to know so that you can assess whether I am a good fit for your firm?

Ready to press forward?

We’ve got your back – print out this article and save it.

Workbooks to help you

Equal Exes Online is your place to find help to guide you through separation and divorce.  We offer self-guided workbooks and informational articles (like this one) which can help you be better informed, work out your priorities and how to move smoothly beyond your current relationship.  Find all our workbooks here.

[jasmineholiday]

WASHINGTON ― As Democrats demand explanations on how Republicans can push forward with a Supreme Court nomination with the election just weeks away, Republicans have a different question: Why wouldn’t they?

Republicans generally and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in particular made filling the federal judiciary with as many conservative judges as possible a priority years ago. They even made then-candidate Donald Trump agree to this as a condition of their support in 2016.

Today, with Trump in danger of losing reelection in six weeks and Republicans in danger of losing their Senate majority, many in the party see this as a now-or-possibly-never opportunity.

“They could have this very good thing if they act now. If they wait, they may not. So, act now,” said Amanda Carpenter, once a top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Terry Sullivan, a GOP consultant who ran Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign, said that focusing on the high court also takes the attention off of other things. “My sense is that every smart political operative knows that if this election is about coronavirus or Trump, Republicans will lose big. And the absolute best way to change the narrative and distract the media and liberals is make it about this.”

Beyond the obvious benefits of moving quickly is the danger that even if Trump were to win on Nov. 3, the fact that he would never again need Republican support or face the voters could make him an uncontrollable wild card.

“The Republican Party has to confirm this judge now…. If Trump wins reelection, all his appointments to the courts, the Cabinet or otherwise will adhere to the Bill Barr loyalty standard,” said Rick Tyler, who worked on Cruz’s 2016 presidential bid. He added that he wouldn’t put it past Trump to nominate his own daughter. “Why not put a true loyalist on the court? Actually, Ivanka would be the perfect pick.”

Installing young judges, pre-screened and pre-approved by the conservative Federalist Society, has been common ground between social conservatives who want to see abortion rights overturned and the business community that wants to limit the government’s ability to impose safety and environmental regulations.

While past Republican presidents and nominees have been seen as tacitly agreeing with those goals, conservatives ― particularly politically engaged evangelical Christians ― did not trust Trump, given his background of supporting Democrats and his checkered personal history.

In May 2016, Trump released a list of conservative judges and promised he would choose from it when filling Supreme Court vacancies ― an unprecedented quid pro quo that evangelical Christians embraced.

Trump has continued to tout his adherence to that list, which has been twice updated, to woo conservatives in his reelection bid.

But that need to placate evangelicals or other conservatives evaporates after Nov. 3, regardless of the outcome. With no more elections ahead of him, Trump could well choose whomever he wants, whether he has won a second term or is facing two months of lame-duck status.

“While Republicans understand that getting another conservative justice on the court under a [Joe] Biden presidency is not possible, they also understand that it is equally unlikely under an unrestrained Trump second term,” Tyler said.

Carpenter said a bigger impetus for McConnell to move before the election is that public opinion will be unforgiving if, should Republicans lose both the White House and the Senate, they push forward with a nominee anyway in the lame-duck session.

“The optics of, potentially, a defeated president and handful of beaten senators using their last votes to shove through a judge on a narrow party-line vote would damage the credibility of the court for generations,” she said.

Norman Ornstein, a scholar with the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute who in recent years has become a harsh critic of the Republican Party, said Trump and the party’s rush to fill the seat has a much simpler and much more craven purpose: to make sure there is a strong Republican majority in the event of a contested election.

“He wants to get this done and take his victory lap, and have a clear majority for any election disputes,” Ornstein said of McConnell. “The latter point is a real danger here, of a ‘legal’ coup.”

[charlieharry1]

Pinnacle saas advertising strategies for 2020

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 become aware of the key phrases that you need to rank for. What are your capacity customers likely to be searching for? As soon as you have the ones key phrases in thoughts, use tools like semrush or ahrefs to create content material and web pages across the keyword and it’s associated key phrases so that it will rank well. Those equipment can even lay out the excellent blog optimisation tips for your content material to rank organically. Whilst some other website hyperlinks to yours, it's far referred to as a one-way link. Search engines like google normally like those because it suggests that other humans locate your web site to be honest. The value of the one way link depends at the authority of the website that sends it, even though. One-way links from exceptionally official web sites assist loads, spammy one-way links can hurt you, and must be disavowed. A big part of search engine ranking now is person experience. The serps need to ship their visitors to sites which might be cellular-first, load rapid, are nicely laid out, and are clean to use. Positioned a first rate deal of effort into making a notably useable website online for your website site visitors, and get the aspect benefit of ranking higher in engines like google. Approach 3:

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a cta (name to motion) is a time-tested method of lead technology. They are able to seem at many special places to your website. They're equally at home on income-orientated pages as they are to your weblog posts. Whilst used inside your content, they invent the perfect road to get the person to take the following herbal step inside your funnel, without disrupting the authority and tone of the content material. Although they may be at domestic nearly everywhere, it's miles critical that your call to motion suits up with the content of the web page. The cta itself ought to cope with the ache factors that the relaxation of the web page has mentioned. Phrasing a part of the cta as a query that receives the potential patron to renowned the need on your services or products is a beneficial manner of reinforcing which you are the solution to the ones pain factors. Article keeps beneath. E-book about saas advertising and marketing techniques

sooner or later, consider what you need the customer to do. Shall they down load an ebook or sign up for a software program demo? Some thing it's miles, it have to be meaningfully associated with the rest of the page, and always focused around fixing their ache factors — in spite of everything, it’s what your product does, no longer what it's miles that topics. Method four:

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e-mail advertising is an old method that has progressed significantly over the years. Corporations now not rely upon sending mass emails to unsuspecting people that they have no current relationship with. Alternatively, they use email to nurture existing relationships, and we have previously written approximately the way to nurture leads the usage of email, however right here we can attention on the use of it with modern-day clients. This is specially important to saas organizations in which you want your customers to maintain to understand price on your product and stick round so long as feasible. Electronic mail-marketingone terrific way to maintain current clients round is to ship them everyday academic subjects thru e-mail. Keep the reader engaged by increasing the level of statistics being taught to fit their experience stage together with your product, it may be centred round capabilities they will no longer have tried and can even encompass video demos. You may also use them as a notification gadget of types, to permit customers understand once they have completed a certain motion or as an achievement machine to let them recognize after they've reached some milestone. The secret's to maintain your product in humans's minds so they don't forget the price of it, at the same time as no longer sending them so many emails which you annoy them and lead them to need to cancel their subscription. Strategy five:

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to this point we have simplest mentioned inbound marketing. That is great at constructing a few organic increase after which nurturing those leads through a sales funnel, but outbound advertising and marketing performs a large role in lead era. When you combine the lead generation competencies of a great outbound advertising campaign with the lead nurturing competencies of a terrific inbound marketing method, you create a winning aggregate to be able to help your saas commercial enterprise develop. You could use this courting in your advantage. Paid mediahighly aggressive keywords on platforms consisting of google ads are costly to get advertising area for. When you have a very good inbound device that converts properly, then you can lessen the quantity you spend on google ads, that is predominantly a platform for sales conversions. However if you are within the early stages of your inbound approach, google commercials works very well as a complement for income-equipped leads even as your inbound engine grows. Google ads isn’t the most effective channel this is powerful for paid media even though. Facebook is making a comeback for b2b and linkedin is a extraordinary converter for the top of the funnel in which you can promote premium content including ebooks, and generate leads that may be nurtured down the funnel. Method 6:

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[blackkudos]

Octavius Catto

Octavius Valentine Catto (February 22, 1839 – October 10, 1871) was a black educator, intellectual, and civil rights activist in Philadelphia. He became principal of male students at the Institute for Colored Youth, where he had also been educated. Born free in Charleston, South Carolina, in a prominent mixed-race family, he moved north as a boy with his family. He became educated and served as a teacher, becoming active in civil rights. As a man, he also became known as a top cricket and baseball player in 19th-century Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Catto became a martyr to racism, as he was shot and killed in election-day violence in Philadelphia, where ethnic Irish of the Democratic Party, which was anti-Reconstruction and had opposed black suffrage, attacked black men to prevent their voting for Republican candidates.

Early life and education

Octavius Catto was born free in Charleston, South Carolina, as his mother was free: Sarah Isabella Cain was a member of the city's prominent mixed-race DeReef family, which had been free for decades and belonged to the Brown Fellowship Society as a mark of their status. . His father, William T. Catto, had been a slave millwright in South Carolina and gained his freedom. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister before taking his family north, first to Baltimore, and then to Philadelphia where they settled. Pennsylvania abolished slavery before the Revolutionary War ended. William T. Catto was a founding member of the Banneker Institute in that city and author of "A Semi-Centenary Discourse," a history of the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

Educator and intellectual

In Philadelphia, Catto began his education at Vaux Primary School and then Lombard Grammar School, both segregated institutions. In 1853, he entered the all-white Allentown Academy in Allentown, New Jersey, located east of the Delaware River. In 1854, when his family returned to Philadelphia, he became a student at that city's Institute for Colored Youth (ICY). Managed by the Society of Friends (Quakers), ICY's curriculum included classical study of Latin, Greek, geometry, and trigonometry.

While a student at ICY, Catto presented papers and took part in scholarly discussions at "a young men's instruction society". Led by fellow ICY student Jacob C. White, Jr., they met weekly at the ICY (which eventually was renamed as the Banneker Institute, in honor of Benjamin Banneker). Catto graduated from ICY in 1858, winning praise from principal Ebenezer Bassett for "outstanding scholarly work, great energy, and perseverance in school matters." Catto did a year of post-graduate study, including private tutoring in both Greek and Latin, in Washington, D. C. In 1859, he returned to Philadelphia, where he was elected full member and Recording Secretary of the Banneker Institute. He also was hired as teacher of English and mathematics at the ICY.

On May 10, 1864, Catto delivered ICY's commencement address, which gave a historical synopsis of the school. In addition, Catto's address touched on the issue of the potential insensitivity of white teachers toward the needs and interests of African-American students:

It is at least unjust to allow a blind and ignorant prejudice to so far disregard the choice of parents and the will of the colored tax-payers, as to appoint over colored children white teachers, whose intelligence and success, measured by the fruits of their labors, could neither obtain nor secure for them positions which we know would be more congenial to their tastes.

Catto also spoke of the Civil War, then in progress. He believed that the United States government had to evolve several times in order to change. He understood that the change must come not necessarily for the benefit of African Americans, but more for America’s political and industrial welfare. This would be a mutual benefit for all Americans.

"[...] It is for the purpose of promoting, as far as possible, the preparation of the colored man for the assumption of these new relations with intelligence and with the knowledge which promises success, that the Institute feels called upon at this time to act with more energy and on a broader scale than has heretofore been required".

On January 2, 1865, at a gathering at the National Hall in Philadelphia to celebrate the second anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Catto "delivered a very able address, and one that was a credit to the mind and heart of the speaker." (Christian Recorder, January 7, 1865).

In 1869, Bassett left ICY when he was appointed ambassador to Haiti. Catto lobbied to replace him as principal; however, the ICY board chose Catto's fellow teacher, Fanny Jackson Coppin, as head of school. Catto was elected as the principal of the ICY's male department. In 1870, Catto joined the Franklin Institute, a center for science and education whose white leaders supported his membership in the face of racial opposition. Catto served as principal and teacher at ICY until his death in 1871 and was followed in that position by Richard Theodore Greener.

Activist for equal rights

The Civil War increased Catto's activism for abolition and equal rights. He joined with Frederick Douglass and other black leaders to form a Recruitment Committee to sign up black men to fight for the Union and emancipation. After the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863, Catto helped raise a company of black volunteers for the state's defense; their help, however, was refused by the staff of Major General Darius N. Couch on the grounds that the men were not authorized to fight. (Couch was later corrected by US Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, but not until the aspiring soldiers had returned to Philadelphia.) Acting with Douglass and the Union League, Catto helped raise eleven regiments of United States Colored Troops in the Philadelphia area. These men were sent to the front and many saw action. Catto was commissioned as a major, but did not fight.

On Friday, April 21, 1865, at the State House in Philadelphia, Catto presented the regimental flag to Lieutenant Colonel Trippe, commander of the 24th United States Colored Troops. An account of Catto's presentation speech was reported the following day in the Christian Recorder:

The speaker then paid a tribute to the two hundred thousand blacks, who, in spite of obloquy and the old bane of prejudice, have been nobly fighting our battles, trusting to a redeemed country for the full recognition of their manhood in the future. He thought that in the plan of reconstruction, the votes of the blacks could not be lightly dispensed with. They were the only unqualified friends of the Union in the South. In the impressive language written on this flag, "Let Soldiers in War be Citizens in Peace," the Banks policy may plant the seed of another revolution. Our statesmen will have to take care lest they prove neither so good nor wise under the seductions of mild-eyed peace, as heretofore, amidst the tumults of grim-visaged war. Merit should also be recognised in the black soldier, and the way opened to his promotion. De Tocqueville prophesied that if ever America underwent Revolution, it would be brought about by the presence of the black race, and that it would result from the inequality of their condition. This has been verified. But there is another side to the picture; and while he thought it his duty to keep these things before the public, there are motives of interest founded on our faith in the nation's honor, to act in this strife. Freedom has rapidly advanced since the firing on Sumter; and since the Genius of Liberty has directed the war, we have gone from victory to victory. Soldiers! Accept this flag on behalf of the citizens of Philadelphia. I know too well the mettle of your pasture, that you will not dishonor it. Keep before your eyes the noble deeds of your fellows at Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, and on other historic fields. Desert them not. Accept, Colonel, this flag on behalf of the regiment, and may God bless you and them. (Christian Recorder, April 22, 1865)

In November 1864, Catto was elected to be the Corresponding Secretary of the Pennsylvania Equal Rights League. He also served as Vice President of the State Convention of Colored People held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in February 1865. (Liberator March 3, 1865: 35).

Catto fought fearlessly for the desegregation of Philadelphia’s trolley car system. The May 18, 1865 issue of the New York Times ran a story discussing the civil disobedience tactics employed by Catto as he fought for civil rights:

Philadelphia, Wednesday, May 17—2 P. M. Last evening a colored man got into a Pine-street passenger car, and refused all entreaties to leave the car, where his presence appeared to be not desired.

The conductor of the car, fearful of being fined for ejecting him, as was done by the Judges of one of our courts in a similar case, ran the car off the track, detached the horses, and left the colored man to occupy the car all by himself. The colored man still firmly maintains his position in the car, having spent the whole of the night there.

The conductor looks upon the part he enacted in the affair as a splendid piece of strategy.

(New York Times, May 18, 1865, p. 5)

A meeting of the Union League of Philadelphia was held in Sansom Street Hall on Thursday, June 21, 1866, to protest and denounce the forcible ejection of several black women from Philadelphia's street cars. At this meeting, Catto presented the following resolutions:

Resolved, That we earnestly and unitedly protest against the proscription which excludes us from the city cars, as an outrage against the enlightened civilization of the age.

Resolved, That we cannot discover any reason based upon good sense or common justice for the continuance of a practice which has long ceased to disgrace democratic New York, Washington, St. Louis, Harrisburg and other cities, whose pledges of fidelity to the principles of freedom and civil liberty have not been so frequent as have been those of our own city.

Resolved, That, with feelings of sorrow rather than pride, we remind our white fellow-citizens of the glaring inconsistency and palpable injustice of forcing delicate women and innocent children, by the ruthless hands of ungentlemanly and unprincipled conductors and drivers, to places on the front platform, subjecting to storm and rain, cold and heat, relatives of twelve thousand colored soldiers, whose services these very citizens gladly accepted when the nation was in her hour of trouble, and they seriously entreated, under the chances of IMPARTIAL DRAFTS, to fill the depleted ranks of the Union army.

Resolved, That while men and women of a Christian community can sit unmoved and in silence, and see women barbarously thrown from the cars, — and while our courts of justice fail to grant us redress for acts committed in violation of the chartered privileges of these railroad companies, — we shall never rest at ease, but will agitate and work, by our means and by our influence, in court and out of court, asking aid of the press, calling upon Christians to vindicate their Christianity, and the members of the law to assert the principles of the profession by granting us justice and right, until these invidious and unjust usages shall have ceased.

Resolved, That we do solemnly pledge ourselves to assist by our means any suit brought against the perpetrators of outrages such as those, the occurrence of which has convened this meeting; and we respectfully call upon our liberal-minded and friendly white fellow-citizens to cease to remain silent witnesses of the grievance of which we complain, and to demonstrate the sincerity of their professions by an interference in our behalf. (Brown 1866)

Later enlisting the help of US Senators Thaddeus Stevens and William D. Kelley, Catto was instrumental in the passage of a Pennsylvania bill that prohibited segregation on transit systems in the state. Publicity about a conductor's being fined who refused to admit Catto's fiancée to a Philadelphia streetcar helped establish the new law in practice.

Catto's crusade for equal rights was capped in March 1869, when Pennsylvania voted to ratify the 15th Amendment, which prohibited discrimination against citizens in registration and voting based on race, color or prior condition; effectively, it provided suffrage to black men. (No women then had the vote.) It was fully ratified in 1870.

Sportsman

Catto was active not just in the public arenas of education and equal rights, but also on the sporting field. Like many other young men of Philadelphia, both white and black, Catto began playing cricket while in school, as it was a British tradition. Later he took up the American sport of baseball. Following the Civil War, he helped establish Philadelphia as a major hub of what became Negro league baseball. Along with Jacob C. White, Jr. he ran the Pythian Base Ball Club of Philadelphia. The Pythians had an undefeated season in 1867.

Following the 1867 season, Catto, with support by players from the white Athletic Base Ball Club, applied for the Pythians' admission into the newly formed Pennsylvania Base Ball Association. As it became clear that they would lose any vote by the Association, they withdrew their application. In 1869 the Pythians challenged various white baseball teams in Philadelphia to games. The Olympic Ball Club accepted the challenge. The first match game between black and white baseball teams took place on September 4, 1869, ending in the Pythians' defeat, 44 to 23. (New York Times, September 5, 1869)

Street murder

On Election Day, October 10, 1871, Catto was teaching in Philadelphia. Fights broke out in the city between black and white voters, as the elections were high in tension and parties reflected racial opposition. Black voters, who were mostly Republican, faced intimidation and violence from white voters, especially ethnic Irish, who were partisans of the city's Democratic machine. Irish immigrants had entered the city in great numbers during and after the Great Famine of the 1840s; they competed with free blacks for jobs and housing. City police were called on to quell the violence. Instead, often ethnic Irish themselves, they exacerbated the problems, using their power to prevent black citizens from voting. A Lieutenant Haggerty was later arrested for having encouraged police under his command to keep African Americans from voting.

On his way to vote, Catto was intermittently harassed by whites. Police reports indicate that he had purchased a revolver for protection. At the intersection of Ninth and South streets, Catto was accosted by Frank Kelly, an ethnic Irish man, who shot him three times. Catto died of his wounds. The city inquest was not able to determine if Catto had pulled his own gun. Kelly was not convicted of assault or murder.

Catto's military funeral at Lebanon Cemetery in Passyunk, Philadelphia was well-attended. The murder of Catto, an important leader, and violence throughout the election, coupled with the resurgence of the anti-Reconstruction Democratic Party in the city, marked the beginning of a decline in black militancy in 19th-century Philadelphia. Later, after the cemetery was closed down, Catto's remains were reinterred at Eden Cemetery, in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.

O. V. Catto Memorial

On June 17, 1878 R. W. Wallace, a biographer of Catto, wrote to the Christian Recorder, questioning why no one was taking care of Catto's grave:

"Can you inform me through your paper, why there is no care taken of Prof. O. V. Catto’s grave? I have recently been down to the Cemetery and was surprised to see its condition. Thousands of people have asked me about the same thing, and, when I am compelled to say there is no sign of any stone to his grave, while both white and colored stand ready to help in the matter, it is not creditable to us. Something ought to be done in the matter. I believe almost everybody would give something toward getting a stone. I am the publisher of his life, and am prepared to speak in regard to the interest taken by all classes of people." (Wallace 1878)

Some twenty years later, the New York Times reported:

"Many Negro citizens of Philadelphia are now endeavoring to have carried into speedy execution a long-cherished wish to have erected there a monument to Prof. Octavius V. Catto, one of their race, who was killed in an election day riot in that city twenty-six years ago. He was long an instructor in the Institute for Colored Youth, and the plan is to erect a mausoleum, and that the work be done by the pupils of the school as far as possible." (New York Times, November 12, 1897, p. 6)

21st century memorial campaign

An annual remembrance ceremony was initiated in 1995.

On June 14, 2006, the Board of Trustees of the O. V. Catto Memorial announced the kickoff of a $1.5 million fundraising campaign to erect a memorial statue to Catto. The Abraham Lincoln Foundation made the first contribution of $25,000.

On October 10, 2007, the 136th anniversary of Catto's death, the Octavius V. Catto Memorial Fund erected a headstone at Catto's burial site at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.

On July 26, 2011, to commemorate his life, the General Meade Society of Philadlephia participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at 6th and Lombard Streets in Philadelphia, PA. The first OV Catto award was presented that year.

To honor the man affectionately called the "19th century Martin Luther King", Mayor Jim Kenney announced on June 10, 2016 that a new sculpture will stand outside of Philadelphia City Hall. The 12 foot bronze statue will be the first dedicated to the accomplishments of a sole African American.

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