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its-captain-sir · 4 years

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BATTALION BREAKDOWN

Alright y'all, here it is, my breakdown of what I think a GAR battalion SHOULD look like. Full disclaimer before we get into it: I tried to research this stuff on wookiepedia as best I could but 1. there wasn't a ton of information out there on some of the things I had questions about and 2. some of it just makes No Sense when you put it together, so a lot of these numbers were made up by me and what I thought made sense based on what we see in the show and just simple logic. Feel free to accept/ignore parts as you please! Also, I'm gonna try to explain the rationale behind certain things as I go along but if you have any questions about this, you can send an ask/reply/reblog this post with your question and I'll do my best to answer it :)

Now that all that's out of the way, here's all the actual info beneath the cut.

Basic Organization

Essentially, the GAR breaks down into four tiers at this level: battalions, companies, platoons, and squads.

Battalions are the largest groups with 576* members and are all numbered, such as the 501st, 212th, 104th, etc. The only exceptions to the numbering convention are the Rancor Battalion that guards Kamino and the Coruscant Guard. Personally I believe that both of these should be double, if not triple, the size of a regular battalion, which could potentially explain the difference in names. Battalions are led by a clone commander and Jedi general + a padawan commander if the Jedi has one. 4 companies make a battalion.

Companies consist of 144 members and are all named. Using the 501st for example, this would be Torrent, Tide, Wave, and Typhoon. Note: Torrent, Tide, and Wave are canon/widely accepted fanon, but Typhoon is something me and my friends came up with. You're welcome to use the name as the fourth 501st company in your wips if you want! The names don't have to be related, but my guess would be that they often are. Companies are led by a captain.** 4 platoons make a company.

Platoons consist of 36 members and are simply referred to as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th platoon under their company. Platoons are led by a Lieutenant. 4 squads make a platoon.

Squads consist of 9 members and are named. I don't have names for any 501st squads unfortunately, which is why those spaces are left blank in the picture. As a content creator, you'd have a LOT of freedom when it comes to these because there's so many within a battalion and it seems like they can be named just about anything. Squads are led by a sergeant.

*Numbers for this and subsequent numbers in this section were taken directly from wookiepedia

**One problem people tend to have with this is that Rex is a captain, and yet he seems to be in command of all of the 501st. I think most people have figured this out already but the clone wars writers really just threw names around willy-nilly when it came to all the military stuff. Rex should by all intents and purposes be a commander, and my personal in-universe explanation for this is that while he was skilled enough to go through ARC/command track training, he wasn't originally meant to be a commander and his CT number is what barred him from the title initially. Keeli would be another example of this.

A few comparisons just to illustrate it a bit better:

1 battalion = 4 companies = 16 platoons = 64 squads = 576 members

1 company = 4 platoons = 16 squads = 144 members

1 platoon = 4 squads = 36 members

1 squad = 9 members

Please note that these numbers do not include the officers. There would be 64 sergeants, 16 lieutenants, 4 captains, and a commander added to this number to make a total of 661 clones in any given battalion.

Now I could have just stopped here but I have a tendency to want to get way too specific in my wips so I went a little further:

Internal Battalion Assignments

To make the numbers a bit easier, this just looks at what would be found in one company, you can do the extra math if you want to know the full battalion numbers.

I tried my best to remember what kind of specialized troops showed up in the show since wookiepedia wasn't much help, and I ended up breaking these assignments down into medics, heavy gunners, ARF and tank operators, scouts, tech specialists, and standard infantry.

Medics total 16* within a company, one for each squad. Within the medical corps, they're further broken down into junior medical officers (JMO), medical officers (MO), senior medical officers (SMO), and the chief medical officer of the battalion (CMO). Any internal promotions would probably come from the CMO, maybe a SMO on occasion. When pertaining to medical issues, they do often outrank any other officer, but in combat, JMOs and MOs only hold the rank of private (underneath sergeant) and SMOs and the CMO hold the rank of major (between sergeant and lieutenant).

Heavy gunners total 16 within a company, again one for each squad. These are the clones who have been trained to use the Z-6 rotary blaster, like Hardcase and Hevy.

ARFs and other tank operators total one platoons-worth spread throughout a company, or 36 members. ARF troopers are the ones who drive the AT-RTs (the really bouncy walkers you can see used on Ryloth and Umbara) and other tank operators encompass, well, the operators of all the other ground vehicles we see used. The ratio of each of these seems like it could be fluid based on the needs of the battalion and their mission, so I didn't go too much further into this.

Scouts total two squads-worth spread throughout a company, or 16 members. To me it makes sense that one of the lieutenants within their company would specifically deal with their recon reports, simply because it's more organized and practical.

Tech specialists total one squads-worth spread throughout a company, or 9 members. Honestly this is where I grouped anything else left over, like the bomb squad members we see in the blue shadow virus episode, any slicers, etc.

Standard infantry totals the remaining 49 members in a battalion. They're strictly the fighting force on the ground. This doesn't mean that they're the only ones who do the actual fighting, just that they aren't specifically trained for any other specialization.

*These numbers and the subsequent numbers in this section were not taken from any canon source. They were calculated simply by what I thought would make sense to have.

LAAT/is and Starfighters

Again, I tend to be way too specific in my wips so not only did I go through all of the ground fighting force, but I started figuring out the some of the space forces attached to a battalion as well. This doesn't go into a ton about the Republic Navy because frankly, as soon as I read "7400 crew members on a star destroyer" I exited out of that tab cause that's a little Too Much to try to figure out, but I will cover how I think the gunships and fighter squadrons should work.

LAAT/is (gunships) total 48 per battalion, or 12 per company. However, two per company are usually held in reserve to make sure there's always something available for easy transport to/from the ground. This brings down the number to 40 per battalion, or 10 per company. Gunships take two people to man, so the total number of those pilots for a battalion is 96, or 24 for a company. There's also room for two gunners, which would bring the battalion total to 192, but from what I remember in the show the side guns rarely have someone in them, so I don't think the full 96 LAAT/i gunner positions would be filled. I also think the LAAT/i gunners could be temporarily reassigned from the main star destroyer crew (because 7400 is a LOT, they can spare 96). Wookiepedia said that the gunships could hold 30 troops for transport, but that seems like it'd be really cramped quarters. My guess is that each one would hold somewhere between 14-17 comfortably depending on how many people need transport and how many gunships are in use, which is what I kept in mind to come up with the original number of 48 for a battalion.

The Starfighter Corps consist of 5 separate squadrons, the standard* being two squadrons of Y-wings, one squadron of V-19 Torrents, one squadron of Z-95 Headhunters, and one squadron of ARC-170s. There are 12 in a squadron, plus a squad leader and two usually in reserve, so that's 15 total ships in a squadron and 75 total ships overall. Y-wings require a pilot and a gunner, so the total number of members in a battalion's starfighter corps equals 105. However, I believe some battalions could have up to double** these numbers if they're frequently in space battles, like Anakin and the 501st, or if they have a name that suggests it, like the 327th Star Corps. Squadrons seem to often be named after colors, but that isn't always the case, ie. Shadow Squadron.

*This standard isn't canon, it's just what I believe makes sense based on the number of ships types available and how frequently they are seen used in the show. The Y-wing bombers seem to be used a bit more than the rest, which is why I think there would be two squadrons of them.

**While double the number of ships is certainly possible, I figure it's more common to have three more squadrons instead of the full five so there would be two squadrons of each type of ship.

~~~

That's all I got! Like I said earlier, use whatever you like, ignore the parts you don't, it doesn't really matter to me. This system is definitely what I'm going to follow in my wips if anyone is ever curious about what's going on with those.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone out there! And if you made it this far, thanks for reading! :)

#star wars refs #god this got so long HAJDHSKFHSKFHDK #I really hope all my math is right hsjskdhskfhslfj #i only caught one screw up while typing all this out so I'm pretty sure it's okay #but i apologize in advance if something isn't #ALSO sorry for the shaky lines in the visuals my hands started shaking really bad while making them hskdhskfhskfj #clones #oh look another clone wars post

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nadisabug · 4 years

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Morning Love // Intro // Pt 1

Paring: Tsukishima x reader

Genre: SMAU, Crack, Hurt/comfort, Soulmate AU

Warnings: vb bois being bois, cursing, Yachi the detective

Word Count: 1.4 k (not including sc)

Summary: Nekoma finally gets a female manager and Yachi makes a startling discovery.

A/N: ahhh so heres the first part! I'm so excited about this series and I hope y'all like it tooooooo :)

Series Masterlist // Part Two

Yachi sighs as she slips her phone into her pocket. She would rather talk to her best friend all day, but she had responsibilities now. She straightened up and darted to the locker room to change out of her school uniform and into her gym clothes.

After she was done, she walked to the gym. Hinata and Kageyama where there setting up, no surprise, so she scanned the room for Kiyoko. She still felt uncomfortable using her first name, since she was her senior and all. Once found, Yachi skipped over to her.

“Kiyoko, great news!”

Kiyoko turned to face Yachi with a small smile. “What is it?”

“My friend that I told you about got the manager position!”

“Oh how good, that was at Nekoma right?”

“Yeah, I-”

“What about Nekoma?” Hinata perked up and shouted from the other side of the gym.

Flustered, Yachi responded. “Uh, my friend, she’s their manager now...”

“Oh,” Hinata deflated. He must have been looking for some info on the team or hoping for a surprise visit. “I mean cool.”

“Nekoma’s finally got a female manager?” A booming voice came from right behind Yachi. She jumped and spun around to see Tanaka grinning behind her. “Tora must be excited, good man,” Tanaka commented, beating his chest once with his fist. “Is she prett- ow!”

Sawamura appeared right behind Tanaka and smacked the back of his head. Sawamura closed his eyes, cocked his head, and forced a tight smile. “You mean congratulations?” He said in a threatening tone.

“Oh lighten up Daichi,” Sugawara commented as he rolled his shoulders. He looked to be warming up. “He’s just excited.”

Sawamura huffed but walked away from Tanaka.

Yachi spared him one look, then got on her tiptoes next to Tanaka.

“She’s absolutely gorgeous!” She whispered earnestly.

Tanaka grinned and flashed her a thumbs up. As he walked away she thought she heard him mutter something but she couldn’t quite make it out.

“Alright!” Coach Ukai clapped his hands from atop the referee’s podium. “We’re doing receives first. Line up and let’s go!”

The boys all jogged to their respective places while Yachi joined Kiyoko on the sidelines. The boys did receives for a while, then the spikers split off for practice. ‘That’s where we come in,’ Yachi thought happily. She walked over to one basket while Kiyoko went to the other. Yachi usually tossed balls for Sugawara since he intimidated her less than Kageyama.

During practice, it usually got hot in the gym, despite the cold weather outside. So it wasn’t a surprise when the boys took their shirts off. It used to fluster Yachi, but she had become jaded to it. However, her attention was drawn when she saw a commotion. On the other side of the net, in line, Tanaka was poking at Tsukishima.

“Hah, nice tat bro, you do that yourself?”

Tsukishima seemed to look confused for a moment before he looked down at his arm where Tanaka was pointing. Yachi couldn’t see what it was from this far away, but damned if she wasn’t curious. Tsukishima was previously wearing a long-sleeved shirt, so there must have been something that had been revealed when he took it off. But when Tsukishima saw it, he flushed red, scowled, and slapped an arm over it.

“Can it, Baldy,” Tsukishima seethed. He turned around to look for his shirt, but Coach Ukai interrupted him.

“Tsukishima, you’re up, come on. Focus!” He yelled.

Tsukishima shook it off and started jogging to spike the ball Kageyama was currently setting. Yachi was confident he would miss it, but sure enough, he hit it over the net. Yachi was still curious about what was on his arm, but when she tried to get a better look, she too was startled.

“Hitoka, ball?” Sugawara called softly.

“Oh yeah sorry!” She squeaked. She quickly and sloppily threw him a ball, but he set it up for his teammate flawlessly. “Sorry!” She said again.

“No worries,” Sugawara smiled softly. She tossed him another ball and set her mind to figuring out what was on Tsukishima’s arm later.

After practice, Yachi had almost forgotten about Tsukishima’s arm until Tanaka started in on him again.

“If you didn’t want people to ask about your arm, why’d you draw it?”

“I didn’t,” Tsukishima snapped. He tilted his water bottle to squirt some into his hand and slapped it onto his arm, scrubbing furiously. What remained was a blurred mess of ink. “Better?”

“Geez,” Tanaka threw his hands up. “No need to be so mean.” He started to walk away, clearly done with the surly boy, when Hinata spoke up.

“What do you mean you didn’t draw it? Did someone else?”

Tsukishima glared at him to and opened his mouth to say something, probably along the lines of shut up, but Hinata beat him to the punch.

“Ohh! Was it your soulmate? Do you have an ink-skin connection?”

Tsukishima looked like he was deflating. “That’s not a technical term.”

“Besides the point,” Tanaka waved his hand and jumped back into the conversation. “Do you?”

Realizing he wasn’t going to find a way out of this, Tsukishima sighed and folded his arms. “Yeah, so what?”

“Ahhh! How cool!” Hinata cried and jumped around. Nishinoya clapped Tsukishima on the back and Tanaka cheered too. Yamaguchi, who was standing beside him but had been quiet this whole time, just looked uneasy. Tsukishima’s only response was to roll his eyes.

“How long have you had your connection?” Hinata asked excitedly.

At this, Yamaguchi perked up. “Since 12,” he stated proudly. Tsukishima glared at Yamaguchi for spilling the beans, but Yamaguchi didn’t seem to care.

“Twelve?!” Half the boys in the gym spat incredulously. At that, there came a spattering of complaints and curses across the gym. Yachi couldn’t make most of it out, but it was obvious none of the boys could believe he had gotten it so early.

Tsukishima sensed the envy and his frown turned into a smirk. “Yeah, what of it?”

“Have you written anything to them?” Hinata asked excitedly.

Tsukishima cocked an eyebrow. “No of course not.”

At this, the entire gym erupted in protest.

“Does she even know?” Tanaka wailed above the rest.

Yamaguchi, seeking to comfort the boys, quickly responded. “Yes, yes, I drew a little doodle on his arm during a sleepover a couple years back so she does.”

“Yes, that’s great and all, but its just one thing! How do you know for sure she knows?”

At this, Yamaguchi shut his mouth. He looked cautiously to Tsukishima who was giving him a glare that could kill. “You’re right,” he said slowly. “She may not know.”

Yachi felt like something was off about that response, but the boys accepted it with ease. She guessed that it wasn’t too hard for them to believe that Tsukishima would ruthlessly leave his soulmate in the dark, but for some reason, Yachi doubted it.

After reprimanding Tsukishima for throwing away his luck of getting his connection at 12, the boys went back to cleaning up the gym. Yachi helped too, but she couldn’t get the scenario off her mind. Yeah it could be a coincidence that she had a best friend that had a similar connection, but too many of the details were matching up. A soulmate that never responded? Such an early connection? Granted Y/n got hers at 13, but she could have had it earlier and not known. Yachi had one more question that was burning on her mind.

She found Tanaka after clean up and approached him nervously. He intimidated her, a lot, but she had to do this for her friend.

“Uh, Tanaka-senpai,” she started softly. She knew he responded well to the suffix senpai so she made sure to use it.

Sure enough, Tanaka puffed out his chest and grinned. “What do you need Miss Manager?”

“I was just curious, for no reason, what was on Tsukishima’s arm?”

“Huh?” Tanaka lost some of his air. “Oh, the drawing? It was a shitty picture of a lumpy, long-neck dinosaur. The best thing about it was that it had a heart on its body.”

Yachi felt like her soul left her body. She heard herself thank him, but didn’t feel it. She walked home slowly, absorbing the information just dumped on her.

Fun fact: Tanaka said “Not as pretty as our Kiyoko” as he was walking away hehe

Taglist: {open}

#☀️ morning love #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima imagine #tsukki x reader #tsukki angst #tsukishima x you #tsukishima smau #tsukki smau #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu smau

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sunsetcarnation264 · 3 years

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So, uh, that DT17 finale huh?

I would've made this right after I watched the finale, but I wanted to give it a bit of time to sink in fully and made sure I thought everything through before giving my thoughts on it. Not the worst finale there is, but it definitely could've been way better in my opinion. I've heard about the finale from my friends who've seen it, which from the sounds of it I already wasn't liking it, but since I've seen the finale now, how I feel about it is now concrete and set in stone and I feel the same as before. Maybe how I feel about it is in the minority side, or maybe a majority side, I dunno but I don't care. It's not the best it could've been and I'll explain why below. If you like it, good for you I guess because everyone's tastes are different, but I personally don't and I feel like the show deserves a much better finale than this. HEAVY DUTY DISCLAIMER: Just because I'm criticizing the finale doesn't mean I don't love the series, in fact it's because I love the show that I'm giving criticism and give what I would’ve done instead, and if you're anything like me and you're hella late to the party then there'll be spoilers for the finale. If you haven't caught up on the last episode, then you're not missing much honestly, but if you don't like spoilers regardless then watch that first then come back

The first part of the finale starts off like any other DuckTales 2017 episode. It's Webby's birthday, everyone's keeping their eyes out for F.O.W.L. shit, and Webby's enjoying herself. After a bit everyone goes below Funso's and they end up in F.O.W.L.'s territory. F.O.W.L. sets everything up to be on self-destruct, so they gotta find them and stop the self-destruction. They did happen to do the latter, but the F.O.W.L. members already escaped with almost everything. Just almost. The gang end up finding May and June, who're clones and they presume they're clones of Webby. Now this is where I'm starting to not like the finale. Yeah, you can do clones as like a plot twist, but at the same time it feels a bit outta nowhere. Had they foreshadowed it in another episode or have it lead up to the whole "oh shit there's clones of a character we know and love" thing then I wouldn't have a problem, but this came outta nowhere and I kept an eye on possible foreshadowing during season 3 and the rest of season 2 post The Duck Knight Returns too so I would've picked something up. The only thing that could count as foreshadowing was when Beakley promised Webby that she won't keep anymore secrets from her and the harp was saying "fibbing fibbing fibbing", but that's just it. Part two of the finale, Gyro does tests on them to see who they might've been clones of. He tries to tell everyone what the results are but when Scrooge asks him, he said it didn't come up with anything for him to answer the question. Beakley thinks they're both dangerous and locks them up in a closet. Webby, being a naive little girl, wants to talk to them because they're essentially her 'sisters' and she wants to know them more even though Beakley straight up tells her not to interact with them. Webby disregards what Beakley says anyways and she frees them, talks to them, and tries to show them her family tree so they can figure out where May and June came from. May and June are basically like "ehhhh this is your family tree? Who tf are you related to besides Beakley?" yeah, as if extended family or found family still ain't family you jerks. In the meantime, Louie just wants to watch his Ottoman Empire finale which ends up being shitty foreshadowing for the last part of this finale. You'll see why I mentioned this later. They even see Lena and Violet on there and are like "okay but who're those" which Webby responds with how they're her best friends and guess what one of the two clones goes to do? One of them grabs scissors and tries to cut it. When she does cut it, Lena's like "aw hell no bitch" and uses magic on her. Webby being Webby, is completely upset about this because "that was my sister how could you do that" and runs off like how one of the clones ran off. Bitch you only knew her for like five seconds, just because y'all be related don't mean you automatically THIS close to each other like how you are with Lena, Violet, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and anybody else in the McDuck family. I personally believe that love, trust, and respect is what makes people family, not blood/DNA, adoption, or they were married into the family or a step sib/kid/etc. If they're a harmful dick (i.e. a bigot who's queerphobic and/or racist or if they're an abuser, murderer, etc.) then you don't gotta treat them like family or say that they're your family. But anyways we're probs getting off topic, point is that she should trust those who she's known forever instead of clones she knew for a few minutes. Everybody tries to find Webby and one of the clones that ran off. Webby bumped into Beakley as she was tryna find May or June (I think May tho, don't recall) and she tries to lie her way outta it but Beakley knows what's up lol. She says that Webby wants to see the clones, Webby goes with it, and the younger duck wants to know who her parents were. Beakley tells her who her parents were (which might've either been a lie or she was describing herself and a late significant other that we've seen in Webby's picture of her parents) and Webby accepts it. Cut to later when she catches May and June trying to steal the ancient artifacts that Scrooge and co. retrieved during the entirety of season 3. She's shocked that they're even doing this, they all fight each other, and May escaped while June got knocked out. Webby disguises herself as June while she takes her outside where F.O.W.L. awaited them with an aircraft, most importantly Bradford. We only find out Webby was disguising herself as June when everyone got on. Huey notices what's going on and he goes after them, somewhat hiding in the aircraft before everyone leaves for the F.O.W.L. hideout. Not gonna lie, that was a pretty smart plan by Webby. Considering they all look identical and Webby's good at imitation, she can actually get away with this pretty well. This I actually really like and I wouldn't change too much about this. When Huey reveals himself to the three, Webby reveals herself to him but tells him to play along so they ain't fucked over. Somewhat worked. Webby keeps making little slips here and there which makes May hella suspicious of her. They land at the hideout, Webby tries to get what info she can while Huey's taken away. Thanks to the help of Pepper (who I love btw and I think deserves the best ;____;), Webby ends up finding the document room where there's documents on May, June, and a third person with the codename of April. She watches it and oh, shit, it turns out Bentina Beakley actually snatched her ass from F.O.W.L. when she was a baby! What a shocker! She couldn't believe what she was seeing! This is actually fine to me, her possibly being a clone actually makes sense because she could've been a clone of Beakley. Plus it's also a huge reference to how Webby was created to be a combination of Daisy's nieces April, May, and June back in the original series, though I dunno how many people would catch that, especially younger fans who might not have done the research to getting all of the references and easter eggs here. When Beakley was brought in (essentially she knocked Scrooge out without hurting him, went to here alone to take care of F.O.W.L. once and for all just for Webby, but got defeated along with some of the McDucks), everyone leaves Beakley, Webby, and the Harp alone and Webby somewhat confronts Beakley about her past. Needless to say, Webby ain't excited about this and she gets captured and tied up. She's actually pretty depressed, which I mean in a way I don't blame her since she wanted to know if that shit was real or if F.O.W.L. was fabricating it. Cut to Huey being brought to Bradford. Apparently he was a fellow Woodchuck too, though he wasn't the best despite being the very first Woodchuck by his grandmother Isabella Finch, in fact he was the worst which hahaha yeah I can actually believe that. It does explain why he hates adventures and all of that shit, one of the only things I'm willing to accept from the finale. He talks about how he wants to complete the collection "for the better" because Scrooge and everyone else in the family were the only ones to have Isabella's lost journal. Huey believes this at first. He stops believing it once he ends up finding Gyro and everyone else who're locked up. In the meantime, Bradford drags Webby out to a sort of box along with May and June. She doesn't know why she's brought up here. When she gets close to the box, the papyrus appears because... She's the descendant of... Of Scrooge McDuck. Okay no, JUST NAH MAN. This is where my biggest issue in the finale lies, the fact that she's a clone/made from Scrooge's DNA and is technically his "daughter". Not everybody has to be related to Scrooge McDuck to be great, in fact doing this to her actually ruins Webby's character. Her trope is "found family," not "I'm secretly part of the family this whole time and not even I knew it" and this fucks with it so badly. This show is about family, and all different kinds of it. Being taken care of by your uncles/aunts instead of your parents but still having a good relationship, some kids don't have parents and they're gone for whatever reason, being loved and accepted by other family members, some families are awful and abusive, hell some families have two same sex/gendered parents with a kid who's def adopted and one might've been adopted or been from a previous relationship, and it's also how sometimes we find people to call family because we found them and they found us. Webby was the one to fill in the finding those to find family alongside her grandma, but I feel like they're disregarding that just to have a huge plot twist. Again aside from Beakley keeping secrets from Webby, there was no foreshadowing and it makes a previous episode from season two (Nightmare on Killmotor Hill) seem kinda creepy in hindsight since she's over here wanting to be Scrooge himself, and creepy overall due to how obsessive she was over the whole McDuck family in general. You could say it's foreshadowing this whole time, since some people might actually be like this before realizing that "oh hey I'm actually related to this person" due to someone being adopted, given to someone else to take care of, divorce and each parent keeps one of the kids and they don't meet again until way later in life, which in a way is a fair point but at the same time not everyone's gonna notice this even when they look back at the previous episodes. If you're gonna do foreshadowing and a plot twist, you have to do it where looking back everyone can notice little details, not just a certain group of people, and you gotta make sure it's good. Every plot twist has it's foreshadowings, and every good one has a good amount for people to take a guess. Every bad plot twist, however, is either forced in just to shock the viewers or has shitty foreshadowing that's either extremely little or none. I will make a comparison between this and Steven Universe (which if you're still watching or haven't touched yet but haven't gotten up to season five, please skip this part to avoid spoilers for the show) because in Steven Universe, there were PLENTY of hints and foreshadowing that Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond and it was even a theory too that Rose was actually Pink, alongside a theory that Pearl was actually the one to shatter Pink Diamond and not Rose which ended up being true in a way that both fits. This was a good plot twist that everyone can watch the show from start to end once again and notice every little bits of details that led up to that plot twist reveal. (End of SU spoilers) This, however, isn't a good plot twist. It's a terrible one and, again, forced in, messy, and there's not enough foreshadowing that can be used to be like "oh I kinda saw that coming" or "oh shit!" and think it's a genuinely good twist. Also the fact that Webby called Scrooge "Dad" T W I C E in the finale, it doesn't sound right, I even voiced out loud that OH EW THAT DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT WHY ARE YOU CALLING HIM DAD THIS IS GROSS STOP IT LIKE JUST CALL HIM UNCLE SCROOGE LIKE YOU'VE ALWAYS DONE- Oh and this is meant to be a throwback to that Ottoman Empire finale foreshadowing thing from earlier btw lol The last few things I can note about this is the fight between Scrooge and Bradford, where the latter reveals that he was the one to tell Della about the Spear of Selene (which pisses Scrooge off so damn BADLY and it's the other thing I can accept from the finale, it seems like Bradford to do that shit), and the fact that Donald almost died for fucking good due to Bradford pushing his ass into a machine that can erase anything and everything from existence when put in there. He did so with his minions, so he has no qualms about doing so to Scrooge's family unless he signed the papyrus as a contract. Not that it worked anyways, since "family is the greatest adventure of all" which Bradford didn't understand one bit lol But the finale? Not good, the show deserved so much better and Huey deserved way better because this was his season. What I would've done differently is mainly how Webby is a "clone" or whatever you want to call her. It makes no sense for all of her DNA to be from Scrooge McDuck, which raises way too many questions. Why not Beakley? Why not a warrior from F.O.W.L. with a mix of McDuck DNA? Why is Webby a girl while Scrooge isn't? You could argue that oh he might be a trans guy, which while I absolutely LOVE trans and nonbinary headcanons (due to the fact I'm a nonbinary woman myself), it just feels like a cheap escape goat of an excuse to explain that and Scrooge being trans because of that? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh it doesn't feel right to me. If it was a combination of him and Beakley, then okay I'd get why she's like that, but it still has the problem of her being related to the family DNA-wise. Same with the clones honestly. Now what I would do differently is make it where she's a clone of someone (def not Scrooge) and make it where she has an identity-existential crisis. Who is she really? Is she this "April" character, or if she Webby like she's always known herself as her whole life? In the end, she accepts that she's herself, Webby Vanderquack, granddaughter of Bentina Beakley and an ally of Scrooge McDuck. May and June, on the other hand, are possibly failed attempts to recreate Webby, the perfect clone, in order to get the papyrus to appear which in of itself never stated it had to be a DIRECT heir to Scrooge McDuck (it just states that it requires an heir of Scrooge McDuck) like a daughter/son or whatever. You can go back to the episode "The First Adventure" to look at the papyrus if you want, but he wrote that it was to an HEIR not a descendant. It heavily supports how they changed a shit ton of things before the last season being this year instead of idk, try to make it better because they finished voicing the lines in January this year when they started doing season three around the time we got season two. Bradford gets frustrated, wondering how it couldn't have worked because HE HAS WEBBY RIGHT HERE. What he didn't realize was that it could've been someone within the family itself, one who's considered the smart one out of the bunch that wasn't Scrooge McDuck himself, someone who's also a fellow Junior Woodchuck. And that would be Hubert Duck, in which season three is meant to be his season. When he gets close, the papyrus appears but Bradford snatches it and runs off with it so he can finish up that contract he's spent FOREVER to make and force Scrooge to write his name there. As with May and June, I dunno what I would do with them, but if I rewrite the finale at some point (which I would be doing now with my mom, who watched the finale with me because we tend to watch stuff a lot, but I can't at the moment because I have a list of stuff to make and I can't afford to make it longer than it already is along with my WIP list) I'll figure out what to do with them. Overall, the finale is a 4 out of 10 for me. Not horrible enough for it to be the worst finale ever in the history of shows/series, but it's definitely got a lot of things that bothered me too much to genuinely enjoy it without getting stuck on something for too long. Again if you like it, good for you, but personally? It should've been much better and the series deserves a proper finale. If there's no surprise movie to make it better, then I'ma just pretend this finale doesn't exist like nah bye bitch dunno you lmao Besides with how messy this finale is, I hope you guys enjoyed reading my thoughts on it and I hope you guys have a great day

#DuckTales 2017 #DuckTales Reboot #Spoilers on the finale/The Last Adventure #Lil's Talks #Idk I just thought about it again and I'm just not that happy with it lol #Just put a lot of love and care into everything you work on guys #I'm up for discussion to see why you guys like it #just don't be a dick in the comments and reblogs please #That's all I ask for

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rainbowoftamaran · 3 years

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Check out my rainbow of friends!

"So, yes, I made all these awesome friends, and I realized that I have a full rainbow! Obviously, that's really amazing and perfect and I just have to show it to anyone who cares!

Nisha - @chainxdancer - is just really cool! She's strong and can fight and she's... I forgot what exactly she is but she's not human and has a tail and horns and she doesn't mind sharing her money or food with me, and if things go as planned I might be able to join her on her adventures soon to earn my own money!

Moonshot - @warriorfortamaran - uh... look. I needed to fill the orange slot, and I do know him. He's a meanie though, typical tamaranean with a side of extra-grumpy. Best you avoid him.

Yuko - @rosecoloredmuses - was so very nice to me! Despite having quite clearly caught me attempting to steal from her, she offered me some of her candies, and oh are those great! Definitely worth our encounter! We didn't have that much time together, since she had to go soon enough, but, it was really cool to meet her and I do consider us friends after this - I mean, you don't give non-friends just free food, right? - and just, I love her sweets and am absolutely convinced that she's a great person to meet!

Sirise - @siriseen - and I met on some other planet. It was really nice to have company during that exploration, and she knows so much! She's also really good at medicine and these things, so like, definitely someone that I'm glad to know! Still not quite sure what that Starfleet is that she belongs to, but, yeah, it's been really fun with her and I do hope that we'll meet again!

Minato - @dxfiedfxte - actually is not dyeing his hair, as he told me! I never thought humans had such a variety in hair-color! It does seem to be a unique thing for him, too, so I probably thought right. It's very awesome to know someone else who has a rather unique hair-color of their species! He's also been really nice to me so far and it's fun to hang out with him!

Perrine - @flusenimkopf - has helped me before with giving that karrn'k Moonshot a bit of what he deserves, even before we got to know one another! She's also not human either, and I think she doesn't know all about where she's from just like how I don't! It's just really cool to hang out with her, and I'm glad we're having some things in common! I'm also very happy to have someone that I can complain about Moonshot to and do stuff to him together with, that's really something I needed.

So yeah, they are all really amazing and awesome to know, so I absolutely suggest that you consider enriching your life by knowing them, too!"

[[This all has been presented to you by Starlight, found on this blog, @rainbowoftamaran . Below the cut you can find some OOC-stuff like credits and the likes.]]

Hello! If you do reach the cut, thank you for checking the OOC blabber behind the post, too! I've been working on this thing for a little bit now. I'm not entirely happy with it, but content enough to post it, as some sort of promo I guess. Please feel no obligation to reblog this, whether you are in this or not, I just had to do something "for Starlight" upon realizing she had the full rainbow together. (Obviously, not saying that friends are something to collect, or anything ridiculous like that, but I'm hopeful that no one of you will understand this wrongly!)

Moonshot is my own blog, as is Starlight, you can find a link to my mainblog and to my other blogs on each of these blogs' pages.

I sorta-copied the rainbow-waterfall-thingie from a copyrighted picture on some of these websites. I didn't use and just erase the watermark, I only took it as example and created my own thing based on it. I do hope that I don't need to credit for that, then - though during my search I found on these pages also pics with watermarks of others so they probably are in no place to call me out for using their pic as base.

In the next paragraph you find info of the pictures, and a little message to each mun in smaller in brackets behind the stuff.

Nisha's pic is taken from here, which was a commission as you can read in the post I linked. (-- I would've liked to not cut her body off quite as early, but these pics were the first I found on your blog outside of that one in your about and liked for this thing, and since they weren't going any further than this I had to cut it there! I do hope you like my choice of picture here and aren't disappointed or something that I didn't show more of Nisha!) Moonshot's pic is an edit, like the 2 other pictures I have of him, of a picture from Touda from Shounen Onmyouji. Yuko's pic is taken from an official picture, as far as I know, simply made transparent. (-- I do hope the picture is one that you like to see of her!) Sirise's pic is an edit of a screenshot showing Poison Ivy from that recent Harley Quinn show. (-- I gotta add that I was like so lucky that you actually mentioned a FC for Sirise of all your muses when I asked you that "random" question! I really wanted to include her but kinda didn't really want to add one actor among anime/cartoon/drawn characters, and when you then mentioned Ivy and I found a fitting appearance, I was so happy to have found a way to include her without mixing RL and animated characters! This thing here is also the reason I made this edit in the first place, but it was cool that I could kinda ask for your opinion on it beforehand through our talks xD) Minato's pic is, as far as I know, from an official source, and again just made transparent so it worked for my thing. (-- I really really tried to find the pic you're having as background in your theme, it looks pretty cool and I was intending to use that, but I couldn't locate it anywhere! So I kept searching, I first had a different pic chosen where he's like, very light blue all over - not in skin or the likes but I mean hair and suit - but that was a little too one-color for me in the end so I chose this one even though I prefer a bit more color! I do hope it's a 'normal' outfit of his and that you like my choice!) Perrine's pic is from here, which is art of the mun of the blog. I wish I could draw so well! (-- Your art is amazing and I'm glad you were alright with someone using it for a thing as long as you still are mentioned!)

Starlight's pic too is an edit, of an official art thingie of Rika Jougasaki from iDOLM@STER (I hope I wrote that right). And yes, she's supposed to be sitting on that cloud.

So, yes, I think this is all I have to say to it! I'm very glad that y'all are interacting with my little rainbow here (and perhaps my other blogs too), you're very awesome and it's an honor and delight to be your mutual and interaction-partner! Thank you!

#🌈 Look at all the colors! 🌈 | Self Promo #🌈 They're so cool! 🌈 | Promo #I don't know what else tag to put onto this; I don't usually tag promos with that; but I guess I should #anime tw #not sure if this really is a promo or something; maybe moreof a 'thank you' post; idk #just take it as whatever you want to take it as!#I am; like; /so/ worried over posting this or not #I mean once you see it I obviously did post this so nvm I guess; but still #if you end up not liking it or something feel free to just ignore it #and I very much do hope that I didn't; uh... cross any boundaries through making something like this #with including a group of different people and all; I sure hope that it's not like someone of you now goes 'ugh how could she include me an #d xyz in the same thing; that's so rude/wrong/whatever #please please please lemme know if something isn't alright with this for you; I can't promise I'll take down the thing but I can... idk; tr #y to change something about it; or something?#I love all our interactions so thank you for being here!#I waited with this until blorthog because what better day to post a friends-thing on than the festivity of friendship?

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scornedlove · 4 years

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Chapter Twenty-Seven

CHRIS

A couple of weeks had gone by since I promised myself I’d give Tae some space. It was disappointing that she’d only hit me up once since then, especially after I revealed so much to her the last time she was here. I really opened up to her in hopes of gaining her trust, maybe that’s why I’ve been buggin. Without her conversation, it’s hard to keep my mind off of Robyn. The last time I saw Robyn, she not only looked like a stranger, but she treated me like one too. Between her and Tae, my heart was torn and it was all too much to deal with.

Every time I felt myself getting in my feelings, I’d hit the studio, blast some music, and paint. It was like having a therapy session, which is how I was spending my Friday afternoon. I was in my zone, finishing up my third project this week when Taylor called, inviting me to go riding with him.

“Hell yeah! I had fun last time, but I wanna take it out where I can really put some gas to it.” I suggested, jumping at the chance to borrow his motorcycle again.

“Alright, I got you. I know just the place.” he promised, before we hung up. I finished the painting I was working on and stepped back to look at the finished product.

Diamond always gave the cutest pouty face when I wasn’t moving fast enough for her. I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I put it in paint. I snapped a picture of it and sent it to Tae before leaving, hoping that would put me on her mind.

“This chick wants me to meet her at the A for some drinks” Taylor announced when I got to his place.

“When ya’ll planning on doing that?”

“Right now, I told her 8. ″

“Then why you ask me to ride with you?” I asked, noticing it was fifteen til. “I’m not trying to be the third wheel”

“You won’t be. She’s bringing her roommate, so I told her I’d bring my brother” he added, with a smirk.

“I’m not going on a double date with you man, you know I got a girl.”

“It ain’t a date, unless you want it to be. I know that long distance shit ain’t gonna last too long.”

“Shut up fool. As long as you don’t get me in no shit, it’ll last as long as I want it to.”

“We’re just gonna hang for a bit, then take em on a ride. The ladies love that shit and I’m tryna get some ass tonight.”

“Well I’m not-”

“-Stop being a tight fuck. It ain’t all about them, come chill with ya bro.”

“Alright man, but don’t be mad if they both feeling me and you end up coming home empty handed” I teased as he tossed me the keys to his Harley.

We arrived twenty minutes later than expected due to traffic, but the girls still hadn’t made it. We found a spot at the bar, ordered a couple of beers, and watched the Saints play the Falcons while we waited.

“It’s looking like you got stood up lil bro” I stated when I noticed it was nine and still no sign of the chick he described.

“There she goes” he nodded towards the door when a familiar, dark skinned woman walked in. “She bad ain’t she?”

“Oh, hell naw. I heard this bitch was fuckin with Anthony a couple of weeks ago. You need to be caref-”

“Fuck Anthony. That’s yo homeboy. Besides, I’m always careful.” he stated, gulping down the rest of his beer before standing to greet Kiki.

“Small world. I would’ve never guessed y'all were brothers. Ryan gonna be shocked as fuck.” she cackled, getting comfortable next to Taylor as Ryan walked in. She was on the phone, eyes fixated on Kiki as she strutted past a couple of guys checking her out. She didn’t even notice me until she ended her call, a couple feet in front of me.

“Hey” she smiled, surprised to see me. “When Kiki told me she set me up on a blind date I was nervous as hell”

“Oh, this ain’t that.” I explained, tossing back the rest of my beer. She rolled her eyes at my bluntness and sat on the stool in between me and Kiki.

“Obviously, you shut that shit down already. I’m just glad you’re not some fucking weirdo.” she admitted and I couldn’t help but burst out in laughter.

“I see ya’ll are on good terms again” I nodded towards Kiki, who was cheesing like a schoolgirl while Taylor whispered in her ear. “I’m glad I didn’t get involved in that”

“Yeah, it didn’t take long for Anthony to hop on the next bitch” she shrugged nonchalantly. “How do you even know him? He doesn’t seem like someone you would associate with.”

“Shit, we go way back. He’s changed for the worse, that’s for damn sure. ”

“Well, at least one good thing came from him”

“What’s that?”

“He’s got some good connects. He introduced me to a DJ who’s been working with me on a couple of songs, even helped me land a couple of gigs when we were on good terms.”

“Good. Sounds like things are looking up for you.”

“You have no idea. I’ve been crazy busy. Matter of fact, I’m performing for this charity event in a few weeks, you should come.”

“Oh yeah? Send me the info. This is a crazy time for me too, but I should be able to work it in”

“Alright, but let me know either way. Don’t just leave me hanging.” she replied, before getting the bartender’s attention. They ordered margaritas and we settled on one more beer while we watched a little more of the football game. I wasn’t interested in the game, or getting drunk. I was ready for the adrenaline rush from flying through traffic, so after the ladies finished their drinks, we hit the road.

It didn’t take long for me to regret agreeing to do this with the girls. I’ve been abstinent for a solid five months now, and I haven’t seen Tae in over a month. Having Ryan’s double D’s on my back and arms wrapped around my waist had my man standing tall. I did my best to keep it to myself, but she got a couple of feels in.

Nevertheless, we rode across the Pacific Coast Highway to the infamous Neptune’s net, where we hung out for a little while, had dinner, and smoked a blunt by the beach, before heading back to the city. That’s when I realized those couple of feels weren’t an accident, they were intentional. I don’t know if it was because she was tipsy, but Ryan couldn’t keep her hands to herself. I was cool about it the first time, but then she slipped her hands in my pants while I was driving, and I damn near wrecked trying to pull over.

"If you want to make it home without having to find another way, you gonna have to keep your hands above my waist”

“Were you feeling violated? Because it looks like you were enjoying it.”

“Fuck that. I’m tryna keep shit platonic between us, but if you can’t handle that we can’t do this anymore. I’ll find you a ride, but I’m not doing this with you”

“Fine. I’ll stop.” she stated, throwing her hands up in defeat. She behaved the rest of the ride, but when we made it to her place, she invited me in and was offended when I quickly declined.

“Well, you know where I am if you wanna talk or whatever” she stated before sashaying towards her front door. The deep ass swing in her hips made it evident she wanted more than a conversation.

I waited as she dug in her purse, searching for her keys until she gave up and made a call. By the look on her face as she walked towards me, I knew bad news was coming.

“Kiki has my house key and she’s not answering. Is it cool if I stay at your place tonight?”

“You gotta be kidding” I sighed in disbelief. “Ya’ll set this shit up huh?”

“Really? Don’t flatter yourself. A simple yea or no will do” she sassed, almost tripping over her own foot.

“What other choice do we have? Let’s go” I shrugged, handing her the helmet back. She was fucked up and I didn’t want to be here all night waiting for a damn key, so I decided we’d deal with it tomorrow.

ROBYN

“I can’t believe I’m doing this”

“It looks great and it’s almost done, no need to fuss now” I reassured Mel as I wrapped my arms around her for comfort.

Today I finally went through with covering the matching tattoo Chris and I’d gotten a couple of years ago on some drunk on love shit. Halfway through, I almost chickened out, so Mel made me a deal. She said she was done with tattoos before, but if I went through with this one, she’d get one of my choice blindfolded. So here we were, both with swollen hands, only mine was three times the size of hers.

“Alright, ya’ll know the drill. Keep it clean and dry.” BB, my tattoo artist, stated once he finished her design. “and you really need to baby yours Robyn, here’s some extra ointment. It should help with the pain too.”

“Awww shit! This is dope!” Mel grinned after uncovering her eyes. Capturing moments was inked flawlessly in script on the side of her left hand.The moment we were settled in the back seat of John’s ride, she snapped a pic and sent it to J.

“I’m obsessed! Girl, fucking with you, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s perfect. You did good”

“Give jack he jacket! You know I don’t do you dirty!” I teased, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yeah, but you been wilding ever since that shit with Chris and Dre.”

“Bitch, you not even supposed to be saying the C word” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at her.

“Speaking of Chr- I mean C. Has he reached out to you since?” she continued, ignoring my annoyance.

“No. I guess I scared the shit outta him when I mentioned the police, but Aundre’s ass won’t stop calling”

“So you’re not talking to him either?”

“Nope. I’m taking your advice and leaving both of they asses alone.“

“We’ll see how long that lasts” she snickered, rolling her eyes, as if she knew I was to weak to go through with it. I hated when she did that.

“Don’t do that.’

"What”

“Don’t play dumb. I’m sick of that shit.”

“Chill out, it ain’t that serious”

“I am serious Mel. Don’t shoot me down like that. Not everybody got they life figured out by 24.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She quizzed, shaking her head. “I’m still figuring this shit out too. Everything ain’t smooth sailing over here either.”

“I find that hard to believe.” I scoffed, crossing my arms and wincing from the pain of brushing my freshly tatted hand against my clothes.

“I don’t complain all the time and I don’t wear that shit on my sleeve, but yeah Rob, I be going through some shit too.”

“Like?”

“Like my husband working seventy hour weeks and my married boss flirting and making passes at me all the fucking time”

“Michael?”

“Yeah, anytime we’re alone together he gets a little too close and happens to accidentally brush up against me the wrong way or says something sexually cryptic ”

“You lying! He’s fine as hell, but don’t fuck around with a married man. Matter of fact, you should just leave that job. These things always end up ugly”

“I’m not stupid, but I’m not leaving my job either.”

“Why not?”

“The amount of money I’m making with him is crazy, I ain’t gonna get that anywhere else.”

“Girl please, you have J. Who cares about the money? It ain’t worth the money, you need to quit”

“Easy for you to say. I’'m finally making good money and I’m not ready to let it go. Over a couple of ass grabs? Naw, imma milk this cow. Maybe I’ll be able to open my own shit one day.”

“Well all I gotta say is don’t slip up and lose ya husband over nothing stupid.”

“I would never jeopardize my marriage. J has made me a better person in so many ways, I’d be stupid to fuck up something this good. ”

“Fi true” I agreed, before John Legend’s All of Me started blaring from her phone.

“This my baby calling now” she gasped, a smile creeping across her face as she answered in her sexy voice. I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous as they flirted back and forth. I had to turn my attention to the starry sky in order to successfully tune her out. Instead of obsessing over my own sad love life, I looked for constellations while reminding myself of all the frogs she had to kiss in order to find her prince.

CHRIS

“CHRIS WHAT THE FUCK!” Tae’s unmistakable voice pierced my ears, snatching me from dreamland. It took a minute for it to register that she was standing right in front of me. Then I realized why she was screaming.

“Get up Ry-” I attempted to wake Ryan’s drunk ass up, but she was out cold. We passed out sitting up on the sofa watching Rush Hour, I don’t know how her head ended up on my lap. It may have looked a little bad, but Tae was definitely exaggerating.

“SO THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY DO WHEN YOUR BY YOURSELF! I KNEW IT. YOU’RE A LIAR! ”

“BABE!” I yelled over her to get her attention. “You buggin. We’re fully clothed. Nothing happened.”

“And that makes this okay? Your fucking ex is laying in your lap!” Lose my number!” she screamed throwing my key at me and running out the house.

My mind was yelling for me to run after her, but my legs wouldn’t move. Is that really all it took for her to walk out on me again? If so, what is the point of this long distance shit? What was she even doing in Cali? I haven’t talked to her in days and she just randomly shows up to act like this. I had so many questions, but at the same time, I didn’t care for a single answer. I felt a weight lift from my shoulders as I realized something. I’m single again.

#rihanna #chris brown #ff #fanfiction #fanfic

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nazariolahela · 5 years

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Something Domestic: Chapter 14

A/N: Hey y'all! This story is told in first-person narrative, from Riley’s (MC) POV. There will likely be smidges of canon in this, but not too much. Thanks for reading, and please leave feedback, and/or if you would like to be tagged.

This week’s chapter is a bonus from Liam’s POV. I was really excited to write his side of the story. I hope you enjoy it too.

Catch up here

Series Tags: @burnsoslow @aworldoffandoms @dcbbw @ladyangel70 @texaskitten30 @sunandlemons @jlynn12273 @indiacater @jared2612 @rainbowsinthestorm @drakesensworld @badchoicesposts @msjr0119 @katurrade @blackcoffee85 @cynicalworlds-blog @hopefulmoonobject @beardedoafdonutwagon @cmestrella @sugarandspice-milkandhoney @superharrietsuper @custaroonie @lady-calypso @ritachacha @olympianpantsuit @desiree-0816 @the-soot-sprite @kate-mckenzie @narrytheworld @octobereighth @lynne1993 @queen-anastasia-universe

Synopsis: When Riley Brooks takes a new job as a nanny for the affluent Rhys family in New York’s Upper East Side, she assumes she’s just going to care for the children of the couple who hired her. But instead of just school pick-ups and afternoon snacks, she also finds herself spending time with Liam, the handsome divorced dad. Can Riley control her feelings for Liam while still performing the job she was hired for?

All characters are the property of Pixelberry Studios. Thanks for allowing me to borrow them.

Chapter Summary: Liam and Leo try to get to the bottom of the tabloid scandal and Liam tries to win Riley back.

Almost a month had passed since the tabloid incident. In that time, the press found plenty of other scandals to latch on to. Not hard to do in this city. Lucky for me, my divorce has all but been forgotten about. I still get the occasional paparazzo bombarding me with questions of if I’m “banging the new nanny,” but for the most part, they’ve moved on.

The last month has been hard on the kids as well. After Madeleine fired Riley, she replaced her almost immediately. Seems kind of suspicious to me, but whatever. The new nanny — a woman named Belinda — is a lovely woman, but the kids haven’t quite warmed up to her like they did Riley. They keep asking me when she’s coming back. I don’t have the heart to tell them that she probably won’t. They were visibly upset when I told them she would no longer be their nanny. Charlotte cried. Philip asked me if she didn’t like us anymore. They still talk about how much they miss her. To be honest, I do too.

If we’re being honest here, I never once thought she did it. And not because we were involved. I saw how she was with my kids and I could tell she genuinely cared for them. She treated them like they were her own. Many nights I would come home from work and hear Philip talk about all the fun things he and Riley did, or hear Charlotte gush about how pretty and nice Riley was to her and how she let her wear whatever she wanted to school. I also remember all the times she told me that she didn’t care about my money, so there’s no way she would sell us out for a payday.

It’s Monday morning and I’m sitting in my office at Cordonia Enterprises looking over the numbers for this quarter when my brother Leo strolls in, looking like he had just woken up from a week-long sex and booze bender. He moves over to the bar cart, pours himself three fingers of scotch, and plops down in the seat across from me.

“You look like shit, little bro,” he smiles behind the rim of his glass.

“You would know. You smell like a brothel.”

He laughs loudly and takes a sip of his scotch, then sets it on the desk. “Well, you’re ex-nanny needed someone to comfort her after you tossed her out on the street, so I offered her my services. Did you know she makes the cutest noises when she cums?” He makes a show of adjusting himself. “My balls are getting tight just thinking about it.”

I clench the pen in my hand with enough force that my knuckles turn white. I know he’s trying to fuck with me, so I take a deep breath, controlling my rage. “What the fuck do you want, Leo?”

He chuckles and kicks his feet up on my desk. I love my brother, but he can be a real dickhead at times. When Madeleine and I started dating, he gave me shit for months about me picking up his ‘sloppy seconds.’ Once, he asked me if she ever called out his name in bed. Fucker. After we were married, he warned me that she was just using me to get back at him. I probably should have listened to him. When I announced to my family that she and I were splitting up, he revealed that she had tried to seduce him on more than one occasion. Thankfully, he had no interest in getting involved with her again. My brother may be a total asshole, but he wouldn’t deliberately hurt me.

“So, I think I know how to help you with your little predicament.”

“My predicament?”

“The tabloid leak. I think I know who was behind it. Or at least had something to do with it.”

“It’s been a month, man. Everyone's forgotten about it,” I say, setting my pen down.

“Really? Because your ex-wife called me last week.”

I raise my brows and give him my full attention. This should be good.

“Yeah, she called me crying, telling me how much she misses me. Not like I haven’t heard that over and over the last seven years. I warned you about her, Li. That chick is crazy. I’m pretty sure she was drunk. So anyway, she asks me if I knew about you and your nanny. Told her I had heard some things. Then she gives me some pathetic sob story about how you made her do what she did. ‘I had to do it, Leo. Who knows how long this has been going on?’” I nod and wait for him to continue.

“I ask her to elaborate. She sputters out some lame-ass excuse about how you fucking the nanny behind her back pushed her into the arms of another man. The timing clearly didn’t line up since we all know you filed before you hired Riley, but I didn’t tell her that. I just let her dig her hole. She goes on about how she took matters into her own hands. Now that Riley’s out of the picture, things can go back to normal.” He laughs and finishes off his drink.

“What does Riley have to do with all this?” I ask.

“I asked her the same thing. She said that she knew Riley was no good from the beginning, but that you had convinced her to hire her because of her background. She suspected something was up after the paparazzi incident at the park, but that you had talked her out of doing something rash. That’s when she convinced you to hire Mara to keep tabs on Riley. I guess Mara had been giving her updates. She also rambled on about how Mara always bought Riley those tabloid magazines. That’s when she said she knew Riley had something to do with it. She didn’t come outright and say it, but the signs are all there.”

I struggle to process the info that was just dumped in my lap. Would Madeleine really stoop that low? I know she wasn’t happy about me filing for divorce, but would she be vindictive enough to put our children in harm’s way just to get back at me? Why was the nanny collateral damage? And why would she wait a month to say anything? Guilt, perhaps? None of this makes sense.

“Do you have proof of this, Leo?”

“Dude. Why the fuck would I lie about it? You know damn well she still wants me. Even with her new man in the picture. Seven years she’s tried to get me to take her back. I wish I would have recorded it so you could listen to how desperate she sounded.”

“Not that, you dick. About the leak.”

“Oh yeah, that. No, I don’t have proof. But I have a hunch. And I’m usually 90% right about these things.”

I drop my head in my hands. Yep, the signs are all there. Now, I just have to find a way to prove what I’ve suspected all along. I pull out my phone and shoot a group text to Max, Drake, and Liv, asking them to meet up tonight. If I’m going to nail my ex-wife to the wall, I need my most trusted friends to help me.

***

Drake, Maxwell, Olivia, my brother, and I meet at The Double Tappe after work. The place is empty — not unusual for a Monday — giving us the whole bar to ourselves. We all congregate in one of the booths in the back and Leo repeats what he told me this morning. Drake and Max are completely shocked by the revelation. Olivia, however, sits there stone-faced.

“I knew there was a reason I didn’t like her,” she says.

“You don’t like anyone,” Maxwell retorts, then flinches when Olivia punches him in the arm. He rubs the spot where she made contact and turns to me. “Whatcha gonna do about this, Li?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a month, so it’s going to be hard to prove at this point. I need solid evidence that Madeleine was involved because she’ll never admit to it. The first person I need to talk to is Mara. Hopefully, she can give us some answers.”

“What about a wire-tap? I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy,” Drake shrugs in between sips of whiskey.

“Pretty sure that’s illegal in this state,” Olivia says.

Leo snaps his fingers. “That’s true, but New York is a one-party consent state. So, if one of us gets Madeleine to confess and records it, we technically wouldn’t be breaking the law.”

“Okay, so who could we get to coerce that kind of information out of her?” I ask.

Leo leans back and grins, crossing his arms behind his head. We all look at each other, knowing exactly who will handle this task. If anyone can persuade Madeleine to spill the beans, it’s definitely him.

“How are we going to do this?” Max asks.

“Well, I say loverboy here tries to seduce her. She’ll tell you anything you want to hear if she thinks she can get you back,” Olivia says.

“Well then, it’s settled. Work your magic, Leo,” Drake replies. The five of us clink our glasses in celebration, although it feels premature since we don’t have actual evidence against her yet. We spend the rest of the evening sharing drinks, memories, and laughter. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. No kids, no work, no responsibilities. I haven’t done anything like this since college. As we gather up our things to leave, Drake pulls me aside.

“Hey man, have you talked to Riley, lately?”

“I’ve been trying to call and text her for weeks, but it’s been radio silence since Madeleine fired her. I even dropped by her apartment a few times, but no one was home. She must think I blame her for all this.”

He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “She does. We tried to tell her that you don’t, but it’s understandable why she would think that. I guess she and Hana had a falling out as well. Last I heard, Hana moved out, so she’s living there by herself. I don’t know where she's working now. She doesn’t come around much anymore. You should try to talk to her again. Maybe explain your side of the story.”

“Yeah. It’s just… I fucked up, Drake. I don’t blame her for anything. I should have told her that.” I rub the back of my neck. “Truth is, I think I’m in love with her.”

“You need to tell her, man.”

I nod, clapping him on the shoulder, then head for my car. The drive back to my penthouse is long, but it gives me time to think. I think back to what Drake told me. About her and Hana’s falling out. I know they’ve been best friends for a long time. Now, she’s alone. To think that if she never met me, none of this would have happened. It’s hard not to blame myself for all of this.

I think back on how different things are with Riley then they were with Madeleine. When I met Madeleine, I was more in love with the idea of her. I married her to please my father, and although I’ll always care for her as the mother of my children, the love was never really there. When I found out she cheated, I was almost relieved.

The night Riley left, I sat in my study and went over everything that had happened over those few weeks. I feel my chest start to tighten. What is this? Emotion? I had learned to turn them off after Madeleine, but somehow, Riley made them come back. And suddenly, I want to fight for what we have. I never fought for Madeleine, but I feel the urge to for her. She’s the only woman I’ve ever felt that desire for. Making a decision, I take the next U-Turn and make the trip to her apartment.

I arrive outside her building a few minutes later. Her bedroom window faces the street, and when I peer up at it, I notice the light is on. That’s a good sign. It means she’s home. I exit the car and make my way up to her floor. I pause outside her door, unsure of what to say to her. Come on, Li. Quit stalling and tell her how you feel. I knock on her door a few times and wait patiently for her to answer. I hear shuffling on the other side of the door, and when it swings open, the face on the other side is not the one I’m expecting.

“Can I help you?” A young man answers the door, wearing only a pair of low-hanging joggers. He eyes me confusingly.

“Uh…” I stumble, double-checking to see if I have the right apartment. “Is Riley here?”

“Maybe. Who’s asking?”

Must resist the urge not to knock this kid on his ass. “Tell her Liam needs to see her.”

He rolls his eyes and holds a finger up, signaling me to wait, before closing the door in my face. I hear him call out to her on the other side, “Hey, Riley. There’s some suit here to see you. Says his name is Liam.” More shuffling and muffled voices, then the door swings open, and there stands my girl. Her brown locks are piled atop her head in a messy bun. She’s wearing a pair of short shorts, showing off her long legs, and a Steinhardt t-shirt. She stares at me for a few seconds before snapping out of her daze.

“What are you doing here?”

“You haven’t been returning my calls.”

She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. “There’s a reason for that.”

I sigh, dragging my hand down my face. “Riley, please. Just listen to me.”

“Why should I? You wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to explain myself.”

Her words feel like a slap to my face. She’s absolutely right and I can’t argue otherwise. “I know I messed up, but if you give me a chance to explain myself, I’ll be on my way.”

She turns and looks to the guy in her apartment, then back to me, then again at him. “Give me a sec, Josh,” she says, before stepping out into the hallway and pulling the door closed behind her. “You have two minutes.”

I exhale. “I’m sorry. I want you to know I’m so sorry. For what I did. Or rather, what I didn’t do. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I never meant to hurt you, Riley. I get why you’re hurt. And if I was in your shoes, I’d feel the same way. When I saw the magazine, I didn’t believe you had anything to do with it, but in that moment, all I could think about was my kids.”

She nods. “I know. Drake told me. But you could have said something to Madeleine instead of just letting her berate me. I would never do that to Philip and Charlotte. I love them like they were my own.” She looks down at her feet and her voice trembles. “I can’t believe you didn’t trust me when I’ve never given you a reason not to.” A tear rolls down her cheek. “All I’ve ever done is try to make you and those kids happy. Just because your ex-wife hurt you, doesn’t mean I would. You know that. I waited for you, Liam. I knew your circumstances with the divorce, and I still waited. And at the first sign of trouble, you jumped to conclusions. You didn’t give us a chance.”

I reach out and tip her chin up to look at me. I gently rub her cheek with the pad of my thumb, brushing the tear away. “You’re right. I’m a fucking idiot. I know that now. I owe you so much more than a simple apology. You deserve better than that. I’m hoping it’s not too late to try and fix what I broke. I’ll do whatever it takes to earn your trust back.”

She fidgets with the hem of her t-shirt. “I don’t know, Liam. I want to believe you. I really do. But I’m still hurt. I wish things had been different with us. I wish we had met under different circumstances. But, you have your children to think about. And I know they are your priority.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “Of course they are. But I want to make you my priority too. Tell me what I can do.”

“Did you figure out who leaked the story?”

I shake my head.

She sighs. “I need time.”

“Not too much time, I hope.” She doesn’t say anything for a long time. The silence between us saying more than our words do. I reach out and grab her hand, squeezing it. “I don’t know what else to say, Riley. Just think about it. I’ll be here, waiting.” I pull her hand up to my lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of it. Then, I turn and head down the hall. The ache in my chest, deep. Knowing that I hurt her is almost too much to bear. The issue with the story is awful, but not taking her side was worse.

The only thing I can do now is try to make it up to her.

#something domestic #nanny au #trr au #trr fanfic #choices fanfic #riley brooks #liam rhys #leo rhys #nazariolahela fanfic

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allhailkingrooker51 · 5 years

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Sooo, I got Rookered again...

Soooo, I got Rookered again. This time at Geek’d Con in Shreveport, La. And just like the 1st time I saw Rooker, this time was just as amazing. I went up to see him several times each day resulting in some pretty epic Rooker moments, and I'm gonna try my hardest to remember every detail. So, without further ado, here’s the story of my 2nd adventure with the Rooker.

A little intro before I get to the good stuff.

First off, y’all have no idea how stoked I was that Rooker was coming to Shreveport! I was afraid I wasn’t gonna get to see him this year. He wasn’t coming to a con anywhere near me, and it’s an act of Congress for me to take off work to be able to travel to him. Geek’d Con was pretty much my last chance.

I had been watching Geek’d Con’s Facebook like a hawk hoping there might be a slim chance they would announce Rooker. Then they started hinting and dropping clues for about a month that they had their biggest guest so far coming this year. And every hint pointed directly to Rooker. I knew it had to be him.

One night, Geek’d Con posted on their Facebook page the last clue and that they would be announcing the guest at 8 am the next morning. I hardly slept a wink that night. I was too excited and failing miserably at trying not to get my hopes up. Geek’d Con is not a big con, and even though Rooker likes Shreveport, I was afraid that it might be too small of a con for him to come to.

Morning finally came, and I was awake way before my alarm. I decided to get up and go into work early to wait for the announcement. It’s not like I was sleeping anyways. This next part might be a little too much info and a little weird, but I’m gonna tell it anyway. While using my body wash in the shower that morning, a little bubble came out of the bottle and floated up in front of my face. I blew on it a couple of times, just playing around, and watched the bubble drift higher in the air. Then I followed it as it came back down again in front of my face, made a quick turn to my left, went around to my side, and landed smack dab on the cheek of my Rooker Skillset portrait tattoo on my left arm. That bubble was like a Rooker heat-seeking missile, making a bee-line straight for him. I took that as a sign. It had to be Rooker.

I finished getting ready for work and at 8 am on the dot, I checked Facebook. No announcement yet. I kept refreshing Geek’d Con’s page over and over again like a lunatic. I swear it felt like an eternity. Then at 8:03, I refreshed the page once again, and I saw Yondu. My heart flipped, and I damn near dropped my phone. Rooker was coming to Geek’d Con!

I immediately took a screenshot, and with my hands shaking like crazy, told the Rooker Hookers first. Then I texted my sister, my mom, my best friend, hell anyone that I could that Rooker was coming to Shreveport. I couldn’t stop smiling. For once, I was actually excited going to work.

When I got to work, I showed my boss, who is also one of my best friends and who has to put up with my Rooker obsession more than anyone. He was excited for me, and I convinced him to come meet him, too.

So for the next 4 months, I waited and waited and waited for Geek’d Con to get here. I ordered Rooker’s gifts, designed a special shirt to wear that Saturday, printed out some goofy Rooker pictures for him to sign, even had Rooker socks made. When August 16th, finally arrived, I was ready.

Friday, August 16th, 2019

Geek’d Con was only open from 6 pm to 9 pm that Friday, but I had been told that Rooker would be there all 3 days, which meant I would be there all 3 days. So I took off work early and drove the almost 2 hours to my parent’s house, who live just outside of Shreveport. I had been a nervous wreck all week. I guess I was a little nervous about seeing Rooker again, but mostly I was nervous about getting all the gifts I had planned on giving him through security.

I had to get into town early because I had a few errands to run before I picked up my friend, who had also gone with me to see Rooker in Houston last year. One of the errands was picking up some dark chocolate-covered pretzels that I had ordered just for Rooker at a local chocolate store in town. I hadn’t planned on bringing him pretzels since he gets those at cons all the time, but these were dark chocolate which I knew he liked the best. And, boy, am I glad I decided to get them!

I picked my friend up a little later, and we headed up to the convention center. I wore one of my Rowdy Burns shirts and one of the pairs of socks I had made with Rooker’s face all over them (I had 4 pair, and I mixed and matched them each day, and of course, forgot to show Rooker any of them...AARRGH.) That line getting in couldn’t go fast enough. I was so excited to see him again!

Again, my only worry was getting through security with Rooker's gift. I’ll get to what the gift was a little later on, but the closer we got to bag check, the more anxious I got. Luckily, we made it through without any problems.

We headed inside and walked towards the back and found Rooker’s table. He wasn’t out yet. No biggie. The doors had only been open about 30 minutes or so. We walked around a little, and then found a table near Rooker’s booth. We decided to just sit and wait until he came out. Seven o’clock came. No Rooker. Eight o’clock came. Still no Rooker. At 8:40, they announced there were 20 minutes left before closing. We headed out after that. I admit I was bummed that he wasn’t there, but that just meant I’d have to go see him extra the next day.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Saturday morning, I was up and at ‘em early again. My racing brain wouldn’t let me sleep. But, I had to be up early anyway to go pick up the rest of Rooker’s gift for that day before the con opened at 10 am.

I had decided a while back that on the Saturday morning of the con, I was going to bring him a bunch of snacks, some from local places around town. The pretzels and a bag of Zapp's Voodoo chips were a part of that, but I still had two more things to get.

I picked up my friend again and headed to a bakery that I swear makes the best cakes in the world and picked up the little, mini red velvet cake I had ordered for him. We left there and drove alllll the way across town to get Rooker some donuts from Southern Maid (if you ever get the chance, definitely get donuts from there - they're not fancy but seriously they’re the best ever).

When we got to the convention center, I put all of his snacks in a gift bag (with the no outside food/drink rule, I figured there was a better chance getting it all through security if it looked like an actual gift). And it worked! The snacks and the other gift made it through! My nerves instantly calmed, and I was home free to finally see the Rooker.

We immediately went towards the back to his booth, but he wasn’t out yet. There were a good many people already waiting for him, but I didn’t want to get in line just yet. I was hoping the crowd would kind of lessen just a little first so I would have some time to explain all the stuff I brought him. We sat down at the same table as the night before and waited. About 30 minutes later, there he was!

Omg, I was so excited to see him! He was wearing black jeans, a black shirt, and his Atlanta Metro Studios cap. And no shades! Which is very important when one of your favorite things about Rooker is those damn eyes of his.

We waited about 10 more minutes, but the line never got smaller. I decided it was now or never and went to get in line.

While we were waiting in line, there was a person in an inflatable T-Rex costume nearby that had a sign for “Free Hugs". You probably already know what happened when Rooker saw it. He escaped from his table and hugged that T-Rex so hard his cap fell off.

When we finally got to his helper, she noticed the shirt I was wearing and busted out laughing and took a picture of it. I was hoping Rooker would have the same reaction.

The person in front of me finally got through, and it..was..my..turn. Surprisingly, I was still very calm. I walked up to Rooker and said, “Hey, Rooker, you remember me?” He said, “I do!” I put the gift bag of snacks and his other gift on the table in front of him and he busted out laughing.

“What is all this?!”

“I brought you a bunch of snacks in case they don't feed you good here.”

I started to tell him what was in the bag and that's when he noticed my shirt. Awhile back when Rooker had first started growing his hair out again, Sean Gunn had posted a picture of Rooker with his hair all crazy and called him an “international sex symbol” in the caption. So, naturally, I had that same picture printed on a shirt with the same caption. He laughed when he saw it and said, “Ya' know, not many men can pull off that look.” He took his cap off and started pulling his hair in all directions. His curls were a little wild. I said, “I know, but you pull it off really well.” He was still playing with his curls and I wanted to touch his hair so bad. So I went for it. I said, “Can I touch ‘em, I gotta touch ‘em, Rooker.” He leaned over and I grabbed a handful of his hair. It's so soft, y'all!

After the hair touching moment, we went back to discussing his snacks. I said, “I brought you some of the best donuts in the world and…” That’s when he saw a fork in the bag and asked what it was for. “For this.” I pulled out the little mini cake and told him it was red velvet (which I had read a long time ago was his favorite). Y'all he smiled and laughed the whole time.

He immediately came around the table and gave me a huge hug and said I was too sweet always bringing him stuff. Then it just kind of slipped out of my mouth. I didn’t even realize I had said it ‘til it was too late. As he's still hugging me and telling me how nice I am and that I don't have to bring him stuff, I said “Well, I love you, Rooker. You’re my favorite person in the world.” Good God, I told Michael Rooker I loved him to his face. And I don’t really say that to anybody. Looking back now, though, I'm glad I did. That man makes my world go round, and I want him to know that.

After he hugged me and still laughing, he walked over to my friend, grabbed her face in his hands, and said “She always like this? Bringing presents and stuff?” She said yes and Rooker laughed again.

I went over to the bag and pulled out the little box of chocolate covered pretzels. I said,” Look, Rooker, I wasn’t gonna bring you pretzels ‘cause I know you get them all the time, but these are dark chocolate ones I had made especially for you."

He grabbed the box, opened it, held it out for the people in line to see and said, “Aww, look everyone.” That's when one of the best things that's ever happened to me happened.

Rooker took one of the pretzels and held it up to my mouth for me to take a bite. Unfortunately, I had just gotten a piece of mint gum from my friend not 10 minutes earlier.

I said, “Ew, Rooker, no I have gum.”

I shoulda known Rooker wasn’t gonna take ‘no' for an answer.

He grinned and pushed the pretzel further towards my mouth, "Take a bite.”

So I did.

As soon as my mouth touched that pretzel, he leaned in and took a bite out of the other side at the same time. We ‘Lady and the Tramp'd’ that pretzel. His mouth was like inches away from mine. Gotta admit, I was a little shocked, but I laughed, he laughed, hell his whole line was laughing. I'm sure my face was redder than a tomato.

As I’m still chewing the now disgusting combination of chocolate pretzel and mint gum growing into an oddly textured rubbery substance in my mouth, he says “Here, lemme have it" and he holds his hand out for me to..spit..my..gum..out..in..his..hand.

I said, “Ew, Rooker, I'm not gonna do that …it’s ok, I'll suffer.” He laughed again.

Still trying to recover from that moment, I realized I still hadn’t shown him his other gift. We walked closer to the table, and he said, “What is this?” I said, “You remember last year I gave you the shot glass?” He said yes. I opened the box and said, “Well, I got you these to kind of go with it.” This time I had gotten him two whiskey glasses made with .45 caliber bullets molded into the side (hence the reason I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get them through security). On one glass, I had “I'm Mary Poppins, Y'all!” etched, and the other with an ‘R' and ‘Rooker’. He loved them. He said they were beautiful and took each one out and showed it to everybody. He looked at me and said, “At least they’re .45s. That's the only thing that'll stop a Jack and Coke.” He made himself giggle. It was great.

He ended up giving me like a gazillion hugs the whole time and then told me that I got to pick out a picture for him to sign.

I laughed and said, “No, it's ok, Rooker. I don't bring you stuff to get free autographs. I have some stuff for you to sign in my bag anyway so I'll be back in a little while. You know you gotta put up with me all weekend.”

He laughed again and before I walked away, I lifted up my sleeve and asked him if he remembered my “Sexy Thanos" tattoo as he called it last time. He said, “Yeah, I remember and that ain’t sexy Thanos, that's sexy Rooker.”

I don’t think I could have smiled any bigger than I was when I walked away from his table.

A little while later was photo ops. I had bought one for Saturday and Sunday. His line stretched almost the entire length of the convention center. You could definitely tell that Rooker was the star of Geek'd Con.

The whole time we were waiting in line, Rooker would periodically stick his head out of the curtain and pull the curtain up tight around his face to where his face was all that was showing. I tried to get a picture cause it was adorable as hell, but as soon as I would get my phone out, he would disappear behind the curtain again.

When it was my turn to take the picture, I went up to Rooker and he put his arm around me and I did the same to him. Here's where it gets really good.

Usually, photo ops go by insanely fast. Like seconds fast. But for some reason, there was a delay between my photo and the one before. Rooker's event manager was talking to the photographer about something so that left me and Rooker to ourselves for a moment.

If y'all don't know yet, Rooker in a backwards baseball cap is THE sexiest thing on the planet to me. Last year, he wore one of his Penman hats so I didn’t get to ask him this. This year, I said ‘fuck it’ and went for it.

With him standing right next to me with his arm still around me, I leaned over and said, “Rooker, will you do me a favor?”

He turned towards me, his face inches away from mine, and looked right in my eyes and said, “What's that baby?”

I..could..have..died..right..then..and..there. The feeling of Rooker that close to you. His eyes staring right into your soul. Lawd help me.

I said, “Will you turn your hat around backwards?”

He gave me a slow grin and said, “Yeah, baby.” He turned his cap around but kind of looked a little confused.

I said, “I like it better that way. It's hotter like that.” Yeah, I still can’t believe I said that, too. But I felt I needed to explain why I asked him.

He laughed and grabbed me in a big bear hug, the kind that almost knocked both of us over. He said,” Oh, that gets you all hot, huh?” I said, “Uh, yeaaah." Fuck it. I was being honest. He busted out laughing again, but it was time to take the photo. So we straightened up and I said, “Now you gonna have me blushing.” He grinned and said, “I know, it's great.”

We took the photo and he hugged me again and then held my hand and said ‘thank you, baby’. His event manager asked if he had seen my shirt. He laughed and said yes, and held my hand ‘til I really had to walk away.

We immediately got back in his line so I could get my first autograph. This time, I had him sign one of his old headshots which was him as Zeedo from The Replacement Killers.

Time for a little backstory. A couple of years ago, I got a new dog and named him Rooker. Last year I showed Rooker a meme I had made with him and my dog. He got a kick out of it. Well, almost two months ago, I rescued another dog that had been living in horrendous conditions at a puppy mill in south Louisiana. From the first time I saw this dog, I knew he was supposed to be mine. I got approved for his adoption, named him Zeedo, and he became one of my pack.

Now back to Rooker. When it was my turn, I went up to him and gave him the Zeedo headshot to sign. I pulled out my phone and said, “Rooker, you remember last year I showed you my dog, Rooker? Well, I adopted another dog last month and named him Zeedo.” I showed him a picture of him.

He said, “Aww.” He looked back down at the headshot and said, “Zeedo frommm?” He couldn’t think of the name of the movie. I said,” The Replacement Killers.”

He laughed,” Yes! The Replacement Killers! You know when I grow a goatee like that now, it’s definitely not that color anymore.”

He then noticed the packet of headshots and other pictures I was holding in my hand. He grabbed them and started flipping through them saying he was gonna sign another. I said, “No, you signed all those last time.” He said, “I'm not gonna sign all of them, just my favorite one.” He pulled out the hot young headshot and signed it again and then said something about his resume on the back. And I still forgot to ask him about clown training! I’m so mad at myself!

Another backstory - I need to mention that earlier one of my mom's old co-workers had found us at Geek'd Con. She knew I loved Rooker and had been messaging me about him a couple of months before Geek'd Con. She stood with us in line during the Zeedo headshot signing. Before we got to Rooker, we were talking about going to his panel which was in a couple of hours. She had never met Rooker before or been to one of his panels. I told her how Rooker doesn’t play by the rules, and there was no way he was gonna sit at the table on the stage. I don’t think the Geek'd Con folks really had any idea what they were getting themselves into with Rooker, and I was super curious to see how his panel would be.

While Rooker was signing his old headshot, my mom’s co-worker asked him how old he was in that photo. He figured he was in his early to mid-20s. That original 1991 press photo I have of Rooker with his soda and popcorn at a movie premiere was also in the stack of headshots. He saw it and I said, “Aww, lookit that baby.” He laughed, “Yeah, that young, hot baby.” I said, “Oh, Rooker, you’re still hot.”

He gave me a tight, squishy sideways hug and we said our goodbyes for the moment.

We snuck in late to the panel before his to try to get a good seat. My boss had also texted me in the meantime that he and his wife were on their way. They weren’t sure they would be able to come that particular day, but they ended up making it just in time for his panel.

Rooker’s panel was full of typical Rooker shenanigans. And just as I had expected, Rooker never sat down at the table and lasted about 7 minutes pacing on the stage before he jumped off and ran out into the audience taking questions.

After his panel, we rushed back to Rooker’s booth one last time before he left for the day. I couldn’t wait for my boss to meet Rooker. You know how Rooker and James Gunn are together? Best friends who are constantly bullshitting one another? That’s exactly how me and my boss are. And for the longest time, I’ve been telling my boss every time he fucks with me that someday I would get Rooker to beat him up. Now, they would both be in the same room, and I could finally get Rooker to ‘beat him up’.

I had Rooker sign that goofy picture of him behind the scenes of “Super”. He said, “Hey, it’s Super! I was just talking about Super! Lookit that expression!”, talking about the silly face he was making. After he signed the picture, I pointed to my boss and said, “Rooker, I need you to beat him up for me.”

“Whhhhy?”

“Because he’s my boss and he’s mean to me and I always tell him that I’m gonna get you to beat him up.”

Rooker told my boss to give him his hand. My boss thought he was asking to shake his hand, but instead, Rooker takes my boss’s hand and starts smacking the back of it while saying ‘Bad! Bad! Bad!’ like he was scolding a little kid.

We said goodbye after that and I told him that I’d be back tomorrow to see him again. I also said, “I have some more things to give you.” He misheard me and said, “WHAT? You have more things to do?!” like he was upset or sad I wasn’t coming to see him. I busted out laughing and said, “Noooo, more things to give you.” He smiled really big and said “Ohhh..omg more stuff?" and called me a doll and said I was too sweet. And that was the end of the epic first day.

Sunday, August 18th, 2019

My friend couldn’t come with me to Geek'd Con on Sunday due to work so I drug my 10-year-old niece along. She didn’t mind though. She loves superhero movies and she knows who Rooker is because of me. Plus, I bribed her by telling her I would buy her something while we were there.

We got to the convention center right when the doors opened at 11 that morning, and after going through security, went straight to Rooker’s booth. He was already out and there weren’t that many people in line at that time, so I decided to go ahead and go see him. I had my Bud Melks poster for him to sign and another gift to give him.

As soon as we got to Rooker, someone brought him another cup of coffee. I had to wait for him to pour his new coffee into his old cup, laughing and watching him almost spill coffee all over the place. When he was done, he asked, “Whatcha got?” talking about the poster I had in my hand. I unrolled my Bud poster out in front of him and said, “You remember I have your Bud coveralls? I’m gonna frame this to hang up, too.”

“Yes, you do. Oooh, this looks nice.” He held the poster up for everyone to see, and then asked everyone in line if they had seen Belko. I don’t think anyone said yes. He laughed and joked, “Well don’t, it’s terrible!” The line had gotten somewhat longer behind me so I decided to give him his gift a little while later so I wouldn’t take up any more time.

My niece and I walked around some, and I made good on my promise of buying her something. When we came back around, there were only like 2 or 3 people in Rooker’s line so I went up to give him a gift. This one needed a little explaining.

I went up to Rooker and gave him one of those Yondu car air fresheners I had posted to my tumblr and Rooker Facebook pages awhile back. He said, “Aww, what is this?” I told him how I had found these Yondu air fresheners a couple of months ago and that I had posted them to FB and IG. I almost didn’t want to tell him that I had a Rooker FB page, but I kinda had to. I said, “I have a Rooker FB page called All Hail King Rooker.”

He said, “All hail what?”

“King Rooker.”

He busted out laughing. “Ahh, King Rooker. Okay.”

“Ok, so, I posted these on my Rooker FB, and Kim (who runs the Rookerholics FB page) commented on the picture saying that you needed some for your Airstream. So, I was like ‘yesss, he needs some for his Airstream!’ So, I go to buy you some, but they were sold out. And they’ve been sold out ever since. Soooooo, I’m giving you my extra one.”

He loved it and said, “Awww. Thank you, baby.” He took it out of the package and put it together.

I then told him that I had taken out the air freshener thingy ‘cause it was shit and never worked but the little Yondu still looks cool.

We talked a little more and he came around the table to give me another hug. He then asked my niece her name and held out his hand for her to shake it. He teased her a little bit about not shaking his hand hard enough so he taught her how to shake hands properly but not too hard that it would break his hand. I explained to him that she was my niece and that I didn’t have any adult supervision anymore. He laughed and told my niece not to let me get in any trouble. I told him, “You know the only trouble I’d be getting into is over here with you, Rooker.” He laughed again and gave me another hug, telling me how sweet how I was. And I did it again, y’all. While he still had his arms around me, I said, “I love you, Rooker. And, I’ll be back later to give you more stuff.” He said, “Dammit, woman!” as he pulled away and I left his line again smiling like an idiot.

I had another photo op a little later, but not much happened during that one. I mean other than the fact that I got to stand close to him again with his arm around me and he held my hand as I walked away, but...

It was nearing the end of the afternoon and Rooker had another round of photo ops at 3 pm. The con closed at 5 and I was afraid he might be leaving after his photo ops. I decided to go get in his line one last time and do the thing I had been dreading all weekend, saying goodbye.

I had him sign a couple more pictures, one being a photo of him from Thief, which he filmed in Shreveport. He was like ‘Oooh, Thief.” I said, “Yep, you signed my Super (which was also filmed in Shreveport) pic yesterday and Thief today.” He told me he still has the suspenders he wore in that photo. I asked if he remembered me telling him that my stepdad was a cop and that he had been working on the set of Thief and met Rooker years ago. He said yeah, and I explained to him that my stepdad had just retired from the force after like 30 years or so and that his retirement party was in a couple of weeks and it was being held at the same place that he filmed his last scene in Thief. (The place is actually an event hall and my sister works there now.) He thought that was pretty cool. I also had him sign the crazy-haired “International Sex Symbol” picture, too.

His line started to get really long and I felt like I needed to hurry, so I gave him the last few things I had for him, a Shreveport Police Dept. patch, a Shreveport Fire Dept. patch, and a Matchbox car of a Shreveport Police cruiser. I explained the stuff really quick and said, “This is it, Rooker. I gotta go. This is all I got. I won’t be coming back anymore.” He grabbed me up in another tight hug that nearly knocked us off balance, and said, “Me neither!” I said, “Noooo, Rooker, you have to come back. Please!” He laughed and said he would. He then pointed to my niece and said that she’d be full-grown next year when he’s here. I told him goodbye and walked away one last time.

I swear it was like instant depression walking away from his table knowing that I wouldn’t be seeing him again. And I know he calls a lot of people ‘baby’ or ‘sexy’ or any of his other pet names and gives hugs to everybody, but damn if he doesn’t make you feel special. It’s like no one else exists but the two of you when he’s talking to you. He makes me forget, if just for a moment, all the negative thoughts that I have about myself, the depression, the way I’ll never be good enough for anyone. He makes me truly..happy, and no one else on earth makes me feel the way that he does. And I hope that he knows that. Walking away from him is seriously one of the hardest things to do.

So, again, that’s it. That’s my second adventure with the Rooker, the most beautiful person inside and out in the entire world. I’m not sure when I’ll get to see him next, but if it’s up to me and written in the stars, there will be a next time. I already have some more gift ideas (gotta keep up my sugar mama ways) and another pretty epic shirt design that I think he’ll get a kick out of. So, until next time, farewell y’all! :)

#michael rooker #rooker #geekd con #I love this man so much #like soooo fucking much

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moonhatake · 6 years

Text

THE PROMISED NEVERLAND FUCKING THEORY (SPOILERS FOR THOSE NOT PAST 118 AND PAST 80 ish)

This theory is about what might happen soon and possibly the end of the story

**inhales**

THIS IS MY CONTRIBUTION AND I'M PUTTING MY HAND DOWN AND SPOUTIN OUT SOME THEORIES OKAY LET'S START.

**claps hands** THEORY RevIEw

First off ever since they found Norman things have felt a little icky to me and as we all know, a story like this doesn't give you happiness and let's it stay happy. People have said that Norman came back too early but I think that's intentional. The gangs all back together now, but there's gotta be a catch.

Let me also add how Norman looks much older than them. Idk if this is just the way the author drew him, but I think it could show how Norman isn't on Emmas and Rays level anymore since Norman hasn't spent all that time boogieing with them. (Inspired by a best buds theory) So him looking older could be a symbolism thing

He was experimented on at the place he was held captive at and now is older, which could be plausible once we gather more information.

Okay Back to the Trio

Okay everyone's back yes it's all great, but in chapter 120 Norman talks about his plan to eradicate all the monsters. Basically an all out war and everyone is on board, all except Emma. I mean look at this face.

Is this the face of someone who agrees with whatf Norman is saying? Okay we have that established and it is confirmed that Emma doesn't really want to kill the monsters in chapter 122 and is conflicted with that. Emma wants to find a peace for both worlds and that's a really interesting take since the monsters have been basically eating them, but Emma makes a good point in chapter 122.

Now I'm pausing here and going to

RAY TIME

Ray has gone through hell and back for Emma since Grace field to the forest to goldy pond and till now. He follows Emma and believes in her plan to create a peace, since time and time again, she has shown him there is another way. When Ray wanted to leave everyone back at Grace Field, Emma (With ghost Normans help I guess) showed Ray they could do it and save everyone. When Ray and them were in the forest it was Emma who was the light in darkness and believed that everyone can push on. And then at Goldy Pond. HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT. THAT. GODDAMN. ARC. THE AUTHOR AND THE ILLUSTRATOR ARE FUCKING MADLADS. Emma's goddamn plan on how to beat the monsters was so fucking cool, but in the end Emma gets hurt and they're all in the cave like "ooohh shit we gonna dieee too many peeps hurt" but then like Oliver is like, "leave us, we dead anyways" and everyone is like "Noooooo", but after all this Ray says

Nobody is being left behind. Emma's words are now his and since he's seen that Emma can do it, then maybe even he can do it.

Now back to chapters 119 and so on. Ray has been seen to be on edge and it looks like he doesn't even trust the place nor Norman

I mean he has the look of concern on his face and I think the authors are hinting something at us because they wouldn't add this in just because. In chapter 121 where everyone was having fun and stuff, we see everyone smiling and it's all nice but yet there are subtle images of Ray being left out.

I think now that Norman and Emma are fine and they're all fine, he feels like he's not needed anymore. His soul reason to keep on living and pushing was to protect his friends. They're in a way, his Ray of Light aahahhahaha **cries in a ball**

I think now, Ray feels left out and like I said not needed, but he's still willing to protect them because he loves them. Although there are some things Ray sees in Norman that is suspicious. Ray isn't stupid and sees more of a bigger picture. Obviously he knows that something is up with Norman, but is just playing along right now because Emma is happy. Basically I would like to say is chapter 121 is the

Calm Before The Storm

So I'm pretty sure we're going to get a spitfire of pain after these chapters.

Now to the Main Point

I think what's going to happen is that Emma's gonna go to Norman and tell him that war is not the answer and that they should go to the "Seven Walls" thing and Dragon eye, (idk it was kinda weird but...)

...because back around chapters 102 and 103 where they went to that creepy temple thing with all the ancient artifacts, Emma and them ALREADY found a way to get in using

But then they were attacked just then. :^( so sad we all know who yeets to heaven.

But when Emma tells Norman this it's one of two things, either Norman refuses to go and pushes his plan for war or Norman agrees to check it out JUST FOR EMMA and pretends to find nothing so he can push for his war. Because I'm sure Norman doesn't want to be goodie goodie with the monsters.

So here it is...

Emma might break from Normas party and might take a small group of people including Ray and find their own solution back at the temples. There might be some people opposed to trying to find a peaceful solution and that's when Emma's original party breaks up. Idk for sure who might stay with Norman (Gilda and that other dude? Probs? Cause with Norman it's safe?). As Emmas party breaks up and leaves, Norman plots for his war and the story soon becomes like a race to see whos solution will prevail

Because we have seen Ray feel iffy about Norman, Ray might make his own group and leave FIRST. Why? Maybe because he feels like he isn't needed anymore OR the fact that Emma wants to stick with Norman a little too much and isn't listening to him. Ray might take an even smaller group and leave to go find info about the monsters or go back to the Feilds to save Phil for Emma, because he feels like he can do it without her. Idk if he would tell her that he is going. I feel like he would but that would mean Emma wants to come. For most of the story it's always been Emma and Ray and now it's his chance to actually be an individual. And it might be a prove to himself thing. In the meantime Emma argues with Norman and that's when she splits from Norman. In the meantime, Ray and Emma try to keep touch as they both do different things, because they can't all go to save Phil and then run back to the temples. That's a lot of time and also Norman is planning his war. So Emmas going to temples, Rays freeing Phil and Normans plotting a war

Norman and their crew go to where Phil is and save him, but some arguments happens (maybe they were going to kill the mama of that house but Emma says like, "no don't kill her.") and BAM! As the house burns up with FLAMES, Emma decides to go to temples and takes some peeps with Ray, while Norman takes the rest of the kids and goes back to plot his war. Then it's a race.

**side note** if this does happen and Ray does want to leave in all of this and be his own third party and disappear to do his own thing, during the showdown in the end of the series, Ray will probs pop out and help Emma

OR?**kinda weird theory

Norman is trying to find the super human kids and make an army outta them and trying to experiment on kids to enhance them for an army. Ray finds out, almost killed. Tells Emma and Emma doesn't believe. Confronts Norman. Norman a hoe and lies to her. Ray makes his third party and leaves. Norman then comes clean like a little bitch. Emma leaves to temples (maybe after Ray leaves her a note on what he's doing)

Conclusion

Basically what I'm trying to say is I think the Trio is going to split and it's going to be where the kids have to choose sides and it's a race to find the right solution.

Just my opinion though, I could be missing a bunch of things but this is what I see. Oh and going back to way Norman is shown earlier than people think, this is why. To start the second phase of the plot. Let me know what y'all think, I'd really love to hear from ya. Thanks for reading till the end. I know it's long as hell.

#promised neverland #yakusoku no neverland #tpn norman #tpn ray #tpn #tpn emma #tpn spoilers #tpn theory

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arguedquill1226 · 5 years

Text

Hollowed Heroes

chapter one (18+, MINORS DO NOT READ)

Summary: BuckyBarnes x FemaleReader-you have a unpolished past but you want a true chance at doing good in the world, to redeem yourself. Oh! And you happen to live and work with the Avengers sense the fall of shield while doing it... everything changes one day when Steve brings home a stray. What can the future hold for you and the team? Will this change the dynamic of missions? Will this stray be the answer to some of your darkest secret? Only time will tell...

Word count: 2,790ish

Taglines: 18+, Marvel AU, angst, explicit language, cursing (more to come as it gets deeper into the story)

Notes: Hi everyone! This is my first ever post of AU Marvel fanfic so please be gentle LOL...in short I've flipped some of the canon facts around like Sam and Steve got really close while shield is still in operation but age of Ultron happened before the triskelion incident in DC. So the facts are still the same but flipped or altered to work for my AU timeline. I'll try to fill in the differences as we go along with the fanfic, but I'mma Bebe writer so bare with me and my terrible grammar and punctuation XD so I apologize ahead of time! Also I do my own photo edits but I get a lot of the pictures of of Pinterest so all the credit goes to the OG poster of those pics...Happy reading & Hope y'all enjoy!

PS. I post from a mobile device so sorry for filling your feed and no keep reading option 😢

Updated on January 22, 2021

••••••••••

Chapter one-

First Impressions…

Tired and your eyes are burning. You casually lean against the wall with your knee bent and foot pushed on a piece of industrial paneling in an open debriefing room surrounded by soft sunlight and windows. It’s fairly early in the morning and you’re zoning out looking at the rich wooden floor while Tony drowns on for what felt like the 10th time on how you and Nat’s night op went and what the information you gathered meant for the “big picture.”

You had completely understood the gist of what he was trying to explain the first time he went over it. But when he gets on a roll with an audience, you know better than to interrupt him or let your sarcasm get the best of you. You and Nat were beat but the others had shown up late to the debrief so you just thought about getting out of your gear and hitting the rack for a few. The room was fairly quiet, with only Tony talking. So it wasn't hard to hear down the corridor a heavy set of metal doors close calmly with an mild echo…a side effect of having such wide open spaces on the operations level of the Avengers compound.

The noise had jarred you out of your dazed thought patterns. When you looked up, it had dawned on you that not everyone you'd had expected to see was in the meeting.

Steve.......where is Steve? Was your initial thought.

You and Steve had gotten close over the last 10 months sense Nat had brought you into the fold a little while before S.H.I.E.L.D fell. About as close as him a Nat. Sam had always joked with you 3 about being “the three musketeers” on ops. But you didn’t care because it was all in fun and was kind of true. You all had your particular skill sets, but also some skills that we’re similar. So it was easy to fall into step with each other.

It was then, you could hear hushed voices right outside the door frame to the room. Within seconds Steve and another man obscured slightly behind his right shoulder had entered, quietly sliding over to lean on the opposite wall from you hoping to not interrupt Tony you had guessed. He'd seemed to notice you following their movements with curious eyes and gave you a kind nod that you returned with a saw smile.

You glanced over quickly at the stranger. He was about as tall as Steve but thicker with broader shoulders. Dark, unkempt hair came down to his jawline obscuring his main features along with the black ball cap he was donning. He wore an Army green utility jacket over a light blue plaid shirt, denim jeans with boots. Dressed very mundane, perhaps too much. What struck you as especially odd was the fact that he was wearing black leather gloves out of season for upstate New York. It was early autumn, still fairly warm outside.

Steve had backed out of this last mission with you and Nat to deal with what he would only describe as a “personal matter,” so you started to wonder if this man had anything to do with that. Steve had explained how he had full confidence in you two to handle a simple stakeout/smash and grab on our own. So neither of you pressed him for more info and wished him luck.

A few seconds later, Tony had finished and everyone was content with all the information given and was about to stand when Tony, being snarky, acknowledged Steve finally showing up to the meeting.

“So nice of you to join us, we were helpless without you Cap!” Tony stated while waving his finger at our fearless leader dripping with sarcasm.

“Sorry Tony, I was hoping to be here earlier to talk to you.” He said a little unsure of Tony’s reaction to the stranger he glanced back at.

At that action, Tony seemed to register something in his memory. Possibly something him and Steve had discussed in private you wondered. Possibly something about this strange man who seem to be fairly familiar to you but you couldn't place him…By this time, everyone but Nat and Sam was staring back at Steve and the stranger waiting for an explanation. Those two seem to know something you and the others didn't. Nat looked at you out of the corner of your eye.

Who was he?...you wondered.

•••••••••••••••

He was nervous walking through the double doors in the corridor leading to a room that he could hear some guy rambling on, the voice sounded vaguely familiar. Looking back at the exit while the doors echoed shut behind them, Steve assured him that he wouldn’t let anything get out of hand and would explain everything to the group who may not understand or be upset that he had found the man Steve new long ago and was bringing him home like some lost pup...which Bucky hated to think of it like that but the man was damn determined and stubborn for him to come back with him. Bucky knew this team was established to do good in the world but he didn’t know if his presence would upset their carefully built dynamic.

Steve had left 3 weeks ago on a solo op that he was quiet about any details to most of the team but Sam and Tony knew. And Nat guessed it when she had seen the three in an incognito meeting disgusting details on a large timeline display of information Friday, Tony’s helpful A.I., had up about the ghost from more than just Steve’s past. Even with how close Steve, Nat and You are…you all have your individual secrets and knowledge that hasn’t come up in conversation. And Steve didn’t know that you had your own run in with the man he was about to walk through the door with right now. But Nat did know, but choose to not tell you this fact and may be regretting it that the moment. But it wasn’t her secret to tell Steve so how was she supposed to explain to him that not everyone may be okay with this.

Nat had warned Steve once at the cemetery when she gave him a copy of the file from Kiev. But she did it again a second time that evening. Before he and Sam left to find his oldest friend. He had promised to take what she said to heart and to not push Bucky or the others into anything they weren’t comfortable with. But they left anyways. Sam had returned alone 8 days after they left and only would say “it went as well as could be expected and Steve (more likely, Bucky) just needed some more time.”

In that time away, the boys found Bucky on a tip from the Smithsonian video feeds and CCTV which of course Bucky didn’t know was a thing. So it wasn’t hard to track him down and they found him in a seedy motel living on stolen credit cards, junk food from gas stations and a few random notebooks looking so lost. They had only left a note on the door to his room, letting Bucky know they wouldn’t bother him. But they added a phone number and that they could help him learn about his past, if he wanted. He thought about it for days before he called the man from the museum exhibition, the one everyone called ‘Captain America.’ He was starting to remember flashes of memories and feelings over the last few months away from Hydra's grasp, but couldn’t seem to make sense of them on his own. So he said, “fuck it!” And met the two men he recognized from that awful day in Washington DC.

•••••••••••••

They did help but his mind was far from perfect and he felt like an exposed nerve walking through the door to the room.

Fuck, so many people!

So he ducked his head and stayed near Steve. Even though he only knew the man for a few short weeks, he felt like he could trust Steve unconditionally which wasn’t a feeling he was used to. He recognized the guy talking as the famous Tony Stark or aka ‘Ironman.’ He was grateful when Tony didn’t really draw attention to him directly and chose instead to pick on Steve.

Bucky took the opportunity to scan the room. An old habit from all the Hydra training or maybe from howling commando days. That wasn’t clear to him yet. He seen some faces that were confused or apprehensive. Two he recognized to be Sam and a girl he thought was named Natalia, he’d hoped she didn’t completely want to shoot him for what he tried to do to her in DC and whatever else he may have done. She didn’t look upset though. She looked unsure, then glanced to a quiet girl he hadn’t noticed until he followed Nat’s eye line.

It was you, a beautiful girl nonchalantly leaning on the wall in a “back of the class” kind of way. With long, YC hair that was a bit wild from the long night and deep YC eyes with messy black smoky eyeshadow that resembled war paint. Dressed in all black, holsters and straps. She wasn’t like Natalia dressed in a sleek look though, more apocalyptic and organic. Weathered Moto pants, combat boots and a loose fitted, faded black tank top that had a worn group of holes reminiscent of bird shot where your utility belt buckle rubs against the material. Your jacket discarded on the floor haphazardly by your feet. Almost familiar to someone or something he’d seen before…wait………..yes……definitely someone………..shit… and the memory slips away…

Bucky was completely stunned by how beautiful you are. But he didn’t want to seem like a creep so he kept his glance short before looking back at Natalia and Sam. He had completely ignored what Steve was saying to his friends, being stuck in his thoughts when he heard Tony say,

“This is James Barnes everybody. Don’t be afraid to say ‘Hi' and remember to show him to his room later, will ya Cap?”

“He prefers Bucky actually,” Steve says nodding his head to the rest of the group “and I will. Thanks again for understanding Tony.”

By this time, Vis, Wanda, Tony, Maria, Rhodey and Clint began filling out of the door past Steve and Bucky with quick greetings and smiles in a hurry to get to their priorities for the day…whatever those were. You found yourself smiling and wanting to giggle at the thought of Clint’s main mission probably being to eat the last donuts in the kitchen of the compound, when you realized Nat had walked up to you and Sam had joined Barnes and Steve by the door. Nat was obviously trying to block his view of you for some reason. As good as she was executing a distraction, she should’ve known better as that was one of your many skill sets too.

That’s when you realized Barnes kept his head coy but was glancing at you periodically over Nat’s shoulder. It wasn’t hard to see because you were slightly taller than Nat so she couldn’t really block him from looking your way. It struck you differently than it usually does when someone stares at you. Normally, you cringe and feel awkward in a personal setting with someone staring at you. But this time it’s like his eyes are drawing you into a trap. His eyes…holy fuck, you hadn’t noticed his eyes. Before they were hidden under the bill of his hat but now they’re looking directly into yours and they’re the brightest slate blue color. You easily spot them from over 15 feet away.

Nat notices your eye contact and she scoops up your jacket and shoves it lightly to your chest. You grab it while she simultaneously hooks her elbow around yours and leads you out of the room. On your way by the three men, she smiles and says,

“see you boys at the gym later.”

Bucky follows you and Nat’s path with his eyes as you hang a left leading into the section that has the hanger bay on your right heading to the elevators on the left that will take you up to the living quarters. He turns back to Sam and Steve to find them looking at him.

“Don’t worry, YourNickName isn’t anyone you need to worry about. She’s actually really cool.” Sam says with a smug smile on his face like he noticed something.

Bucky repeated, “YNN?”

“Ya, it’s short for YFirstN. She’s been working with us for a while now but she’s still kind of the new here too. Now, how about a tour?” Steve added.

Bucky nodded in agreement and they walked out of the room heading in the same direction as you two did. Hoping he may run into you again while Sam and Steve kept pointing out what different sections of the compound were used for.

•••••••••••••

After you and Nat we're a little ways away from the debriefing room, she started some small talk about how nice a hot shower would feel right now and you agreed wholeheartedly. But stepping into the elevator, you couldn't shake the feeling that you wanted to go back and properly say hi to the new guy Bucky and welcome Steve back.

Nat told you with a smile sensing your thoughts, “don't worry, we will see Steve later at the gym. And later for movie night. You know how Tony gets if we don't show up for his events, we should catch up on our sleep now so we're not late.”

You giggle, “events?... It’s a movie Nat.”

“Ya, but Rogers is back and brought Barnes with him so now he’s going to go overboard and really make it a picture show.”

“Yep…agreed. It’ll be a whole thang now!” you say over exaggeratedly with you hands and jacket waving back and forth while rolling your eyes. “Hopefully he doesn’t plan on showing anything Charles Chaplin for our sakes!” you yell jokingly while turning away and jogging down the hall. You hear Nat belly laugh before you both duck into your rooms for some much needed R&R.

It doesn’t take you long to peel your gear off and start the shower. It starts to whistle due to the steaming hot water shooting out of the head while you bun your hair on the top of your head and flop your towel over the rod. Ready for the inevitable soap in your eye somehow because you’re secretly a total klutz. You turn the water down a tad and start your music on your phone and jump in while you start to sing along.

You’re clean and relaxed in no time at all so you shut off the shower and hop out, throw on a tank and shorts and turn the music down a bit. When you walk out of the bathroom you hear a familiar voice pass by your door. It’s Steve saying, “and your room is right here, mine’s just down the hall and Sam’s is around the corner if you need anything.”

A door in the hall latches softly, then…… silence. You open your door to hopefully catch Cap before he runs off and he’s already in front of your door. His hand up looking prepared to knock and eyebrows raised with a smile on his face when he sees you.

“Hey!” he boasts.

“Hey you!” you reach for a quick hug and he gladly accepts. “We all missed you.”

“Well I’m back now. So you don’t need to anymore. Listen, can I ask you a favor?” he asks with a grin.

“Of course!”

“I hope you don’t mind but…uh…I gave Bucky the room next to yours. And I know you don’t really know him…or anything…I guess what I’m asking is, if you see him out and about can you help make him feel welcome…I figured sense you’re still kind of new maybe…” He tries to explain while rubbing the back of his neck and looking shy.

But you hold up your hand to stop his awkwardness and say, ”yeah, of course Steve. Anything for ya.”

“That great, thanks YN, you rock!” he says beaming.

“Not a prob. Now unless you have any better uses for my bed you’d like to personally show me?” you tease with a sarcastically sultry expression to see if he blushes.

“Uhhh…I…” he totally does.

“That’s what I thought,” you giggle and shoo him off. “I’m hitting the rack, night Stevie!”

“But it’s day!” he jokes as he head down the hall as you shut your door.

You climb into bed thoroughly enjoying the thought of how your sense of humor and Steve’s reservoir of pent-up 1940s sass effortlessly fits together. Within seconds of getting comfy and turning off your tunes, you’re out.

Chapter Two coming soon... Masterlist here

***if you liked this please feel free to let me know with a *reblog or ask* thanks so much for reading!!!

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky imagine #bucky x you #marvelAU #avengers x reader #avengers x you #avengers x y/n #bucky x y/n #fanfic #fanfiction #writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writers

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timbrrwolfe · 2 years

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I guess I could talk a little about what I've been up to in the years since I was last on this site.

I started therapy. Then stopped therapy after like a year and a half because it seemed like we weren't making a ton of progress with therapy alone (I have plans to do the whole testing for adhd and autism so we can figure out what's in my neurodivergent soup aside from the anxiety, but there was apparently a waitlist for the few people in my area who do that kind of testing). And, to clarify, the thing we weren't making much progress with was a specific goal of therapy that seems held back by adhd/autism/anxiety that will either require more specific resources to work through than the therapy. The therapy itself was actually pretty good for what it was. Though because of how I ended up at the practice I did (i.e. my mom got me in with someone who worked in the same building as she does) it ended up being a Christianity-based therapy. As a Christian, I didn't exactly mind this. But as a Christian who's been, uh...less than active, we'll say, and has had my issues with the current state of Christianity in America, it was not without its flaws. But I can talk more about that in a different post.

I got a little more serious about wanting to be a writer and make money off of that. And then proceeded to completely fall flat on my face when it came to actually doing the writing. I still have a million ideas rattling around in my head but I've not gotten much better at actually sitting down to do it (one of the things I was trying to sort out with therapy but might require like adhd meds or something). But man once I get that sorted out and start actually writing it's over for y'all. (No I don't know who y'all refers to there).

Reading has actually been down for me lately, but I've been watching more movies and playing more games, which has been nice. Still awful at sitting down to watch shows, and my backlog in everything is ever-growing. Still gotta figure out a balance there. Right now I'm reading through Dune after watching the movie and BOY the book is slower. I think I'm right around where the movie ended, so about halfway through the book, so we'll see if it picks up now that it's newer info. On the topic of games I ended up playing board games online with a few people more now, which has mostly been games that were new to me, which has been fun. I will forever be meaning to set up game nights with friends and never actually doing it (one of these days, surely). On the video games side of things I found out my library actually has switch games available so I've started renting those (they are, unsurprisingly, a hot commodity, and the selection is admittedly limited, but it's still a good way to play games I might not have earlier). So far I've only rented New Pokemon Snap, which I didn't finish in like a month because choice fatigue from choosing which pictures to save burned me out a bit (as well as it being pretty repetitive with the area leveling system requiring multiple replays of the same area with little variation) but I got pretty close still. And I requested Super Mario Odyssey which is probably a longer game but also a more concrete game, goals-wise, so hopefully I'll be able to burn through that pretty quickly. Also my current focus in terms of ongoing games has been Pokemon Unite (which I am, I think, pretty good in and the game is decently fun but boy does it have some stuff to fix before I can call the game as a whole good) and Fall Guys. Though I realized recently that a lot of my motivation for playing those games is tied to being able to customize characters. Which like. Not that surprising in hindsight, but it still caught me off guard to notice.

Still unemployed (see aforementioned stuff about therapy), so that keeps piling on. Still single. And...probably not ready to mingle? I dunno, my lack of drive in finding a partner is mostly related to that ongoing unemployment because I don't want to be that much of a burden on a partner. But I guess if someone I was interested in and felt would be a good match asked, knowing my situation, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

#Random Timbit #Tim rambles #in which Tim journals publicly instead of privately #still at least I'm getting the writing juices flowing again #ignore that I'm posting this at 430am local time Orz

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mercurialsmile · 7 years

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Halo Review

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto is the worse book I have ever read. Reading Halo made me appreciate Twilight for what it is. I can't even call it a Twilight ripoff, because calling it that actually insults Twilight.

Halo is the worst published book I have ever come across. It was so terrible, for most the book, I had to read a single chapter at a time! Any more just pissed me off and bored me to tears. A chapter a day, and I was done. Only time I could read more than one chapter at a time was at the end, in where I was just rushing to get the book finished because HEY! I HAVE ONLY A FEW PAGES LEFT! I'M ALMOST DONE!

I am going to try and put the terribleness of this book into words. I really, really am gonna try. But I don't think words can really explain just how thoroughly BAD this book is.

So instead of just telling y'all how bad this book is, I'm going to show y'all. Because unlike Adornetto, I actually know how to show, not tell.

The Writing:

First, let's talk about the writing. Apparently, you can just string any words into any sentences and have them make sense now! Wow! What a concept!

But seriously, the writing was godawful. I counted maybe two descriptions that were actually needed and well-written. TWO DESCRIPTIONS! Out of... What… 485 pages? That's just sad.

The writing was bland at best and confusing at worst. It hit all the YA cliches, and then some. Random descriptions of things that had nothing to do with anything- such as a tree, or paintings. Descriptions about how beautiful the love interest was littered EVERY PAGE he was in. Seriously, you can not escape his "tousled walnut hair" and his "beautiful nutmeg hair" because apparently, his hair is made of nuts and spices. Also, he is yet another character whose blue eyes constantly change color; sapphire, ocean, cobalt, blue, turquoise… yeah every "blue" metaphor was in this book minus clorox! Pro-tip to everyone out there; all those blues are different shades and hues! Stick to one metaphor, using is sparingly, and we get it!

Besides the cliches, the similes in this book were just plain strange. "I resembled a column of shimmering moonlight" and "it blew like flour in the wind." and I honestly cannot remember EVERY strange simile and metaphor in this book, but trust me, they're there. Too many times I found myself stopping and scratching my head because of the weird way things were worded or compared to.

The book's pacing is everywhere. The beginning is rushed, the middle is slow and plods along at a pace that makes you wanna die, and the end is rushed so badly, the ending chapters just fall apart. It's like someone reminded her that books have plot, so she shoved a plot that should've been building up for the past 400-something pages into the last 50 pages. Near the end of the book, the writing simply deteriorated. It was like the book was missing entire SCENES that connected what was going on together. The characters began teleporting around the scenes as well, their body movements not written out at all. One second, one character was in the middle of the living room, the next they were at a dining table, and then they were back in the living room, then thrown across the room across the dining room table. Yeah. It was that confusing.

There were no slow parts near the end to let you dwell on any of the tragedies that happened, no feeling or care put at all into it. Most the book focused on the insta-love between the two leads.

And because it really needs to be said, there is also no showing in this book. Everything is told. Nothing is left to your imagination, nothing is left up for you to interpret, and there are no points in which the book lets you think and chew on what you just read. The writing is very simple besides the random words she obviously plucked out of the Thesaurus to use. There is nothing new about the writing style, nothing interesting, hell there is barely a style here at all, if I am being honest. It's plain and bland.

The last thing I have to say about the writing was the amount of typos in this shit book. Which, to be honest, if I had to edit this hot flaming mess, I'd fall asleep too. That's the ONLY way editors could have thought this was fine. There were missing commas everywhere, wrong punctuation, missing words in a couple of places, and too many times I stopped just to wonder how this book got published on the amount of typos alone.

I have nothing left to say about the writing. It was just a hot mess. Beyond a hot mess, it was how did this get published?

Angel Mythology and Research:

The mythology and clear lack of research that went into this book gets its own little part because I CANNOT let it slide.

For one, I can't believe that the woman who wrote this was a Christian. I seriously do not understand how any Christian can butcher their own religion so thoroughly. I'm not even a Christian, but even I could see the clear errors.

And the thing is, the errors aren't even small little errors either!

I think the biggest issue was the clear lack of any research done in angelology. One of the most basic things about angels, is that their names end in -el in some way. -El, -iel, and -ael, usually. -El means "of god."

The main angel character was Bethany while one of the other angel characters was named Ivy. The only angel that adhered to the angel mythos was Gabriel, who is, yes, the archangel Gabriel. So not even a character she really created herself. Well, if you can call any of this book's characters characters.

But I'm getting ahead of myself there.

I don't think this book could figure out which version of Heaven it wanted to use. I thought it felt Catholic, but then it fucked up the Virtues and Circles in Heaven, and also the hierarchy of angels. Archangels are not the most powerful angels in Heaven. I'll admit, I didn't really know that until I was doing my own research into angels for my own book series, but that's the thing: I did my research. This author clearly didn't. Archangels are actually pretty low on the hierarchy. The most powerful angels are Seraphim, who I believe guard God's throne.

Look, if you're gonna write a book based on already established mythology- and especially biblical mythology of a religion YOU ARE A PART OF- you have to do your research to make sure the shit you're spewing is correct!

Speaking of shit spewed, the world building in this book based on this fractured mythology never painted a clear picture. It's obvious that the angle of angels hiding among humans was barely thought out at all. The bits of worldbuilding given was always info dumped and half of it was completely pointless. It was just a mess, to be honest.

Plus, the fact that Bethany, the main character, gets involved with a human is completely hand waved with no real reason. Usually, angels being with humans is a big no-no. Look, you can either have it be a problem, or not. Plus, the reason why angels can't be with humans was never actually given! Usually, the reason is the chance of birthing nephelium children. That was never mentioned. It was mentioned briefly in a very vague manner that it's a sin for a human to get with an angel, but the reason why it's considered a sin is never given. This book tries to push that this relationship is somewhat forbidden, but it never actually is shown to be! No consequences come from the characters being together.

And I'll admit, there are parts in this book in which you kinda forget Bethany is an angel and just think of her as some stupid, naive, annoying girl. Well, she is all those things even with being an angel. It's ridiculous.

I'll go more into detail about the angel characters in the character section of this review. Let's move onto the… "plot" of this book.

The Plot:

Plot? What plot?

Seriously, there is absolutely no plot to be found here. It's tacked on at the end like the author somehow forgot books are supposed to have a point and plot.

Before I get into the train wreck that was the execution of this so-called "plot," let's talk about the actual plot itself.

The story of Halo is supposedly that Dark Forces have been gathering in a coast town called Venus Cove. Three angels; Gabriel the Warrior, Ivy the Healer, and Bethany, the most human, are sent to this town to root out the Dark Forces and put an end to the unnatural troubles the town has been facing.

Now, this is… kinda cliche. The basic story of angels-going-to-Earth and one of the angels happen to fall in love with Earth and doesn't want to leave. We've seen it all the time. It's been done to death. Of course, just because a book's plot is cliche, doesn't mean it's going to be bad. If the execution is handled well enough, and if it's nuanced enough, then any cliched plotline can become interesting again. However, this book does not play with the possibilities at all. It takes the safest route possible with this plotline and thus, in just a few chapters in, you're already bored. If you've read any YA novel at all, or hell, even seen any movies based on YA novels or high school movies in general, you'll be able to easily map out what happens in this book. Strange girl appears on Earth. Strange girl goes to school. Strange girls meets her best friend forever her first day and love interest and maybe even the bitchy cheerleader slut that hates her. Yeah, the only thing missing here was the cheerleader slut, though considering all of Bethany's friends and her best friend are shown and slut-shamed, I guess the bitchy cheerleader wasn't needed here.

Yeah. Nothing new or interesting is done here.

But that's not the worst part of this plot. The worst part was, really, just how godawful this execution was. Like… seriously. As I stated before, the pacing was atrocious.

The first two chapters really hammers in how big of a deal it is to try and figure out what these "dark forces" are in this town. But then, the book completely drops that. It's mentioned a couple of times by Gabriel and Ivy randomly, but they never actually do anything to go find these dark forces. Or, if they do, it's all offscreen and mentioned in passing. Seriously, this book drops its main and only plot for hundreds of pages to focus on the insta-love between Bethany and her love interest, Xavier. Thing is, there is nothing interesting about these characters. Putting them together doesn't make them interesting either! You could go outside right now, find two rocks on the ground, and those two rocks would have better chemistry between them than Bethany and Xavier. They meet one another like… three times, fall in love within a couple short chapters, and the rest of the book till the very disastrous end is Bethany obsessing over her love for Xavier three times a page. I'll get more into how disgusting and unhealthy their relationship is in a bit.

Now, about 2/3s into this book, the villain is introduced. You know he's the villain right away since he's described as being dark and almost gothic. Oh, and he has a tattoo. Because everyone knows ALL VILLAINS have tattoos and are "too skinny to be comfortable to hug." Yeah, that was in here too.

Thing is, the villain doesn't do anything except become Bethany's friend and act like a Nice Guy. Yeah, he's described as looking "cool and gothic" and then later donned a fedora, scarf, and trench coat. I wish I was joking.

Prom is the only thing built up in this book and that's when the villain FINALLY strikes Bethany. Now, you'd think prom is where all the bad shit goes down and the climax of the book, right? It'd be cliched, but whatever. But nope! Prom happens, the villain is revealed to the shit cast in this book. I say cast because all us readers have known for pages that he's the villain, and then the book has the GALL to spend a couple of chapters with the angels being pussies and not knowing what sort of creature the villain is.

The villain is causing the dark forces! Which is caused by demons and "agents of lucifer" (yeah that's what demons are called in this). His touch has already been described as to burn Bethany! Why are y'all being little bitches and letting him just continue to hurt people?! Why does it take y'all such a long time to figure out he's a demon! Seriously, it's eye roll worthy. It's so dumb.

After the prom, which you would think is when the actual climax would happen, events that should've taken place hundreds of pages ago are condensed in the last few chapters afterwards. Foreshadowing and everything. Someone dies, there are like a couple of pages focusing on how sad the death is even though you saw the character who died like… only 3 or 4 times in the book, then everyone is a-okay basically. Bethany is an idiot, tracks down the villain with her boy-toy, of course she is overpowered at the end, gets kidnapped, then rescued by her love interest and her sibling angels who I guess have finally decided to stop being pussies. The villain is defeated in a single paragraph, Bethany's special angel power… because this book took some influence from My Little Pony I guess and every angel has a special gift, and Bethany's is shown to be love, of course, and she defeats the villain. Everyone is saved besides the chick who died who is already forgotten about, and of course there is a sad scene with Bethany being gone briefly because she was recalled into Heaven, but no she can stay on Earth now it's all good and everyone is okay.

Yeah. An entire plot of a single book crammed into a few chapters at the end. Something tells me this author has never heard of Freytag's Pyramid or even knows what a "Beginning, middle, end" is.

Like, I've seen some pretty plotless stories in my day. I've seen some pretty butchered stories in my day. But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, compares to how fractured this story is. Nothing. It's inexcusable that this was published. It's inexcusable that the author thought that this sort of flow was acceptable. As a fellow writer, I'm offended and a little ashamed.

The Setting:

Usually, the setting of a book wouldn't get its own section, but because even the plain setting was butchered, I thought it would be apt to include.

I did some research on the author, and as it turns out, she's from Australia, not America. Believe it or not, America has its own cultures and the fact that the author doesn't know any of them sticks out like a sore thumb.

Now, if not so much focus was put on these three things, I maybe would've let it slide in this book.

First thing's first, the love interest of this book- Xavier- is never referred to the proper term. He is always called the School Captain, but in most American schools, he would be apart of a Student Council and be known as the Student President most likely. Yes, it's a nitpick, but it still annoyed me.

The second thing was the fact that rugby was the Big School Sport. Rugby? Excuse me? Yes, there is rugby here in America, but everyone knows that 9 times out of 10, the most popular sport at American schools is either going to be American football, basketball, baseball, or maybe soccer. Considering how conservative this town seems to be, I'm going to say it's most likely in the south, which would make it doubly weird that rugby is the big school sport and not, say, football.

Lastly, the biggest issue was how prom was represented. Again, I would let this slide if the prom hadn't been talked about all the time every chapter, but since it was and was done terribly, I'm gonna pick at it.

First of all, there is no mention of prom tickets and of the competition to get on the prom king/queen court. The latter, I could probably let slide, but definitely not the former! You ALWAYS have to buy a ticket to go to prom! And considering how much the characters of this book never shut up about the prom, it wouldn't be hard having one of them mention something about the tickets.

The crowning of prom king/queen was also done poorly. In this book, there were multiple winners for different sections. Such as "best hair" "best dress" and etc. I have… never heard of a prom setting up their competition like that. Usually it's just plain king and queen.

Finally, the prom itself was completely ridiculous and over the top. It had no theme (every knows proms have a theme. Come on). Plus, it was fancy to the point of comedy. Waiters? Five-star food and meals? You have to be kidding me. This is some rich-ass neighborhood bullshit right there.

And honestly, the biggest sin the setting caused, which I already mentioned before, is the fact that there is NO REASON for these angels to be here! Nothing happens! Nothing all the bad happens! Every town gets its fair share of rowdy teens, fires, car crashes, and etc.! It's a fact of life and is normal. If none of those things happen wherever you live, that would be strange. The entire town of Venus Cove sounds like a rich white neighborhood. Everyone is spoiled, everyone has money to throw around for whatever reason, and my question is: why here?

Yeah, the book says that there are angels in other places- in war-torn countries and the like, but it feels like an excuse. There is never a real reason for these angels to be here at Venus Cove besides vague warnings and threats that never really come true till the last few pages of the book.

It all just feels… pointless.

The Characters:

Halo is written in first person, and we see through the eyes of Bethany, however there are multiple other main characters that need to be discussed besides the main two and villain.

The full cast of characters that actually kinda matter in this book is as follows: Bethany, Ivy, Gabriel, Xavier, Molly, and finally Jake. And they are all absolutely terrible, and I am gonna tell you why.

Let's start this off with our titular character: Bethany Rose Church.

Yup. That's her full name. Seriously, WHO in their RIGHT MIND thinks THIS is a good name?! It sounds like a name some 13 year old would think of! Bethany Rose Church is hardly better than Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. The only difference is that the former somehow got in a published book. How, I don't know. Editors must have fallen asleep.

Honestly? There is nothing much to say about Bethany. She makes Bella Swan look like a Harvard Graduate. She's naive to the point of just plain stupidity, pointless, shallow, selfish, and of course, flawless and pure. Seriously, she has no flaws to speak of that are pointed out in this book. No real character flaws, and not even physically! Her skin is described as being pale and having no blemishes or splotches at all! The book tries to play her off as this perfect beautiful sweet angel who never does any wrong, but she is honestly selfish, but no one and not the narration points out that this is a bad thing to be. She puts herself and her love interest before her work, her status as an angel, her family, and even points out that it's okay for her to neglect her friends because she has a boyfriend, so it's understandable. Um, no. Everyone knows you don't drop your fucking friends for a boy or girlfriend come on.

She's just… nothing. She's perfect and pure and shiny and an absolute bore to read because she's not a character. She's a mouthpiece for the ideologies in this. And there isn't much else I can say.

Ivy exists. That's all I can say. Supposedly she is the oldest angel, but she's literally just a housewife. All she does is cook and clean. She's barely in the book at all. I can't say anything else about her because she isn't anyone. She is also the only other female character in this book not shamed or dismissed. But I'll get into the meanings of that later.

Gabriel is just like Xavier. He's kinda broody and serious and that's about it. He does most the work and is probably the most likeable character in this book, which isn't saying much. He acts as Bethany's older brother more or less, but their relationship is just… nowhere to be found, really. They have no familial chemistry or bond. He's just kinda there to pop up every once in awhile to remind Bethany that she can't be with humans and that they have a job. Least, in the first part of the book. The middle is dedicated to him being eye-candy for Molly, which is really creepy considering he's posing as a teacher and Molly is his student.

And those are the three angel characters. And before I go on, I'm gonna talk a little about their wings.

Yes, these three have wings, and their wings make NO SENSE at ALL. In fact, you forget they have wings because their wings only ever come into play to waste time or as plot devices. Nothing more.

Furthermore, their wings make no logical sense. And I know we're talking angels here, but the book clearly says they use their wings to fly, not magic, so they still gotta follow what physics dictates since they have mostly-human bodies (and I say mostly humans because they don't have belly buttons… if they HAVE to stay undercover for a mission, why not give them actual normal human bodies? Then again, if they had normal human bodies, they wouldn't be able to be absolutely beautiful and flawless.)

Sorry, lemme get back on track to these shitty wings.

Their wings are described as being paper-thin…. Which makes no sense since wings need bone, muscle, and proper feathers, and can easily fold up against the back. Which, again, makes no sense. If they could be folded up against just the back under a shirt, then they would be too small for them to fly with and the shape would most likely be wrong.

Also, somehow Bethany was able to hide her wings even though she wore things like a prom dress, which you know… are thin up top usually and you can't even hide the bump of your bra strap sometimes, let alone wings. Also, even if you could put a shirt over your wings to hide them, you would still be able to see the impression of the wings underneath. FURTHERMORE STILL, wings are a limb of the body! They would get too cramped up to be folded up like that for days and weeks! And it is mentioned that she does get wing cramps, but it's not mentioned enough. Plus, there is always the chance that she could've flapped them by accident, or they could twitch, or get an itch somehow, or in general be uncomfortable folded up against her back and under her shirt, but again, it's never really brought up as anything important besides padding, or when the author randomly remembers that she is indeed writing angels. Gabriel and Ivy also never mention their wings beyond the fact that they have to hide them.

And the fact of the matter is is that the only reason they have wings is so it's obvious they're angels. Literally no other reason, since so many gaps and inconsistencies are made with this wing shit! It makes no logical sense to the book either! If you're going undercover, wouldn't you want NORMAL HUMAN BODIES with BELLY BUTTONS and NORMAL SPLOTCHY AND BLEMISHED SKIN and NO WINGS? Seriously, it's implied God made these bodies for them and if that's true then, quite frankly, God is an idiot as well in this.

Sorry for going on such a tangent, but I wasn't so sure where else I should put this little nitpick. Let's move onto the other three non-angel characters.

Xavier is basically your stereotypical YA love interest minus being a bad boy. He's almost too clean cut, in fact, almost too perfect. In fact, like Bethany, he's just a glittery rock too. Except he's also demanding, rude, controlling, and judgmental as all hell. He slut shames and is obsessed with gender roles. It's VERY strange. For example, he states multiple times he dislikes poetry because it's "for girls" which… considering some of the most FAMOUS poets are men, is really, REALLY fucking strange. Makes him sound like an idiot. And of course, he's the one who points out only women can wear makeup and if boys wear makeup, they must either be emo or in a boyband…. Yeah… those two only… considering a lot of actors wear makeup and many, many bands wear stage makeup… it's just… gross. As you can probably tell, this is where the book gets some transphobic overtones. Furthermore, he enforces the idea that all men know about cars and motors because they're men, and likewise all men like sports and don't understand prom and don't enjoy prom for the same reason… look, it makes no sense. I'm trying to explain it, but it makes no sense and he makes no sense either.

As for being controlling, as I mentioned before, he commands Bethany to do things like eat and such. He only allows her to hang around people he "approves" of, and HE has to be the one to protect her. He, a simple human teenage boy, has to protect and fucking ANGEL.

I'm not the only one seeing a problem with this, right? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, please come back and prevent this book from having ever being written. Thanks.

But, really, besides the fact that Xavier is controlling and edging that abuse line… which a lot of YA male love interests in these books do anyways, he's nothing. Just another white pretty boy who has no personality.

Of course, the author TRIES to give him a personality and a kinda? Tragic backstory, but it goes nowhere. Basically his old girlfriend died in a fire and he refused to date anyone else. But of course after knowing Bethany for a few days, he falls in love with her and the illusion of grief given to him was shattered. Honestly, you forget that his old girlfriend died in a fire till the end. It didn't add or shape his character at all, probably because he isn't a character.

Molly is the standard BFF and she's also the slut of the book. She's heavily slut shamed, obsessed with boys and prom, and that's the extent of her character and personality. She also has this super creepy crush on Gabriel (HER TEACHER) and borderline stalks him and it's… supposed to be seen as acceptable? The book never paints it in a bad light. It's really gross, if I am being honest. She's also the character used as the example of what NOT to be and is often used to bounce ideologies off. I'll get more into the ideologies of this book later, however.

Last "character" I can talk about is Jake Thorn. Yup, that's the name of the enemy. He's a demon, which isn't a spoiler because you know he is as soon as he enters the scene, and honestly he is the closest character to actually being a character. The best dialogue in this shit book actually comes from Jake and Bethany when they are together. They have the closest to an actual chemistry in this. Which is… odd and sad.

Jake is a really strange character. He's introduced and is basically described as a goth and bad boy. He's pale, has dark hair and eyes, and is thin. Oh, and he has a tattoo. Of course.

And then he basically is turned into a Nice Guy? Wears a fedora, scarf, and long coat/trench coat, feels entitled to Bethany… who he is interested in, for some reason, and doesn't accept rejection from her. Like, I didn't know you could mix a goth, a bad boy, and a Nice Guy together, but apparently you can. He's one of the strangest characters I have ever read about, and not in a good way.

Besides that, he's just… standard asshole evil. His characterization is whatever the plot demands at that time.

And that's our cast! None of them are good, interesting, or developed in the slightest, and you will hate every character for most the book. Trust me on that.

The Relationship:

I have… so much and so little to say about the relationship shown in Halo. On one hand, it's just plain instalove. You never feel like the characters are really as in love as Halo tries to convince you they are. There is absolutely no chemistry between them whatsoever, and neither of them really have hobbies beyond telling one another how much they love one another. It's almost sickening, if I am being honest. Most the book is dedicated to Xavier and Bethany's relationship, but they can't possibly have a relationship as they don't have personalities, they aren't characters. And seeing two rocks interact with one another isn't interesting. Having two rocks doesn't suddenly make them interesting! It just means you have two rocks.

On the other hand, however, there is quite a bit of your standard YA Abusive Boyfriend trope, and several other gross implications.

Xavier and Bethany's relationship is pretty standard when it comes to terrible YA books. Instalove, as I have said before, and a lack of understanding on why these characters are even together. Xavier is controlling and possessive, which is played off as being worrisome and protective. He controls who Bethany is allowed to hang out with, controls how much she eats, and there is even a part in the book where he talks for her, and this is seen as romantic.

As vile as this controlling behavior is, it's standard fare as I've said. It's prevalent in many YA books. The idea that a man will lay down his life and do anything to protect you is a romantic fantasy for many women, and many writers just don't have the skills to write something like that and have it not cross the line into just being possessive instead of protective.

Lastly, in the beginning of Halo, Bethany fretted about her and Xavier's relationship being forbidden. Now, this is common, and usually the answer given is because an angel lusts over a human, and lust is a sin. If not that, then Angel/Human relationships are banned due to the chance of birthing Nephilim children. Thing is, neither of these things really apply to Bethany, and the reason why Human and Angel romantic interaction isn't allowed is never ever brought up!

Plus, after Xavier and Bethany get together, this "forbidden romance" angle is just completely hand-waved. Look, "because God works in mysterious ways" is as good an excuse as "because magic" and that's not a reasonable excuse either! I know this is a book about angels and shit, but come on, I need a little bit of believability. If you don't wanna write and go into details about how the romance is forbidden and explore the consequences of two characters being together that aren't supposed to be together, then just don't write it. Come on. Not writing something is easier than actually writing something!

Anyways, besides this standard fare, Xavier seems to almost constantly look down at Bethany. Considering how fucking stupid she is, it's understandable, but there are implications that he looks down at her because she's a naive girl. He doesn't let her learn, he's like a hovering parent, and it's quite creepy. It's vaguely misogynistic. It's also strange because Bethany is an angel, and yet she needs some human boy to protect her? Yeah, right.

Furthermore, Xavier shoves gender roles down your throat constantly. There are multiple parts of the book where he degrades things such as literature, poetry, and makeup as being "things for girls" and neither the narration or Bethany speaks out against this. It's reinforced in this book, actually, as the only guy in this book who is shown to like poetry and literature is the villain!

The watery relationship between Xavier and Bethany is also put on a pedestal, and there are multiple times throughout this book where Bethany ditches her friends to be with Xavier, and even says that having a boyfriend is much more important than having friends. Which is… a very toxic thought. How many sayings are there that look down upon people who ditch their friends for a boy/girlfriend? It's clear Halo has never heard of the saying "chicks before dicks" or even "bros before hos." I know I have stated before that Bethany is a shitty person and is very selfish, but this is just the cherry on top. It's hard to believe she is an angel. Ditching your friends for a boy or girlfriend makes you a shitty friend, end of story.

Other little instances that make this relationship out to be toxic is that Bethany and Xavier are always around one another, and when they aren't together in a scene, Bethany whines about how she feels empty and "aches" when not with Xavier, reinforcing the idea that women need a man, which again, is misogynistic. Plus, the fact that these two are so codependent on one another, and can't do anything without one another is just… unhealthy.

Lastly, there is a huge implication throughout this book that Bethany and Xavier's romance and relationship together is more pure, more meaningful, and better than other characters' relationships because Xavier and Bethany haven't had sex yet. Which is… just bullshit and just another way this book slut shames other women for their choices, whatever they may be.

I don't understand how anyone could look at this relationship between Bethany and Xavier and think it to be healthy or romantic. I have met people who had been in similar relationships to this, and guess what? Those relationships didn't last, and turned out to be abusive.

No surprise there, though.

The Ideology:

This… book… I am hesitant to call it a book, is just trying to preach borderline evangelical Christian ideas. It has transphobic and homophobic implications, views women as being lesser than men, and is so set in its gender roles, it's absolutely creepy. It degrades "feminist ideals" such as women having choices and being independent, and all of that is all wrapped up in a story that holds no weight itself. Plus, not only is it misogynistic, it also has several examples of misandry as well, degrading men who show emotions and painting every man in this book besides Xavier and Gabriel to be these awful people who only care about sex and are potential rapists, as well as stupid to boot.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the toxic yet smug messages in this book, I wouldn't be so infuriated with it. If it was just your standard shitty YA book, I wouldn't have even finished it, and would've tossed it to the side. But unfortunately, I couldn't do that. In this book, if you are not exactly like the angels or Xavier, you are a terrible person, and deserve to be pitied. What a hateful set of ideals.

Recommendation and Final Thoughts:

I can't recommend this book to anyone, really. I mean, if you're looking for a shitty book to laugh at because it's so terrible, pick up Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer or 50 Shades of Gray, not this garbage. Hell, go google My immortal and read that. It's free.

If you are insecure to the point of tears in your writing style, and need a book to read to show you that, hey, least you're better than this, then go ahead and pick up Halo. If you need to read a book to show exactly what not to do when writing angels, then pick up and read Halo. Those two types of people are all that I can recommend this too and even then, I don't recommend reading the entire thing.

Halo is one of the worst books I have ever read, if not the worst. I had originally planned to read the entire series, and I bet there are other offensive things in the sequels, but I just can't bring myself to do it, and I am sorry about that.

Halo is one of the worst books I have ever read. It's offensive and has almost every YA cliche. 0/10, would never ever recommend.

#Halo #Book review #My Reviews #my rants #shutuplanx #i wanna apologize to mobile users who gotta scroll past this #also I hate tumblr for never keeping my formatting

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