#her last name is madison now btw

[threestargirls]

“i just wanna change, i just wanna… change. i know exactly what i want and who i wanna be. i know exactly why i walk and talk like a machine.” [oh no!, marina and the diamonds]

my moodboards for teslee madison ♡

[pub-lius]

im lowkey losing count but lafayette pt. 6???

okay this is a little bit embarrassing because this part will have a lot less detail since I'm both uneducated and lazy when it comes to the French Revolution SFHKSJFHSKJ also the details about lafayette in this section are highkey boring sooo here's pt. 5 and lets get moving

In Between Revolutions

Lafayette returned home from the war in December 1781, but no one really cared because Marie Antoinette had just given birth to her first son, so they were like. "ok! anyway" when they saw him.

He didn't spend very long in France, and he returned to America to do a small little tour of the states in 1784. He stayed at Mount Vernon for a little while, which would be the last time he ever saw his adoptive father, George Washington.

I'm going to talk about slavery now. Lafayette never commented on slavery at Mount Vernon, mostly due to his reverence of Washington, however Lafayette was proactive in abolitionism. He created his own plan to purchase an island plantation where the enslaved people would work to earn pay and be able to buy their own freedoms. He and Adrienne both arranged for education programs and career options for the enslaved people so that they would be well-adjusted to society by the time they were awarded their freedom. However, property seizures during the French Revolution would prevent them from ever being freed. So, you could say Lafayette owned slaves, but you have to consider that the only enslaved people he ever purchased were for this specific project.

Also, I'm begging you to look into James Lafayette and Peter Ostiquette (Otchikeita) because I don't have time to get into their stories here but they are really interesting POC figures in early US history. send me an ask if you want, i just don't have enough patience to do the research along with all this lafayette shit

While he was in America, he helped negotiate a treaty with the Six Nations/Iroquois with James Madison, since he already had particularly good relations with the Oneida tribe. The Oneidas gave him the name Kayewla, which was the name of one of their former warriors.

He returned to France after his short visit and helped negotiate trade agreements between his mother country and the United States along with Thomas Jefferson. Technically on paper, Lafayette was only supposed to have an advisory role in these international affairs, but he just. started doing it. and this pissed off a special someone.

That special someone was, of course, John fucking "I'm a bitch to everyone and wonder why they don't like me" Adams. Btw Lafayette did NOTHING WRONG to him, he was just butthurt. Lafayette would continue to press for an official representative of France (which wasn't allowed since he was allied to both France and America) while John Adams was fired <3

Lafayette was also a little involved in the Society of Cincinnati controversy, but he followed Washington's lead by not getting too involved. He was also a part of the Republic of Letters and the American Philosophical Society. With all that along with being a Freemason, he was basically admitting to being in the Illuminati

Could you imagine if I was just like a really intense conspiracy theorist and this is how you found out? I'm not but like. that's pretty funny

French Pre-Revolution

When Lafayette reestablished himself in Paris, he was a much richer, much more confident guy, which allowed for all kinds of rich guy shenanigans. These shenanigans included, two affairs, being a karen, getting into debt, and politics! Let's talk about the politics part, because I don't get paid enough to talk about all of it.

Lafayette was elected to the Second Estate of the Assembly of Notables, which has a french name thats almost exactly the same but I'm too lazy to type accents. He had very ambitious goals that aligned with his very liberal morals, which caused him to be closely allied with the men of the Third Estate aka the rich poor people.

Lafayette would end up having a crucial role in the writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and a more minor role in organizing the Constitution, since he was too busy with the actual revolution!

The French Revolution Revolution

I just want to preface that, in the French Revolution, Lafayette was considered one of the leaders of the moderate party. "But pub-lius, I thought he was super radical because of his behavior during the American Revolution!" Yeah, well, little richie, you're fucking wrong. There are always bigger fish and there are always more liberal white men. Lafayette would get out-liberaled and out-conservatived by almost everyone during the Revolution, and that's why he didn't last. Basically. Pretty much.

Lafayette was named Commander of the National Guard in 178 which made his name even longer by the National Assembly, which was the first Revolutionary French government! There would be fifty million fucking more governments from now until 1792 i swear to fucking god-

If I sound stress to you, it's because this is literally the most stressful part of Lafayette's life, and actually I don't think it gets more stressful than this. I'd say Lafayette was more stressed as Commander of the NG than Washington was as Commander of the Continental Army. He was basically always running back and forth across Paris, putting down rebellions, and starting massacres because he's stupid, and organizing the Fête de Fédération, and constantly being threatened with lampposts and pikes. It stresses me out just reading about that.

After the more liberal white men took over the French government in 1792, Lafayette fled the country expecting more friendly faces outside France's borders. He was fucking wrong, he got arrested by Austrians immediately. He remained in prison for like five years or something.

What had happen was Lafayette was viewed by the powers of Europe as the motherfucker responsible for bringing the revolution to France, and they decided they needed to take the bitch out back, except not really, they just took his clothes and put him in a dirty cell for a while. Eventually, Adrienne and the girls joined him, while Georges Washington de Lafayette escaped to America to live with Alexander Hamilton. Which that is just a really American thing to happen.

This imprisonment had severe consequences for Adrienne, who would be permanently injured by the illness she and the others suffered while in prison, which would eventually cause her death in 1807, but we're not done with her yet.

Womp Womp Napoleon is in charge, and he doesn't like Lafayette, because Lafayette said he was a dictator, and that hurt his feelings, so he exiled Lafayette and his son and sons in law. So, while Lafayette was gardening in exile, Adrienne stepped up to the mother fucking plate and went into Paris every day to absolutely girlboss her way into reclaiming her family's citizenships and fortunes and KICKED ABSOLUTE ASS YOU GO GIRL I LOVE YOU.

Also I'm fairly sure it was during this time that Lafayette fucked up his leg by slipping on ice and breaking it and then it was improperly treated so his hip. rotted???? and he was in severe pain for the rest of his life. Nice going, fuckface.

Retirement and DEATH :'(

Lafayette did manage to scrap together a bit of a career after reentering France. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies and had minor political roles along with his son, but he was more like an antique vase at this point.

He did go on a tour in 1824 and I highly recommend checking out The Lafayette Trail, where they track every place he went during this Farewell Tour!! It's so cool and I love them. I looked into if and when Lafayette came to Louisiana, and found out his fucking ship sunk on his way here FKSJFHSJ so he was stranded in the Mississippi river for a little bit which is silly.

While Lafayette was managing his estate, La Grange, he made many young friends, to whom he served as a mentor. In return, they kept him appraised of all the political and scientific developments which he was very interested in. La Grange is very interesting, since it was largely based on Mount Vernon, which if I think about that too much I'll cry.

And then... Lafayette died on May 20, 1834 at... 4:20 am. Historians won't tell you that. They don't want you to know that he died at 4:20. But I'll tell you. I'm a beacon of truth.

Also, by the way, he died of fucking pneumonia. And I'm not judging him for dying of pneumonia, I almost died of pneumonia, but i am ABSOLUTELY judging him for GETTING pneumonia. He got pneumonia from being outside in the rain repeatedly and refusing to go inside or take shelter. I got it from the same thing but I was like TEN YEARS OLD AND IT WAS HALLOWEEN, and he was a GROWN MAN WHO JUST NEEDED AN OUNCE OF COMMON SENSE. So, anyway, yeah, he's fucking dead.

this last half of his life is very rushed, I admit, but things should go a bit better with the last person on our list here. Which, by the way, prepare your ass for that. He's rapidly approaching.

[einsteinsugly]

After everything I’ve seen and read on tumblr, I’m scared to watch s8 of That 70s show. I know the writers completely destroyed all the characters. Fez is already an annoying character in s4, and he’s becoming a sexist jerk.

Do I even bother watching the 8th season?

Iirc, I remember only watching the few eps and then the last couple. It definitely qualifies under the "don't bother suffering through it" category (as is T9S). A glimpse is the most I can bother taking. Don't bother, I'll give you the highlights.

The highlights:

-Hyde marries a stripper, Sam. She is devoid of any personality, and serves as an object to pull Jackie and Hyde apart. He's dug himself a grave, and he chooses to lie in it (ugh).

-It turns out that Sam was already married, so the marriage wasn't valid, anyway.

-They try really freaking hard to integrate Sam and Randy into the fold, but it fails miserably.

-Donna is an OOC shell (as is everyone else), and befriends Sam and pushes Jackie away, and calls her a bitch at one point.

-Kelso randomly proposes to Jackie (which was a jumping-off point T9S could've gone with, but since Jay is sixteen, they went with the stupid, late season 4 AU route). Jackie says no, obviously, and Kelso moves to Chicago to be closer to Brooke and Betsy. He becomes a security guard at the Playboy mansion, which meh.

-Eric breaks up with Donna via a letter, and Donna starts dating Randy. My headcanon is that Eric wants her to stop waiting for him and that he heard how she was treating Jackie (like shit), so he temporarily broke it off. Hoping for her to get her shit together, but that didn't happen (until the very end).

-Randy is an Eric-y character with a bit of Kelso (he loves dogs, and is somewhat superficial). He's nothing special; I don't hate him, other than for what he represents. He's just a meh character, to me.

-Everyone treats Jackie like shit, including Fez, her eventual lover. Fez says she's ugly on the inside and the outside, and Jackie says he's wrong about the outside part (wtf?).

-Jackie works as an assistant for Christine St George, the host of What's Up Wisconsin, who is a heartless piece of shit that Jackie readily calls out. It's the only salvageable storyline, IMO, until they devolve it and make Jackie sweep hair at Fez's salon. To "humble" her, which wtf?

-Fez has turned into a playboy, and is even more cringe-y than before. Jackie and Fez now live together, since Kelso has moved to Chicago.

-Hyde calls Jackie "Point Place's sluttiest slut," and everyone shits on her for dating almost all the guys from the OG gang. Hyde also pushes her into a creek at one point.

-Jackie and Fez are incredibly forced, and Jackie comes to the conclusion that Fez is her soulmate via a superficial, desperate list, which Donna affirms. Hyde vaguely gives them his blessing, but it's clear that it's hollow as hell.

-Jackie and Fez kiss in the finale, on top of the water tower. Jackie struggles to be intimate with him, and Fez paints over Jackie's name in "Jackie and Michael," and it's now "Fez and Michael." Extra note, the Jackie and Michael thing on the water tower seems to be fully intact in T9S (without any edits, to even fix it), so it's further proof that T9S isn't canon.

-Hyde has a nasty pornstache at the end of the season, and Kitty calls him her "second son." Kitty has a new hairstyle, too. The Red and Kitty stuff is better than the stuff in seasons 6 and 7, but like T9S, the decent Red and Kitty stuff can't save season 8.

-Eric and Donna, seemingly, get back together on New Year's Eve. Well, kind of, since they have some shit to work through. Donna's headed off to college in Madison, and Eric came home from Africa early (I explain why in my verse, btw).

The end. It's a vaguely fixable mess, unlike T9S. Which is an unfixable mess, imo.

[sasquapossum]

I’m having a bit of a “Karen” moment. Last night I had a bad experience with a Lyft driver, and today I had an equally bad experience with Lyft themselves. Here’s my story.

Background

My daughter and I had to endure a rather hellish trip to Madison, Wisconsin on Friday continuing into Saturday. Yes, the “continuing into” part of what made it hellish, but I already wrote about that. None of this had anything to do with Lyft, and I don’t even find fault with the United folks who were involved - the customer service folks were actually impressive as hell - but it left us a bit travel-weary even before we began the trip back yesterday. In addition, my daughter seems to have picked up a cold - perhaps flu, almost certainly not COVID - despite all of our precautions, so she was a pretty unhappy camper. Naturally, that put me a bit on edge too.

Real Life Events

So we get to Logan (Boston) terminal B pretty much on time, pick up our bags, and I set about getting us a ride. Seemed to take a bit longer than usual before I got details on a driver, but OK. Eventually I see that “Rita” - not her name but a bad character from iZombie - has accepted our ride request. She’s already at the airport, a mere three minutes away. Cool. Unfortunately, Massport - the agency that controls Logan - doesn’t allow curbside pickup. Off we go, following the confusing signage (it was better once BTW) to the designated ride-share pickup area. This is outside, on level 2, in what used to be a parking area between the two halves of terminal B.

But wait ... Rita’s not three minutes away after all. She’s 17 minutes away now. She’s “finishing a ride” which seems to be taking her all the way to the Seaport district on the other side of the Ted Williams tunnel. Weird. OTOH, I also see that she’s a “top driver” so I don’t suspect beyond a glitchy app yet. We’ll get back to these points later. Meanwhile, we wait.

OK, so Rita has come back from the Seaport district and ... is circling the terminal. At least twice, I think three times. I’m just beginning to get annoyed now. Twenty minutes in the cold with a sick daughter will do that to a guy. Then I get the “Rita is here” notification. No she fucking isn’t. There are about a half-dozen cars in the pickup area, and none of them come close to matching. Huh? At this point I hit the “contact driver” button, which starts a text chat.

me: Where are you?

her: United departures.

me: OK, coming down from the *ride share pickup* area.

As I said, Massport has rules about these things, so she was in the wrong place. Nonetheless, we start walking toward United departures. Dear daughter is getting visibly fatigued by all of this moving around, but she’s bearing it really well.

Lyft app: Your driver, Harold [again not his real name] will be here in five minutes.

Yep. After making us wait in the cold for twenty minutes and then showing up at the wrong place, she bailed on us. I was livid. Fortunately, Harold really was there in five minutes and was totally cool, so we got home without further incident.

Online Events

This morning I was still a bit mad, so I tried to report Rita’s behavior. First I try help within the app, but can’t find an option that lets me report what actually happened.

Most reporting options (e.g. “Unpleasant Experience”) require that you select a ride .. but we didn’t actually get a ride from Rita. That’s kind of the whole problem, innit?

The only reporting option that doesn’t seem to require a ride is “Safety Problem or Accident” but this was neither of those.

There’s no “none of the above” option, or phone/email, or text chat.

This kind of “make reporting difficult” chicanery is a common dark pattern nowadays, especially in the "gig economy” which is all about fee maximization and cost reduction for the company itself. So I decide to try email instead, and send them basically the same account you see above. Immediately there’s an auto-reply that support@lyft.com is no longer maintained. Grrr.

At this point I’m starting to get as annoyed at Lyft as I was with Rita. There’s one more option to try. Like many others, I discovered a while ago that getting a company’s attention on Twitter was often more effective than using “normal” channels. Might be the only thing that site’s still good for. Anyway, I decide to give it a try.

Unfortunately, all I’ve gotten from them so far is a runaround - suggesting things I had already tried (and said I’d tried) in the app, asking me to doxx Rita on a global site (nope), etc. There’s still a tiny glimmer of hope, but no more. UPDATE: as I was writing this, I got a long apology from them on Twitter, and a $5 coupon.

Analysis

First, yes, I know I probably shouldn’t have been using Lyft anyway. “At least we’re not Uber” was never a particularly strong identity, from either a rider or driver perspective, and now we see that it’s not even an accurate statement. Definitely planning to go back to using regular cabs, who mostly have apps providing an equivalent experience by now and also take driver misconduct seriously.

Second, I probably should have known to cancel and re-book the ride as soon as I saw “17 minutes” on my screen. It’s a bit rude, but sometimes it’s an appropriate action because of how Lyft works. Drivers are basically able to accept rides from anywhere. Some of them do so only when they are legitimately close. Some of them do so a bit over-eagerly, trying to get a jump on a good fare when they know (or should know) they won’t be able to provide the best total trip time. This is probably where my “Five-Star Rider” and “Top Tipper” badges (which I’m pretty sure they can see) come into play. On the positive side they probably reduce my average time to get a ride. On the negative side they also attract bad actors.

That brings us back to Rita. As far as I can tell, she’s exploiting two loopholes here.

As soon as a driver says they’re “finishing” a ride they can accept another one, but there’s nothing to stop them from hitting that button at any point in the ride including the start. It’s a great way for an unscrupulous driver to avoid ever having idle time.

If you don’t actually give the ride, you can’t get a bad rating and it becomes almost impossible for anyone to report you. Thus, if you already know you screwed up - and particularly if you can tell the rider is getting annoyed - the unscrupulous thing to do is cancel before they actually become your rider.

That “Top Driver” status is almost certainly the result of gaming the system, not of actually providing good service ... and that is Lyft’s fault. Rita is playing the game they set up (as I am by shaming them on Twitter BTW). It’s their responsibility to resist or defeat that in their app design, in their policies and their enforcement, etc. They have clearly chosen to let bad behavior persist on their platform, because they don’t care about either drivers or riders as much as they care about cost cutting. Which is basically the guiding principle of the entire gig economy, if not all of capitalism.

[thedeadthree]

— PERSONAL SURVEY

i was tagged by the most lovely macy @jamesbvchanans ty you are the SWEETEST 🤍

TAGGING: @griffin-wood, @kenabres, @starsummoners, @florbelles, @jackiesarch, @leviiackrman, @chuckhansen, @jmiacolt, @shellibisshe, @yennas, @themysteriouslou, @loriane-elmuerto, @lacunafiction, @rosebarsoap and anyone that would like to do this!

name: allegra or “leg” :)

age: 22 (august 5th!)

height: 5’4”

zodiac sign: leo sun, taurus moon, and scorpio rising!

where do you call home: the wa pnw :) 🌲

any tattoos or piercings: i have my ears pierced and a tattoo! BUT I WANT MORE TATTOOS though! I’d love to get that piercing in ur ear that helps to stop migraines! 🤍

last song you listened to: villain by k/da, madison beer, kim petras, and league of legends (polinas playlist has been on repeat)

last movie you watched: BIRDS OF PREY AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN BABEYY ✨😌🃏 and daredevil for tv! 🖤

last book or fanfic you read: it was actually most recently aelsa’s if fernweh!!! had eddie on the brain recently 🖤 and tevinter nights by various authors because ive had my dragon age babies on the brain too hehe! fics i think was ash’s (@honeysides!) fic about miss varya and the christmas tree! SO GOOD BTW GO READ IT NOW IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY run dont walk!

do you collect anything: sweaters, books I’ll forget to read, fallout nic nacs, tarot cards, and star wars socks?

morning person or night owl: usually a night owl bc insomnia kansksmdl

are you an optimist, a pessimist or a realist: a like to think im more of an optimist but i have ✨severe anxiety✨ so I’d say a bit of a realist/pessimist at times?

a quote you live by: a saying my nonna has said since i was little, “it’s time passages.” which is like things happen and then they pass so that has helped me a lot?

are you an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert: i think maybe an ambivert? most cases im pretty introverted but when out with people i can be a bit more extroverted?

do you believe in an afterlife or not: im not sure to be honest? sometimes yes and other times im not so sure u know?

a weird or fun fact about yourself: im related to a soap opera actress? (i think it’s susan lucci if im not mistaken? not sure asdfkdkd but it’s interesting!)

if you could have coffee with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be: anne boleyn! (i want to talk smack with her about henry viii almskx), and my close friend who passed away a few years back.

[astarkey]

So I was tagged a while back by @belorage (thank you so much btw, darlin’ 🤗💖💗💖) to take part in this OC names tag game, and at the time I was tagged, I didn’t have a lot of last names and other names I came up with for the other characters, but now I do (sorta)! But fair warning though, idk if me naming any of my characters with their full name will spoil the story or anything, and if anyone would rather wait to know the full names of these characters, I’ve hidden them in the “Keep reading” link, but if y’all wanna be spoiled, proceed with caution then 😝 I’m not sure if some of these names I came up with will be definite, but so far this is what I have.

I don’t know who to tag, but if anyone has any oc’s they wanna share, then by all means, please do this!!

And if anyone IS interested in playing, the name of the game is character name meanings and any relevant reasoning you may have for your choices.

OFF THE GRID

SAM COOPER

Sam: Hebrew origin and often used as a nickname for Samuel, meaning “Told by God” or “God hears.” I’ve thought about having Cooper’s first name revealed somewhere in the final part of the story, and this name came to me as being the first choice.

Cooper: English origin, occupational name for a maker and repairer of vessels such as barrels. This was one of the first names that popped up into my head when I went into this story, and I just really loved it because he looks like a Cooper lmao. And I like having him nicknamed Coop, too. For some reason just having everyone call him by his last name as if that’s what he prefers just sort of adds to his mysterious personality, which I find pretty intriguing lol.

MEREDITH SAUNDERS

Meredith: Welsh origin, meaning “Magnificent” and “Great Lord.” Also a name that came to me, but also I felt like I was overdoing it with the name since Madison was on that show Reprisal where her character was also named Meredith lmfao. She just looks like a Meredith, and when I looked up the meaning of the name, it was hard for me to back out of it then because that name perfectly suits the character for my story.

Saunders: Greek origin derived from the personal name Alexandros, meaning “Defender of men.” I was looking up last names and I purposefully picked it out because of her character, but I’m still on the fence about it if it works or not.

JASON VARGAS

Jason: Greek origin, meaning “Healer.” A name that came to me when I was coming up with first names for Vargas. Plus he looks like a Jason lol. 

Vargas: Spanish origin, meaning “Steep slope.” Um, this was the only name that literally came to me in the dream about this story and when I woke up, I immediately jotted the name down for him lol. Like literally that’s what I heard him being called, just Vargas, and so I was like, “okay I guess that’s the name you go by.”

ISABELLA VARGAS

Isabella: Spanish and Italian origin, a variation of Isabel, itself a variation of Elizabeth or Elisheba, meaning “God is my oath” and “Devoted to God” in Hebrew. I was thinking of Salma Hayek’s character, Isabel Fuentes, from Fools Rush In and instead of Isabel, I named her Isabella lol.

Vargas: Spanish origin, meaning “Steep slope.” Well, her and Jason are both siblings, so, haha. 

ANDREW COLLINS

Andrew: Greek origin, meaning “Strong, manly, and courageous.” Idk why I was thinking of people I knew in elementary school, but I did when I came up with this name 🤣 Especially, the nickname Andy since I knew an Andy in school but I didn’t want him to have the same last name as his, even though the character looks like his full name lmfao.

Collins: Irish origin, derived from cuilein, meaning “darling” as a term of endearment applied to young animals. I definitely did not think of this last name just now because of the character, David Collins, from The Guest 😂

ROBBIE SMITH

Robbie: German origin, meaning “Fame” or “Bright.” Idk, it came to me when I was trying to think of a name for Zane’s character, and that showed up in my head. I’m still on the fence about this name.

Smith: English origin, meaning “To smite.” I just went through a last name generator just a moment ago and this stood out. Seems fitting but who knows.

[buckysbitch107]

Can you write a fic where Bucky sabe reader from her toxic friends?? Can you make them really mean and make Bucky really sassy? Thanks 😊 btw I love your writing so far! You’re really good 😝

A Little Help | Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: You don’t even know why you still hang out with them. They’re rude, ignorant, and just overall toxic. So when everything goes wrong over dinner, you simply start dialing numbers to see who would pick up and be able to drive you home, knowing that the buses don’t run this late. What you didn’t expect was for your crush, Bucky Barnes, to be the first one to pick up. What you didn’t expect even more, was his reaction once he got there.

Warnings: Swearing, Crying, S A S S

Word Count: 1.4K

A/N: Hope this meets your standards! I tried my best with this one and i hope you enjoy it! Just a reminder that I will always be accepting requests! 

“Hey, guys! Sorry, I’m late! Got held up at the office.” You explain, sitting down at the table with your two other friends. Heather shoots you a small smile while Lauren looks you up and down with pursed lips.

“Hi Y/N!” Heather greets before looking back down at her menu. Lauren scoffs quietly and you shoot her a confused look.

“Something wrong?” You ask, reaching for your water and taking a sip of it.

“Did you have to wear that dress?” Lauren comments, her face riddled with disgust.

“Is something wrong with it?”

“It’s tight, short, and a little revealing. I just wouldn’t recommend wearing it with your body type.”

“Lauren-” 

“I know I’m not the only one thinking it!” Lauren admits, turning to Heather. “I mean, come on. Her thighs giggled when she sat down, her stomach pudges out of that dress, and no one wants to see those stretch marks, sweetie.” Heather sighs before turning to you.

“She’s not wrong, Y/N. You do look a little chubby in that dress. Plus you could’ve worn something nicer. Not that cheap crap. I mean come on, buy something of value for once.” She comments.

“Can we just order our food?” You whisper, looking down at your menu, trying to hold back the tears coming out of your eyes. The waiter comes over and takes your order, the people sitting beside you giving you sideways glares as they order their own food.

“Jesus Christ, Y/N. You ordered enough food to choke a goat. Especially with your body type, you should really watch what you eat.” Your eyes burn as you look down at your food.

“I’ll be right back.” You whisper, standing up and walking to the bathroom. You dry your tears and fix your makeup before making your way back to the table, stopping when you hear two familiar voices talking.

“God, why did you even invite her?” Heather asks, not aware of your position in relation to the table.

“Because I feel bad for her. We’re the best chance she’s got at ever having friends. I still hate her though.” Lauren admits, making you stop in your tracks and turn back to run into the bathroom. You pull out your phone and start dialing numbers, hoping someone will answer. Mom? No answer. Kelly, your big sister? No answer. You run through the rest of your contacts and realize the only people you haven’t called are some of the Avengers. Coulson? Nah, he’s most likely asleep. Cap? Funny voicemail, no answer. Your finger lingers over the last name, and you click it before placing the phone to your ear.

“Hello?” Bucky answers after a few rings.

“Buck-” You whisper, your voice catching due to tears, a crack replacing what would have been more words.

“What’s wrong doll? You sound upset.” He asks, sounding more alert and concerned.

“Can you just pick me up? I’m at the restaurant on 8th and Madison.”

“Sure, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“I’ll be waiting outside.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.” You walk back to the table after drying your tears once again and pick up your purse, quickly making up the excuse that your boss called you in. The two girls nod and continue their conversation, leaving you to walk out of the restaurant. As you stand out in the cold, tears start streaming down your cheeks.

~~~

The rumble of a motorcycle pulls you from your thoughts and you look up, instantly spying the old-fashioned Harley Davidson pulling up beside the curb. Bucky hops off his bike, placing the kickstand down before rushing over to you, pulling you into a bone-crushing hug that makes you sob a little harder. He pulls away and pushes the hair out of your face, his brows furrowing at your red-rimmed eyes.

“Oh doll, what happened?” Bucky whispers, causing you to let out a loud sob. You babble to him about the things your “friends” said about you, and his face grows angrier and angrier by the minute. 

“And I just wanna go home.” You finish, wiping your nose with the sleeve of your coat.

“They said what to you? That’s un-fucking-acceptable.” He mumbles, grabbing you by the hand and pulling you inside the restaurant. You try to object, but you end up just leading him to the toxic friends still eating their meals. “Are you two Heather and Lauren?” Your two “friends” turn their heads up to meet his eyes, and you can practically see their panties fall off.

“Yes, that’s us.” Heather adds, trying to act all sweet and innocent, but Bucky looks past that in less than a second. 

“So you’re the two assholes who made Y/N cry?” Their faces form into those of realization, and Heather tries to blabber out an excuse.

“Well-”

“Well, what? I don’t see why you judge her so much when you’re wearing the fakest damn pearls anyone has ever seen!” Bucky comments, pointing to Lauren’s necklace.

“And how would you know?” She retorts, obviously thinking she’s done something.

“The paint is chipping, bitch. Also,” He states, turning towards the other woman at the table. “I really hope you didn’t pay full price for that purse, cause the logo is upside down and one brush away from flaking off.”

“At least we can afford something of value at all! She couldn’t even buy anything from the stores we shop at if she tried!” Heather says.

“I’m sorry, have you seen her house? I’m sure yours can fit inside it 10 times. And why are you so focused on money?!” He stops, taking a breath before continuing. “I’m-i’m just guessing here but I’m really not, but you buy “expensive” things to compensate for your bitchy personalities.”

“As Heather said, she can’t afford anything we buy.”

“I’m guessing you can’t either because there is so much fake and ‘made in china’ here that I can barely breathe. And while we’re talking about fake, let’s have a word about those faces, boobs, and personalities!” Lauren scoffs and that’s when you try to intervene.

“James-”

“No! I’m serious! There’s more plastic in these two than there is in the entire fucking ocean!” The man grins sarcastically and sits at the table, crossing his left leg over his right and leaning back in the chair. “So do you want me to continue pointing out your flaws in front of all these people, or are you gonna apologize to my girl?”

“Um-” Bucky doesn’t even wait for the rest of that sentence as he grabs your wrist and starts walking away.

“What about the bill?” Lauren whispers.

“I-i can pay guys.” You whisper, causing Bucky to rear back as you start reaching into your purse.

“Nonono. Apparently, you have a shitty job, and they don’t.” He turns towards the women still sitting at the table. “I’m sure you two can manage without my girlfriend.” Bucky grabs your hand again and pulls you out of the restaurant, handing you a helmet before straddling his bike.

“Thank you.” You whisper, wrapping your arms around his waist as you sit behind him.

“Why didn’t you tell them you work for S.H.I.E.L.D?” He asks, starting up his bike.

“They’d use me to get to you or Cap.”

“Ah.”

“You-you called me your girlfriend.” You mutter, hoping he heard you over the roar of the wind. He apparently did, as he nearly slams on the brakes and pulls off into a side street.

“I did?”

“Yeah,” You whisper, tightening your arms around him.“you did.”

“Oh, well are you okay with that?” You bury your head into his back, trying to hide a wide smile.

“Yeah.”

“Good,” He speaks, turning around to still be on the bike but face you. “because you didn’t have a choice. You’re mine.” You pull your head up and look at him with a bratty glare.

“Oh am I?” You retort, grinning at him. Bucky rolls his eyes before slipping his head behind your neck, nesting his fingers in the hair at the base of your scalp as he pulls you closer. He places his other hand on your chin and tilts you head up, pulling you into a kiss that leaves you seeing stars. He pulls away with a grin on his face, both of your noses nearly touching.

“Yeah, yeah you are.” He whispers, leaning in again.

“Okay”

Permanent Tags: @wintersoldierslut​ @breakmy-bedbarnes @stuckys-hot-dogs​ @andreasworlsboring101 @yaxamarvel @donutloverxo 

Just a reminder that all requests are open! My masterlist is in my bio, so you guys know who I specialize in, but really I do anyone y’all request. As I’ve mentioned, nothing is too fluffy, angsty, smutty, or gorey for me. I mainly write Marvel and its characters/actors. I can also write some characters from other things, you just have to ask! Also please let me know if you want to be a part of the Permanent Tags! But please, for now,

Call me Emily

[everyonesonthespectrum]

30 days of Autism Acceptance: Day 3!

April 3: Talk about special interests. Do you have any? What are they? How long have you had them? What does it feel like to have special interests? What does having special interests mean to you? Talk about your past special interests

HOO BOY! Ok, I’ll try not to go on too long about my special interests, but I have a lot to say about them! Also, some of my special interests are in this weird grey area of “are they a SpIn or a hyperfixation?”, so I’ll cover those as well, and make it noted when that’s the case for one. Also, this will be VERY LONG, so I’ll put it under a cut.

SpIn #1 - Pokemon

Pokemon has been my main special interest since I was 9, I believe! Black was my first game that I got for my birthday, and I was super happy to get it since all of my friends at the time would talk about it! I’ve gotten (almost?) every major release since then, thought I usually only get one out of the two versions. 

The Pokemon games that I have are *inhales*: Black, Black 2, HeartGold (got a few years after it came out), X (I have the limited edition 3DS), Alpha Sapphire, Moon (first completed Pokedex!), Ultra Moon (haven’t beat and probably never will), Let’s Go, Eevee!, Sword (still trying to beat), Conquest, Art Academy, PMD: Gates to Infinity, Picross, Rumble World, Battle Trozei, Pokemon Quest, Pokemon Playhouse (for when I’m regressed), Poke Park 1 & 2,  My Pokemon Ranch, and Battle Revolution!

I also used to play the TCG competitively, and in my first competition, I placed 9th in my division! I stopped playing about a year after that though because the cards I used in my strategy when I would practice with my Dad were too old to be viable.

I have a growing stuffie and merch collection as well! I have a lot of Unova stuffies, and a print of the Unova map that I got at a ren faire when I was younger (it currently hangs above my dresser)! My two favorite stuffies at this time are Baby my Eevee Build-A-Bear (named after my Eevee in Let’s Go, Eevee!), and Lily my Wooloo! I have a couple of Pokemon sketch cards that friends of my Dad’s drew, and some prints and figure-y things I’ve gotten in Artist Alleys over the years!

I also own a couple of different Pokemon books (not the manga, though), and 2 of the movies, along with the OSTs for B/W, X/Y, and ORAS! I don’t have much as far as clothing goes though, except for my “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” scarf and a Pikachu hat I got at an old anime store at the mall that has since closed. That’s probably all I can remember right now!

SpIn #2 - Steam Powered Giraffe

SPG has been a special interest for about 4 years now? Anyway, they’re my #1 favorite band and have literally saved my life. Watching Bunny Bennett’s (who plays Rabbit) vlogs about her transition, along with listening to the song Transform that she wrote (waaay before they just made it a single) really helped me accept myself and come out. 

They also came at a time where I was struggling emotionally a lot, and I remember being stuck in the ER hooked up to an IV, and my mom played some of their albums for me to keep me calm and grounded. More recently, I saw them perform at Anime Midwest last year, and when they performed Transform (which neither me or my friends expected), we were all hugging each other and crying tears of joy (my friends are trans as well, and have also been touched by Bunny’s vlogs).

Their songs (not including the sad ones) make me really happy as well, and Make Believe makes me stim a lot in particular! I also got to sing Honeybee as part of a voice coaching summer camp I took last year, and it felt really good to do it! I really recommend listening to them, especially if you like steampunk and/or you’re looking for trans artists to support!

SpIn #3 - Little Shop of Horrors

So this is more of a fairly recent one, compared to the first two. This special interest mostly applies to the 1986 movie, but I’ve seen the stage musical as well! The music, the cast, the plot, it’s all *chef’s kiss*. But for real though, my two favorite things about the movie are the practical effects and the endings.

With the CGI fresh hell we got with CATS, you may thing, “wow, special effects were so much better back then”. Except here’s the thing, they were practical effects. Audrey II is (I believe) entirely puppetry, not CGI. The same applies for the musical as well! It really culminated at the end of the film during “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space”, when Audrey II is at it’s biggest and most elaborate. Speaking of that scene, I much prefer the director’s cut over the theatrical cut. I know that the happy ending is much better for Audrey and Seymour, but “Don’t Feed The Plants” is an absolute banger, and I get a good cry out of it too.

I heard they might be making a remake of the movie, which I’m hesitant about, again, seeing how CATS turned out. We can only hope that they listen to the fans, and make the right decisions when it comes to making it.

SpIn #4 - Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

Ok, so this is one of those aformentioned “is it a SpIn or a hyperfixation” moments. I’ve been hyperfixated on JJBA for the past 6 months and I’m physically unable to shut up about it XD

I’m about to start watching part 4 of the anime, I just need to set aside time to do it. I watched it a tad out of order, my ex told me to skip part 1 and watch a synopsis of it, so I started with part 2 (I’m a huge part 2 stan btw), got to part 3, was confused by everything going on with DIO, so I went back, watched part 1, and then resumed part 3.

As I mentioned, I’m a huge part 2 stan, so I currently have several part 2 character cosplays in the works. This includes (but isn’t limited to) Caesar, Suzi Q, Playboy Bunny Caesar (inspired by a piece of art that @tinypalettes drew), Tequila Joseph (but like,, actually decent drag), and Cleric Suzi Q from the JJBA D&D session me and my friends are having. I also want to do a drag/latex DIO look, along with maid DIO inspired by an old JUMP cover and a fanfic I read the other day.

I get a little nervous about doing/going to JJBA events at conventions because I’m worried about running into my ex, but knowing that I have supportive people with me helps a lot.

SpIn #5 - Homestuck/Hiveswap

So this is another one of those “SpIn or hyperfixation” moments as well. I’ve been into Homestuck since late 2016, but I’ve never been super involved in the fandom. Like, yes, I have a moirail and I’ve been in and hosted panels at conventions, but I’ve encountered some toxic people in it, so I try to distance myself.

I will say, however, that Homestucks are loyal to their fandom, and will buy merch if they like it. When I say that, yes, I mean myself, but it’s mostly about my Etsy customers. If you look at my sales history, the majority of it is quadrant necklaces, almost always the moirail ones. I get some orders for horns and pillows too, but not as often as the necklaces. When it comes to exhibiting at conventions, it depends. I normally don’t put Homestuck stuff out on the table because it’s such a niche, but when I do, people will usually buy a lot at once. For example, at Wizard World Madison in 2018, one guy bought $50-60 worth of Homestuck sprites from me. That weekend was the best I’ve ever done, and I haven’t come close since. My Etsy store started out as just me making Homestuck sprites for me and my friends too, so I’m glad that I was able to expand and give others what I like as well.

I’m also involved in a Hiveswap YouTube musical, and I’ve made a lot of good friends through it! We’re on hiatus right now, but we should be starting up again soon! I also have a lot of Homestuck cosplays! I’ve done Karkat, John, Jade, Nepeta, Trickster Nepeta, Karkat Peixes (a bloodswap), and I have a lot more that I want to do!

SpIn #6 - Danganronpa

So Danganronpa is (probably) one of those last “SpIn or hyperfixation” things. I’ve been into Danganronpa since 2018 (I think?), and DR:AE is my favorite (mostly because I’m a Kotoko and Toko kinnie oof-)!

Right now, my only Danganronpa cosplay is Toko/Syo, but I’m working on a couple of j-fashion (particularly menhera and fairy kei) inspired looks to do with my moirail (who was the one who got me into j-fashion), and just some Amazon/eBay cosplays as well! I’m also working on a Future Foundation Toko cosplay to do with my moirail so we can do Tokomaru together (though most of it is thrifting and clothes I already have)!

I own DR1, SDR2, and DR:AE on my computer, but I don’t play them much. The second trial in DR1 gives me panic attacks because of the whole breaking of trust thing (I’ve heard the audios and I just,,, break down), I haven’t touched SDR2 yet, and I’m sucky at the controls for DR:AE. However, I’ve watched the anime and I’ve seen let’s plays, so I have a feel for what’s going on, though I may not remember it all correctly since I haven’t watched them in a while.

———————————–

So that’s most (if not all) of my special interests! I probably forgot some, but it’s getting late and I need to pack for my Mom’s and go to bed. I hope you all have a good night!

[ofaspcns]

chicago’s very own aspen santos has been spotted on madison avenue driving a mercedes g wagon, welcome ! your resemblance to bridget satterlee is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty first birthday bash  . your chance of surviving new york is uncertain because you’re flighty, but being starry-eyed might help you . i think being a virgo explains that .  3 things that would paint  a  better picture of you would be soft sunlight slipping through drawn shades, pointe shoes, hair slicked back into a perfect french twist. & ( cis female + she/her  ) 

hello my loves !! i’m ley  &  i’m so excited to be here !! i’m ur local disaster  //  colossal dumbass ( no lie i am lit rally so dumb ) !! i’m 18, go by she / her pronouns, and live in the est timezone. and a very random fun fact about me cis why not ??  my last name is fruit ; ) alritey,,,, since i know this is bound to get LONG & be a whole ass mess cause i haven’t written an intro in ages, so i’m just gonna get right into it, here’s my baby honey aspen !!!!

full  name : aspen filomena santos. preferred  names  besides :  usually always goes by aspen, but also okay with pen or penny. age  :  21. date  of  birth  :  september 14. zodiac  sign  :  virgo. current  residence  :  new york city, new york. home  town  :  chicago. occupation :  ballerina. gender  &  pronouns  :  cisfemale, she/her. sexuality  :  pansexual  &  panromantic.

backstory:

aspen filomena santos was born into stardom on september 14 to alesandro santos and elizabet kambalov. her father is an a-list actor/director, and her mother, a retired ballerina turned fashion designer.

she is the baby of the family, and the only girl out of five kids, so it’s only natural that she was always treated as a princess.  

aspen’s mother put her into ballet at a very young age. she had been wishing for a girl so she could have a dancer, and naturally, aspen fell in love with it. she would cry when ever she had to leave the studio, and once she got on stage for the first time, she never wanted to leave.

her mother enrolled her at the joffrey school of ballet  at age six. her mom spent her entire career with joffrey before retiring, so she always very heavily tried to influence aspen to dance with joffrey so she could kind of live through her. at the age of 18, she got offered a contract from both american ballet theatre and joffrey ( which btw, wouldn’t actually happen irl. but for rp proposes, we’ll say it does ). her mother wanted aspen to follow in her footsteps and accept joffrey ballet, but aspen chose abt. she’s always had a dream of living in NYC, and this was the perfect opportunity. 

so she's now a soloist with american ballet theatre. her mother is still mad at her for it, even four years later.

personality:

aspen has always been VERY independent. much to her parent’s dismay, who wished they could have coddled her and kept her as the baby for as long as possible. ever since she took her first steps, she’s liked to do things on her own. she’s also so insanely stubborn and determined. once she gets an idea in her mind there is no way she is being swayed from it.

her father is greek, so she fluently speaks the language. she travels a lot to greece to visit family that still lives there, and it is her favorite place ever. her mother is also russian but after she came to the states as a child, they never returned. aspen knows quite a bit of russian & can understand it when family speaks it, but doesn’t fluently speak it herself. 

she loves art… in like every form. dance, photography, painting, poetry. she’s just one of those super artistically talented people and everyone is just wondering h o w

she’s kind of shy until you get to know her ?? but once you do she’s just a lil ray of sunshine with a huge heart,,, she literally loves everyone & is a very selfless & loyal person. 

hardcore insomniac okay this girl NEVER sleeps. aspen’s also such a workaholic she has no clue what do with herself when she has days off.

aspen is a major perfectionist. she’ll stay for hours in the studio rehearsing if even just one step in her variation is wrong. her mom has always been very hard on her & expected perfection, so she took on the mind set and then some. if she messes up in a show or has a bad rehearsal she’ll mope for days 

she has a tendency to always see the good in things… she trusts that almost everything is good until proven otherwise, and it gets her hurt a lot

judging by her personality, most people would assume her to be a hopeless romantic, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. she def has philophobia, she’s never had good luck when it comes to love and emotional attachment when it comes to significant others scares the shit out of her. she has major trust issues, so she tends to just try and stay away from developing too deep of feelings for someone.

[dream-girls-evil]

Episode 10 Reaction

LOL WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. This reaction is going to be significantly less polished because I have a lot of complaints, a lot of wine, and zero fucks.

Pre-Apocalypse

I’m SO glad Myrtle and Venable meet. I need about two more hours just of them interacting. They’re GREAT. 

Oh wow, Myrtle’s packing some serious witchy power!

“My hair is a mystery, never to be fully understood.” I love it.

Okay, so the coconut heads are legit in another outpost. I’m so mad we didn’t get to see Venable or Myrtle kill them.

Venable 200% deserved the opportunity

I actually feel kind of bad that she’s back to working for this shitheads since the apocalypse was prevented.

Back to Misty’s swamp, yet still no Misty. I am confused and upset.

Aaaaand now we know how Mallory and Coco end up in Outpost Three

called it!!! Y’all thought Cordelia blowing that powder was to kill someone--I’ve been telling you it was just for the identity spell.

“Not to make it all about me.”

The “new personalities” thing was a nice way to excuse Coco’s behavior. It’s a little irritating, but I get the point. Her job is literally to crush Mallory’s soul.

it’s so funny that they just blatantly said she’s modeled after Madison

at least they’ll be together if the world ends--things getting more than a little gay.

Myrtle and Cordelia get a little callous talking about Coco’s family.

I know it’s necessary and that if things work none of it will happen, but still. Cordelia is all over Mallory trying to comfort her, but she basically tells Coco to suck it up.

Mr. Gallant and Brock are back and I loved Madison being an Uber driver.

Okay, Cordelia sitting on Misty’s couch, staring out the window, is the most beautiful scene. I’d like us all to imagine that she’s just watching Misty work in the garden.

Madison and Myrtle team up for one thing and one thing only: revenge.

Post-Apocalypse

So...they literally just buried themselves in the ground until Mallory’s powers activated. 

and then somehow magically got to the other side of the country in like a week.

At least we know why Cordelia isn’t sick anymore in 2021

suppressing Mallory’s magic must have restored her own, and that good ol’ Louisiana mud healed her side.

“You’re special, Mallory” aaaaand we’ve come full-circle to the beginning of this season’s problems

“The seventh seal,” I’m sorry, did we miss the first six? Where was the season about that??

Aaaaand Michael is, in the end, literally just another male trying to prove that he’s better than the witches

FUCK YES MARIE!!! And Delphine makes an appearance! Cordelia really is ruthless, damn. Trading Dinah for Marie was a fucking power move.

And there goes Mrs. Mead? Singing Daisy? Just...why.

At least Madison keeps her wits and sees the opportunity to grab a gun.

Hey there’s brock! Knew he was still wandering around somewhere. 

god, I would have paid to see him interact with non-identity spell Coco

she would have been disgusted with him

Madison’s head literally just exploded. Fucking stupid. Actually, everyone’s deaths are fucking stupid.

Marie has been off screen for .2 seconds and I miss her.

Excuse me, why is Mallory calling her Cordelia instead of “miss”?

“It appears as though we’re fucked, my dear” you don’t say

“I knew you’d survive the nuclear fallout” bitch then why were you whining about thinking you killed all the witches?

Aaand here we go with Cordelia. And Myrtle seriously doesn’t see what’s coming?? She’s literally been talking about this since 2018.

gotta admit though, that “my sisters are a legion, motherfucker,” was fantastic, and Cordelia’s death was as badass as her life.

I’m glad she told Myrtle she loved her though, since this ends up being the last time they see each other.

Pre-Apocalypse...Again

Mallory literally just runs him over with a fucking car. 

and apparently had time to change into something more fashionable.

what?

like, that’s so unexpected for her character. She’s freaking Snow White. 

I don’t dislike it, I just wish we’d seen this side of her beforehand so it seemed consistent.

Dare I say that Constance letting Michael’s spirit move on is actual character growth?

Point of frustration: this means Madison never freed Moira from the house

but it also means Violet and Tate never get back together and I’m happy about that

So...Mallory just joins the coven in 2015?? Because that’s not gonna create a fucking paradox or anything.

Mallory’s parents think she’s a devil worshipper--she’s legit Misty’s little sister or something

Aw, she’s so happy to see Cordelia and Cordelia has no fucking clue who she is XD 

Btw, I LOVE Cordelia’s dress!

OH GOD WHY does Cordelia’s paperwork say Cordelia Foxx

I THOUGHT WE COVERED THIS ALREADY

And Queenie’s not gonna die!

Lmao but she’s letting Madison suffeeeeeer

NAN!!! 

MISTYYYYYYYY!!!! 

okay listen so Mallory has NEVER met Misty before, which means that Cordelia must have talked about her, enough that Mallory would know that bringing her back is the most important thing she could do to make Corelia happy

not AS good as the first reunion, but still adorable

“I’m sure you two have a lot to catch up on” MALLORY SHIPS IT

Misty is so cute meeting Mallory

legit thought Misty and Cordelia were gonna kiss when Misty reached for her...so sad

Mallory could literally be their daughter, wow

The only good thing about this episode: Misty has only been in hell for a year, and now she’s finally safe at home with Cordelia

they’re canon, okay?

2020: aaaaand were back to Romeo and Juliet

wait....what. Now Romeo and Juliet’s KID is the antichrist?? 

excuse me, the whole point of the antichirst is that he’s the result of the union between a ghost and a human woman. 

is this supposed to tie-up their “genetic superiority” arc? Weak.

What.

Okay, so, it could have been worse? I guess? I mean, Misty and Cordelia both made it out alive and they’re in the same place for once. No one tragically died, nothing actually awful happened.

But...they didn’t really stop anything from happening either, in the long run. There’s still a clan of angry warlocks out there; there’s a new antichrist on the rise; and Mallory is still the next Supreme--maybe?

If Mallory’s still the next Supreme, that means Cordelia STILL has only a few years to live. Which fucking sucks. But I’m thinking that maybe she’s actually not the next Supreme. Theory one goes back to that whole “witches’ powers spike in times of danger” thing. What if the ascension of the next supreme was just sped up in response to the danger of Michael? Without that threat, maybe Cordelia’s reign will have the normal timespan. Theory two is that Mallory is technically displaced out of her own timeline now, so I think it could have taken her out of the lineup for Supreme.

Speaking of which, what’s gonna happen in three years when younger Mallory shows up at the academy??? Paradoxes. Upon paradoxes. Upon paradoxes.

“Neat little bow” was right; “for the fans” was not. There was still no Goode-Day kiss or confirmation, which at this point is ridiculous because it’s blatantly obvious to everyone that they’re in love. I mean, even Mallory, who never met Misty, knew enough about her that she knew Cordelia needed her back. She must have heard Cordelia tell stories, must have watched her head out on weekends to fix up the shack, must have heard from Zoe and Queenie how Cordelia asked the antichrist himself to retrieve her even though it would make her concede the supremacy. All of this for a woman named Misty Day.

And then that scene is literally Misty and Cordelia’s last appearance of the season. Holding each other and crying and smiling. It could have been better--we definitely deserved better--but I can live with how Goode-Day played out.

The rest of the episode? No, that just straight-up sucked lol.

[darkfire1220]

Godzilla: King of the Monsters SPOILER Review!

WARNING! SPOILERS BELOW! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS YET, GO AWAY! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

I made a post just yesterday defending Godzilla: King of the Monsters from the harsh criticism the film has received since it’s release over the weekend. I stand by what I said: I think the critical reviews have really hurt the film’s reception in an extremely negative and undeserved way. Now, that’s not to say the film is a perfect one! It has its positives and negatives, and I’m going to go in-depth into them in this review. I’m also going to be making theater experience comparisons to other movies I’ve seen in the past to help you understand where this film falls under my spectrum. This is absolutely my sole opinion, but I just want to clear some of the air and really give everyone my thoughts on this film.

I’ve gotten to see the film twice now, the first on opening night, and the second about five hours ago. The first time I went in as a huge Kaiju nerd, excited and anticipating the film which I hoped would be the blockbuster of the summer. I’d even go so far as to say that I was more hyped for this than Avengers: Endgame. I watched Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster, Kong: Skull Island, and Godzilla 2014 prior to going to see this movie. I was prepared to witness glory incarnate. 

And I did. Can confirm, my mind was blown. I walked out of that first showing with a stupidly huge grin, possibilities whirling in my mind, and a fierce excitement to see it again. We got a bunch of easter eggs in addition to seeing some of my favorite Kaiju on the American big screen for the first time. I got everything I wanted and I felt very positive about it all.

Godzilla and Ghidorah OWN this movie. Not only did I get way more Godzilla than in 2014, but I got to see Ghidorah shine. That dragon is such a savage, showing every bit of maliciousness he’s known for and even when Godzilla gets juiced up towards the end of the film, he takes every hit thrown at him and pays it back. This Ghidorah takes no bullshit from anybody. He deals it out, and he deals it out with extreme prejudice. Everything from his design, sound effects, the unique behavior and interaction between his three heads (I LOVED that, btw) is so goddamn good and I can’t express enough how much you should go see the movie if only to see the kaiju do their things. 

Now Rodan, my boy Rodan! You were once one of the goofiest looking Kaiju I’d ever set eyes on, but my god you got a makeover in this movie. Legendary’s Rodan is a monster in the skies, and you can see that without any trouble. When the planes start to fire missiles at him, he shrugs it off and seems to be more annoyed than anything. Actually, he kind of just plays cat-and-mouse with the jets when he’s pursuing the Argo (The big jet, kind of like a stealth bomber. My dad would disown me for just calling it that because he works in aerospace XD) and only when they completely surround him does he eventually get fed up with the jets and executes a mean barrel roll to essentially bitch-slap all of them (yes, all of them- he kills the entire squad) out of the sky. That was an awesome shot. 

Last but certainly not least, Mothra. This incarnation of Mothra is by far the most aggressive, but still retains a lot of the classic kaiju features. She’s beautiful to see and when they started playing her music theme I got so excited. This Mothra also has a few tricks up her sleeve! I was very, very surprised when she whipped out a stinger of all things! But she showed a lot of loyalty to Godzilla in protecting him from Ghidorah and eventually transferring her power to him after Ghidorah kills her (of course she dies, it’s Mothra :(  BUT there’s another egg in the end-credits, so maybe we’ll get more Mothra in Godzilla vs Kong!). Another detail I didn’t actually notice the first time watching this was when Godzilla went Thermonuclear and blasted Ghidorah with atomic pulses, the pulses sounded like Mothra’s cries and gave off patterns similar to Mothra’s wings. I thought that was very cool!

Also, one thing I wasn’t expecting to enjoy were all the kaiju Legendary made up for the movie. As much as I would have loved to see more Toho kaiju, (I wanted Anguirus so bad lol) the designs for these kaiju, brief as they were, were awesome to see. We got a number of new minor kaiju with their own unique designs, ranging from the mammoth-ground sloth hybrid Behemoth, the mountain-backed Methuselah, and even a massive MUTO similar to the ones from the 2014 film, but with her own unique features. I’ve heard some people call this one MUTO Prime, but I think that might be a reference to a Godzilla comic that was released not too long ago. I think it was called Godzilla: Aftershock. Don’t take my word on that, I haven’t gotten to check it out yet. I could be totally wrong. 

But anyways, I loved all of my kaiju, even the new ones! I’d love to see more of them, even if it’s just little bits and pieces!

Onto the human characters. Yes, your favorite part of this review. Yes, I am being absolutely sarcastic, but to be fair, I personally think the actors did a great job. Of course it’s a Godzilla movie and the plot line is a little wacky, but everyone from Millie Bobby Brown to Kyle Chandler (and especially Ken Watanabe) played their characters very well. The acting was spot-on. I couldn’t really bring myself to truly hate any of the characters. There were some questionable choices, yes, but the actors themselves played their characters very well, I think. 

Now of course, I’ve had time to sober up a bit and the second showing let me think a bit more about the movie and its problems. I’ve boiled it down to three main issues: First, the humans take up too much time. Two, I wanted more kaiju (specifically Mothra). And three, the fights kept getting cut in the middle of the action.

King of the Monsters struggles with the same issue that Godzilla 2014 had in that it actually doesn’t have enough monsters. I’m not talking about monster battles- it has that in spades, (though I found myself wanting even more of that, as well) but I found it lacking when it came to some of the kaiju themselves. The first half of the movie rolls out exactly like I wanted. It starts with a bang and just immediately starts to move. It’s fast, catastrophic, and visually stunning. 

That visual awe, by the way, is something that is maintained throughout the entirety of the film. If you want to see some of the most amazing shots you’ve ever seen in a movie, then this is the one. 

The problem with King of the Monsters starts mostly in the second half of the film, just after King Ghidorah rises from the ocean victorious in his latest battle against Godzilla. At this point, the film slows down and focuses far, far too much on the people. We know that the Titans are rampaging around the world, but we don’t see much of them. Even Ghidorah and Rodan (the latter of whom submits to Ghidorah’s authority after getting his ass beat) aren’t given much screen time to show what they get up to, which apparently flying over to Washington D.C and turning it into Ghidorah’s personal crib.

I would have LOVED to see Ghidorah and Rodan fly up to the capital and basically lay waste to the place, if only to add to their danger factors. They both present an immense threat, but it feels a bit subverted given how little screen time they have together while Rodan is under Ghidorah’s authority. 

But we slowed down and focused on the people, who were sent on a mission to heal Godzilla after the Oxygen Destroyer missile almost killed him. Granted, that is important, but it felt too stretched out for me to really enjoy it. I would have liked to see Mothra partaking more in helping Godzilla, especially since she gets so little screen time in the movie. 

That’s one of my biggest nitpicks as I stated before- I didn’t get nearly enough Mothra. We actually got more Rodan than we did Mothra. Don’t get me wrong, Rodan is one of my favorite Kaiju and this movie scales his baddassery level up so much, but I NEEDED more Mothra to really make the movie work better. Her design is gorgeous and her brief participation in the final battle is fine, but I wanted MORE of her. More of Mothra interacting with the people, with Godzilla, and with Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown).

Just more of Mothra. For a kaiju that plays such a key role in rebelling against Ghidorah’s Alpha status and protecting Godzilla, she doesn’t get remotely enough screen time. 

But let’s get back on track. The movie slowed down after the battle in Mexico concluded and Ghidorah became the Alpha kaiju. And in this, I felt in my second viewing, is really where the crux of the problem lies. Some of the human actions were very necessary and provided the meat of the plot, but a lot of the fat could have been cut out and replaced with kaiju instead. 

The scene with Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Godzilla was masterfully done, though. For those of you who aren’t diehard kaiju fans, Serizawa was the scientist way back in the original 50′s Godzilla films that killed Godzilla with the oxygen destroyer. In this movie, Ken Watanabe’s character, who is also named Serizawa, sacrifices himself to save Godzilla by detonating a nuclear bomb beside the Titan, which helps him recover his radioactive life force. 

“Goodbye, old friend.”

There’s something tragically sad about that quote and it was the most powerful moment in the film for me. Not just because it pays homage to the original Serizawa character, but because that really takes you back to the original Godzilla roots, when the kaiju was used as a metaphor for nuclear devastation. Serizawa is of Japanese origin and his father was killed by the bomb in Hiroshima (in the storyline). He sacrifices himself to save Godzilla and is killed by the nuclear bomb they use to jump-start the Titan. That echoes hard and reminded me where Godzilla came from in the first place. 

Godzilla gets juiced by the nuclear bomb and goes on the hunt to track down and slaughter Ghidorah once and for all. Cue one of the most epic monster fights you’ll ever see on the big screen...or it would have been, if they didn’t cut away every few seconds to focus on the people. It’s this repetitive sequence in the film that hurts its score the most for me. I don’t care about the people scrambling on the ground, or at least I don’t care enough to want to focus on them when Godzilla, Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra are scrapping in the background. 

Like hello??? Can I look at THAT please??? More, please!!! 

What action sequences we do get are great, but god they would have been so much more satisfying and powerful if we just got to see the kaiju duking it out while the humans scrambled in the background, and not the other way around. 

Walking out of the theater this time, I felt like I stated before- I didn’t get enough kaiju, or at least the kaiju I did get kept getting cut off by human nonsense. I still enjoyed it, absolutely, because for me, the pros of the film outweigh the cons. I got to see my favorite kaiju duke it out amidst tolerable human actors with CGI that Toho couldn’t have even dreamed of seeing back in the day. I got my Godzilla movie, and while it wasn’t perfect, I liked what I liked more than I hated what I didn’t. 

To put this in comparison, I think this film falls into a healthy theater experience, but not an outstanding one. For example, I am a Jurassic Park nut, and when Jurassic World came out, I saw that movie more times than I can even count. Every opportunity I could have to go see it, I saw it. I think I saw that movie in the theater something like eight times? Not even a joke, I saw it that much. I loved it so much. That was probably my favorite theater experience ever. King of the Monsters makes me want to go see it again and again, (even now, after seeing it twice!) but maybe I’ll refrain from seeing it quite that much lol. 

But it doesn’t deserve to be thrashed with criticism the way it is. Another example, my most negative theater experience, is when I went to go see The Last Jedi. Oh my god. Now THAT movie made me wish the new trilogy had never happened, and I love Star Wars. Even in my first viewing of The Last Jedi, I walked out of that theater with two of my friends (both of them hardcore Star Wars fans) and we all said out loud, “What the fuck was that garbage?” 

Oh my god we hated that film, but we went to go see it twice regardless because that’s what we do to really determine how much we like or hate a film. The first time is for initial reactions as fans, the second time we go see a film to be more perceptive about it. And The Last Jedi sucked even more the second time, which is why I will never touch that movie ever again. I could go in-depth about it, but that’s not what this review is about. This was simply an example to compare King of the Monsters to. 

If I had had the kind of reaction to the film that I did with The Last Jedi, I would absolutely understand the box office numbers it is currently being pounded with, but I didn’t have that reaction. I loved the movie both times I went to go see it and for the life of my I can’t fathom why it’s receiving so much heat. This film is pieced together BETTER than that horrifying Star Wars movie, for god’s sake, but it’s doing so much worse. Let that sink in for a second. A Godzilla movie’s plot is pieced better than a Star Wars movie. Will wonders never cease?

All in all, I think King of the Monsters is a sold 7.5/10. It’s not perfect and it has its problems, but I think it’s a solid entry into the kaiju franchise, and at this point I’m just praying that the negativity it’s receiving doesn’t hurt the Legendary Monsterverse later on down the line. I want to see more Godzilla movies after Kong vs Godzilla, thank you very much! 

Whew, that was a lot to write. Anyways, my final advice to anyone thinking about going to see it is to just go take a crack at it in the theaters. I can understand why people didn’t like some parts of the film, but I found the positives outweighed the negatives. Long live the King!

[sonofhistory]

Ron Chernow: Tales of False Information, Hypocrisy and Sucking Up.

I’m not doing this in a pretty essay because I wanted to get the taint of his name from my keyboard quick enough. Often enough, I exclaim my opinion of Ron Chernow. What comes afterwards is a bucket of asks questioning my reasoning, to which I have explained on numerous occasions. Today, once and for all, I will answer it in a clear formate so that I may 1) Stop being asked of Chernow and 2) Give you all the information to choose properly when reading up on your history! Let’s begin. 

This is Ron Chernow:

Ah, yes. The man himself. Historian, best-selling writer, journalist... you name it. Kinda looks like your uncle who gets you a child’s Christmas present even though you are seventeen years old.  If you are interested in history, or follow it to some extent you most certainly have heard his name in the past. Whether it be in a book store, online, or for your especially crafty people--this blog ;) You are bound to be able to recognize his name. He has published titles such as Titan, The Death of the Banker, Grant & Washington to name a few with the most popularity or catch among readers and stats. However, if it is one biography of which stands out the most against anything it is: Alexander Hamilton. You know that big yellow book?

I can assure you, that while this book looks to big and bright as to blot out the sun: it is nothing but a walk in the park. The biography delves heavily into the life of the first Secretary Treasury of the United States in a manner which has never been performed to such an impressive extent for the historical figure before. From the poor island to by Washington’s side and then the forest of Wekawken to his last breath beside Eliza, just as David McCullough did with John Adams, Ron Chernow masterfully articulates all of the information in a conscious and extraordinary manner. So, perhaps you ask: why, Presley, do you hold an utter disdain for Ron Chernow if you think it was good?? Well to answer your question:

Because he does too much sucking up. 

Sucking up. 

But what do I mean by that? I mean rather poignantly that if Ron Chernow could, he would get down on his knees and please Hamilton in any which manner that he wishes. He sucks up. Alexander Hamilton is solely one example of this manner of creating a larger and life picture of the man. I have stated all this before, in my review on this book, but today I am going to tackle a few reasons why you shouldn’t rush out to read from Chernow on this interesting figure. From not allowing Hamilton to take account for his wrong deeds, to blaming the people in his life to blatant lies among the text. Ron Chernow, is, in my honest and collective opinion, a lying and untruthful historian. 

First and foremost: bias. You’ve heard this word before often coming from me on this blog regarding historians. In my context, it means an author who does not take both prospectives in an argument and is always inclined to one specific side. Perfect examples of how historians have been masterful in avoiding bias is Jon Meacham in Thomas Jefferson and John Ferling in Jefferson vs Hamilton. Those authors were able to perfectly walk the line between giving their figure’s opinions and being able to tear their views to shreds. Ron Chernow does not walk the line. Actually he pretty much fell the thousand feet away from the line to his doom in hell. Strong wording? You bet. Chernow is EXTREMELY BIAS. By bias in Chernow context, I mean that he does not understand how to incorporate differing opinions into his passages or know how to interpret Hamilton in what manner he was: a brilliant but extremely flawed man with a multitude of moral issues who constructed the country from scratch with the rest of them. Instead, Chernow chooses to view Hamilton is a divergent light. 

So what does this do for his character? Hamilton’s. It amplifies it. Chernow spends the entire biography attempting to convince how holy, forgotten and sacred Hamilton is that he entirely disregards that Hamilton is already interesting by himself! We don’t need useful false information or bias information. For example, Chernow portrays Hamilton in a light of “do no wrong” and that is was everyone around him of which had issue. For a few examples:

Thomas Jefferson started all of the arguments between them and he was evil. Not like Hamilton did anything to be either...

Maria Reynolds is a stupid whore and she seduced poor Hamilton into banging her. 

James Monroe just stopped being friends with him and backstabbed him. Lmao. Right. 

It is Eliza’s fault that Hamilton cheated on her because she was pregnant all of the time. 

It was Eliza’s fault being Hamilton needs to protect his fragile masculinity and bang other women. 

It is Eliza’s fault. 

IT IS ELIZA’S FAULT FOR EVERYTHING. 

This brings me onto another point about characterization. So, in the wake of him having to amplify Hamilton to his extraordinary human bring who cannot do any wrong, he had to, at the same time, ruin the characters and personalities of the people around Hamilton. He spends the entire book trying to say that it was Eliza who was the hero but then completely goes against his claim just to bring attention and say that Eliza was responsible for the largest blot on Hamilton’s character. He trashes James Monroe by putting him the light of a Hamilton or Jefferson wannabe. He characterizes Jefferson the wrong way and takes numerous amounts of time just to dig at his character in the text like a middle schooler talking shit about someone. The thing is? Jefferson sucks! Yeah! We all know that: Jefferson is a piece of shit. However, Chernow doesn’t diss Jefferson in a way that is so bring to light how disgusting he was, he does it just to prove how much “cooler” Jefferson was to him and in turn ignores all of his subject’s flaws. James Madison is portrayed pathetically as well. Thought I’d mention... I believe the most horrifying thing, however, is his incorrect take on Maria Reynolds. That she was a stupid whore and Hamilton couldn’t resist her beautiful, sexy and entrancing sex sex sex. 

Alright. I spoke enough about character. Now allow us to tackle a fundamental reason why Chernow drops the ball in all of his biographies. The sacred ball. The sacred, holy ball that all historians must follow. 

CITE YOUR GOD DAMN SOURCES. 

Chernow puts information in there that you cannot find anywhere else. I mean... anywhere. But... what do I mean? I mean it is no where. No sources, no archives: nothing. A lot of his information is completely and utterly false! He places it in there just to serve his own agenda! It is completely crazy. Here are a few examples I noticed (there are many):

He states that Hamilton never owned any slaves and places him in the light of an extreme abolitionist. WHICH IS COMPLETELY FALSE. Chernow shows him as a fervent abolitionist and only mentions on one page in one sentence the  possiblity that Alexander Hamilton owned slaves. Alexander Hamilton owned one or two house slaves, he married into one of the richest slave owning family, he bought slaves for his family member and Chernow tries to say this was all against his will–seriously? Newsflash, Alexander Hamilton was NOT an abolitionist.

Stated that Hercules Mulligan was in the New York Manumission Society yet he is not in any records and was owning slaves all throughout his life. 

The story about Martha Washington’s tomcat is also untrue and the Boston Globe stated the emailed Chernow multiple times to no answer. 

Let us also not forgot to mention the incorrect labeling on the William S. Hamilton picture. 

As you can see: Chernow puts in facts and flowery information in order to pump up his nice thesis. He spends so long trying to do exactly what David McCullough did masterfully: bring a figure up from the depths and turn him in one fellow swoop into an icon. Sure, Chernow has gotten that done. He has a musical, which is pretty amazing, and everything. But masterfully? Debatable. 

At the end of the day, Alexander Hamilton is just one example of Chernow’s dirty deed. He did the same thing in Washington btw which is why I don’t recommend it. I must giver Chernow props however: his writing style is complex but fascination, interesting and he does immense research for his writing. Kudos on that. 

If you are looking for entertaining book with many facts and nearly a thousand pages of information on one person: you will go to the right now. I am not asking you to not read Chernow because in the end, he actually is quite good. What I am saying is that when you are going to read Chernow: you will need to take everything he says with a big pinch of salt. Because you may never know what is fact, what is reality and when he is crossing between being a historian and being a fan boy. 

Take Chernow with a pinch of salt. A big pinch of salt. A whole thing of salt. A bucket of salt. A damn house of salt. As you are reading, you are going to have to question everything that he is writing about and you’ll never know fiction and fanboying between truth and reality. Want to relax instead? Come to me and I’ll recommend you anything better than him. 

[bountyofbeads]

https://medium.com/@CleverTitleTK/their-own-two-feet-8ddd1dbb1602

You have to read this article on the immigrant roots of Ken Cuccinelli and yes his public charge grandparents when they arrived in this country with no education or money. Jennifer has done a great job of documenting(See Website For Documents) his family's immigrant history. His hypocrisy is rich. PLEASE READ 📖 AND SHARE. TY 🤔

😂🤣😂🤣

Their Own Two Feet

Jennifer Mendelssohn | Published August 30, 2019 | Medium | Posted August 30, 2019 6:15 PM ET

As the new public face of the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies, acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli has wasted no time stirring up collective ire. Most notably, he set off a firestorm of criticism by rewriting the iconic Emma Lazarus poem that has long functioned as a kind of unofficial American immigration mantra. “Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge,” he proudly told NPR’s Rachel Martin, who somehow resisted the urge to burst out laughing and/or slap him upside the head. (You can read several historians’ takes on the public charge rule here, but suffice it to say that the concept, which was meant to weed out only the very, very least desirable of immigrants, has never been enforced as rigorously as Cuccinelli is suggesting.)

Cuccinelli later elaborated thatLazarus’ poem was “referring back to people coming from Europe where they had class-based societies, where people were considered wretched if they weren’t in the right class.” Wink wink, nudge, nudge, we hear you! And if you had the word “Europe” in Bigotry Bingo, drink!

For the past two years, I’ve run a project called #resistancegenealogy, which looks at the family histories of public figures in order to show just how similar so many of our stories really are. Cuccinelli’s very public numbskullery definitely set a new record: never before I have I received so many texts, tweets, emails and Facebook messages from people so eager to learn about someone’s family tree. (Side note: Never before have I seen so many people who’ve never done genealogy try to do it themselves and get it so very very wrong. You realize more than one person in a town can have the same name, right? And that not all records are online? And that other people’s public family trees are very often…wrong? Here, read this.)

And never before has a family history — or at least the Italian half of that history that I’ll address here — been so utterly unsurprising. I mean, where did you all think the story of the Cuccinelli family of Hoboken, New Jersey was going to go, really? C’mon now.

And so, here I am, just a girl with some documents, standing in front of her country, asking it not to betray its immigrant past. Asking it to remember that welcoming the “wretched refuse of your teeming shore,” even when that “refuse” comes with little more than grit, determination and a desire to do better for their children, is a bedrock American value, a value that allowed many of you reading these words right now to be here. It’s a value that allowed Ken Cuccinelli — descended from Southern Italians of modest means and little education who would likely never pass muster under the proposed changes — to be here. I mean, hellooooo? Were you listening at allduring the 4th grade unit on immigration?

Cuccinelli called a New York Daily Newsarticle about his family history (albeit one that identifies the wrong ship’s manifest as his great-grandfather’s) “intellectually dishonest.” Any comparison to past immigrants, he maintained, was invalid because “the welfare state didn’t exist back then.”

Nativists love to fall back on this argument, but they also still love to contrast the behavior of current immigrants with what they believe to be their own ancestors’ spotless — and “legal!” — immigration and assimilation histories, despite the fact that comparisons to “legal” immigration at a time when there were almost no immigration laws for Europeans to break are inherently problematic. And despite the fact that the historical record is often at odds with their starry-eyed, mythologized understanding of their ancestors’ pasts.

“My great-grandfather knew upon arriving in the United States that he had to learn English and that he had to work hard to succeed in this country,” Cuccinelli told the Daily News.

“My family worked together to ensure that they could provide for their own needs, and they never expected the government to do it for them,” he said at a press briefing.

I’m so very very tired of telling you this very same story over and over again, but since so many of you asked — some less politely than others, btw, can we please work on that moving forward? — let’s go to the videotape and look at the Cuccinelli family story, shall we?

THE CUCCINELLIS

Ken Cuccinelli’s paternal grandfather, Dominick Luigi Cuccinelli, was born in Hoboken, New Jersey to — are you sitting down? — Italian immigrant parents who’d only been in the country for about ten years. Ken’s great-grandfather was Domenico Cuccinelli (né Cucciniello) born on the 6th of December, 1874 in Avellino, Italy. His 1897 marriage certificate  identifies him and his wife, Fortuna Preziosi, as farmers.

In March of 1901, Domenico became part of the massive wave of Italians who lit out for greater opportunity and stability in America, sailing on the SS Patria from Naples. Identified as a “laborer,” he arrived at Ellis Island with $8.75, equivalent to about $260 today. His contact in the U.S.? An unnamed cousin already living on Adams Street in Hoboken.

Ancestry indexed this record under “Camiello.” Which may be why you couldn’t find it.

Domenico’s wife Fortuna would follow her husband to America the following year on the Algeria, arriving at Ellis Island with their two small children and $20.

It’s important to remember that for all our talk of welcoming the huddled masses with open arms, American immigration history also has a pronounced strain of ugly nativism, a rather ironic twist for a nation founded on stolen land. (And we’re talking here only about immigrants by choice.) Which means that Ken Cuccinelli’s immigrant family was subjected to the very same brand of bigoted suspicion that he is now trying to inflict on others. The Ken Cuccinellis of the early twentieth century — though they didn’t typically have last names like Cuccinelli — were just as insistent that people like the Cuccinellis didn’t have the right to become Americans. That they wouldn’t fit in. That they had nothing to offer and would only be a drain on “our” resources.

“[Italians] are coming in waves and think they have a right to come….There has been a surfeit of unskilled illiterates for years and the people do not want any more of them,” opined the Jersey (City) Journal on November 29, 1902, just a few months after Ken’s great-grandmother arrived there.

So what became of the Cuccinellis? Well, the first we see of the family in American records is in the 1905 New Jersey state census. Father Domenico is employed as a laborer, supporting a family of six. And though they’ve been in the U.S. for three and four years at this point, neither parent reported being able to speak English.

But as is so often the case, the Cuccinelli family moved up in the world. By the 1915 census, both Domenico and Fortuna are listed as literate and English speaking, despite his having never had a formal education and her having only completed eighth grade. In 1919, Domenico, still working as a laborer and now living in nearby Jersey City, declared his intention to become an American citizen, a process he completed three years later.

You’ll notice the family’s 1922 address: 401 Monroe Street in Hoboken, where they are also listed in the 1925 city directory. Just a few houses down on Monroe (the entire neighborhood has streets grandly named after American presidents, incidentally) was another family headed by Italian immigrants — a boilermaker and a midwife. They had a son named Frank just a few years younger than Ken’s grandfather Dominick. Perhaps you’ll recognize the last name and wonder what would have been lost had his immigrant parents been barred.

By 1930, Domenico Cuccinelli owned a home on Madison Street. And by 1940, he and his wife were comfortably retired, living in a house worth $5000, the very picture of the American dream.

THE POLICASTROS

Ken’s grandmother Josephine Policastro Cuccinelli was also the Jersey-born daughter of Italian immigrants: Gaetano Policastro and Maria Ronga (also spelled Rongo) from Monte San Giacomo in Salerno.

A teenaged Maria Ronga (her birth certificate indicates she was 17) arrived at Ellis Island in November of 1903 with her widowed 48-year-old mother, Giuseppa Romano, who has no listed occupation, and three younger siblings. Giuseppa’s husband Giuseppe Ronga, a tailor, had died in 1901 at the age of 44, which may have played a role in their decision to move. With all of $5 between the five of them, they were detained at Ellis Island — as indicated by the “S.I.” for “Special Inquiry” stamped by their names in the margin of the manifest. The “Record of Aliens Held For Special Inquiry” list indicates the reason they were held, abbreviated as “L.P.C.;” it stands for “Likely Public Charge.” So yes, the great-grandmother of the man now beating the drums to tighten the public charge rule was…labeled a likely public charge herself.

After a day’s detainment and a hearing — at which Maria’s older brother Vincenzo, who paid for their passage, would have likely been called to testify that he could support his mother and siblings — the family was allowed to enter the United States, as were more than 98% of those who came through Ellis Island.

But make no mistake: there were many who would have happily sent the Rongas packing. Witness this Judgemagazine cartoon from the very year they arrived, which depicts southern European immigrants as filthy rats, bringing crime and anarchy into the country. (Nice Mafia hats, right?) Doesn’t this sound… familiar?

The new arrivals moved in with Maria’s older brother Vincenzo, now going by the name James, in Hoboken. Ken’s great-grandmother Maria found work as a candy maker, as shown in the 1905 census.

Two and a half years after her arrival, though she is somehow still only 17, Maria “Ronca” (age and spelling are slippery concepts, genealogically speaking) married Gaetano “Thomas” Policastro, a recently widowed father of two with an eighth grade education. Gaetano was also born in Monte San Giacomo and appears to have immigrated as a child in the 1880s.

In 1908, Thomas and Maria had the first of their eight children together, Ken’s grandmother Josephine. The 1910 census shows them living with Maria’s family, including her mother Josephine Romano Ronga. Thomas is working as a salesman at a market. Both the 1910 and 1920 census indicated that Ken’s great-great-grandmother Josephine never learned English, even after being in the country for 17 years. And…so what? Immigrants often took their sweet time learning to speak English, if at all. Their children learned to speak English at school so that one day their great-great-grandsons could become the attorney general of Virginia and maybe one day feel the need to cover up the naked statute in the state symbol. Problem solved.

Though the 1930 census shows the Policastros owning a home worth $12,000, as the nation tumbled deeper into the grips of the Great Depression, like so many Americans, they appear to have fallen on hard times. A series of legal notices in the Jersey Journal(available on GenealogyBank) gesture to the outlines of the story: A lawsuit over non-payment on a $8150 bank note. A foreclosure on the Policastro home on Paterson Plank Road. A bankruptcy hearing. A District Court judgment against Thomas for $450, filed by James Ronga. Would the Policastros have met their own great-grandson’s requirement that immigrants always “carry their own weight?” (According to the Annual report of the Attorney General of the United States, about 1300 of New Jersey’s approximately four million residents voluntarily filed for personal bankruptcy in the fiscal year ended 1931.)

But by 1940, now nearing 60, Thomas Policastro had rebounded. The census shows him renting a home in nearby North Bergen. He is listed as the proprietor of a scrap metal business, and earning $1300 a year, right around the national average. Two of his American-born sons served during World War II. The Policastros proved that they deserved the chance they were given — the chance to have ups and downs and everything in between, the chance to pave the way for future generations to soar.

But one last point. Like the Cuccinellis, the Policastros also had neighbors of note, though they may not have been as well-known as the Sinatras. In 1920, the Policastros lived just a mile away from another Jersey City family headed by a Jewish immigrant who never completed high school and worked for decades at an overalls factory in nearby Paterson. This family was from the former Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia, and had arrived in 1896. Much like the Policastros, this family also eventually found themselves in the pages of the local newspaper. In 1940, the patriarch was arrested with his son-in-law and two other men on charges of stealing from that very same overalls factory; the charges were later dropped and the sentence suspended after they made restitution. But all of that Jewish immigrant’s grandsons would go on to college and upstanding careers. Two served in the military. One became a lawyer. One had a master’s degree. And in the fall of 1986, one of that immigrant’s great-granddaughters left Long Island to enroll at the University of Virginia, a venerable institution founded by an American president. Here she is in the First Year Faces Book, resplendent in a Benetton vest and pearls.

And one of her classmates at that venerable institution? Well, she knew him by his nickname: “Cooch.”

So yes, the scions of two Jersey City families headed by those uneducated and sometimes troubled immigrants seemed to have done alright for themselves. It’s a quintessentially American story, one I see day in and day out doing genealogical research: immigrant narratives are messy and imperfect and complicated but almost universally, they ultimately end with those families in a much better place than they would have been otherwise. That same great-grandfather’s sister, for instance, stayed behind in their ancestral town of Sniatyn and is presumed murdered during the Holocaust. So was my maternal grandfather’s brother, despite his writing a desperate letter to President “Rosiwelt” begging for refuge for his family in America.

How many future Ken Cuccinellis are the Trump administration’s increasingly restrictive immigration policies going to keep out? Who or what are those policies protecting, other than unfounded racist fears that follow in the very worst of American traditions?

Just about twenty years after Ken Cuccinelli’s family arrived from Italy and began their ascent up the ladder of the American dream, the ladder that lifted him to the grounds of Mr. Jefferson’s University and to law school at George Mason, to elected office in the state of Virginia and to a nomination to head a federal agency, Congress enacted the infamous Johnson-Reed Act, which set up quotas specifically designed to keep out people just like them. The number of Italians arriving in America dropped from 200,000 a year in the first decade of the twentieth century to under 4,000.

As Cuccinelli’s own career makes clear, the critics were dead wrong about the potential contributions of humble immigrants like his ancestors. And so is he.

CREDITS: I’m grateful to Megan Smolenyak, Michael Cassara, Rich Venezia and Tammy Hepps, who provided research, translation and editorial assistance.

[gayliensav]

the opening card of fear the walking dead is literally the most annoying sound to my overly sensitive ears

but im starting a rewatch, just gonna keep updating this post below the cut

S1E01: “Pilot” 

ahahhaha that millennial daughter of theirs not watching to eat gluten. Bet the local white moms who are casual watchers for Norman loved this joke

Alicia is the only character I have liked from the very beginning (besides like...Strand, but he wasn’t in the first ep)

Like I know everyone is up Madison’s ass (at least they were last time I checked and I’m a few seasons behind), but I don’t like her or Travis all that much

Nick changed for me, I used to hate him but he got a little better

Nick hating Travis???? A BIG FUCKING MOOD

Like I understand that as the viewers who watch TWD we’re supposed to be annoyed with their decisions, which is how I feel from the beginning, but I do realize that’s how they want us to feel.

“You need to take Christopher” “i DoNt WaNnA gO”

He’s literally asking his son, a teenager, to come and spend the weekend in the hospital with someone he barely knows, like what does he expect here??

the lead up draaaaags on for too long

*slams fist on desk* wheres isaac lahey

I think one of the main problems with the relationships in this show is that there’s no lead up and no development, they just immediately love each other. Like with Rick and Michonne, we had seasons of lead up, but not with these two. The writers of this are capable of writing good relationships, they just chose to drag these two heteros into the main stage without giving them any backstory in the beginning.

This liveblog is going to consist of me making quips and then actual analysis of stuff

i walked out of the room to go to the bathroom and didnt miss anything

this one kids got it covered, tobias is prolly still out there

thats what I expected Paul Rovia to be like at the beginning of the apocalypse. Everyone is like dicking around and hes like nah fam and yeets his body outta town

the whole show is on 123movies, btw, dont give amc the numbers by watching it on their site. They also don’t have the first few seasons available anyways, so

like why don’t they just go check the building instead of saying Nick was just drugged. Like I know he was high, but he saw dead bodies, they need to call the police and have them check that shit out. Instead Travis just goes there by himself. Ricky Grimes would not approve.

I forget how long until the actual apocalypse stuff happens, but I’m getting a teeny bit bored already.

“Something really bad happened there” “I don’t care” lmao WHAT, Madison????

“You cannot enable him” IM HOWLING THESE WORDS JUST CAME FROM MADISON’S MOUTH

I paused and 50 pop ups came up, thanks

you know alicia’s bf goes down

IS THAT ANDRE FROM VICTORIOUS 

ITS LEON 

they really teased us with an almost-zombie huh almost like they knew we were bored

fffff there aint a doubt in my mind that anyone from the pilot except tobias and alicia survived this show

nick’s yeetin outta here

Like the concept of being in a huge city during the beginning was great, but we didn’t really get very much of that. The first few episodes especially when Travis was trying to get Chris and was stuck in that barber shop was great. Like that’s one of the few episodes of this that really stick in my mind. Those crazy fucking scenes were great.

“there’s no bodies...they couldn’t just get up and walk away” lollllll what clever writers WE HAVE

Like I’ll give Travis credit, he did try to be a good dad and stepdad...just bad timing, not great decisions in the end of the world, etc. Like the one scene where he was swearing he’d drag Nick to rehab??? That scene got me feelin’ stuff.

YES FINALLY SOME TENSION ON THE HIGHWAY LETS GO LESBIANS THIS IS THE WALKING FUCKING DEAD

lol a helicopter

 you know why all these kids aren’t in school??? their parents are anti-vaxxers

walkers walkers walker walkers LETS GO THERES A WALKER

“killshot, bitch”

that took way too long to be the first episode goddamn

S1E02: “So Close, Yet So Far” 

Ooooo cellphones are starting to go, shits getting good now

I’m like 30 minutes in and haven’t liveblogged anything, I’m bored

Well, that was that.

S1E03: “The Dog”

I hate this already because of the title we stan (1) TWD Dog in this house and his name is Dog Dixon

this star wars now???

See, I’m a neutral gay who just likes to watch chaos. A chaotic neutral, if you will. So this episode is fucking WILD, like this is what I mentioned before.

the monopoly scene was wholesome

I guess I could see Paul joining in on this chaos for a bit until he realized oh shit this aint good chief THEN yeeting outta there

Fun fact, the truck they use for the first part of Fear is Daryl, Aaron, and Paul’s truck on the askjaaryl blog:

The music while they’re driving is on fucking point, like it kinda sounds like that one TWD theme (the hopeful one) but remixed.

The scene where all the lights in the city go off PHEW poetic cinema

Madison: DONT LET IT IN! Nick: ITS A DOG! -- Daryl felt that

I frozzee I thought for a hot minute that it was Dog

He a cutie tho

that poor doggo im so sick of this show’s treatment towards them like

if anything happens to Dog, I think Norman will quit and rightfully so

i feel like just a few people in the post-apocalyptic world where zombie movies dont exist were just blessed with the knowledge that you have to shoot the head

damn chris really didnt do shit and got a whole broken nose huh

so far, stan list: alicia, victor strand (he hasnt appeared but yyknow), and chris sort of

they need a doctor but she never went to school before the end of hte world is this how alex feels all the time

S1E04: “Not Fade Away”

The opening to this one always really stuck with me. Like it’s so normal but you know it’s not.

lol remember that time everyone freaked the fuck out thinking this was Carl

I feel like Ophelia and this soldier dude would have one of those conversations where it’s like “what do you like about me?” “you’re beautiful” “is that it?” 

deadass don’t care if nick is over 18, she still hit her son who has an addiction he can’t control 

I think this is where I started to hate Madison. Instead of blaming the people who did it, she blamed Liza. Because that makes sense.

S1E05: “Cobalt”

YOU ARE MY DAD YOURE MY DAD BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE

Strand out here scamming the heteros since before the apocalypse started

Paul Rovia and Victor Strand had a thing, you can’t change my mind

Everything but Strand’s scenes is boring to me and there is an extreme lack of those.

S1E06: “The Good Man”

Honestly, the relationship between Nick and Strand was really great.

“We’re gonna get along fine, Nick’s mom” is one of my favorite lines because like...it’s like a little kid talking to someone else’s parent, but he’s a grown ass man and he knows damn well how funny he is.

So wait did Ophelia die???

oop nope she good

lol she deadass apologizing that he got taken and not for beating her own son but OKAAAAAY

S2E01: “The Monster”

Here we go, a full length season this time. Let’s see how this goes.

[smokebreakblog]

4/20 in Nashville...

Maaaaaaan, that was the dopest show I’ve had in my shitty lil career. One that was filled with Love, herb, alcohol, friends, vibes and ENERGY. The coolest aspect had to be getting to share a road trip with my Little sister (by a year). Getting to see her experience life outside of the village I’m from was dope enough for me...so if you want to read some deets, let me hear you say....JK, I ain't THAT corny...lets get it..

intro to it all, took shots of tequila with my cousins the night before...Not a good idea when you have to deal with Enterprise in the AM needing way more forms of ID and shit,,,that I don't have..caused us to get on the road wayyyy later than expected...which in then turned into Blind ass Christian, Driving in a four lane highway...With a downpour of rain...and a sister in the passenger seat thinking my vision is better than it is...but nonetheless we made it to Madison TN..Where we got to link up with some of the funkiest motherfuckers I've come to know. The Weird sisters..Sir Izaac (the guy shredding in all the videos I have, also my guest DJ).

We were met with a basement full of people putting in work on these big ass ring girl style cards for their set..in font of what had to be about 8 old style TVs, hooked up to a VHS player..which was playing the 98 olympics...We got stoned, we geeked out over a throwback eat N Park videos...and I ordered my fat ass some food, which resulted me putting IZ on to Lemon Pepper flavored wings..I know right? how doesn't he already know about that sacred flavor?? I”m just glad I was there for his first time...Pause..

Now Play..

fast forward to 4/20 and My soundcheck is at 4p....show doesn't even start till 9p..and bruv/Bruvette..when I tell you that I was so excited to have an hour to myself for the set, ya’ll need to believe me..because I’m used to shows where soundcheck is literally like 30 mins before the doors open...or in some cases while the people are coming in (Fuck me right??) anyways...the coolest shit happens...so at this venue, there's mad floors, different rooms..so like...upstairs there was like a wedding reception or some shit...nonetheless they were getting on with their event during my soundcheck one of the guest comes in...at the time I thought he was like security for some shit,...but no...he was a guest. so I start flexing and shit..rapping all crazy being all extra..feeling my shit..so like I open my eyes and look over and there’s like 4 of em...just chillin mouth open all sick..

“How it sound?” I asked

“Really fucking good bro”- in my best white dude voice. 

after soundcheck we still had like 4  hours to kill...so instead of napping like I planned on...My sister wanted to go do some shit..So we walk down the road to this little jazz joint and come across a man playing the bass and crooning so smooth...Name was Shawn Munday. I kept it V PA and ordered myself a Yueng..and vibed the fuck out...

I wish we had more shit like that back home...

ANYWAYS...

doors open and the people start coming in...I remember looking at Izaac and asking 

“yo how many people you think will be here??”

“Oh we’ll at least bring in 100.” he said casually..

I’m embarrassed to say I don't see many crowds like that...But thanks to The Weird sisters and The morning After Crew..I got a taste of big crowd energy...and yo I have to say..It felt natural as a Mf yo..It made me want to shed my existence as a little store manager trying to make it to Full Nomad until I get mine..The crowd listened to every word..I know this because f the many people I ran into trying to get a drink after my set reciting lines that they heard for the first time during a set that day...on 4/20 at that...and again..Im not talking my shi or flexing...I’m still high off the vibes..

SIDENOTE...You can watch the Live feed On my IGTV ----> [here]<-----

After the Weird Sisters and The Morning After Crew threw down and put the crowd into even more of a fit..I ran up to announce the after party one last time...we took pictures with people in the crowd, closed our tabs and packed up..I didn't drive btw...of course not I wanted to drink...so we run into this Lyft driver who was at the show,...who happened to be off duty...who happened to be going to the after party...so call me crazy, but I took that ride..Me, my sister and this dope ass dude who I will not name..but he did pass me a packed cone and showed love about the set. We get back to an after party that was actually pretty lit. handles of liquor, bong packs, doobs...L’s...Etc..we rode the waves into the wee hours of the night...and so this doesn't turn into a ramble...Im going to list a few things here that I feel people should Abide by..

Don't be the dick at a party that imposes on somebodys joint...You really bout to come through and like not even ask just look at me like yo let me hit that..My nigga I don't even know your name...Were you even at the show?? FOH

and that’s it...I was gonna smack that MF...but whatever, good vibes..not my crib..keep it moving..

In the end, my sister DID get to go kick it around nashville the next day..ate, laughed..made memories I don't need to share with ya’ll and I’m just happy I can do that with the music I make..That’s dope af to me..ont he last morning my sister and I packed a couple bowls...rolled a few for the road..wrote a goodbye note to the sleeping musical geniuses and hit the road..there is so much that I left out but that’s for us..go experience your own shit..It’s fun.

since we  made it back...I’ve been having a terrible itch to quit my job and just attack this shit..but i need to calm my shti down real quick,...

Or do I?...

Until Next time...

P.L.G 

Dowatchulike 

-MULU

Now I leave you with this Gem...

Miss ya’ll.

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

You Don’t Own Me

*Thomas Jefferson x Reader

*Summary: Thomas Jefferson has never been with someone like (y/n), and he doesn’t know how to adjust to it.

*Warnings: Alcohol, Angst

*A/N: Kind of a song fic based on You Don’t Own Me. This is that idea I had that could work for either Stephen Strange or Thomas Jefferson, and I decided to write it for Thomas. Also, not gonna lie, I was researching stuff for this and ended up looking at Red Bottoms for like a good twenty minutes. (BTW my tuition and the lack of scholarships that I’m getting has me seriously considering getting a sugar daddy fr)

Thomas found himself scanning the people at the event, trying to find someone that was halfway interesting enough to talk to. He’d been coerced into coming to this charity event, his legal partners telling him it was his turn to show his face. As much as Thomas was known as a charmer, he never really enjoyed the events. They were all just boring to him; the people were always the same, the small talk was unbearable, everything just bored him to death. But then he met her.

She was a wild card, a free woman in all senses of the word. From the moment he saw her from across the room, the black dress clinging to her figure enticingly, he knew who she was, and he knew he had to have her. He watched her for a moment, the red lipstick that stained her lips drawing his attention to every word that she spoke, even if he couldn’t hear them. He felt himself being drawn to her, and without even realizing it, he found himself approaching her.

Her name was (y/n) (l/n). She’d first broken onto the scene when she had managed to defeat one of the best criminal defense attorneys in New York City. He’d heard about it because that attorney just so happened to be the partner of his firm, not to mention his best friend. She was a fresh face to the legal scene, having just finished law school and gotten barred, but she refused to be treated like a novice. Even though she was new, she still acted and performed better than some of the lawyers he’d known for years. Caught up in his thoughts about her, he didn’t notice that she was speaking to him. “Hello?” She asked again, this time waving the hand that wasn’t carrying a flute of champagne in front of his face.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized, finding himself flustered at the fact that he already managed to embarrass himself within a minute. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you around one of these events before. I’m Thomas, and you are?”

“(Y/n). I’m a junior ADA,” she introduced herself. “Now, would you happen to be the Thomas of Jefferson and Madison Law Offices?” Thomas was surprised, obviously he wasn’t the only one who’d done their research.

“That would be me,” Thomas said with a nod. She smiled, obviously pleased that she’d gotten it right. After all, if she wanted to be the best at her job, she would need to know who the best was on the opposing side. She needed to know who she had to be better than.

“Your partner, Madison, he isn’t too bad of a guy, and he’s one hell of a defense attorney, I’ll give him that,” she said with a small laugh, raising her champagne flute towards him. “Definitely not what I expected from a defense attorney.”

“Well, you definitely weren’t what we expected from a new attorney,” Thomas told her. “If we’d known any better, both of us would’ve been defending that client.”

“And he still would’ve met the same fate,” she said with certainty. Thomas was taken aback by that, unsure of what to make of the woman. Within minutes, she’d already proven every expectation he had of her wrong, and even then he didn’t have many expectations to begin with. She was unlike any attorney he’d met, let alone any woman he’d met, perhaps except for Angelica Schuyler. Everything about her drew him in, even more so now that he’d actually spoken to her.

“You’re awfully sure of yourself,” Thomas said.

“I know I’m good at what I do,” she replied easily, her red lips now turned up slightly in a smirk. Her confidence only acted as an aphrodisiac, making him hang on to everything she gave him, and want more.

And so went the night, Thomas and (y/n) going back and forth in their conversations. For everything Thomas had to say, (y/n) was able to match him. For the first time in a long time, Thomas found someone who could match him wit for wit, and wasn’t afraid to back down. It didn’t take long for the pair to find themselves on the balcony, looking over the streets of New York as they talked. “I thought Columbia was bad with all of the nepotism and connections. Pfft, if only I knew how much that translated here,” she said, taking a drink from her champagne.

“It’s never a bad thing to have connections,” Thomas commented. She nodded, but he already knew she had more to say on the matter.

“I’ll agree with you on that, but when you’re required to have connections for every little thing you want to do in the city, that’s when it gets ridiculous,” she told him. “I’m not from here, so I didn’t have the first seventeen years of my life to start getting those connections. From the moment I got here, I was already ages behind everyone else.” He’d heard similar things from other people, but hearing it come from her, this woman that he barely even knew, made it different. What was he even supposed to say to that? Even though he came from Virginia, his father had the money and connections to help make his own law firm a reality, so it wasn’t like he was in the same boat as her.

“That’s… a new way of putting it,” Thomas finally said after a minute of silence.

“Yeah, you could say that,” she told him. They fell into a comfortable silence, her being done with her piece and Thomas unsure of what to say next. Once Thomas found what he wanted to say, though, he was almost immediately cut off by someone practically running onto the balcony.

“(Y/n), thank god I found you. I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” the newcomer said, trying to hide the fact that he was out of breath. After all, the venue was relatively large and he’d probably ran through all of it. Thomas could vaguely place him as someone from the DA’s office, Benjamin something. “Washington wants to talk to you.”

She immediately turned to Thomas, slightly apologetic. “Sorry, I really need to go with him,” she said, already making her way over to Benjamin. Thomas nodded, understanding that she needed to go. After all, Washington was the DA and therefore her boss. If Washington wanted to talk to her, then she had either done really well, or had done something completely wrong. Washington ran a tight ship, with little room for his ADAs to make mistakes.

“I get it,” Thomas said, watching her and Benjamin already leaving. Something inside him panicked, wondering if this would be the last time he saw her. That part of him made him call out her name, and when she turned, he instantly felt like a teenager with a crush. “When can I see you again?”

“I’ll let you know,” she said with a smile before turning back and disappearing into the crowd with Benjamin. Thomas was left standing there, staring after her, for who knows how long. He only snapped out of it when someone came up and started talking to him.

After that night, Thomas found himself thinking about her constantly. Neither him nor his partners had met her in court again, and he found that very little people outside of the DA’s office knew much about her. Though Thomas didn’t let it affect his work in the courtroom, his friends began noticing something off about him. “You know, I know a few people in the DA’s office if you want me to ask about her,” the junior partner of the firm, Aaron, told him.

“What’re you talking about this time, Burr?” Thomas asked, taking off his glasses and rubbing his temples. He had a bad headache, he couldn’t stop thinking of (y/n), and Aaron standing in the doorway of his office definitely wasn’t helping.

“(Y/n),” Aaron answered. “I heard you asking James about her. I know some people that work for the DA - you know, in case I need a favor or two - that probably know her. I can ask for you.”

“And what’s in it for you?” Thomas questioned, immediately suspicious. While Aaron was a hardworking man and a great lawyer, Thomas never knew Aaron to do anything for free. His suspicions were confirmed when Aaron hesitated slightly.

“You’ll owe me a favor,” Aaron finally said. Thomas didn’t like the sound of it, but after weeks of not seeing her, he was beginning to get a bit desperate. She said that she’d let him know when he could see her again, but it was a bit difficult considering the fact that all they knew about each other were their names and workplaces.

“I’ll let you know,” Thomas said after mulling it over for a few seconds. He would need a second opinion on this, and James was currently out with a cold. Again. Aaron nodded in acknowledgment and left the office, leaving Thomas alone to his thoughts once again. He had a new case he needed to deal with, and he couldn’t let his thoughts of (y/n) hinder that. He opened the case file in front of him, ready to buckle down and get to work.

A few more weeks passed and there was still no contact from her. Thomas began to think that they only had that night, as much as he wished that wasn’t true. Aaron’s offer was constantly in the back of his mind, making him wonder if it was really worth being indebted to Burr just to see her again. Thomas had to admit that it wasn’t the best option, but just as he was about to call Burr into his office, James walked in instead.

“Thomas, I need to go to the DA’s office for a meeting with my client and Hamilton,” James said, looking down at the file in his hand.

“And what does that have to do with me?” Thomas asked. James looked up, a brow raised at the shortness from his long-time friend. “Sorry, I’ve just been stressed lately.”

“I’ve noticed,” James replied. “Anyways I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me. Maybe see if you happen to run into a certain (y/n) while we’re there?”

Thomas immediately became flustered at that, even though he had told James about that night, as well as Burr’s offer. “I- I don’t-”

“Thomas, are you coming or not?” James cut him off, not having time for Thomas’s sudden embarrassment. By his tone, Thomas knew he wasn’t going to ask twice. He quickly stood and grabbed his coat from the back of his chair, following his friend out of the office. The entire ride over to the DA’s office, he couldn’t help but be nervous about his impulsive decision. What if there was a reason for her radio silence? Perhaps the time they’d spent at the event had only been an act of politeness.

James could almost feel the nerves rolling off of Thomas, but he didn’t say anything until they reached the DA’s office. “Hey, Thomas,” James said before they parted. Thomas looked over, slight confusion evident on his face. “Relax.”

With that, James left to go to his meeting while Thomas was left to his own devices in the DA’s office. He’d never been here without a real purpose, so he found himself just wandering about, talking to a few people that he knew. As he was talking to Lafayette, one of his other long-time friends, he heard the very person that’d eluded him for over a month now. “Ben, I need that case file on my desk so I can look it over. Can you run over to the precinct to get it for me?” (y/n) said, walking down the hall with Benjamin at her heel. She was wearing a black blazer, a (f/c) blouse, and a black pencil skirt, and looked every bit as gorgeous as she had the night they’d met.

“Sure thing, I’ll try to get it to you before the end of the hour,” Benjamin replied, looking down at his wrist watch.

“Thanks, Ben, you’re the best,” she said, turning and walking backwards quickly so she could smile at him. Thomas watched as she navigated the place with ease, walking into what he could only assume was her office. Thomas quickly said goodbye to Lafayette, going to follow (y/n). Almost immediately after he knocked on the door, he heard her soft ‘come in.’

“Alex, I already told you, I’m not helping with this case just because you have some sort of vendetta against their firm,” she said, not even bothering to look up from her computer.

“Not Alexander,” Thomas said, closing the door behind him. She looked up, quickly standing as she saw that it was most definitely not Alexander.

“Thomas,” she breathed. “Sorry, I thought it was Alex. Speaking of that, isn’t that case James’s and not yours?”

“It is,” Thomas told her. “But James invited me to come with him, and I knew I needed to see you again, so here I am.”

“I’m really sorry about that, by the way. I’ve just been getting an entire load of cases and I haven’t had time to breathe, let alone call,” she apologized, sitting on the edge of her desk. Thomas took a quick look over her, trying to find any signs of exhaustion, but she looked the same way she did at the charity event: perfect. He wanted to tell her that, but was unsure if that would be too forward, considering this was only the second time they’d met.

“How were you planning to do that? You didn’t get my number,” Thomas said instead.

“I was actually planning to drop by your office,” she told him, laughing softly. “But with everything Washington has me doing, I didn’t get the chance to. I really am sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Thomas dismissed it, seeing his opportunity. “We can talk more about everything later. Maybe over dinner? Saturday night?”

“Sounds like a date,” she said, smiling.

“Great,” Thomas replied with a smile of his own. “So, what was it that Washington wanted at the event?”

“He actually wanted to tell me that, if I continue working the way I do now, I have a shot at becoming an ADA before the year is over,” she proudly told him.

“That’s incredible,” Thomas told her. Before she could say anything, her phone buzzed on the table beside her, and she quickly picked it up to check it.

“Thank you. And it seems like Alexander and James are done with their meeting, so you probably have to leave soon,” she said.

“I guess I do,” Thomas said. She handed her phone to him, and he looked at her in confusion.

“This way I’ll actually have a way to contact you,” she explained. Thomas nodded, putting his number in and sending himself a text to ensure he got hers. Not even a minute later, James texted him, telling him it was time to go. Thomas left (y/n)’s office, considerably more satisfied than the last time the two had parted ways.

When Thomas met back with James, he could almost immediately tell that the meeting with Hamilton did not go as planned. James, on the other hand, could tell that Thomas had achieved everything he’d hoped to. “You look considerably happier,” James teased as the two men got into the car.

“Shut up,” Thomas said, rolling his eyes at his friend.

“So I’m guessing you can turn down Burr’s offer?” James continued.

“Shut up.”

After that first date became multiple and eventually a relationship, Thomas quickly learned that, while (y/n) did enjoy the finer things in life, she did not enjoy being spoiled. When he tried gifting her with an expensive pair of earrings that he’d gotten for her on impulse, she made it clear that she was not looking for gifts like that. She didn’t like feeling that she was indebted to others, especially romantic partners, and expensive gifts were the worst for her.

“Thomas, I don’t need you to buy things like this for me,” she told him when he tried, yet again, to give her a diamond tennis bracelet. “I have my own money. If it was an occasion or something, I could understand, but it’s not, and I’m sorry, I’m just weird about this.”

“No, no, you don’t have to apologize,” Thomas said, taking her hands in his. Thomas had to admit that he was slightly confused, he’d never been with someone that didn’t enjoy lavish gifts. It was different, to say the least, especially since he was used to spoiling women with jewelry and clothes, amongst other things. Seeing them wearing things he got them gave him a certain rush that he just couldn’t explain.

That wasn’t (y/n) though. She didn’t want the diamond bracelets, the designer handbags, the things that would mark her as Thomas’s. She didn’t feel the need to be marked as his, just being with him was enough for her, so she rejected every expensive gift he tried to give her.

The boiling point of this disagreement was the first time they went shopping together. (Y/n) needed a new dress for an event Washington and Hamilton had invited her to, and Thomas just wanted to tag along to give his input (and perhaps convince her to let him buy something for her). As they were walking together, (y/n) was telling Thomas the list of shops she was already planning on visiting. Thomas was nodding along, recognizing the shops as high-end designer brands for the most part.

“All I need is a nice, elegant dress,” she said, looking down at the list she made on her phone. “Something that’ll catch attention but not so much so that I’m the laughing stock of the office.”

“You’ll look amazing in anything, I doubt you’ll become the laughing stock of anywhere,” Thomas told her. She just rolled her eyes, trying to suppress a laugh.

“As much as I love the compliment, you should see the ridiculous dresses some of these designers come up with,” she said, pulling him along into the first shop. Almost immediately, one of the store attendants recognized her.

“Ms. (L/n), it’s great to see you again,” the attendant said as she approached the couple. “What type of event are we shopping for today?”

“A cocktail party for work. You know how it is: black, formal, elegant, the works,” (Y/n) said, walking with the shop attendant as Thomas just watched her in her element.

“I think I have something in mind,” the attendant told her, leading her through the store.

After a few dresses (paid for by (y/n)) and stores, the couple found themselves in the Versace store. It was the last stop on (y/n)’s list, and Thomas’s last chance to try to buy something for her. As she was trying on a few dresses the one of the attendants had helped her choose, Thomas went to speak with another on of the attendants. “Hey, excuse me,” he said, getting the attendant’s attention. “Anything that the woman I came with wants, put it on this card.” With that, he handed over his credit card and the shop attendant went off, ready at the register.

When (y/n) paid, Thomas could see the small argument that she had with the attendant he’d talked to earlier. Finally, she gave in, and when she walked back to him with her bags in hand, she had a murderous look on her face, only made worse by the tight-lipped smile she gave him. She didn’t speak to him in the cab back to her apartment, nor the ride up in the elevator. It wasn’t until they were safely inside of her apartment with the door closed and bags put down that she finally spoke. “Thomas Jefferson, what did I tell you about buy me expensive things?” She asked in an eerily calm tone.

“I wanted to get those for you,” Thomas replied instead of answering her question.

“Those were two dresses that cost almost $400 each! Do you know how it looked when I argued with the cashier that, no, I wanted to pay instead of my boyfriend? If they hadn’t known me, they would have thought that you were just a sugar daddy,” she argued. “Thomas, I have my own money-”

“And I have my own money too! If I want to spend my money on you, then I should be allowed to!” Thomas interrupted her.

“Babe, I don’t need you to buy expensive things for me, I can do that on my own,” she tried again. “I’ve already told you that I’m not comfortable with people buying me expensive things, especially now that I can afford those things. It’s just a comfort thing for me, okay?”

Thomas stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her and humming his agreement. He didn’t like it, but if it meant her comfort, then he would hold off on buying her things. Well, he would hold off on it for at least a little while.

“Damn it, Thomas, I am a grown woman! I don’t need you telling me who I can and cannot hang out with,” she fumed as she walked through the door of Thomas’s. Thomas had gone to get her from work and saw her and Hamilton waiting together. Sure, he knew that the two were friends, their nonstop work attitudes meaning that they were often the first ones at the office and the last ones to leave, but seeing them together, laughing and joking as they were waiting, it was different than simply knowing they were friends.

“I don’t have an issue with your friends, it’s just Hamilton,” Thomas tried explaining. “I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

“Alexander, who has been one of my closest friends since I began working at the DA’s office,” she started. “Alexander, who is in a committed relationship with Eliza, and treats me like his kid sister. That’s the Alexander you’re worried about?”

“When you put it like that,” Thomas started sheepishly. She put her hand up to stop him.

“You realize how ridiculous it sounds, right?” She paused to collect herself for a moment. She didn’t want to get into an argument with Thomas over this, especially after the news she’d just received, but they way he’d acted when he walked up to her and Alexander infuriated her. “When you do things like that, it makes me feel as though you don’t trust me.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, I don’t trust Hamilton,” Thomas said. “Ever since I met him, I haven’t trusted him.”

“Fine. With that line of thought, if you don’t trust Hamilton to not make a move on me, do you also not trust me to stop him?” She questioned. When Thomas didn’t respond, she finished. “That’s what I thought. Thomas, I don’t try to tell you what to do or who to hang out with, please allow me that same freedom.”

“I trust you with my life, and I’m sorry for even thinking that,” Thomas said, stepping forward and taking her in his arms. She allowed him, and smiled when he pressed a kiss to her lips. “Forgive me?”

“I’ll consider it,” she teased.

“So, what was that news you texted me about?” Thomas asked, looking down at her. She smiled brightly at him, nearly bouncing in excitement. “I’m guessing it was something good.”

“You’re looking at Washington’s newest ADA,” she beamed. Thomas let out a laugh of disbelief, picking her up in their hug and spinning her slightly. She laughed at his reaction, getting slightly muffled by the rain of kisses he was placing on her face.

“I’m so proud of you, baby,” Thomas said, finally putting her down and pressing a final kiss to her lips. “I love you so much.”

“I love you more.”

Another night, another networking event. This time, Thomas didn’t have to watch (y/n) from the other side of the room. This time, Thomas walked into the event with her on his arm, looking every bit the power couple people had begun to know them as. People throughout the New York legal scene were talking about them, one of the top criminal defense attorneys and the newest ADA in Washington’s office together were bound to turn some heads. They were both dressed to the nines, her in a form-fitting black dress and black Red Bottoms (both bought on her own) and him in a black tux.

They made their rounds together, talking to people they knew. (Y/n) was used to drawing attention, being the newest - not to mention one of the youngest - ADA under Washington, but with Thomas that attention was tenfold. It was almost suffocating, having to talk to twice as many people now, but she’d never let that show. Thomas was flaunting her and showing her off, not really giving her space to truly talk to the people he was introducing her to other than responding to what questions they had. Before long, Thomas brought her to someone that she vaguely recognized from the DA’s office. She remembered Alexander ranting about a meeting with him, but she couldn’t really place a name to the face.

“(Y/n), this is Aaron Burr. Aaron, this is my girlfriend, (y/n),” Thomas introduced her. He missed the slight look of disagreement she made before reaching her hand out to shake Aaron’s.

“(Y/n) (l/n), ADA,” she re-introduced herself. She could handle the introduction to the others, especially since most of them already recognized her, but she refused to be introduced like that to the infamous Aaron Burr.

“Aaron Burr, junior partner of Jefferson and Madison Law Offices,” Aaron replied. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Ms. (l/n).”

“I hope they’ve been good things,” she replied. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you as well, from Thomas and people around the office.”

“I hope you’ve heard good things as well,” Aaron said with a smile. Thomas and Aaron then began talking about something from the firm, and (y/n) scanned the room for anyone else she had to greet on her rounds. She spied Alexander at the bar, and when Alexander saw her, he raised his glass to her in invitation.

“Hey, I’m gonna go say hi to someone from work,” she said, putting her hand on Thomas’s arm. He nodded in acknowledgement, so she bid a quick goodbye to the two and made her way over to the bar. She stood next to Alexander, ordering a drink from the bartender.

“So, you and Jefferson have been attached at the hip all night,” Alexander said, taking a drink from his cup. “Are you even allowed to be talking to me right now?”

“Shut up,” she said, rolling your eyes. “You know I already talked to Thomas about that. Where’s Eliza?”

“She picked up shift tonight,” Alexander told her. “What’s it like being Jefferson’s girlfriend?”

“Why, you jealous?” She teased. Alexander made a noise of disgust, making her laugh loudly. “No, but seriously, what’s up?”

“Well, I’ve heard a lot of ‘(y/n), Jefferson’s girlfriend’ tonight instead of ‘(y/n), the newest ADA in Washington’s office.’ I thought it was weird, especially since you just got promoted,” Alexander explained. “Also I saw you talking to Burr, so that must’ve been terrible.”

“Not terrible, just awkward,” she told him. “You’ve been listening out for me?”

“Of course, I wanted to make sure no one was talking trash,” Alexander said with a small smile. “I would’ve had to fight them.”

“Damn it, Alexander, you’re supposed to put people in jail, not get yourself in jail,” she laughed.

“I know, I know,” he told her, downing the last of his drink. “I gotta go find Washington, he made me promise to do a check-in before the night was over. See you later, Jefferson’s girlfriend.”

“Fuck off,” she laughed, masking her discomfort. As much as she loved Thomas, she didn’t want Thomas’s name to be the first thing people thought of when they thought of her. She wanted to have her own name, and she knew she had to find a way to make their names separate, especially since they were both part of the legal system. She followed Alexander’s example and downed the last of her drink before returning to Thomas’s side, a smile painted on so no one would suspect she was anything other than enjoying herself.

It was a late day at the office for both of them. Thomas had just started work on a new case, (y/n) was trying to juggle a few cases that were closing, and they both agreed to meet at his apartment when they were done. After finishing what they needed to, they found themselves sitting in Thomas’s living room, eating Chinese food as the television played some random show in the background. Thomas could tell that something was on her mind with how uncharacteristically distracted she was, but he didn’t want to push it. They were both watching the show in comfortable silence, when she suddenly sat up and grabbed the remote, turning the television volume down. She turned to face him.

“Thomas, I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is going to work out,” she said, the apology like honey trying to cover the acid that was the rest of her sentence.

“What? Where is this coming from?” Thomas asked, taken aback. His mind was racing, trying to see what had changed between them, but he couldn’t find anything.

“I love you, and I don’t doubt that you love me, but I’m not what you really want. At least, not what you want at the moment,” she started. Thomas opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a hand to stop him. “Hear me out. You want someone that you can spoil with lavish gifts, and flaunt around at events, and that just isn’t me. I’m not just arm candy for events. I’m more than just Thomas Jefferson’s girlfriend.”

“(Y/n), that’s not what I want,” Thomas said, taking her hand in his. “I want you.” She shook her head.

“Thomas, I know you,” she told him, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. “I know the kind of person you’re used to being with, the kind of person you expected me to be. I was a shiny new toy for you to put on display, but that’s not who I am, nor who I want to be.” Thomas looked down at their hands, unable to say anything. After all, how could he when the woman he loved was tearing his heart out right in front of him?

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Thomas told her, sounding small for the first time in his life. He was never the one getting broken up with, he was always the one breaking up with people. Even as she was leaving him, she still didn’t cease to surprise him.

“There’s nothing you can say right now,” she said. “I’m sorry, I should leave. Just, think about what I told you.” With that, she released his hand and stood, grabbing her bag from the couch and leaving him alone in his apartment. Thomas sat there with his head in his hands, trying to figure out what she meant.

Then it came to him. Everything she’d said, everything he’d done, it all made sense now. He’d tried to make her like everyone else he’d been with, even if she wasn’t. He’d tried turning her into his arm candy, just like she’d said, while at the same time claiming to care for who she was. She didn’t care for his money, she didn’t care for the gifts, she’d only cared for him, and it’d taken this long for him to see it. The epiphany he needed had come to him, and it came with one more piece: if he wanted to win her back, he had to prove that he wasn’t the same person anymore.