#in any case. this is a great way to flirt with a femme | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

that-stone-butch · 3 years ago

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Hi can I ask for some general advice? I’m femme and single and every day that I don’t have a lovely butch in a leather jacket smooching me is another day wasted. I just want a older butch to call me sweetheart, change my oil, and roll us a joint while I make them dinner while wearing a pretty dress so when I bend over they can see I’m not wearing anything underneath! Is that so much to ask!! Where are they?? How do I flirt with butches when my friend turns into Silly Putty around hot women?

Or, more specially, how would YOU like a femme to approach you/ask you out/express interest? Granted, most of it is online at the beginning, cause there aren’t very many if any queer spaces in my area that are open, and even then they were 97% gay men anyway. I’m very much a bottom and a sub so being the one to break the ice and get the ball rolling is very strange and difficult for me, but I also know that a lot of butches can be shy at first so I gotta Just Do It. Help me Jasper, you’re my only hope….. to get laid.

I'M your only hope? oh NO! i'll do my best! obviously i'm not every butch but i'll do my best to bring my perspective into this. i've never participated in hookups and casual sex, all of my flirting experiences have been geared towards building a relationship. but for the most part, i'd wager the 'showing someone you're interested' credits transfer. on that note, if anyone has input on more casual experiences, i genuinely invite them to add on to this post.

okay so it seems like we should separate the advice into online flirting, and irl flirting. let's start with online.

it's always better to make a good first impression rather than come on too strong, in my experience. start with a compliment, keep it light and respectful. in general, i find that the best compliments are things that someone *chose*. as someone who gets constant online 'compliments' (spoiler alert it's actually catcalling), i'm NEVER flattered when someone opens with talking about my body. 'your jawline is incredible' isn't the ice breaker it sounds like; maybe i'm self-conscious about my jawline! you don't know, you're literally introducing yourself with this. like so many people compare me to men and male actors, and they think i'm going to take it as a compliment? the very POINT of opening with a compliment is that you DON'T know what people do and don't like about themselves. maybe you like tall girls, but just because you do doesn't mean the person you're interested in is proud of the fact they're tall. ESPECIALLY in trans and gnc spaces, you just don't know what relationship strangers are going to have with their own bodies, and opening with that is just going to display a level of entitlement that is a bit of a turn-off, personally. so compliment people on things they chose, like their attire or aesthetic or tastes. it's really flattering to hear someone say 'hey, i also like that thing you *chose* to make part of your whole deal.' from there it might be the case that someone likes and enjoys hearing compliments about things they didn't necessarily choose, but you really should test the waters first.

additionally, compliments like this break the ice because it's also a thing you would say to a friend? it's my experience that good relationships always grow from good friendships. even if your conversations don't end up in a relationship, or casual sex or whatever, you can still end up with a friend which is a great thing (butch/femme friendships are something we don't talk about a whole lot as a community, because we focus a LOT on sex, but they're life-changing like my femme friends make my fucking day). it can be difficult online to make your intentions known; you don't have the subtext, body language, all the things that help you further communicate your intentions in person. that's why, online, it's good to make your intentions known after you've built up a good rapport with someone. strike up conversation, find things in common, and after a little bit it's perfectly respectful and okay to tell someone you're interested in them. however, and i cannot stress this enough, do NOT be vague about your intentions online. at least in my case, it's very easy to misinterpret people over text. (who am i kidding, tumblr is the internet capital of people misinterpreting each other). be plain about your intentions. from there you might talk logistics, trade phone numbers (use encryption! use signal!), agree to focus on building a friendship together, part ways, etc. get to know people, ask them questions about themselves, show them you're engaged and interested.

i want to take a second here, especially for younger people reading this, just because someone is gay and/or you're into them doesn't mean you should be unsafe with your information. play it close to the chest, if you're going to meet up meet up in a neutral location. DON'T meet people from the internet in your home, or theirs. exchanging addresses is something to do well after you know you're in a safe situation. ALWAYS be ready to bail. be safe.

as for in-person, i'm sorry to say but in my experience you ARE likely going to have to make the first move. for a lot of butches (and femmes) being out and about is kind of a gender battleground. the LAST thing i want to do is make someone uncomfortable, especially as a masc woman. a misread signal can be dangerous. additionally, i want to say you should NEVER hit on someone who can't leave the situation. never hit on someone just doing their job (unless they're stating very clear intentions toward you from their position. it's sometimes okay to flirt *back* with people on the clock, but still give them space to back off) because you're putting them in a VERY uncomfortable situation.

in-person flirting for wlw is kind of fraught with some difficulty in that you need to signal that you're gay. for me, as a butch, if someone hits on me and they don't signal very hard that they're gay, i'm left wondering if they even knew i was a woman. i've had straight girls hit on me, it's the weirdest fucking thing. now, i'm not equating femme presentation with looking plausibly straight or whatever femmephobic brainrot is floating around out there, femmes ARE gnc and do so in a unique and beautiful way. but being wlw, especially what feels often like a 'gender outlaw,' you're often plagued with self-doubt. sometimes it's easier to believe you're misreading someone as gay and they were just being friendly (or just being friendly AND are gay, as i said earlier that happens and that's a GOOD thing).

i find, in person, it's a good idea to open with a compliment that specifically recognizes someone's butch presentation. if someone says 'i love your hair, by the way' i'm IMMEDIATELY in blush mode. it feels so good to be recognized when i'm out and about, when so many people just decide i'm a man to validate their own worldview, or think they have to compensate for my presentation, assure me no i'm pretty i look very feminine, to validate me as a woman. meeting someone in-person, that you're interested in, it's validating and refreshing to just be seen and shown that someone's interested in the way i'm putting a lot of effort into presenting.

that said, never push people. if you see someone at a coffee shop, campus diner, bookstore, etc. that you're interested in, as with online it's a good idea to aim to leave a good impression. chances are, you might see that person again. i'd rather have someone see me, flirt a little, and then approach me *again* the next time they see me, then go all-in intense the first time. obviously it's smart to play it by ear but if you feel like you're coming on too strong, it's a good idea to back up a little. but that's just me.

above all, remember to have fun with it! flirting is fun, and if you're trying to tactically align your flirting with someone too hard toward a relationship, it kind of loses a little something? i find it's usually a good idea to approach people with the genuine intention of making a connection, and seeing where that takes the two of you, rather than trying to *get* someone to reciprocate. keep it fun! keep it light!

i hope that helps! i'm sorry i don't have more experience, if anyone has something to add, they're welcome to!

#ask #advice #anonymous #long post

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trickstercaptain · 4 years ago

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JACK, MASCULINITY & BISEXUALITY.

so I’ve made absolutely no secret of the fact that one of the big things I love about Jack as a character ( among plenty, plenty of other things ) is how he challenges traditional ideas of masculinity, and I’m gonna use this meta opportunity to elaborate on that and hopefully connect it to Jack’s sexuality ( mostly within his canon verses, though a lot of this does also apply to his modern verse ). the long and the short of it is that Jack is simultaneously allowed to be a badass and admirable to the audience and display selfishness, cowardice, his own quirks and his desire to avoid violence wherever possible. the first two demonstrate the perks of being an anti-hero, but it’s the last one that I’m going to talk about first: Jack does not like violence. he will choose methods of solving a problem that avoid, where possible, the use of brute force, even when it puts him at a disadvantage. he chooses not to shoot Will in order to escape the smithy in CotBP despite that proving to be the easiest way out, and he is told by Barbossa in that same movie that it’s likely the mutiny would not have happened if he hadn’t been such a merciful captain. we are encouraged to like him as an audience because he uses his wits to get out of trouble, and we are encouraged to like him in spite of the fact that he is the worst swordsman of the franchise, relatively speaking, and that he in fact loses every single fight he is a part of ( unless he cheats, which he does frequently ).

second, he is also allowed to be quirky. a lot of this links in with the idea that Jack is an archetypal trickster: he is transgressive on purpose because that is what a trickster does. he breaks the rules because it’s fun, he manipulates others because it’s fun, he gets bored easily and uses trickery and deceit to get ahead of his opponents while casting himself as a fool. tricksters also tend to have a very fluid attitude towards gender because, once again, it is another way to transgress boundaries, and there’s certainly an undeniable sense of androgyny to Jack. I’m not here to label him as anything because a) in Jack’s canon any modern ideals just wouldn’t apply and b) he is still a man and, more importantly, still benefits consistently in his narrative from being a man, so this androgyny is purely in how he outwardly expresses himself rather than the result of any internal struggle. he is experimental and individualistic and this is one of many ways in which Jack’s character draws on the rock star tradition ---- particularly the rock star tradition of challenging masculinity with the way they dressed on stage ( think Bowie, Jagger and Hendrix ).

but this sometimes effeminate expression of his sense of self does make it more difficult to be taken seriously by others, both within his own social strata of fellow pirates and outside of it: he wears kohl that, while practical, accentuates his pretty boy, fey image, he wears his hair long and braided ( which isn’t necessarily a sign of “femininity” in itself, though he combines this with tying trinkets and beads and jewellery into it ), he sways as he walks ( again, a practical response to being on a ship for long periods of time, but isn’t something that Jack ever seeks to correct in order to appear more intimidating ) and is fond of theatrical gesturing which, yes, feeds into a stereotype but means that in no way does he carry himself in a typically masculine way. for instance, the way Jack sits: while yes there are times when he deliberately kicks his feet up on the table to occupy extra space and piss people off, he doesn’t consistently sit down in a way that emphasises his physical power or dominance ---- in fact, in the last multiple Jacks scene in AWE, when Jack is talking to himself in the brig, we see one of the clones crossing his legs with his hands on his lap as he sits on the bench ---- something I would argue is rather reserved and not overly masculine in nature.

now there’s an argument to be made that Jack uses his effeminacy to his advantage, in the same way that a trickster would bend any rule that benefitted him, and that this isn’t the true him, but I’d argue that, while there is of course an element of using that behaviour to encourage others to dismiss him as a fool of no consequence, it is too consistent for it to be an act, particularly as it causes him as many problems as it does solutions. it’s absolutely in his nature. another great example I want to draw on is in The Price of Freedom, where Jack uses his “sexuality” ( I use this word loosely as it’s really the only way to describe what he does lmao ) to unsettle one of Teague’s lieutenants and jailors and throw him off, both while he’s been searched airport security style and while he’s trying to conspire with Christophe to break him out of Shipwreck’s cells.

“Roger, old chum, unless you want to cause me embarrassment—and yourself a lifelong case of envy—by demanding that I actually produce the goods for your delectation…er…inspection, I’d suggest you desist.” He batted his eyes at Teague’s lieutenant.

[...] Without answering, Jack abruptly turned to confront Mortensen, who was looming behind him, scarcely a handbreadth away. “I don’t care if you’re present, Roger, but must you breathe down the back of me neck?” He rolled his eyes. “Or are you trying to work up the courage to grab me backside and give it a squeeze?” He’d spoken loudly, and his voice carried to all Christophe’s crewmen. The cell-bound pirates laughed, whistled, and jeered obscene suggestions at Mortensen.

I love this scene because it shows how Jack switches effortlessly between typically masculine and typically feminine behaviour and uses both to achieve what he wants. the seductive act of flirting with Mortensen ( despite the fact that Jack is twenty in this scene and is very likely half the age of the jailor in question lmao ) to throw him off is a very femme fatale sort of solution ( and that is an archetype that Jack plays around with a lot ), but being a man adds an element of what I spoke of earlier too ---- that he’s more likely to be dismissed as an irritating little shit and not someone who is conspiring to break someone out of the cells. he also relies on the hyper-masculinity he is surrounded by when he speaks loudly enough for all of the pirates in the cells to hear and jeer Mortensen in response, further embarrassing him and diverting his attention long enough for Jack to make his intentions to Christophe clear.

because this is the thing about pirates, friends. yes, they were largely accepting of and/or unbothered by homosexual behaviour, and had crews who operated in a far fairer way than many merchant or naval ships of the same period, but they are still male-dominated environments. female pirates are rare as far as historical records show purely because we only know for sure that a few were women. women would, for the most part, have to adopt masculine traits in order to exist in the same space, and many would and did disguise themselves as men in order to achieve this. Jack is therefore something of an anomaly in his challenge of male gender norms ---- he could act more like your typical brutish, violent male captain and have a far easier time of it because that’s ultimately the sort of behaviour that is rewarded in this hyper masculine space, but he doesn’t, and this is where he stands out and positions himself as an outsider even in the profession he had literally branded into his arm.

Jack has also been directly hurt by this culture of hyper masculinity, too. it’s clear that his grandmother sees him as an easy target for her abuse because he both struggled to and didn’t want to conform, and he faces similar criticism from Teague because of his non-violent personality. in his attempt to not become like Teague, too, Jack internalises his own anger and aggression which makes him self-destructive as opposed to outwardly destructive to others. Christophe is the most similar pirate in the franchise to Jack in terms of the flamboyant way in which they both present themselves ( and Jack is no doubt influenced by Christophe in that respect, though that’s another meta entirely ), but Jack does not share his ruthless, amoral personality. and he is mutinied against by Barbossa because people are easier to search when they’re dead. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but it speaks to the strength of Jack’s character that he remains a largely good-hearted individual when it ultimately comes down to it, and did not contort his sense of self in order to make his life easier.

so linking all of this into his sexuality, while Jack is bisexual by modern definitions of the word and does not have any shame associated with it due to the openness of pirates to living outside of the established norm ( and the fact that Jack grew up among these pirates, so would likely have not realised the extent of the prejudice that existed until he joined the merchant service and entered into civilised society ---- and I mean, when he did he was called a molly at one point by Mercer ), he was never properly taught how to have a healthy relationship with another man, whether romantically/sexually or not. Jack doesn’t really have many positive close relationships with other men to draw on ( Robby and Gibbs are of course the exceptions, and they are both extremely important ) and all of the betrayals in his life until Elizabeth come from men. moreover, just because pirates were more accepting of homosexual relations between men, doesn’t necessarily mean that pirates should be held up as paragons of healthy behaviour lmao, both in general and in regards to male on male relationships. ships are male dominated microcosms in the same way that all-male prisons are. and this is why Jack does develop one toxic male trait: the inability to express his emotions in a constructive and open way.

Jack therefore, for the most part, just doesn’t like men. he knows how to get along with them, he certainly has a brothers-in-arms approach to his crewmates and isn’t beyond liking the odd one or two, like Robby and Gibbs ---- and it is certainly a theme that Jack is drawn to those soft, non-threatening, nurturing sorts of men ( to fill a void of nurturing behaviour in his life, imo ). of course he has trashy taste too thanks to the lingering damage of his crush on Christophe and living and growing up in the sort of environment that rewards hyper-masculine behaviour, but his most successful relationships with men are those he doesn’t perceive as threatening, and those who are happy to compliment rather than challenge him in his position as captain.

meanwhile, he loves women. absolutely fucking adores them, and I don’t mean this just in a sexual way, but in a genuinely appreciative way too. he craves their company and prefers their company to men ( he is honestly so much happier sat at a table with five other women than he is sat with five other men ), and I think this is because he’s more likely to find acceptance with them than he is men, and historically speaking in his life has found greater understanding and affection and care from women than he ever has from his own sex. and I think in turn, because he too is a very non-threatening sort of man, absolutely a woman’s man like my god, is why he is generally adored so much by the women in his life in spite of his flaws and lesser traits lmao. why do Giselle and Scarlett constantly let him back into their lives?? because yes he’s fun and good in bed but, if Jack’s list of corrected lies to them at the end of AWE is any indication, he also spends a considerable amount of time just talking to them, spending time in their company and getting to know them.

#&. depths few had ever begun to glimpse ( meta tag. )#abuse tw #pirates are cool but also terrible people: the essay #i'm kidding i'm kidding #but this is where there's a disconnect between jack representing that debonair swashbuckler fiction in the way he acts #vs. the harsh reality of piracy which is violent and demands a certain kind of masculinity #and jack is in this constant state of both adhering to and challenging those male gender norms #and being shaped by and simultaneously rejecting that environment #essentially jack's relationship with piracy is a troubled one #but yes have 10 rambly paragraphs !!!! i'm just pleasantly surprised that i actually finished this one before the end of pride month lmao #i still need to address his sexuality properly in modern but that's a whole other kettle of fish

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american-satanxx · 5 years ago

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Immortal//Chapter 3

Author’s note: Thank you so much for the love on the first two chapters. Hopefully you guys will stick with me until the end. My updates will vary pending on my work schedule. I work full time at an animal hospital so my hours are kind of all over the place. So I apologize now. If you want to be on the tag list let me know. That way you guys don’t miss out if you truly love this story. Also any Russian in this story was translated Google.

Taglist: @kingniazx

Masterlist

you're a sweet shot of kerosene. when i threw it back, it poisoned me

“So you and Four, huh?” Seven asks as he joins me out on the range. “That must be some story.” “It was the most imperfect, perfect relationship I had…” I shrug. “I mean up until he faked his death. That was a dickish move.” “You understand why he had to do it, right?” Seven questions me. “He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.” “He wouldn’t have been stuck there if he would have just listened to me.” I counter his point. “I warned him. I begged him not to do that job. But he brushed off my bad feelings and vibes and did what he wanted to do anyway. Men.” I scoff the last sentence. “You loved him, didn’t you?” I look over at Seven. By the looks of it, his questioning is genuine and not mocking me like every other guy that has asked that question. A sigh escapes my lips before a small smile dances across them. “I nearly spent 3 years with him. I have never stayed in a place long enough for me to develop attachments. But he...he was different.” “And he royally fucked it up by faking his death?” Seven chuckles. “Royally.” I agree, chuckling myself. “So how do you tie into everything? You don’t seem to be the type to work with criminals such as Four and Three. You’re not CIA like Two and I’m sure you’re not the doctor type like Five. Or a Femme Fatale like myself?”

“Femme Fatale, is that what you’re calling yourself?” Seven raises an eyebrow and soon a smirk develops on his lips. “I like it.” “One mentioned that’s what he’s calling me.” I shrug. “So spill, Seven… what are you?” “One said he was looking for an operative such as myself.” He shrugs. “I’m Army trained and my longest relationship was with my gun. I’m a good shot and obviously had One’s attention.” “I wonder how he finds us.” I bite my lower lip as my gaze goes towards the HQ building. “How the hell did seven people, from completely different backgrounds, find themselves on One’s radar?” “Well you were on his radar because Four was on his.” He shrugs. “But I get where you are coming from. I’ve been asking myself since the day I was recruited.” “Think about it. He’s Bruce Waye and all of us are his Dick Graysons.” “You do know there are more than one Robin, right?” Seven laughs, causing me to shrug. “Dick Grayson is the most important Robin though. Fight me.” “And lose?” He questions. “I rather not shatter my ego, thank you.” “I’m Alex by the way.” I introduce myself...officially. “I know One doesn’t like using real names but that’s mine. I figured it was time for someone other than Four to know it.” “Alex. You certainly look like an Alex.” He smiles before holding out his hand. “I’m Blaine and it’s nice to meet you.” I smile before putting my hand in his for a handshake. “It’s going to be a pleasure to work alongside of you.” “I second that statement.” ** “I hate ASMR videos.” I mutter to myself as I walk into HQ and see Billy watching an ASMR video while One is deep into his research. “How the hell can he concentrate while listening to that!?” “It’s supposed to be calming.” Billy shrugs. “It stresses me out.” I counter before sitting across from Billy at the table. I stretch out my legs and place the balls of my heels on the table. “So what’s going on bossman?” I ask One. “How’s research going?” “Not well. I’m having a hard time finding the whereabouts of a big name in this.” “What’s the name?” I ask. “Remember, that’s why you brought me on. I’m more than just a pretty face and a decent shot. I know everything there is to know about the Ukraine and Russia.” One just shoots me a look that tells me everything I need to know. He doesn’t trust me just yet. “Fine, come get me when you actually have news. Don’t summon me again for stupid shit.” Just as I’m about to get up, One tosses a folder on the table, right between me and Billy. “You two are going to case out this person’s apartment. You two and Seven are driving to Los Angeles tonight.” I open up the folder and see Anastasia Petrova. She’s an upcoming Russian actress. And also the daughter of the man simply known as Krestnyy Otets Razbitogo Serdtsa; otherwise The Godfather of the Broken Heart. This man has made more wives widows than any other man in the history of Russian Mafia. This alone makes me nervous. “You have a deathwish don’t you?” I ask One. “Or better yet, you have no problem sending three people into certain death?” “So I take it you know who we are dealing with?” The smirk on his lips is making me really want to slap him. “The don’t call him The Godfather of the Broken Heart for shits and giggles.” I sigh, running my fingers through my hair. “He has nothing to do with this. He’s not a fucking idiot.” “No he’s not.” One agrees. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not a connection or a contact to the person in charge. We need to flip over every stone. And the first stone starts with his daughter’s apartment. Get your shit ready, you guys leave tonight.” With that both Billy and I are dismissed. I just roll my eyes before getting up and walking out of the trailer; Billy isn’t too far behind me. “You look worried.” Billy’s deep accented voice states behind me. “I didn’t think Alexandria Smirnov got worried.” I turn around to look at him. “I worried about you that night.” I counter. “My worry is often overlooked, if I recall correctly.” “One lost his mind, hasn’t he?” He questions. “The man we are dealing with is insane, isn’t he?” “Insane is a nice way of saying it.” A humorless chuckle escapes my lips. “Let’s just say, his name is fitting. You truly don’t want to mess with this man, let alone mess with his daughter.” “I’m sure our Femme Fatale can flirt her way into the apartment.” He smirks. “You were always good at using your pretty face and amazing body to get whatever you wanted.” “But still you went off to steal those jewels.” I counter, rolling my eyes. “Come on, let’s pack our shit and get ready. This’ll be a long night.” I turn away and start towards my trailer. “What were you and Seven talking about earlier?” He yells in my direction. A chuckle escapes my lips but I keep walking, only looking back long enough to tell him, “jealousy never looked great on you Billy…”

#6U #6 Underground #6 underground fanfiction #6 underground fanfic #6U fanfiction #6 Underground Imagine #ben hardy #billy fanfiction #billy fanfic #Billy/Four fanfiction #billy/four #ben hardy fanfiction #ben hardy fanfic #fanfiction #Immortal #Immortal fanfiction #Immortal 6U

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a-very-fond-farewell · 5 years ago

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The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 14/?

MeetCute modern!AU [mianqing edition]: “Don’t Bother Looking Down”

[title is from the song “We Fell in Love in October” by Girl in Red]

[let me live vicariously through my baby girls ok?? let me have this]

Qingyang wishes she never moved in this damned country in the first place. Coach Nie followed her alright, so she should be fine and, really, she is thankful for this amazing opportunity. But now she kind of regrets giving up her Lanling citizenships in order to move back to her mother’s home country and fence for the Qishan national team. She understands the language to some extent, but the people there immediately notice her accent and they glare at her whenever she speaks.

Coach Nie moved country as well just to make a champion out of her and, although he respects her for the choice she made, Qingyang knows he misses Qinghe and the people he left behind.

Getting into the national team was nothing compared to the impossible task to fit in and live a normal life. Even her new teammates don’t talk to her unless it’s strictly necessary and they always speak in that quick dialect of theirs just to gossip behind her back. Some of the guys in the male team are actually friendly and manager Xiao Xingchen is always offering to help her with this or that. Meng Yao had to leave Lanling to make the team and even his mother is, coincidentally, from Nightless City just like hers. She doesn’t like Xue Yang: barely seventeen, never heard of manners in his life, but he’s a genius in his own way and Qingyang has a lot to learn from his swordsmanship. However, his younger step sister A-Qing is the loveliest girl and the foulest mouth on the planet whenever she begrudgingly cheers for him, so maybe Qingyang could, potentially, relax a bit and have some fun while training.

But no. Their respective teams captains are actually evil and want them to suffer through impossible training sessions just to let them bask in glory without doing much themselves. Wang Lingjiao especially hates Qingyang’s guts and does everything in her power to make her leave.

It’s not Qingyang’s fault if her disgusting boyfriend had tried to give her a lift home too many times already. She wouldn’t even accept a drink from Wen Chao, let alone a lift. But one day Qingyang has enough, honest to the gods she has.

So it’s with a hollow heart that she stumbles into a random library to check if they have something to consult for her anxiety... when she sees her.

The girl that lives above her in her new apartment complex with her Grandma and younger brother. The one who always scowls at her because she never gets the trash out in time. The one who their landlady refers to with the ever lovely title of “our little overachiever” and “med-school dropout” any chance she gets. The one who apparently went to Lanling University along with Qingyang’s cousin ZiXuan and was the top of their class. The one who always runs around with the child she babysits for the rich couple at the end of the street.

And fuck no, Luo Qingyang’s not gonna mess with that.

So when she readies herself for yet another awkward encounter with the angry looking woman, the last thing she expects is to be welcomed with a blinding smile.

“Welcome, how can I help you today?”

And if Qingyang has to rely on some forced pleasantries between retail worker and client just to experience some human connection... so be it. It may be sick to ask for kindness this way, but she’ll make do.

She has to.

[details underneath]

Wen Qing hates her job. Not because she hates books, although she’s not a great reader herself (save from poetry, but nobody needs to know that), but because her boss is the epitome of “welcoming host” and she’s suffering from a chronic case of resting bitch face and forcing smiles is the last thing she wants out of life.

She came back to Qishan to look after her grandma after she broke her femur and her brother Wen Ning is studying to become a teacher and the final exam is nearing. Wen Qing didn’t want him to drop out to look after their grandma, so she left her fancy scholarship behind and came back.

XiChen is her boss at the library and took her in after his brother WangJi asked him to: Wen Qing and A-Yuan are distant cousins, but she and her brother didn’t have a job by the time the child became an orphan and their grandma was too old to look after him; hence, WangJi and his husband Wei Ying adopted A-Yuan and didn’t want him to live separated from his original family, so they moved in Qishan and frequently meet with the Wen’s.

Wen Qing feels bad about dropping out of university, but she refuses to regret it since she’s more than happy to look after her grandma. ZiXuan is a pediatrician now and several years have passed since they were classmates and competing for grades, but he checks on her through video chats every once in a while.

(ZiXuan is -coincidentally- Qingyang’s cousin and they talk a lot more than what they used to do now that he’s married and his wife is waiting for their first child. Turns out, ZiXuan is a secret matchmaking mastermind now that he is happily married and has matured enough to want his dear ones to be happy as well. So he plants the seed of curiosity in Wen Qing’s head by talking about his “hot and exceptionally talented fencer cousin who could possibly bench press a grown man. have I mentioned she’s hot?”)

...

(“Ew, do you think your cousin is hot?” / “Hot as in... lesbian terms, you get me” / “No. I really don’t. I’m straight.” / “Sure Wen Qing. Sure.”)

...

Qingyang keeps going to the library after her practice, in full gear and with her hair messy and red cheeks just to see Wen Qing smile at her and being forced to be nice to her. She absolutely knows the other woman is forced to do so and so she annoys her with pleasantries and silly things, but she never outright flirts with her [the lesbian courtship prevents the subjects from using such direct and straight(pfffffft)forward ways of approach, obviously].

...

(“I’m so sorry for forgetting about the trash the other day” / “That’s [*clenches fists*] fine. Don’t worry about it” / “Will you forgive me, Miss Wen? Really? [*Qingyang used ‘Bambi eyes’. It’s very effective!*] / “Don’t worry, that’s fine [*Wen Qing wishes the ground could swallow her whole. The nerve!*])

...

Wei Ying obviously befriends Luo Qingyang: he has to. He’s never seen Wen Qing this flustered in his life and he needs something to entertain him while Lan Zhan is at work. So he meddles bc he’s a little shit, but we all love him for it anyway.

...

(“Did you make a library card yet or...?” / “I don’t want to give that woman my ID, she might call the police on me once she gets a hold on my name” / “You literally live in the same building” / “It’s a big building. And I always misplace the trash, I’m afraid she’ll call the police on me saying I’m actually hiding a corpse in my apartment. No thank you” / “It’s a library subscription, not a birth certificate for gods’ sake” / “I’m not risking it, Wei Ying” / “Then I’ll tell you what to do.......”)

The next day at the library...

(“I want to get a card” / [*internally screeching* “took you long enough, wasting my time”] “Name?” / “MianMian”)

...

Which is apparently the wrong thing to say, because Wen Qing loves poetry and goes ballistic for any reference she can pick in normal conversations. So when she hears ‘MianMian’ she immediately goes “Then my name is YuanDao” and it’s like a fucking switch has been pressed and now WEN QING IS THE ONE PURSUING but Qingyang doesn’t know anything about poetry and doesn’t know what to do. She’s created a butch monster who actually genuinely smiles at her now and that’s too powerful for a small femme like her holy fuck.

O_o

Additional content: Jiang Cheng goes to a million blind dates until he meets XiChen out of fucking nowhere and they move in together two days later + Meng Yao seduces Nie MingJue with hot fencing routines without even sparing a glance at the older man (his drive is focused only on the medal and... for NMJ that’s kind of hot) + Wen Ning is actually a heartthrob but he’s not interested and runs away from people actually swooning at his feet left and right + Xue Yang is not a criminal and only wants his sister to finally get the service dog of her dreams + Song Lan is a referee but he gets distracted by the Qishan team manager bc... boy is he fine

o_O

[I’m suffering. Can someone write this I do not have time to commit to my own writing and I don’t trust myself with the delivery.

I’m but a tiny prompt-machine help me D:]

#mdzs #cql #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #mianqing #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: sports #mdzs/au: modern #mdzs/au: fencing #xicheng #wangxian

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spidergwenistrans · 5 years ago

Text

So TERFs like to say that trans women were socialised as men, an especially powerful attack against those of us who transition later in life. And the idea seems to hold water to a lot of folks who haven’t had to think critically about it, and it probably holds more water the later in life that the trans woman/women in question came out.

I’m not going to try and say that none of us have ever benefited from male privilege, there’s no denying it plays a role, especially if you look at this with an intersectional lens. I certainly have benefited from it for parts of my life, I lost it for a little bit when I had long hair in 2009 and passed more often as a girl than as a boy (and somehow still didn’t figure out I wasn’t a boy).

The thing is, and I realised this on a much more personal level since starting to figure stuff out about myself, if you’re living life presenting as, being read as, and generally existing as, a gender that you aren’t, you’re being traumatised a little every time gender is relevant, which is a lot, if not always.

Most of my friends ave always been girls/women, and I’ve only had a few close friends who were boys/men. Kindergarten on up, it’s always been the case, the thing is, most people seem to get kinda uncomfortable with boys and girls being close friends, so it gets discouraged, I don’t remember well enough to say why, or how or when, but I know or sure I really only ever had playdates with boys as a small child. It’s equally possible that this pressure was applied by my peers, if you hang out “too much” with girls, and everyone thinks you’re a boy, you’re gonna get shamed one way or another; for being too girly, for having a girlfriend, for being gay, whatever it is kids can come up with (you know, whatever their older siblings, parents, and media have taught them). Of course, I was a small child in the 90s, which was not a great time to be queer, so there’s that too.

Being forced/encouraged not to hang out with girls definitely played a role in my internal closeting and maintaining of the closet for years, even though by grade 7 I started to have friends who were girls again, friends whose houses I even went over to. But I was still being perceived as a boy, so I still ha certain gendered expectations placed on me, and I did far too good of a job internalising the ones I could tolerate. I tried so hard to embody the parts of masculinity that I could tolerate, and that seemed mostly positive to me, but they never really quite fit.

Even while so far in the closet I was almost in the next room, when I first started seeing my ex, my approach to flirting with her and wooing her honestly mostly resembled a stereotypical 1950s housewife taking care of her husband. I cooked her dinners, made sure to dress nice for her, all that jazz. In hindsight, that’s fucking hilarious, but at the time I did not really examine it and just went with it because it felt natural.

Besides all of the long-term build up of emotional trauma that comes from trying to live as an incorrect gender, there’s one piece to it that just fundamentally screws with your self perception. At whatever point you first try to express your gender identity, if someone shuts it down and tells you you’re wrong, or even if you don’t express it, but you know it and you’re told implicitly that you’re wrong, it can instill this sort of self-doubt. Now there are as many trans experiences as there are trans people, so this will be about me, and how I perceive things, in hindsight, because I could never have discussed this without learning the language I now have.

When I was 3 or 4, I remember playing, and telling my mum I was her daughter, she (so she thought) corrected me, believing it to be a misunderstanding of language (as an editor/translator, she’s going to see the world through that lens, also, it was 1997/1998). I also used to pretend to be the mother of all my stuffies, a game/fantasy that included mimicking any mothering behaviours I’d ever seen, including incubating them like eggs in a nest, and stuffing them under my shirt to be able to birth them. This did not happen without getting commented on, but I’d already picked up that I should probably keep quiet about the mothering bit.

Sidenote: this ^ is one of those forbidden memories that gets locked away, I forgot all of this until after I realised I’m trans, and only just now remembered the mothering bit, I only remembered the stuffing in the shirt bit when I started typing this today.

All of that about the stuffies and calling myself a daughter is to say, the things that a 3/4 year old me knew to be true, or wanted to be true, were treated as mistakes and misunderstandings by society, I’m pretty confident to say there were some consequences to that, likely in part impacts to my confidence about any other self knowledge.

In high school, I was made fun of for being gay, for being fat, for being girly (even before the long hair), and a cruel play on my deadname wrt penis size (joke will be on them as soon as I can get bottom surgery). Clearly I did not pass myself off effectively as a straight boy, and I think that’s a pretty common experience for a lot of trans femmes. For lack of a better word, apparently I’ve always had “Gay Vibes” and lots of people came out to me in high school, and lots of others assumed I was gay, there was some overlap there too. Of course, it turns out I am a huge queer, but just exactly not the way anyone expected?

Most of this post is talking about younger life, because this is where things were closer to the surface for me, I buried my transness pretty effectively early on. For those that don’t, their trauma is going to be different, and from what I’ve heard, much more immediately painful. Being read as male today hurts, but all of the previous years of it? they don’t hurt me that much in any direct sort of way, only cumulatively in what they denied me.

If you’d like to read a story about a trans woman who did know from a young age, but didn’t transition until much later in life than I did, you should check out Love Lives Here by Amanda Jetté Knox. Amanda writes about her daughter’s transition, then her wife’s and the story is incredibly beautiful, and made me cry most of the day I listened to it.

#mine #personal #paislee talks about trans stuff #paislee reads #book recommendations

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pixiedustrps · 5 years ago

Note

L Q V ( ryder/gwen ) A F K ( cait/micah )

Ryder Prince

L : LOVE. who does your muse love?

Uh...he loves...the station dog, his partner in solving crime, his grandma? If he’d maybe been spelled to tell the truth he might have added a certain witch but this isn’t that kind of ask game.

Q : QUESTION. would your muse ask the big question or expect their partner to?

He’s a big boy he can talk about his feelings without dancing around them. Well, once he realizes they’re actually there of course and aren’t just the product of him being exasperated at having to go save the hypothetical cat from another tree.

V : VALENTINE. how does your muse feel about valentine’s day?

Ryder’s not particularly for or against it either way. The station gathers up cards from everyone to send to the kids at the local hospital, which is nice he thinks. And the decor isn’t half bad. But he could do without the same Hallmark movie playing on TV over and over again when he’s trying to find something to put on in the background while he’s doing case work. Yes, he knows they’re not all the same movie. But do they all have the exact same plot and are thus the exact same movie? Yes. He’s seen enough of them to know.

Caitronia Mackenna

A : AFFECTION. how does your muse show affection?

Cait’s way of showing affection is getting all up in your business. She likes closeness and because her brother may just be the most solitary person she’s ever met in her life she goes to look for that closeness elsewhere when he’s closed off.

Midnight drop ins? You betcha. Unexpected, hey, let’s go to this place that I promise definitely exists and I didn’t just make up texts? For sure.

She’s also a bit of that boy pulling on pigtails sort. If she cares about you she will prank you at any given time without warning whether it’s via magically changing your hair color overnight to rainbow pink or the good ol’ fashioned bucket over the door.

F : FLIRT. is your muse good at flirting? how do they flirt?

Good at flirting is an understatement. Though the recipients are usually people she finds dull and are really just those to fill the time she definitely knows how to act coy and say the right things with the right amount of suggestion in them. She’s 100% the movie screen femme fatale kind of gal, all batting eyelashes and looking very sophisticated even though she’s drinking weak ass shitty college campus beer. There’s a joke about turning it into wine that she would definitely make. Which I guess, she would say, makes her Jesus. Insert suggestive comment here.

But to her it’s all just a game. See the above for the real deal.

K : KISS. is your muse a good kisser? why / why not?

She’s a pretty great kisser if she does say so herself. Not that anyone she has kissed has complained or given her any pointers, anyway. It’s all just in the practice. By the end of first year she may have kissed half the student body. Just for fun. She was very bored, she says.

( * VALENTINE’S DAY ALPHABET ! @adriasarjona

#MENTALLY HUGGING YOU #audi bb #the jd to my turk #message in a bottle #muse: cait mackenna #muse: ryder prince #adriasarjona

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sablelab · 5 years ago

Text

Covert Operations - Chapter 60

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS: Claire starts work at the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau and meets her work colleagues plus the head of the Bureau, Inspector Jiang Ng.

My THANKS to all for supporting my story. It is really appreciated. Previous chapters can be found at ... https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

CHAPTER 60

Claire Beauchamp had been at the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau for a couple of days but she had kept a relatively low profile. Since arriving at her new position most of her time had been spent covertly weighing up the personnel and surroundings of her new building. Her office was on the first floor and her designated desk had a great view of the entrance enabling her to unobtrusively keep tabs on who entered and left the building. Claire knew that her mission here might be much more difficult than first thought and finding the mole may be a result of good luck rather than good investigation given the composition of the OCTB personnel, so she would need to keeps her wits about her for any unusual behaviour. On her first day she’d been introduced to two of the undercover detectives who were sharing the same office space. Claire had taken an immediate liking to the two members of the OCTB she had been assigned to and they’d promised to show her the ropes. Ian Murray was a brash young detective, wet behind the ears but with a mischievous temperament and manner not unlike Fergus’ that Claire found quite endearing. He was a natural flirt and had taken every opportunity to try his skills out on her but to no avail. Claire had laughed off his attention as friendly banter between the two and Ian had taken it all in his stride. Although he was gregarious and affable, he was too inquisitive for her liking. Ian Murray asked far too many questions about her undercover work for the Water Police. Whether this was a result of youthful enthusiasm or some other reason was hard to gauge and caused Claire to be more reticent in her replies but not overly cautious. The other detective was John So who had been Superintendent Xiao Zheng’s contact. Claire decided that befriending him could provide her with valuable information about Jonathon Randall that would be beneficial to Section, after all it was, he who had mentioned that Randall’s investigation had gone nowhere to Superintendent Zheng. Claire just might have an ally that had suspicions about him and who had already done some ground work that would lead to finding the perpetrator. John So had promised to make some discreet enquiries for Superintendent Zheng and see what he could come up with. The savvy detective’s analysis was obviously in line with the Superintendent’s view that Jonathon Randall was somehow connected to the Rising Dragons even if they didn’t know to what extent. John So had said as much to him on the recording Section One had of their taped conversation. Had Section found out that he was indeed a member of the Rising Dragons when they had investigated him? Fergus said that Jamie would debrief her with the Intel Section had on him when he arrived and she hoped it would be sooner rather than later. In the meantime, she would continue to gauge what Intel she could before he arrived by keeping alert and as inconspicuous as possible. The fact that there was perhaps a mole at the Bureau caused other problems. Would she be able to discover who was feeding information to the Rising Dragons? The personnel numbers in the Bureau alone were huge. Finding a covert agent among the OCTB would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It would be near impossible to predict who may be the culprit and there were few agents who had been acting suspiciously since she had been observing. There was nothing to go on yet as all their comings and goings had been on OCTB business. Finding the mole would be difficult under these circumstances and with little information to go on she didn’t know where to start. Claire thought that keeping her ear to the ground and tailing Detective So may lead to some sort of breakthrough to finding out who had suppressed the Intel about Jonathon Randall and why. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Claire had been drawn to John So when she had first met him and if Superintendent Zheng was his friend and trusted colleague, then that was a good indication that the detective was above board. He had maturity and was a seasoned detective of the old school and reminded her of her buddy Murtagh.

So here she was partnered with the young and the not so young. It actually felt like an alternative universe where Ian Murray and Detective So were the embodiment of her pals at Section One. The similarities between Fergus and Murtagh and the OCTB men was uncanny. It was little wonder that she felt that her assignment here would prove productive given the professionalism of her work colleagues. Except for the fact that Ian Murray was curious it didn’t raise her hackles to a person who may indeed be working for the Rising Dragons triad. It was evident that John So would be displaying some overt body language around his partner if he was indeed suspicious of him in any way and that was not the case. John was certainly his mentor and the relationship between the two men was strong. Working with them so far had been enlightening. They were thorough and methodical despite the friendly banter between the two men and Claire knew they were both dedicated to the job they performed at the OCTB.

Hopefully she would be able to utilise their expertise and knowledge of secret information and files about the Rising Dragons and would find the lead Section One wanted to catch Jonathon Randall, the mole at the OCTB and by association Sun Yee Lok. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The office she shared with her colleagues was cramped and with three desks taking up most of the room, space was scarce. Paperwork was piled up on the desks of both detectives concerning their recent enquiries on triad activities in Hong Kong. The detectives had been working on the death of the Black Panther’s leader Chow Li who had recently been killed in a motor vehicle accident. The OCTB didn’t know if he’d really died accidentally or as payback because of Tony Wong’s death for there had always been unrest between the two triad groups. Hence Ian Murray and John were looking at a possible link between the Black Panthers and the Rising Dragons.

Apparently, his son, Samuel Li was responsible for one of Hong Kong's most notorious kidnapping rings. The OCTB had been trying to track him down in connection with the spate of kidnappings that had been occurring lately but he’d mysteriously left Hong Kong to run the Black Panthers’ interests in America before they could pin anything on him. However, Samuel had since returned with his wife and son for the funeral of his father. As the heir apparent, he was being pressed to become the new triad leader even though he was not exactly admired by his father’s colleagues. If this happened a turf war could break out at any moment if the new leader of the Black Panthers’ flexed his muscle. This was worrisome for the OCTB as a turf war between rival Chinese crime syndicates was the last thing they needed and more importantly something that Section One didn’t need. Perhaps there were some clues she could check here to discover who was supplying the Rising Dragons with information that kept them one step ahead. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Claire had found out some superficial information on the leader of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau by asking a few questions of her new colleagues, and had been given the orientation around the office, but her days at the OCTB had been uneventful thus far. Each day was a new challenge but unfortunately nothing had presented itself as yet. However, when her colleagues had checked their daily messages there was a memo on their computers that they’d been summoned to a meeting that afternoon. The Bureau’s chief, Inspector Jiang Ng had called all detectives and operatives in for a briefing of some importance, but whatever it was, was unknown.

She did not receive the memorandum on her computer so Claire decided to ask her colleagues if she could attend but if not, she would place a listening devise and camera in the room so that she and Fergus could follow the briefing. However, if she could be in attendance as well then it could prove to be invaluable. Perhaps this was the breakthrough that Section One needed to find Jonathon Randall and more importantly the mole within the OCTB. This meeting would be interesting as many of the OCTB staff would be present and it would allow her to secretly study those gathered to see if there was anyone who raised her suspicions. Perhaps this meeting would be the start of discovering who indeed may be the plant working for the Rising Dragons and was the first real opportunity Claire would have to observe people at close hand. If indeed she was suspicious of someone, she would be able to alert Fergus to do a background check on any names of suspects.

Claire needed to find a way of being present at the meeting never realising that an opportunity would come her way that afternoon from an unforeseen meeting.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When she had a quiet moment, she alerted Fergus to the situation thus far. “Fergus are you there?”

“I'm here. What ya got? Any clues yet?” “I've got nothing so far ... I’m coming up empty handed.” “It’s early days Claire ... you’ll find something.” “But I may have a couple of names soon that you could check.” “OK. Let me know when you have the intel and I’ll investigate.” “I will.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That afternoon the OCTB became a hive of activity. From her office desk, Claire watched as the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau Inspector Ng walked into the building. He was approached by a scruffily dressed man who began talking to him in the foyer. Claire had never seen this man before and she immediately took notice of their interaction. The two were in deep conversation and their body language was far from friendly. Gathering a police file, she came downstairs in order to eavesdrop on their discussion. Claire studied the dynamics between the two men and it was antagonistic at best. By the appearance of the second man it was hard to tell if he was an undercover cop, an informant or indeed a criminal, for the police lived in an uneasy state of co-existence with the gangsters on this small island of Hong Kong. It was hard to know if he was a good guy or a bad guy. Obviously, the line was blurred between the police and triad members; neither was as black and white as it would seem.

This was also the first time she had seen the Inspector since arriving at the Bureau. Surreptitiously studying Jiang Ng, he reminded her of the movie star, Chow Yun-Fat. He was debonair and very handsome with an arresting body. The Inspector was sartorially dressed in a designer suit that was tailor made to fit his tall, lean frame. He had slick black hair, piercing black eyes and a no-nonsense disposition of one who had power and knew it. Inspector Jiang Ng looked dangerous and a man not to be crossed. Although he appeared to have his finger on the pulse there was something about him that raised her hackles though. Call it intuition but there was definitely something that didn’t sit right. Interestingly when she had inquired about different personnel at the OCTB and his name was mentioned, both of her colleagues’ demeanour had changed when she cited him. John So and Ian Murray had warned her to be careful when she’d asked questions about the Bureau chief. “Jiang Ng is a driven cop Claire ... He has a dark side with a smile that somehow does not reach his eyes despite his handsome looks.” John had said. “He’s obsessed with upholding the law, but is more than willing to step outside its boundaries in order to do so. In many ways, he’s no better than the criminals he deals with ... except for the fact that he carries a badge.” With their words ringing in her ears, Claire made her way along the hallway toward where the briefing was to take place and closer to where the men were discussing something in a heated manner. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “No, I can’t make that promise,” the Inspector reiterated in no uncertain manner. “But Eric already made a contribution to the investigation.” “That’s regrettable ... but duplicity won’t be tolerated ... he’s out. The reason I'm running this bureau in the first place is to stop corruption, not encourage it.” However, the man protested appealing to his superior to rethink his decision. “But sir, he was onto something.” “His investigation was skewed ... I personally checked his information and he was way out of line ... not only that but I discovered his deception.” “He’ll be hard to replace.” “No one is indispensable ... Eric can be replaced.” Claire’s interpretation was that the man sounded frustrated that a colleague had been dismissed from some uncover work, that had obviously been ongoing for a while. “By whom?” “Never you mind ... that is my decision,” and with that Inspector Ng turned to leave. As he did so he caught a glimpse of Claire standing to the side at the enquiries desk. He walked by, stopped in front of her and looked her square in the eye.

“You’re new here,” he stated.

“Yes sir.” “What's your name?” “Claire ... Claire Beauchamp.” “Hmm. ... Claire ... Your face looks familiar. Haven’t I met you before?” “No, I don’t think so.” "Yes, I’d certainly remember you.” He smiled with the arrogance of a man who had women fall at his feet. “Inspector, they're waiting,” came a voice from Jiang’s office where the briefing was to take place. Ignoring his announcement, he asked. “How long have you been at the OCTB?” “A couple of days.” “A couple of days, hmm? So, you’re a rookie?” “Yes sir.” “Where did you transfer from?” “The Water Police sir.” “Ahhh! ... Superintendent Xiao Zheng recommended you. I remember now. I read your file.” “Inspector ... everyone’s waiting.” Came the persistent voice for a second time. “Very well ... I’m coming.” Jiang Ng turned to walk away but returned to the enquiries desk where Claire was standing. “Perhaps you would care to join us Miss Beauchamp? We seem to be a man down on this investigation.” “Thank you sir ... I’d like that,” Claire replied as she watched the Bureau chief enter into his office. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As soon as the Inspector moved away to attend the briefing, Claire contacted Fergus before following him. “You got something Claire?” He replied “Maybe ...” She activated her vision glasses. “I’m switching to visual mode so I can canvas those gathered.” Upon entering the room, she adjusted her glasses and surveyed those gathered so that Fergus could download their images. “Is that okay?” “Yes.” “How’s the feed? Is it clear?” She asked taking a seat at the table. Looking around once more Claire waited for Inspector Ng to debrief his team. “It’s fine.” “Good.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Inspector’s office at the OCTB was full as the members of the Bureau waited for their leader to begin his briefing. They had been called in from assignments at the last minute so something must be pending about the triads.

Leaning on the desk next to a pile of reports and looking around at those gathered, Jiang clapped his hands. “All right guys!” he stated, “Before we start, I have decided that Claire Beauchamp will replace Eric Yong who has been stood down pending an internal investigation. Stand up Claire if you wouldn’t mind so that the others can see who you are.” Mutters arose in the office while all heads turned to look at her. John So rolled his chair closer to Claire’s and sat in front of Jiang, while others including Ian Murray stood to the back of the group. A woof whistle was heard as an officer called out.

“Hey! She’s much better looking than Eric.”

“That will be enough ... Raymond, Claire comes with better credentials that some of you here.” Jiang remarked to diffuse the banter that had erupted in the room.

Having been suitably chastised the operative shut up and looked down at the floor with a wicked grin on his face. “As you all know there has been some trouble with the triads of late. Each is jostling for supremacy and the situation could become quite volatile unless we can put a lid on it. At the present moment there are far too many rumblings among the triad groups for my liking.” “You could say that again,” said a voice from the back of the room.” Jiang Ng’s eyes set upon the detective who had made the comment. “Yes Gary ...There have been some suspicious disappearances of the Rising Dragons’ hierarchy too which we feel is connected with the other triads. We suspect that the Black Panthers and Red Lanterns groups are geeing up for some triad war given that they sense some vulnerability within the Rising Dragons ranks at the moment.” “Is this in any way connected with our current investigation on the Rising Dragons and the return of Samuel Li?” John So asked. The same Bureau member who had made an earlier comment about her interjected stating, “Tony Wong is dead, and now it seems that Madame Cheung had been conspicuous by her absence. Do we know anything about his death and her mysterious disappearance Chief Inspector?” “There could be a connection with Samuel Li’s return to Hong Kong given his modus operandi and Madame Cheung ... but it is pure speculation at the moment Raymond. We seem to have hit a brick wall as far as what happened to them.” “Do we have any leads Inspector?” “There are many irons in the fire ... but nothing concrete.” Turning towards where Claire sat, Jiang continued. “Perhaps Claire Beauchamp can help with our investigations. We are after all one man down.” “About time we had some females on the team.” “I agree Murray ... that’s why I assigned her to you and John ... We all know your proficiency with the ladies. She should prove invaluable in our undercover work.” “What about the Intel Eric was working on about Jonathon Randall?” John So asked in all seriousness. “Nothing has been substantiated Johnny. There has been no basis whatsoever that leads to him being a member of the Rising Dragons. Although we had our suspicions, he’s come up clean.” Jiang replied concisely. “So, what about Randall’s connection to the kidnapping of the actress Laoghaire MacKimmie?” Ian Murray added. “Once again ... nothing. It’s definitely cause for frustration on our behalf ... but what can we do when the evidence is stacked in his favour? He did have an alibi.” “Should we keep him under surveillance?” John asked decisively. “I don’t see the need to. If something else occurs then by all means, but at the moment it’s a waste of resources when there are other pressing matters.” Claire’s interest was immediately raised at his answers and noted the look that passed between Jiang Ng and his senior detective. “So why are we here then sir?” Looking around the room at those gathered he issued his orders. “I need each and every one of you to search out all of your contacts to see if indeed the Black Panthers or Red Lanterns are responsible for the death and disappearance of these members of the Rising Dragons’ triad.” He proceeded to display a picture of Tony Wong, Oliver Chan and Madame Cheung. Claire sat stony faced as he continued. “We need to know categorically who is responsible and bring them to justice.” “Yes sir,” was the resounding declaration by all. “This is top priority... We’re looking at a possible connection between the Rising Dragons and other rival triads that may have been responsible in any way for these mysteries. The repercussions of a triad war would be catastrophic. I expect some answers ASAP ... That will be all. Dismissed.” Each of those gathered, grabbed their files on the cases and exited the office. However, Inspector Ng motioned for Claire to stay behind with her detective mentors. “John, I expect you and Murray to show Claire the ropes. She’s on your team after all.” “Yes sir.” “I’m sure the three of you will be able to come up with something conclusive for the Bureau given all the expertise." “Certainly sir ... we’ll get on it straight away.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As they left their office the two detectives walked on either side of Claire. “Come on ... we’re got a few informants that we need to chase up. They may have a couple of leads and some Intel that could focus on the triads and in particular the Rising Dragons and their rivalry with the Black Panthers.” “Yeah ... and it will get Inspector Ng off our backs for a while too.” Ian Murray replied. Looking somewhat surprised Claire queried, “Why would you say that?” “He’s been like a bear with a sore head of late. Jumpy and irritable too, as if someone is breathing down his neck while he breathes down ours.” This intel was just what Claire was looking for and corresponded with her initial suspicions about Inspector Ng’s demeanour. However, it was also shocking at the same time to think that the head of the OCTB may be the mole for the Rising Dragons. “What’s caused that?” “Who knows? ... Inspector Ng plays his cards close to his chest. Despite his good looks, he’s a loner. He doesn’t seem to have many friends. He does like the night life though and is known to frequent the new nightclub The Triangle that has recently opened. “That’s interesting.” “Yeah ... Davie Beaton saw him there last week ... but he didn’t see him. Davie thought he better beat a speedy retreat before he was seen. He probably leads a double life,” Ian laughed. “It’s the quiet ones you have to watch you know.” “I’ve heard about that nightclub; my neighbour goes there. I said I’d go with her tomorrow night.” Claire replied looking at the two men. “Jonathon Randall is the owner of the club.” “Really?” “Hey! You could do some undercover reconnaissance while you’re there Claire.” Ian added enthusiastically. “Perhaps that’s just what Inspector Ng has been doing,” she replied throwing a curve ball their way to gauge their opinion. “What? ... He was on a stakeout? ... Checking out leads that Jonathon Randall is working for the Rising Dragons?” He asked incredulously. “Yeah ... right!” “But that’s what Eric was working on and you know what he said at the briefing,” John added, thinking himself that the Inspector was not as clean as he would like them all to believe. Claire remembered only too well his exact words ... “Nothing has been substantiated. There has been no basis whatsoever that leads to Jonathon Randall being a member of the Rising Dragons. Although we had our suspicions, he’s come up clean.” And not only had he stated that, but she also recalled the conversation he’d had with the OCTB undercover cop in the corridor. “But sir he was onto something about the Rising Dragons’ triad.” “His investigation was skewed ... I personally checked his information and he was way out of line ... not only that but I discovered his deception.” The fact that Jonathon Randall’s investigation had gone nowhere rang alarm bells in Claire’s head. She suspected that considering his report a while ago at the meeting, it was entirely possible that Inspector Jiang Ng really was the mole. “I don’t think so ... I reckon he was checking out the ladies,” laughed Ian Murray.

“Nah! ... that’s something you would do Ian.” John replied as in all innocence Ian Murray tried to hide the smile that reached his eyes. “Humph!” He replied clearing his throat. “Claire be careful tomorrow night,” John warned a little concerned that she might fall foul of Jonathan Randall if she met him at the nightclub. “I will,” she replied confidently to array his trepidation, then changing the subject asked, “So where are we going first?” “I think we’ll check on our informant and see what news he has for us ... Come on let’s go.” *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued

#Jamieandclairefanfic #Jamie Fraser #claire beauchamp #outlander fanfiction #covert operations #JamieandClaire #jamieandclaireau

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tragicflapjack · 5 years ago

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The tragedy of the socially awkward

You know those times when you see someone and somehow, from some forgotten cubbyhole in your brain, a single lonely neuron seems to whisper to you that you might know this person from somewhere? It also then invariable seems to always shrivel up and die before affording you the curtesy of telling you how or where exactly you know this person from. This then leaves the rest of your brain to frantically scramble to figure it out in time to avoid death by awkward social encounter. Miraculously you figure it out nick of time and proceed to share a wonderful little chat, at the end of which both of you promise to get together for a drink soon and catch up. Yeah right, like that is ever actually going to happen. Anyway, this story is nothing like that at all. I was driving back home with my parents after we went on a short holiday at the beach and decided to stop for breakfast at a lovely roadside restaurant. A very lively young fellow showed us to our table in a nearly empty room except for one table that happened to be placed across from me. Now, being a curious human being, I naturally took some time to inspect its occupants, which turned out to be a family of four with a, quite lovely, daughter roughly my age. We locked eyes for moment and shared a polite little smile and a nod, as one does in such situation and sitting down, I had started to browse the various delicious treats the restaurant had on offer. Throughout this time my eyes occasionally wandered back to the girl sitting opposite me and found, to my surprise, that her eyes had done the same. We continued this exercise of shooting glances at each other for a few minutes and I could feel my ego growing just ever so slightly. After a short while however, I was drawn back into a rather interesting discussion we were having about how it was possible that such a wonderful people as the Canadians could possibly elect someone like Justin Trudeau for not only one, but two consecutive terms. Incredible. I think we finally just chopped it up to them being so extremely kind and that since he had asked, they simply did not have the heart to tell him no and promptly sent him to a mental institution. Through the course of our breakfast and while discussing these, and many other enigmas of human nature, I soon completely forgot all about the good-looking stranger. So after deftly finishing off some bacon, eggs, sausages, roasted tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, baked beans and a hash brown or two, I thought it would probably be good idea hop over to the restroom and clean up, since I was starting to look uncannily like the little green cretin from the Ghostbusters. I did my best to wipe away most of the grease from my face and started make my way back to our table only to come face to face with our femme fatale, who walked straight up to me, and to my great surprise, smiled and started talking. At first, I thought she just wanted to know where the restrooms were, but when this proved false, I thought: “wow, maybe she is really into me” and then, gradually, the uncomfortable truth began to dawn on me. This girl recognized me from somewhere. All this time I had mistaken our back and forth eye contact for flirting when the poor girl was just racking her brain to figure out why this stranger kept looking at her. In my sudden panic and in an attempt to buy my brain some time to play mental catch up, I went along with the conversation as she apologized profusely for not instantly remembering who I was. After a few seconds, I was still drawing a blank and started to suspect that this might be a case of mistaken identity. The final nail in the coffin came when she asked me how some couple named Kevin and Rachel were doing. I do not know a Kevin and Rachel. So, I did what any normal adult would in this situation and told her they were doing great, and I would pass on her love to them. I also learnt that I was apparently moving to a different city to start a new job. How exciting! Sadly though, I suspect my acting skills proved rather lacking as about five minutes into our conversation, I noticed she was becoming somewhat confused. The poor soul seemed to have finally realize her mistake but seeing as I was already so committed to playing the part, neither of us had the courage to admit to what actually was happening. Bizarrely however, we continued to talk for another 2 good minutes and even made the empty promise of someday getting that drink together. As we hugged goodbye, I caught I look in her eye that said something along the line of: “Did I just hug a mentally unstable person?” to which my only answer is, you quite possibly did, my dear. Anyway, I don’t think being a crazy person is that bad really, maybe one day, I too could become Canada’s PM, who knows?

Kind Regards

#tifu #funny blog #socially acceptable #socially awkward

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coffee-or-murder · 5 years ago

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For the gallusrostromegalus OC questions: Zimri-5, 12, 14, 18, 20 Rosalind- 2, 6, 10, 15, 16

ZIMRI, Yolo High Femme and my daughter. We’re talking Modern!AU Zimri for this since I will most likely never play her actual character again and that’s the most developed version of her.

5. Does your OC get lost easily? What do they do when they do get lost?

Her sense of direction is pretty good, but that direction is always towards people who can help her. Stick her in the middle of a corn field and she’ll find a farmhand, flirt with them, and get a ride to wherever she needs on their tractor.

12. What perfectly-normal-to-them-thing does your OC do that confuses/pisses off/terrifies their neighbors?

Full on photo shoots in the front garden. Or the rose gold lambo that she takes pics of herself laying on or in for one of her glucose guardians on a near daily basis.

14. What thing did your OC’s parents do that your OC wishes they had a better explanation for?

HOW THE FUCK DID YOU LOSE ME? I WAS LIKE THREE! HOW DO YOU NOT WATCH A THREE YEAR OLD?

18. What’s the trashiest item in your OC’s wardrobe, when was the last time they wore it and why do they still have it?

You know those Borat swimsuits that are literally a V-shaped piece of string? One of those in black. It was a request for a photo shoot and she wants to burn it but occasionally that guardian will ask for more pics in it.

20. What’s your OC smell like? no, not that “Vanilla and Anxiety” evocative stuff, realistically. Body odor? what have they been touching all day? When was their last shower? Did they put on any kind of artificial scent?

She is super conscious of how she smells, so she controls that shit with deodorant. She’s most likely been clinging to one of her girlfriends, or out sunbathing. She showers once a day in the morning unless she gets a little sweaty in which case two showers. There is a body oil from this company Hemp Seed called Moroccan Nights that smells EXACTLY like what I picture her smelling like, and she would wear it as either an oil or a perfume.

ROSALIND, a 132 year old Halfing Great-Great-Great Grandmother who adopts as many random children who feel like they don’t belong. She is a cleric for a god that one of her grand kids isn’t sure is real or not, but Coyote comes to her kitchen and eats stale food.

2. What are your OC’s food preferences (flavors/textures/spiciness/calories/ when and how they eat) and how did they get that way?

She is overly fond of sweets, but nothing overly sugary. Think citrus based deserts, but butterscotch is a rare exception. Flaky pastries and tender meats are best. Since she runs a baking empire (with some maybe not so legal dealing on the side) the sweets are just in her blood, but she also broke her jaw in a fight decades ago and has never been able to eat tough foods since then.

6. What would STOP your OC from Doing The Right Thing in a tense situation?

Her idea of the right thing is a little skewed. If some creep had one of her people by knife point she is the least likely one to hesitate on killing the guy. Rosalind is too old to take the moral high ground at this point.

10. On a scale of “Complete and Justified nervous breakdown” to “Conquer The Entire Galaxy and become an Immortal God-Emperor”, how well would your OC handle being abducted by Aliens?

She would adopt the nearest alien race and just expand her universe of grand kids from there. Aliens have to like baked goods right?

15. How often does your OC “zone out” or do things on autopilot and how severe have the problems that have arisen from that been?

Her mind sort of wanders a good bit. She’s the type of person you have to call her name at least twice to get her attention. Mid knitting a sweater for one of her grand kids her mind left to plan dinner and when it came back the sweater was seven times wider then it was supposed to be.

16. How strong or weak is your OC’s Impulse control? What’s the worst thing that happened because of their Impulsivity or inability to be so?

Very. She’s reached that stage of “too old to care” that I aspire to be. In the middle of an important museum opening for a benefactor of the business she picked up a statue and said “This is one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen, and I had seven kids with my first husband”, put it down, and wanders away with her new husband cackling behind her.

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breeeliss · 7 years ago

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Alright, I’m killing this “Latino Loverboy Trope” that y’all love to attach to Lance because a) you guys clearly don’t know what the “Latino Loverboy Trope” is and b) Lance doesn’t even satisfy it. And before you get your panties in a twist, yes, I’m Latina and I’m calling bullshit on this so-called trope because nothing about Lance’s character, Lance’s vlog, or Allurance for that matter is racist, offensive, regressive, or out of character.

What you guys are probably thinking of is some weird combination of The Latin Lover Trope and The Casanova Trope. But, as I said, Lance satisfies neither of these tropes.

The Latin Lover Trope is built off this idea that if you’re a Latino man that has that thick accent, wears open shirts, pulls roses out of his ass, and whispers sweet Spanish nothings in your ear, you’re the sexiest thing on the planet. They’re the tall, dark, handsome men that are dripping in sex appeal and that women can’t possibly resist simply because they give off that weird fetishy “Latin vibe” that white people love to capitalize on.

Suffice it to say that not one scrap of this applies to Lance because Lance isn’t portrayed as an impossibly suave, ridiculously sexy, totally irresistible character. If anything, most of the times that Lance tries to flirt with people, no one falls victim to the charm. Mainly because his charm is super corny and always kind of comes up at the wrong times (i.e. when the situation is serious/dire).

Not only that, but Lance’s Cuban heritage is not exaggerated for the sake of making him a more romantically/sexually appealing character. He doesn’t speak Spanish, he doesn’t have an accent, he doesn’t Salsa through the halls, and he doesn’t spit out Spanish poetry in an attempt to seduce anyone. Ergo, he doesn’t satisfy the Lain Lover Trope. So to call his flirting a Latinx stereotype is seriously reaching.

Now, because people seem to have issue with the fact that Lance tends to flirt with any girl/femme-presenting alien he sees, let’s talk about the Casanova Trope, which Lance also doesn’t satisfy -- mainly because Casanovas tend to be complete assholes.

The Casanova Trope is essentially what some people tend to accuse Lance of satisfying -- i.e. that he relentlessly flirts with girls (like Allura) in a way that seems disrespectful, objectifying, and ultimately not romantic. The problem with this is that Lance’s flirting is neither relentless nor objectifying. If it was, yeah, he’d be a Casanova, a man who essentially pursues women for the sake of bedding them and then abandons them simply to show how awesome he is. They hold no regard for a woman’s well-being. Additionally, this is usually a trope seen with straight white men. There is nothing about Lance’s flirting that suggests he’s doing it for the sake of breaking hearts, moving on, and wearing his conquests as a badge of honor. If anything, most of the times that he does pursue someone, it usually ends up badly for him, not the girl.

And that’s essentially the point of his flirting. It’s harmless both in its intention and in its impact. Lance flirts because it’s his personality -- he loves being the center of attention and he loves hamming it up and charming people because he wants to seem cool. He doesn’t do it because he thinks he’s entitled to any of the girls he flirts with and he doesn’t do it to cause harm. And we know that his flirting doesn’t cause any harm because people find it annoying and poorly timed at its worse.

Even in the cases where he’s flirting with Allura, she either ignores him or makes him the brunt of a joke (hence when he accidentally kissed one of the mice and when she essentially completely incapacitated him upon their first meeting). Others really only interfere to stop his flirting when it’s getting in the way of a mission, not because he’s being skeevy or inappropriate. And, you know what? People flirt. That’s sort of how you meet people and let them know you’re into them. You drop a line. You tell them how great they look. You compliment them. Flirting only becomes an issue when it’s relentless, inappropriate, or invasive (like what a Casanova or a sexual predator would try and pull). Again, Lance satisfies none of these things.

The number one thing that people seem to forget (and this is something that I’ve seen a lot of people beautifully sum up on separate posts).....Lance is nothing less than a lovesick kid with a crush.

That’s not the face of a kid who’s dripping in sex appeal that no woman can resist. And that’s not the face of a kid who only flirts with women because he sees them as easy trophies for him to collect and quickly discard for the sake of his own reputation. This isn’t a kid who objectifies women, disrespects women, or sees women as targets. This is a kid who at the end of the day is hopelessly crushing on someone that he genuinely admires and respects. The entirety of Lance’s vlog and a good portion of season 4 shows that Lance’s infatuation with Allura is not a trope, is not a gimmick, and is not disrespectful. It’s genuine and heartfelt.

And for those who criticize Lance for his unwillingness to settle down in the vlog as him not taking his crush on Allura seriously and an embodiment of a Latin Love/Casanova trope, I say to you that Lance is 17/18 at the most. Just because you have a crush doesn’t mean that you’re not allowed to admire other people or flirt with other people. This isn’t a courtship. He’s young and he’s in space where the possibilities are endless. He’s a kid who wants to explore, wants to experience, and wants to be open to the things to come. That’s not disrespectful to Allura and that doesn’t diminish his crush on Allura. It means he’s a healthy teenager.

Criticizing Allurance and Lance’s characterization in season 4 because of this mysterious “Latino Loverboy Trope” is incredibly unfair to Lance’s character. There is nothing manipulative or toxic about Allurance, and Lance isn’t a racist stereotype. Come up with a better reason for why Lance slowly falling for Allura and Allura slowly starting to admire him back bothers you.

#allurance #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #vld lance #lance mcclain #salt #fandom wank #i guess?#but like honestly im just tired of seeing this #like i promise you that i've seen PLENTY of latino stereotypes in my time #lance comes nowhere fucking close #and to say that he is is just some salty attempt at being annoyed with his flirting #and annoyed with his crush on allura #and i WONDER #WHY THAT IS

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amandajoyce118 · 6 years ago

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Iron Fist Season 2 Easter Eggs And References

I actually managed to squeeze in watching the second season of Iron Fist in less than a month. Maybe I’ll be able to catch up on all of the other TV I’ve been behind on. Who knows? As usual, I haven’t explained who characters are if we’ve already met them, and I’ve tried to stick to comic book and MCU related Easter eggs, not the broader pop culture ones.

I will say, I found the first season of the show to drag, and not particularly compelling. The second season is much better. I actually don’t hate the Meachums this time around, for example, and I didn’t find Danny as annoying. Colleen is still the best.

If you haven’t yet watched the season, there are, obviously, spoilers. I’ve broken the Easter eggs down by episode so you can read one episode at a time if you want to avoid being spoiled, but you want to read as you watch.

Enjoy!

S2E01 “The Fury Of Iron Fist”

The episode title

The title is actually the title of Iron Fist’s first appearance in an issue of Marvel Premiere. Marvel Premiere was more of an anthology series. It was used to introduce a lot of characters in short story arcs to see how they did with the audience. Some of them stuck, others are now lost to time. (Funnily enough, when I first started watching the show, the episode titles were not showing up in the right order. Thanks, Netflix.)

Danny’s yellow mask

Yes, it’s yellow, a nod to his comic book costume. It also reminded me though that he promised Matt Murdock to take care of the city. Danny wasn’t huge on masks before, but Matt was.

Golden Tigers

This gang was actually in the comics, though in the comics, they were a little more conspicuous. They basically wore robes and tiger masks.

WJPBTV

The news footage that Danny watches and Colleen observes over his shoulder? That’s courtesy of the unofficial Marvel news network of the TV arm of the franchise. It was last seen in Luke Cage, I believe.

Mr. Yang

Mr. Yang not only appeared in the first season, but I think he also got a mention in season two of Luke Cage when Mariah was attempting to get all the gangs to work together.

“Old truces are being thrown to the wind.”

This is a bit of a theme in the Marvel Netflix world right now. Just like Luke Cage going after gangsters in Harlem, Danny Rand and company taking out the Hand here left a power scramble going on and old rules are no longer in play.

Oak Creek, Wisconsin

Oak Creek isn’t big in the comics, but since Mary said she’s from Wisconsin, I thought you might like to know of a few other characters from the same state. Phil Coulson is, for one. So are the Great Lakes Avengers. Funnily enough, the first time Wisconsin appeared in a Marvel Comic was in an issue of Captain America.

Mary

Speaking of Mary, she is a comic book character, but I think I’ll wait until that’s revealed in show in case anyone is taking this episode by episode.

The Silver Lotus

This restaurant actually exists in the comics. Usually the restaurants for the Netflix shows don’t. This one was a spot where Jean Grey, Storm, Colleen Wing, and Misty Knight grabbed some food. In case you didn’t know, Jean and Colleen actually were roommates for a while in the comics.

When Davos and Danny are talking on either side of a doorway, the number of the door reads 47. It’s probably a coincidence, but it made me wonder if there was any significance to the number since it was right in the middle of the shot. No Iron Fist solo series has ever made it to that number. Marvel Premiere, the comic where Iron Fist first appeared did, and it’s original issue 47 featured the first time Scott Lang put on an Ant-Man suit. Item 47 was also an MCU one shot featuring SHIELD Agents Sitwell and Blake after a couple who stole alien technology. That’s all I’ve got.

S2E02 “The City’s Not For Burning”

The episode title

Just like the first episode, this one is also named after a comic book. I guess that’s a thing this season. This title comes from Iron Fist #3. Though that comic book took place in London, it as a lot of the same ideas of the episode. In it, the city was seeing a lot of violence, though it was Danny and Misty who were teaming up there instead of Danny and Colleen.

Coffee A Go Go

Actual coffee houses have this name in reality, but it’s also a location from the comics. Hank and Bobby (AKA Beast and IceMan of the X-Men) used to double date with their girlfriends there. It was eventually turned into a sushi place instead.

Mary in the mirror

If you’re not familiar with this comic book character, the whole bathroom mirror thing is a huge clue to her identity.

Masks

The masks worn when Davos and Danny fight for the honor of facing the dragon are probably one of the closest things we’ve seen to the Iron Fist and Steel Serpent comic book costumes. They also employ the green and yellow color scheme.

The bowl

The priceless piece that Joy and Davos are after reminds me a lot of the candy dish that was in Joy’s office (I think?) in the first season. Same colors, in the Iron Fist scheme of course, but even similar in size and pattern.

Davos loses

Though Davos actually fought Danny’s father in the comics, the match basically went down the same way. When he loses, it’s actually his father up there on the panel watching who declares Danny the winner.

S2E03 “The Deadly Secret...”

The episode title

This episode gets its title from Power Man and Iron Fist #99. In that issue, Colleen and Misty team up for one story while Danny and Luke team up for another. Unfortunately, Misty gets kidnapped while they’re looking for an artifact, so Colleen is forced to ask the guys for help. They also find all of the films at their movie theater office stolen, Luke’s friend DW missing, and their foes Comanche and Shades out of prison. Whew. That’s a packed issue compared to this episode.

Cafe Bustelo

I just think it’s funny that this particular coffee brand hasn’t shown up (that I remember) on the show before. You know where this brand is popular? Luke Cage. I feel like these two shows have borrowed a lot from one another in their sophomore seasons.

“Someone called Walker.”

Yet another clue to Mary’s comic book backstory. Some might have thought this was a nod to Trish Walker if they didn’t know better, which would actually be very interesting if the shows decided to tie those two together. But no. I’ll wait for a full reveal to give the character details though. And isn’t it funny how we all thought Joy’s PI mention in season one was Jessica Jones? Apparently not. Instead, it’s Mary Walker.

Mrs. Yang’s hairpin

As far as I know, the Yangs aren’t comic book characters, but I love her use of her hairpin as a weapon. It’s a comic book trope that all of the femme fatales had deadly hairpins back in the day. It’s a classic.

S2E04 “Target: Iron Fist”

The episode title

This is the title of Iron Fist #3 from the 70s. In it, Misty takes center stage. She’s determined to take down a drug kingpin. It’s a storyline that was a little early for Marvel. Most of Marvel’s drug related arcs happened in the 80s instead. (It also featured Iron Fist facing off against a villain named Boomerang, if you’re interested in the Danny side of things.)

“I lost it back there, didn’t I? I blew our shot at peace.”

Oh, look. Another thing that was happening in Luke Cage. Luke taking things a step too far when all he wanted was peaceful streets. Were these writers hanging out before filming started or something?

Misty Knight

We all remember Misty from Luke Cage and The Defenders, right? Colleen saved Misty’s life when her arm was chopped off. Danny’s company paid for and developed Misty’s prosthetic, and now she’s in town for a visit.

Crane Sisters

Madame Gao was the show’s equivalent of the Crane Mother. The Crane Sisters appear to be the equivalent of the Crane Daughters. In their case, they were women who were the Mother’s actual daughters (she gave birth to thousands over the years according to the comics, but it seems more likely they’re from the same “Heavenly City” as her for the show). They actually gave their chi to another when they believed the Iron Fist was in the wrong for killing the Crane Champion. We kind of get a weird version of that here with them giving Davos his power.

The Steel Serpent

The symbol on Davos’ chest isn’t the dragon like Danny’s. Maybe it’s because he stole his powers. Maybe it’s just because it’s a nod to his comic book character. He’s the Steel Serpent in the comics. The same symbol was used on heroin in the Netflix corner of the MCU before.

Davos also stole Danny’s power in the comics, but it wasn’t quite the same way. He basically just stole it via the power of chi. This way looks more complicated.

S2E05 “Heart of the Dragon”

The episode title

This one comes from Marvel Premiere #16, which actually has a lot of nice thematic tie ins to this episode. In the comic, Iron Fist gets attacked by thugs as soon as he first arrives in New York. He also discovers there’s a mercenary named Scythe after him and that Scythe was paid for by the Meachums. He also spends a lot of time in the issue remembering just how Danny Rand became the Iron Fist. The difference here is that we’re seeing things more from the point of view of Davos this time around.

Promotion to Captain

This was flirted with in season two of Luke Cage. Misty was getting the offer for the job, but she didn’t seem to keen on it. She still doesn’t. But at least, we now know vaguely where we are in the timeline.

Colleen’s investigative instincts

Misty remarks that Colleen has good instincts when it comes to investigating Mary. Coincidentally (or not, since this is an Easter egg list), Misty and Colleen ran their own private investigative firm called Daughters of the Dragon. Still want to see Netflix make that the focus of a series.

616

A possible suspect with abilities gets this very fitting police code. Why? Because 616 is the designation given to the main universe in Marvel comics. Every Marvel TV series must give a nod to 616 at least once. It’s just a rule.

Mary Walker

They have definitely changed up Mary’s comic book backstory for the show, and probably for the better. In the comics, she’s a prostitute who is accidentally thrown out a window. When that happens, it awakens her “Typhoid Mary” personality, who essentially wants vengeance on all men ever. She starts with three distinct personas; the villain, Mary the meek, and Walker the stable peacemaker. As Typhoid Mary, she works for a few supervillains over the years. As Mary, she dates Matt Murdock. Her Dissociative Identity Disorder creates such distinct breaks in her personas that he can’t even tell that they’re the same people.

S2E06 “The Dragon Dies At Dawn”

The episode title

This comes from Iron Fist #9. In it, Danny ends up facing off against some members of the Golden Tigers, gets poisoned, and then finds out the guy he’s been fighting for the antidote isn’t the bad guy at all. Oh, and he’s framed for murder. Whew.

The Steel Serpent

Okay, I already talked about the tattoo, but it gets a comic book shout out here because the Crane sisters specifically say they used steel needles and Davos called it a serpent instead of a snake.

42 Baxter

Probably a coincidence, but when Mary calls the ambulance to 42 Baxter, I thought of the Fantastic Four with their Baxter Building on 42nd Street.

S2E07 “Morning of the Mindstorm”

The episode title

This title actually references Marvel Premiere #25. That issue was the last of the Marvel Premiere titles before Iron Fist got his own comic book series instead of being featured in the anthology. In it, Colleen was kidnapped and Iron Fist teamed up with Scarfe (who we see was Misty’s partner in season one of Luke Cage) to find her. The bad guy was Angar The Screamer who actually appeared in an old episode of Agents of SHIELD, so fun MCU connections in that particular comic.

The man with bullet-proof skin

Obviously, that’s Luke Cage. I like how the detectives think they’ve only got one person with abilities in each precinct’s jurisdiction. I have a feeling there are a lot more than that what with terrigen in the water in the MCU and all.

Red Fist vs Yellow Fist

In the comics, when Davos stole his power, Davos also had a glowing red fist.

A Tibetan antiquity

In addition to this being a nod to just where K’un L’un was in the comics, this also provides a nod to some of the other more mystical aspects of the MCU. The bowl might have been found somewhere near Tibet, but that’s also where the Ancient One is from in the comics (though that is certainly left murky in the MCU). Outside of Tibet somewhere, if I remember right, is also where Jiaying hid her village of Inhumans.

Professor Erskine

No, this isn’t the same Erskine that developed the super soldier serum for Captain America. He must come from a family of academics though. In the comics, Ernst Erskine was actually a writer and adventurer. He used the alias Lucky Pierre and he wrote about a much older Iron Fist than Danny.

Sokovia

Mary in Green Bay might be backstory we never get, but hey, she was in Sokovia, a major place in the MCU. Back when she was a soldier, she was captured and held there. When? We don’t know. But I do wonder if it was during the war torn days that saw Wanda want revenge on Tony, or if Mary’s too young for that, and she was captured by Hydra or something right before everything with Ultron went down.

Sensei Colleen

Not an Easter egg, but I think Colleen deciding to become Danny’s Sensei, break up with him, and not hold back while she trains him is my favorite scene in the show. I love her.

S2E08 “Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance”

The episode title

Named after issue #17 of Marvel Premiere, the only thing the two really have in common is Danny seeking vengeance. In the comic, this was only his third appearance, so he was setting out to take on Harold Meachum. Meachum had set elaborate traps for Danny so the Iron Fist couldn’t get to him. (He had 10 years to make sure he was ready, after all.) In the end, Danny ended up facing off against a guy who had been trapped in Meachum’s office building for 10 years who vowed to kill him, because, why not? His name was Triple-Iron, and I think that he only appeared in the two issues of their fight, never to be seen again.

More than two Marys

So far in the show, we’ve seen Mary and Walker. In the comics, her most deadly personality is Typhoid Mary (or Bloody Mary, some people label them as different personalities in the comics, but I think they’re the same?), which is likely going to end up being the person who saved her in Sokovia that she doesn’t know about. Interestingly, in the comics there’s also technically a fourth person called Mutant Zero. This version of Mary was part of the Initiative and was initially unstable, kept in check by the team leader, before becoming a full fledged fourth personality of hers that abandoned the team.

S2E09 “War Without End”

The episode title

Funnily enough, this is a pretty common title in sci-fi series. This episode shares its title with an episode of Babylon 5 and an issue of the old Transformers comic. Less famously, it’s also a title of a Power Man and Iron Fist comic - issue #83. The issue actually focuses on Luke Cage because Iron Fist is beaten unconscious. Think of it as an ally having to save him because he can’t use his powers, yes?

Turk

It feels like it wouldn’t be an episode of Marvel on Netflix without Turk. I guess he gave up his legit business in Luke Cage, and went back to selling weapons.

The Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay

This is actually a character from the comics. Wu Ao-Shi was the first female Iron Fist, and yes, a pirate queen. She wasn’t just a fairy tale. I think we see where this is going, yes?

S2E10 “A Duel of Iron”

The episode title

This is actually the title of Iron Fist #1, and though the title suggests a battle between multiple Iron Fist powers, like we saw in the show, that’s not what goes down in the comics. Instead, Misty and Danny team up to save Colleen, not unlike the show, but Misty suspects that Stark Industries has something to do with Colleen’s disappearance, so that’s where they head. As you can imagine, it’s more of a misunderstanding, but Iron Fist and Iron Man do get into a brief fight before uniting.

The Mamas and the Papas

Mary singing “Monday Monday” while waiting to take aim at Davos is almost straight out of the comics. She sang it on the page during a fight scripted by Brian Michael Bendis, who is also the man behind the creation of Jessica Jones. (I’ve seen some people speculate that because the Mamas and the Papas were known for their four part harmonies that Mary might actually have four separate identities, not just the three we know about. I think that’s reaching, and that it’s just a nod to the comics, but anything is possible.)

Colleen’s fist is white

I like that each of the people sporting the Fist gets a different color scheme. Danny, of course, has yellow because of his comic book aesthetic, and Davos had red to show he’s a bad guy. Colleen gets white because white is her signature color in the comics, but white is also often associated with “pure” power, bright light, and all that, so maybe Danny’s right in the end and it was her destiny to be the Iron Fist after all.

(Also, Colleen has never been the Iron Fist in the comics that I know of, but she has shared Danny’s power on occasion when him using his power to heal her changed her. While she doesn’t have the Fist itself in the comics, she does have mastery over her chi.)

Misty’s arm bling

Misty makes a joke about blinging out her arm in the show, but in the comics, she did have a gold one.

KnightWing

No, this is not a Titans reference to poke the DC stick. Instead, this moniker coming up while Colleen and Misty talk career paths is a nod to NightWing Investigations, the name of the private investigative firm owned by the Daughters of the Dragon.

Orson Randall

The mysterious “employer” that Danny and Ward steal some property from? Yeah, he’s the World War I era Iron Fist. It looks like he’s still alive and kicking, and that his weapon of choice still holds onto his chi or something? Those two guns Danny sports that allow his fists to glow were what Orson liked to use in the comics. Just like Colleen channeling her power into her kitana, he could do it with his guns, and Wu Ao-Shi could do it with arrows. Fancy.

That’s all I’ve got for the second season of Iron Fist. I’ll be back for Daredevil season three next month!

#iron fist #iron fist season 2 #iron fist easter eggs #iron fist spoilers #marvel easter eggs #marvel comics #mcu #marvel on netflix

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myheartsoarsforyou · 4 years ago

Note

The gay asks, as many as you feel like doing. Starting at 1 stop when you feel like it

Oh, you don’t know what you’ve signed up for. I’ll put it under a readmore, lol.

Just to note: Probably going to do most, if not all of them, so there you go. :)

how tall are you? 5′6″

what is your body type? Chubby, but curves are still there.

what is your favorite part about your body? Ehh, I don’t really like any part. My eyes, I guess?

is your current hair color your natural hair color? For now, but as soon as I’m able to get to my salon I’m dyeing it

are you more outgoing or more shy? Depends on the setting but for the most part definitely shy

are you more femme or butch? Femme I guess? I dunno, I’d argue probably somewhere in-between but leaning towards femme.

are you tol or smol? Height wise? I guess kinda tol? Iunno I don’t think I’m either but hey! lol

wine mom or vodka aunt? Vodka aunt, but I don’t drink much anymore.

weird habit? Uhh idk?

favorite meme? Don’t talk me i angy

do you sing in the shower? Oh yes, especially if I have music going lol

ever used a bow and arrow? Not yet!

are/were you a theatre kid? Nope,

have you ever seen a broadway musical? Not in person?

do you think musicals are cheesy? Probably but that’s half the fun.

have you ever been a part of a protest or a march? I wish, especially right now, but I would probably break down around that many people. I support as much as I can.

favorite Cards Against Humanity Card? I don’t think I have a favorite?

last movie you watched? Silent Hill: Revelations

behind the camera or in front of it? Behind, 100%. I hate having my picture taken. i’ll make exceptions, but.

favorite tv show? Mmmh... it used to be Supernatural but I don’t really watch TV. Maybe ATLA? I’m rewatching/finishing that sporadically.

meaning behind your url He makes my heart soar higher than ever.

reason you joined tumblr A looong time ago, because of SPN.

who’s your closest tumblr friend? I don’t really talk to people on tumblr ?? I’m just kinda... here

what’s something most people love that you hate? Iunno o.o

have you ever taken narcotics? Technically yes I have

have you had sex? Mhmm

have you ever gotten caught sneaking out or doing anything bad? Err, yeah. I got caught with a ‘friend’ of mine when I was younger. Woops.

worst/funniest lie you’ve ever told? I don’t remember any? I don’t know.

describe your passion without mentioning it. Escape, building something completely new with friends, making friends within a universe you help shape, seeing and doing more fantastiscal things than could be done in real life.

describe your best friend. I have two people I consider best friends. An artist, an activist, passionate about her work, heartfelt and exciteable. Another artist, unsure of his work but talented none the less, overly critical of himself.

give us one thing about you that no one knows. I don’t think there’s much if anything that my bf doesn’t know about me?

how do you feel right now? my tummy hurts

what is your biggest fear? Losing him.

what’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it? Love Me - NU’EST

what is the best decision you’ve made in your life so far? Definitely sticking it out and staying close to my bf before we got together and persuing things when the opportunity arose.

have you ever tried your hardest and then been disappointed in the end? Very often in my life rn tbh

something you fantasize about. Living with my love in a 3 bedroom house with our little domestic zoo and being happy.

last time you cried and why Saturday, multiple times. It was a rough day and was thinking a lot about my cousin (long story short he’s no longer around)

what was the last thing that made you laugh? Probably my boyfriend.

do you really, truly miss someone right now? I miss my bf because I haven’t seen him irl in two years and it kills me.

who do you feel most comfortable talking to about anything? Bf

the last time you felt broken? Saturday again because of the aforementioned.

are you starting to realize anything? That I will put up with a lot if I feel like I have to to see him.

are you more dominant or more submissive? Definitely submissive, but I have my moments.

i’ll only date you if _____. (fill in the blank) Mmm, I don’t really have strict qualifications. Treat me well, tell me if something’s up, and just love me. But I have that right now, so I guess the strict qualification is if he agrees & We’re good to be a polycule.

do you prefer to date people the same age as you, younger, or older? I used to say strictly older, but honestly AS LONG AS it’s legal and moral either or. Bf’s two years younger than me and more mature than anyone older than me that I’ve been with so lol.

describe the person you’re in love with/have a crush on in great detail. My height, great eyes, gorgeous to me, dyed-red hair, avid gamer, tattoo enthusiast. He’s passionate regardless of how he sees it, and he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love every part of him and I will even if things change.

do you have any kinks? Many. Lol.

first thing you notice in a person? Depends, sometimes eyes, sometimes voice, sometimes approachability lol.

how can someone win your heart? You’d have to ask my bf

been rejected by a crush? Yep!

have you ever had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back? Oh yes lol

would you have sex with the last person you text messaged? Actual texts? No. But if discord messages count - yes. lol

is trust a big issue for you? Yes

did you hang out with the person you like recently? Yes

is confidence cute? It can be, but there’s a fine line between it and arrogance.

what would you say if the person you love/like kissed another girl/boy? It depends entirely on the situation. Did we agree on a romantic/sexual third? Sure. If not I’d probably be pretty upset.

would you be able to date someone who doesn’t make you laugh? Probably not.

does the person you have feelings for right now know you do? I should DEFINITELY hope so lmao

ever embarrass yourself in front of a crush? I’ve been in high school.

do you want to get married I do, though I never thought I’d be able to say that

worst thing you’ve ever done? Probably cheating on someone I cared about with someone I should’ve never involved myself with.

three things that turn you on. Biting, neck kisses, making out.

who do you hate? Eh, my boss rn.

favorite term of endearment? My bf calls me kitten c:

who was your celebrity/fictional gay awakening? Probably Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

intimidating girls or kind girls? Why not both?

what do you look for in a possible partner? If we’d work well together lol, it all depends.

do you tend to like more masculine, feminine, or androgynous girls? Err, a little of all? I tend to go for masc in general, but I am definitely interested in all of the above.

are you good at flirting? Not...really lol

who was the first person you came out to? My bestie

do you have any friends who are wlw? Yep!

is your crush wlw? See, this is complicated. Technically at the moment no, but there has been gender questioning in the past and it’s possible that at some point in the future yes.

last person to make you reconsider your sexuality? That’s been a long time ago lmao, I’ve been pretty confident I am Super Queer for a long while.

write a short love poem to your crush/self? I am not good at these and very tired so I’m gonna pass on this one

do you fall in love easily? I used to, but not anymore. Mainly cause I’m still very deeply in love with the person I think is my soul mate.

is there something that happened in your past that you hate talking about? Yerp.

are you good at hiding your feelings? Not really no

are you a forgiving person? I can be. Bf thinks I am too forgiving.

what is your “type?” Uhh, it depends? And fluctuates? lol

fall asleep in her arms or rub her back until she falls asleep in yours? Both.

tall girls or short girls? Both, though prob tall more often than not.

hugs or kisses? Kisses

twirl her around or get twirled? Twiiiirl.

tummy kisses or thigh kisses? Thigh

hairline kisses or neck kisses? Neck

play with her hair or stroke her tummy? I have Two Hands

making out or soft kisses? Both, but I Really Like making out

hugs around the neck or hugs around the waist? Neck, but also both.

how confident are you in your sexuality? 100%

when you like someone do you blush or get butterflies in your stomach? Yes, a lot lol

have you ever liked a friend as more than a friend? did you tell them? I would not be with my bf if this wasn’t the case.

how old were you when you realized you were into girls? I think I was 13?

most embarrassing thing you’ve done in front of a cute girl? Uhhh... I don’t really remember lol

do you have a favorite lesbian ship? is it canon? Yes! But it ended not great so :(

what is the most aggravating thing someone has said to you about your sexuality? I really hate when people say I should identify in a certain way because it’s a “slur” the whole point of reclaiming things is to take the ammunition out of it. And a lot of words have been slurs in the past that seem to be fully acceptable.

when was the last time a girl made your heart flutter? I don’t really remember.

what is love to you? It can change but at its heart it makes you feel warm and soft, and makes you feel a little bit better about the bad things in life.

#P.s. Pretty sure my bf sent this but that's ok #if not pls tell me who you are bc you honed in on what i love lol #Anonymous #well that readmore didn't work okay thanks tumblr

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notanothersonicblog · 7 years ago

Note

Looking back, I think that Breezie was handled pretty well in the Archie Comics in spite of the redesign.

If you asked me a month ago I would have agreed, but I’ve since boomeranged on Breezie in the Archie book, and I realise why I didn’t really care for her to begin with. Now, this is all my own opinion so take this all with a good grain of salt. In fact, don’t take a grain of salt; this article is salty enough and you’ll need it to reply when you’re done reading.

Let’s leave the design aside, we’ll tackle that later. The biggest issue with Breezie is the fact that Ian just didn’t get her. On a superficial level, Breezie can be broken down into three or four key points: She’s a femme fatale who flirts with Sonic, she’s a robot, and she later goes on to become a TV presenter and marries Robotnik Jr., Ian does grasp some of these but does not fully realise them. For the most part Breezie is an example of lost potential most infuriating.

On the first point, that is what Breezie is most known and beloved for; people like shipping in this fandom (even I’m somewhat guilty of this) and they like how adorable Sonic was with Breezie. Now Ian can’t have Sonic be into Breezie because he’s a male going his own way and only wants adventure and chili dogs, which is fine. What isn’t so fine is that after a couple of flashbacks with flirting that amounts to ‘please take me with you because I’m a pretty girl’, ‘oh okay’. She then completely loses all interest in Sonic and becomes a ‘I have no time for such weak emotions as having friends’ type (well almost, we’ll get to that later). When Sonic turns up at the casino for the tournament she barely even tries to bat her eyelids at him. No interest at all, doesn’t even get a rise from Amy with a threatening glance. Lost potential number one, I won’t keep count throughout the writing though.

The second point, this is actually a very well done part and I do like how Ian has kept Breezie’s background deliberately vague and keeps some mystery about it. That is genuinely intriguing and it is the one thing that kept me interested in her and the comic as a whole. Good work, I approve.

Then we get onto the third point, now obviously we can’t have Jr. in the comic unless they managed to find a weasley way around it. Which is acceptable, no problem there. However the whole scene where Breezie flirts with Metal Sonic is really bizarre and out of place both in and out of context. In-context of the prior knowledge that Breezie will have file transfers with Robotnik Jr. one wonders why they’re beating about the bush with her being a robot when Ian is clearly writing her to be like Breezie in the cartoon and going off with another robot. Did he suddenly realise that he forgot the first point about Breezie and decided to make up for it by having her flirt with Metal so he could do a twofer, and be clever by having her flirt with someone who thinks he’s the real Sonic? Out-of-context one wonders why the Dickens she, an apparently flesh-and-blood Mobian, is flirting with a robot, is she robosexual? And if so, why on Mobius is she flirting with a cold, calculating, terminator-like robot, is she daft? Added on to this the whole scene lasts a page, has no buildup and is never brought up again. As I said it’s outright baffling and I don’t know if it’s meant to be humourous or a homage to the source material, or indeed if it’s meant to be taken seriously.

Why does any of this matter though? The reason it matters is because Breezie was brought into the comic to give something to the fans; specifically fans of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. These things are indeed superficial but they are key points that made those people like Breezie and be interested in her to begin with, besides her design (which we will get to, wait for it). The biggest problem is that Ian intensely dislikes AoStH, maybe that’s a strong word I’ll admit, but you can practically hear his teeth grinding whenever it’s brought up. It’s clear he holds the show in contempt outside of a few memes. At the very best he possesses no interest in the show outside of the superficial. Now of course it isn’t necessary to be a fan of something to write an adaptation of it, nor is it necessary to just copy everything one-for-one, that’s redundant and it isn’t what I want. However you do need to understand it, and while I say you don’t need to be a fan, on the other end you wouldn’t allow Moriarty to write Sherlock Holmes stories, or have Joseph Goebbels direct your production of Fiddler on the Roof.

I admit these are very extreme accusations I am making, however I think you get my point. If you’re a fan of AoStH and it’s characters, would you not hold some trepidation in entrusting them to a creative team who show zero love, or downright contempt for it? Again you may ask, why does this matter? Well it matters in this case particularly because the object of the exercise is to appeal to fans of AoStH and Breezie like myself, and so when the adaptation, quite possibly the only revival of said character is a bit of a hash-job in name only, you get a bit miffed.

So let’s get miffed.

After the loss in translation, the second issue with Breezie, and indeed the other AoStH characters in the Fighter’s story arc is that they’re just not that funny. Now when you’re doing an adaptation at the very least you have to get the spirit of things right, and so when you have a goofy cartoon you should at the very least expect some fun or goofy antics. Now you might say ‘but she’s a businesswoman! She’s supposed to be taken seriously!’ Well as far as I can see she is essentially a mogul who puts herself in front of her business. She is essentially like Vince McMahon of WWE fame, who along with people like Richard Branson and (dare I say it?) Donald Trump, are quite happy to make complete arses of themselves in front of the public for publicity. However they still remain serious and somewhat respected business people, heck, Donald even became President at some point, and he once hugged Grimace.

Seriously though, why doesn’t Breezie do anything in this story like this? She clearly has an ego, but the nearest we get to seeing this is on the Breezie TV segment where she’s chinking glasses with the President. You’d think a Vince McMahon (or rather Stephanie McMahon) type character; one in a funny animal comic (which Vince once played to everyone’s great disturbance), and one who in the source material actually was a television presenter, would actually get up and do some Vince-like showmanship.

youtube

This was a real thing made by real people who make a living pretending to fight each other. They’re richer than you.

Seriously, why isn’t Breezie doing something like this? It would totally work for a character of her type in a children’s comic, it would wouldn’t be out of place in the original show, and considering her and Vince’s character it would fit her one-to-one in the comic. Except Ian apparently hates fun if it’s mildly surreal. Instead Breezie is a straight-edge, no nonsense neutral antagonist who displays some signs of flair but never really capitalises upon them, which doesn’t feel like the original Breezie or AoStH in general. She just feels like a Breezie in name only.

Speaking of fun and slapstick, why don’t we look at the true stars of AoStH, Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts. Who for the most part are handled well but still possess a few flaws. Grounder needs eyes, and gadget hands, there is little to no reason why he shouldn’t. Coconuts has been promoted to the first among equals among the trio, which is a nice change, but it doesn’t work in the context of the comic because we don’t see him being the butt monkey when he was working for Robotnik. Overall their slapstick is somewhat weak, at the least I don’t remember much of it other than Ian decides to reuse his ‘this character has drills for hands, how stoopid’ joke from the Mega Man comics with Grounder from time to time. It’s not as bad as Breezie but again I feel that they are lacking somewhat due to Ian’s lack of personal interest in the subject matter.

Then there’s Wes Weasley, who at first I rather liked; the design wasn’t buggered up, he wasn’t given a really prominent role so it feels short and sweet. Just what you want from such an adaptation, a wink to the old fans.However I now notice the chinks in the armour and how, again, Ian’s lack of interest in AoStH shows. His iconic mannerisms are gone (no pasly or any whiff of Phil Silvers) and when I stop and think about it, shouldn’t someone else be doing the announcements? Why Wes? Wes Weasley was a salesman, a man who you would think would be hanging out with Wentos in an Unleashed adaptation. The nearest thing he ever got to announcing was that one episode Hero of the Year where he did the television testimonial for Sonic as well as the various advertisement schemes he did. While he is doing some shilling here it isn’t really outside the realms of your normal announcer type. A much more fitting character to use in this situation would be someone like…

…Collie Chang, news reporter…

…Throbin Screech, game show host…

…Scratch, robotic cock…

And…

Breezie the flipping Hedgehog, chat show host.

In fact why doesn’t Breezie do the announcing? As I said earlier it would add some more flair and flesh out her character as she makes comments on the contests and, hang on…

Wes Weasley was a businessman, known for his amoral and mercenary behaviour, unlike Breezie.

Wes Weasley actually screwed over Dr Eggman and Sonic on numerous occasions, and was generally a neutral antagonist who only did what would widen his profit margin, unlike Breezie.

Wes Weasley has worked with Scratch and Grounder, but unlike Breezie he also worked with Coconuts and even showed him favouritism in ‘The Magic’ Hassle’, helping him screw over Robotnik.

Wes Weasley had a super fancy limo. UNLIKE BREEZIE.

WHY IN SATAN’S TROUSER PRESS ISN’T WES WEASLEY IN BREEZIE’S PLACE?!

Wes Weasley’s character fits the role Breezie was parash**ted into damn near perfectly, it’s downright uncanny. All you would need is to add a few palsys here and there and you’re set. Make Breezie into a presenter who works for the Weasley empire who has a thing for Sonic and wants to help him win the tournament because of her past encounter with him. Put Roxy Raccoon in the bar at the casino, Da Bears as bouncers, and Collie can be a news anchor on Weasel News (THE PUNS WORK TOO). There, in short shrift I have assigned roles to the characters from the show which actually fit them, appeal to old farts like myself and give underage losers stuff to have a hand shandy over because Collie has a cleavage line or because Roxy has a waist narrower than her hips. That is what you get when you allow someone who actually likes the damn source material do something with it.

Okay, tirade over, I admit I went a bit overboard there. Sorry about that.

However, I do hope you realise how frustrating this whole business is, as I said, it’s a huge amount of missed opportunity courtesy of thoughtlessness. Just so you know IDW, my door is always open, I enjoy writing for free, and at the very least I’ve actually spoken to people who’ve worked on the show and as such can have some inkling as to what the fans of the show might like. I will fully admit I am biased here as I am a fan of AoStH, and on a objective level (thought strictly speaking there is no objectivity in art) the Fighters arc is better than a lot of the comic and Breezie is serviceable, if only were she not called Breezie but Madame Mogul.

So… What about the design? It’s alright, except for the hair, why is it Honey is allowed her hair even though Blaze nor Big have any? It just seems like AoStH gets the short straw in everything. Other than that, not too big a deal to be honest.

Finally, I do not hold any ill will against Ian; while I do disagree with his decisions and some of his opinions, he is certainly not wicked or naturally bad. I will give him credit for managing such a difficult fanbase and keeping the comic going. I wish him the best in the future, though I would say I’d prefer a different writer or have him in a team of writers if IDW decide to bring him in. I also want to say, other than the realistic design (go with something more Unleashed than 06) Von Schlemmer was written very well and felt like a continuation of the character from the show.

#Not Another Ask #Breezie the hedgehog #Not Another Ramble #Archie Sonic #Breezie #Wes Weasley #Archie #AoStH #Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog #salt #Anonymous #long post #my gif #gif

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black-strike-otp · 7 years ago

Text

part 94

I’m delirious and require sleep. Also go play this while reading just cuz the song’s title: Shockwave’s Revenge

The aura surrounding Shockwave’s lair left a haze of shrouded evil. It was no darker or lighter than the majority of Cybertron. The lighting was similar to what the Nemesis had; dark hues of purple filtering in every direction which did provide an eerie appearance.

What stood out the most though was the feel in the surroundings. Like a haunted house, it was deathly silent. Walls were riddled with scratches from unknown sources. Untold fights perhaps; or patients struggling for escape. The upper floor almost looked normal other than these strange observations.

Lying about was some worthless supplies left sitting from pre and post war. It appeared much like any other warehouse on Cybertron before the majority were collapsed from the constant strife upon the planet. Much of the building’s few windows had long since been busted out, leaving stray glass on the floor just as much as there was dust.

“Doesn’t look like much,” Blackout testified as he looked around. “Where’s the entry into the lower levels?”

“This way,” a feminine voice chimed.

He shifted his optics over to Venus as she spoke while passing by him. There was a natural sensual sway to her hips as she walked. Hurrying by, the dark rose accented femme disappeared past some of the crates and out of sight.

Novastrike cleared her vocalizer. One of her pedes tapped on the floor as she looked up to him with her helm lowered so that it appeared she was glaring up at him.

“What?”

“I saw you looking.”

“She was speaking to me,” he stated gruffly, offering a slight smile. “And I thought you said you weren’t jealous.”

“Her optics aren’t attached to her hips,” the little femme scoffed.

“I was only watching her walk by to see where she was going,” Blackout defended, his grin growing more crafty as he added on, “But if you feel the urge to stroll ahead to prove a point, I wouldn’t mind enjoying the view a bit.”

Light faded in and out of Novastrike’s ears in a blinking rush of light as she huffed, shaking her helm. The softened blue light emitting from her optics met his fearless scarlet as she quirked a smile of disbelief.

“We’re in a crazy scientist research area, and you’re flirting with me?”

“I live on the edge.”

“By the Allspark, I love you and your dumb hi-jinks.”

Bowing his helm deeply with respect, Blackout’s tone grated as he spook deep in his chassis, “And I love you too, Novastrike.”

“Alright lady’s mech,” Nova sighed deeply as she pivoted on her heel, “let’s get a move on before Venus ditches us. We still need to gather materials to manufacture a transmitter if we’re lucky and the others who vouched to help make our case manage to convince them.”

Stalking behind the little femme, Blackout quietly rattled off in a grumpy tone, “Worst case scenario: we need to find blueprints ourselves on how to build the intergalactic transmitter.”

The quiet melody of Novastrike’s laughter had him grinning like a moron as he took large strides to keep up with the covert femmes darting ahead of him like streaks of lightning. He never had to be the fastest mech with his size; taking large gaits between each step, but they put him to shame even with his usual brisker pace.

Once the obsidian giant had joined the two down a short set of stairs into the lower level, there was nothing in sight but further cargo. With a menacing growl of annoyance, the mammoth sized mech strode further into the small basement dwelling area. Shockwave must have taken great care into concealing his lab, because nothing here stood out as looking particularly alarming. The coverage of this space wasn’t even a tenth of the upstairs size.

He turned his gaze over to Novastrike quizzically after a moemnt. She was looking back to him expectedly and gave a slight inclination of her helm over to Venus. The taller femme was busy pushing some boxes out of the way of the wall. Digging her digits along the seams that made up two panes of metal of the wall, a small section popped up to reveal a button beneath it.

Raising an optic ridge, Blackout stepped over to join the two femmes as Venus pressed the button. Further metal pieces of the wall moved; transforming and peeling to the side to reveal a large elevator platform with guard rails surrounding all but the entry point for bots to walk on.

“You’re telling me Shockwave brought that giant Predacon up on this thing?” Blackout stated with a wave of a servo to the elevator. From the size of it, it didn’t appear as though it could hold half the size of that beast.

“I don’t know,” the assassin stated, placing a single servo to her hip. “This is the only entrance I know of. There could be another one with a larger lift of some sort to get the Predacon up here. I’ve never seen that creature before, but then again, the last time I was here was years ago the one time to save ‘Cade.”

“I would imagine seeing something like that would be hard to forget,” Novastrike quietly reasoned.

Venus gave a brief laugh, nodding her helm.

Both femmes boarded the landing first. It creaked uneasily even beneath their weight. Passing a glance to one another, they turned to look up at Blackout as he tentatively placed a pede on the elevator. Primus, he prayed this thing was operational and not a ploy or no longer functional piece of scrap that was going to send them hurtling who knew how many floors down.

To his surprise and relief, the metal groaned beneath his weight a moment and bounced before settling. Blackout rigidly remained still as Venus offered him a smile that suggested nerves. She gave a brief nod to him, realizing he wasn’t going to move further onto the platform, and reached over to a short stand anchored to the floor. Upon it was two arrows that would lower them down or raise the platform.

Pressing it, they began to slowly plunge into complete darkness down the shaft.

“How many floors are there, and how many do we need to go do?” the black outline in the darkness rumbled.

“I went down to the first level below the top one to fetch Barricade,” Venus stated. “That’s where the call room was too, probably since the radio equipment is hidden somewhere outside nearby I’d imagine. You wouldn’t good reception if it was much lower I think.”

Blackout nodded his helm. “No idea on the amount of floors, then?”

“I know there’s at least one below the one we’ll be going on,” she ventured slowly. “But I don’t know what’s down there.”

“We don’t need to find out,” the smaller femme nervously whispered.

A comforting smile moved across Blackout’s faceplate as he turned his optics upon Novastrike. With his optics transitioning into a night vision filter to better see in the void of blindness, he could make out her figure but mostly, the sight of her glowing brilliant optics of cobalt, teal, and aqua drew him in.

She smiled in return, and although he couldn’t make out her appearance nearly as well as she could his, he could see the way her mood shifted in the tones of her optics and the partial shutter they underwent as they brightened. It was such minimal alterations. Subtle, but he picked up on them and found himself smiling so wide it was nearly painful.

“Maybe where he had been keeping his Predacon pet?” Venus offered.

“Could be,” he agreed, forcing himself to look over to Venus and meet her gaze. “But Novastrike’s right. We don’t need to stay here longer than necessary gathering materials. It would just jeopardize the mission and make Barricade more nervous waiting for us.”

“Believe me, I don’t plan on spending a nanoklik in here longer than I have to,” seethed the taller femme.

They dropped further into the mad mech’s hideout in silence. After another thirty or so nanokliks, light suddenly splashed in, causing everyone to squint as the lift clunked and clanked its way down to the next level.

Venus released the down button. With optics readjusting to the new white and florescent blend of illuminated lights, Blackout took a step back and off the stand slowly. It recoiled and bounced once again, raising up a bit as he removed his weight entirely by stepping off from it completely.

Venus vented quietly as she strolled casually off after him. Reaching out, she patted his shoulder as she walked by and continued marching down the hall before them.

In a flash of white, Novastrike was off and by his pede. The spooked femme shuddered slightly, rubbing the upper region of her arms as she went to shuffle beside him as he turned and began to follow after Venus.

The majority of the chambers they passed had sealed and locked doors. Behind them, chilling moans and groans seeped through. The quiet scratching of digits against some of them added to the unease. Pedes shuffled, but weren’t quite shuffling. Thuds and thumps of varying weights moved around. Somewhere, deeper in this lab, a distant delirious gurgling screaming was carrying.

Novastrike’s digits brushed against his leg. Blackout nearly jumped. He wouldn’t admit to having been spooked openly, but he hadn’t been inspecting the gesture. Glancing down to the little femme, he could read the terror in her stance alone though she wasn’t looking to him. Her helm whipped one way and the another as she restlessly looked around.

“Everything alright, dear?” he rumbled, trying to keep his voice down.

“Too much,” she barely answered.

Raising an optic ridge, he waited until Nova raised her helm up to him. Her face was written in horror, and tears glittered in her optics. Short and brief heavy vents filtered in and out of her frame rapidly.

He instantly came to a halt.

“Nova, I can take you out-”

“No,” she insisted in a breathless monotone. “Let’s just hurry. I can’t take the sensory overload. There’s so much wrong with this place.”

It was startling to witness her rubbing at her optics as the tears formed and collected along the rims of her optics. With a concerned warble emitting from his chassis as his spark chimed a soft, hardly audible collection of reverberating notes, Blackout reached down to scoop up the small femme with guilt. He should have asked her to stay outside with Barricade to keep watch rather than bring her down here with her. He hadn’t even considered how her heightened senses would take everything down here.

Blackout pressed his collected bundle against his chassis. A quiet hum moved through his armor as he looked down the hall. His optics awkwardly met Venus’. With a nervous jerk of his helm, he looked away as he took large steps to meet her where she had stopped. All the while his digits curled protectively over Novastrike’s armor; tighter than necessary but far from being damaging.

Venus made a silent gesture to his servos as she raised an optic ridge questioningly. When he didn’t reply and hardly met her optics, she offered a caring but worried smile and continued down their path.

“How much further to the call room?” he echoed in a coarse manner.

“It’s just ahead,” the cerise highlighted femme stated.

Walking by one of the rooms, a loud band caused Venus to jump slightly. She muttered a curse beneath her breath, shaking her helm as they passed it. The shivers that erupted from Novastrike had Blackout trying to calm her as best he could. Heat basked off of his armor as he pressed her a bit closer, hurrying a bit more than usual after the other femme.

The call room didn’t have a door. They slipped in with ease, and Venus jutted out a digit with relief.

“There!” she exclaimed brightly, passing a cheeky grin to Blackout. “Told you I could find what you were looking for.”

“Grab anything else you think looks valuable,” he stated, looking around with a nod. “I’ll fetch the capacitors and see what other functioning parts he may have. We’ll be needing a power supply which shouldn’t be hard to get here or elsewhere, amplifiers, an electronic oscillator, modulator, and a bunch of other slag. I could care less if you wreck the place gutting it, just make sure anything that looks remotely useful or worthy of trading is salvaged.”

Keeping an impressive poker face, Venus slowly answered in kind, “Blackout, I’d like to remind you that I’ve managed just fine on this planet with eons. Part of getting by is knowing to look at something and even if you don’t know what it is, judging it’s worth and expense.”

He offered an apologetic gesture with one servo in a sweeping gesture to her before cupping it back around Novastrike. The assassin gave a slight nod to him, dashing on the other end of the room as he stomped over the open and massive circuit board missing a panel.

Blackout faltered in front of the opened access control board. He shifted his optics down to himself to his servos. Through his digits, he could just barely make out slivers of white.

He unfurled his cage from around the little femme. She created a brief noise of fear.

“I’m sorry, dear,” the obsidian mech quietly murmured. “I’m going to need to carry this stuff. Will you be okay on my shoulder?”

Novastrike gave a small nod, lurching slightly as she pressed digits over her mouth as she resisted the urge to vomit.

“I’m sorry,” she hoarsely mumbled.

“Don’t be,” he softly whispered, brushing his digits along her ears as he offered her a smile. “You’ve nothing to be sorry for. I’m sorry I dragged you down here.”

She mumbled something incoherent that he couldn’t make out. With a frown etching into his expression, the titan curved a single servo around his femme and raised her up to slip on his shoulder. Novastrike nestled against his armor and low under the kibble so that she was hardly visible. He could feel her face close against his neck, and the ragged breaths she huffed against him.

Servos free, he reached out in the circuit board and started to disassemble it. He couldn’t risk damaging any of the equipment, so took care with his large digits in pulling wires out from their sources and disconnecting components. It was tedious, but he didn’t rush himself as he unplugged and divided areas accordingly. For the life of him, he hoped some bot knew what half this stuff was, because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to reconnect these dozens of wires himself into a new mechanism.

With a gentle tug as he rocked the circuitboard back and forth, he removed the entire section along with the capacitor. It had to be about a fourth of his height in total lengthwise. Balancing it carefully in his grip, Blackout turned around to see Venus holding a mixmatched sum of loot in her arms and some equipment and cables draped over her shoulders.

Looking him up and down, the femme spoke frankly: “Do you really think you’re going to need that whole piece?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “But I’d rather regret not taking all of it and miss something than just take the capacitor. I can tell there’s an amplifier here, so that’s one thing, but beneath the rest of this mess of circuits it’s difficult to tell.”

“Rip open the rest of the paneling and check,” she urged.

Torn between wanting to take the one thing they did have and leaving with their prize and wanting to complete the job, Blackout vented. He tried turning his helm to look at Nova, but could only partly make out her tail, legs, and rear from her curled up position pressed into his neck.

He growled with frustration. Placing the panel of electrics and spilling wires down, he reached out with free servos to grab the metal panels covering the rest of the monitors computer board. With a sharp tug, the metal bent outwards. With another tug, Blackout managed to rip off another large area of metal to reveal further areas of the motherboard.

He grabbed another section and ripped it free.

Then another.

While he tore into the computer, Venus busily subspaced the smaller items she held that she could. The remaining items she collected she dropped into a small case she found, dumping out its contents on the floor and putting her own items inside.

Finally with the majority of the computer systems available skeleton visible, Blackout shifted his crimson optics over the scenery. His optics rested upon a modulator that looked like it had seen better days; layered with dust and grim. There was only three connections from it throughout the entire motherboard, so he yanked those free and subspaced the small item.

Trailing his optics along coils of copper wires, Blackout spotted the oscillator and yanked that as well.

“That’ll do,” he rumbled.

“Are you sure?” Venus asked. “You don’t want to track down a power supply, or try tearing out any more of the connectors?”

“Those will be easier to come by and reclaim,” snapped the large mech. “I can already tell you the power supply isn’t in this room anyway; there’s a massive line that hooks up over there so it could be a few rooms over, or on a completely different level. We don’t have time to seek it out.”

“I might not know the complete layout of this place, but was there anything else-”

“No,” Blackout cut in before she could finish. He placed the electronic oscillator into his subspace and reached down, picking up the capacitor with it’s interconnected amplifier and various unreasonable dangling wires.

Reaching around, he wrapped the majority of the cables around the board of circuits and tucked it partly beneath one arm. With a respectable nod to Venus, he strode for the door, with her quickly outpacing him in a light jog back to the lift.

It seemed like a lifetime going up the elevator shaft. This whole operation had been too easy for his liking though. No sentries, no guards, no security whatsoever. He didn’t even know if there was an anti-air strike weapon. He’d certainly not seen anything like that stationed outside of the base. He wondered how well-hidden they would have to be, but it surprised him more that that seemed to be the only defense Shockwave had to this place.

“Is there no security feeds here?” he uncomfortably grumbled impatiently, trying to will the damn elevator to go faster as he felt Nova shiver anxiously against his neck.

The taller femme shuttered her optics in thought. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No. I mean, I always assumed there was. But I’ve literally only been here two, three times maybe. A few times I came here with Barricade as he left for his tests prior to Shockwave locking him up and tethering him to an examination table. The last time I was sneaking in to liberate him.”

“And nothing unusual happened while you were freeing him?” Blackout hedged.

Venus gave a shake of her helm as her pink optics flickered. “No. I mean, outside of the creepy things I witnessed, no. I never encountered any malicious bots or guards.”

“Was Shockwave present at the time?”

“I didn’t see him,” she vented loudly. “Though if I did, I probably would have torn out his optic. The single-eyed creep.”

“Hmm,” Blackout drawled thoughtfully. “I wonder if he was busy at the time, or if he wanted ‘Cade to escape.”

“Want him to escape? Why would he want him to escape?” she asked, her soft voice somewhat harder now and edgy.

“To test him. See what his experiment could do. See how long his resolve would last.”

Venus narrowed her gaze into slits. As the elevator came to a screeching halt to their destination, she released the upward pointing arrow button and dropped her arm. The violet overcast light from the upper levels threw strange figures and hues over her faceplate.

“Well if that was his test, he certainly failed.”

Furious, the femme pushed past Blackout and off the platform. It jostled unsteadily beneath Blackout’s pedes. Pitching as though it was a boat upon rough seas, he reached out to grasp the edge of the wall as he turned to see Venus plodding up the short staircase. He vented softly, letting go off the wall and stepping off onto the steady warehouse floor once more.

He reached up and across himself then to place a servo against Nova. The small femme winced slightly before she lifted her helm up. Her optics looked upon the former Decepticon Hound’s as he looked to her with a warm stare of glittering red optics.

“You okay dear?” he gently coaxed while stroking her ears.

Nova bobbed her helm up and down. “A bit better not being down there,” she admitted quietly. “There was a lot of terrible, horrible, disturbing scents and sounds down there penetrating my helm. I could taste the chemicals floating through the air. You could almost picture the things that happened down there from just the smells alone.”

“I’m sorry I towed you along down there,” he grumbled, kicking himself inwardly.

“That’s okay,” she answered quietly. “You didn’t know what it would be like down there. Neither did I.”

Why didn’t that make him feel any less at fault?

Adjusting his grip on the circuit board against his side, Blackout dropped his other arm to his side again and hiked up the steps after Venus. He followed his way back around the crates and through the warehouse to the front, where the femme was already busy reuniting with Barricade with the contents of her heist at her pedes.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” the small purple and ebony grounder mech urged, holding her face gently in his shaking servos.

“Yes, I’m fine,” replied the black and pink femme, smiling softly as she reached up to overlap her servos on top of his. “See? Perfectly fine. Still in one piece. Nothing bad happened and all. We’re all okay. You don’t need to worry. Inhale deeply-”

As she said this, ‘Cade calmly dragged in air through his ventilation system.

“-and exhale.”

A rush of slightly warm air escaped him as he bowed his helm, placing his forehead against hers.

“Better?” Venus whispered with her optic ridges drawn close with concern.

“Yeah,” Barricade crooned, shuttering his optics part of the way. “Better.”

Smirking a bit to himself, Blackout cast a glance to Novastrike as she observed the pair. She turned to look at him with embarrassment as she was caught staring, looking as far away from any of them as she could by craning her neck back.

With a snicker, the obsidian mech shook his helm. A quiet warbling sound captured his attention and he lifted his helm up to look beyond the couple a few yards in front of him to stare out as a portal began to form where one had previously been.

The other three bots suddenly whipped their helms to the space bridge that was beginning to form.

Blackout’s smile drained away. He quickly turned, stepping to the left and back in the direction they’d come from. His pedes skidded slightly as he glanced back, spotting Venus dropping her servos from Barricade as she tugged on his arm.

“‘Cade!”

He didn’t move.

“Barricade!”

The scream of dismay went unheard.

His violet optics were locked on the space bridge with unfocused fear. As a shadow moved out from the blinding light, Shockwave’s massively hulking frame appeared in a flicker. He appeared taken off guard, though it was hard to tell with no faceplate and a single unemoting red optic staring at them.

Blackout swiftly slid the panel he’d been carrying to the ground. Before he could make his way over to the two Shockwave raised his cannon.

An explosive blast of thunder escaped the hefty weapon as it went off.

Venus shoved Barricade just in time and was hurtled the exterior wall of the warehouse, slamming into metal. She fell to the ground with a gasp, pressing a servo to her side as energon seeped out between her buckled in armor.

Barricade let out a ghastly roar that even startled Blackout. He made a slight lunge towards Shockwave, hesitated, and looked to Venus with sickened dread as the light of her optics flashed ominously. His optics were a blinding pinkish-purple as he darted over to her, placing a servo against her side as her blood ebbed out.

Snapping up his arm, Blackout unfurled his cannon and nearly fired when he pulled his arm up with shock.

He looked to his shoulder and back to Shockwave.

In her alt-form, Novastrike had managed to eat the distance between them and the Decepticon chief scientist and had her teeth embedded in the wire that connected the cannon to Shockwave’s frame. She clamped down tighter as the purple mech tried to shake her lose.

He couldn’t risk shooting and hitting Nova.

Divided, Blackout looked to Barricade and Venus and then to Novastrike and Shockwave. The seams on ‘Cade’s faceplate were slightly visible now, like he was refraining from revealing his maw as he tried to keep pressure on her wound. He looked back to Nova, latched on to the mech standing just outside the space bridge.

There was no perfect choice to be made.

Transforming his cannon back into his arm, Blackout charged Shockwave. The mech went to raise his cannon, but no light emitted from it as Nova ripped her claws through the line, slicing ribbons of wires out as she whipped her helm to tear into the connector.

His fist struck the bot just short of his optic as he turned his helm away. Throwing his weight in to the punch, the scientist fell back a few steps, barely managing to keep on his pedes.

Blackout shook his aching servo lightly, grinning.

Standing just beside the space bridge, a darkness began to emerge from the light. His optics flickered towards it and then slowly, he craned his helm back. Something he’d only had to do a few times in his life when looking to Autobot sentinels and city-transformers in all his life.

With steely fangs bared and mandibles curved out from its face, the Predacon released an ominous growl as it slunk out from the space bridge; curling its body out slowly from the swirling light. With a lash of its mighty tail, it emerged in full and the space bridge closed behind it.

Frag.

Drawing in a rush of air, the Predacon opened its mouth wide. It’s jaws parted as an orange light flickered deep in the bowels of the beast and radiated glowing biolights in a spilling orangish-yellow glow.

As the beast lunged forward, Blackout grabbed the dragon by its upper and lower jaw. Heat just as sweltering and painful as those of the smelting pits and furnaces he’d worked for as a slave emitted from the creature’s maw. It did not release it’s fire, not yet, but hinged and worked its jaws as it tried to get him to release it’s face.

Screeching furiously, the drake tried clamping its teeth down, threatening to take his arm. Blackout grunted, straining to keep its mouth open as beads of melted metal began to drip from his side.

The creature narrowed its optics as he met its gaze. It sucked in sharply.

Before it could bath him in flames, Blackout let go of the Predacon’s jaws. They snapped shut suddenly, and the beast created a hiccuping deep in its throat. Balling up his servo in a fist, Blackout struck the monster on top of its helm, knocking it’s lower jaw into the ground.

Snorting smoke out of its nostrils, the brilliant light faded from its throat. With a whip of its tail, the beast struck him in the legs, knocking him on his back.

Staring up at the mythical legend in front of him, Blackout’s optics widened as it lunged for him again with bared fangs.

Before it clamp down upon his armor, a strong surge of electrical currents blasted outward from him.

The EMP wave suddenly drained him of energy. He’d never tried using that much at one time, but this was an incredibly massive foe.

With a massive thud and a quiet, dull groan, the Predacon’s legs gave out and it fell limp and unconscious before him. The light from its golden optics was gone as they shuttered closed.

Exhaling loudly with shock that it had worked, Blackout pushed himself unsteadily up to his pedes. His optics looked down at the black metal that had hardened on the ground and looked down himself at the strange streaks over his chassis where beads had cooled part of the way down.

Twisting his helm around fast enough to strain his neck cables painfully, Blackout looked to where he could hear the scuffle of pedes. Shockwave was trying to fend off Novastrike as she darted around him, lashing her tail out violently as Scorponok did with the shield casing around her own prongs removed.

The cyber-cat hissed venomously at the mech as he tried to swat at her. Without his single weapon, he practically defective. He relied too heavily on that over-powered source and his experiments for protection rather than fighting. Science came first and foremost; he simple lacked a means of winning.

Blackout went to take a step towards them and fumbled, nearly collapsing on the ground. He looked up with narrowed optics to the duo as they danced, venting harshly.

Growling furiously, Barricade came running from behind, slamming Shockwave in the helm with his pede. As the mech stumbled back with a painful grunt, the small mech turned on point and flicked out a whip.

Blackout recognized that whip. It belonged to Venus.

An electrical current surged out from the weapon as it lassoed around Shockwave’s leg. ‘Cade gave a quick tug, bringing the mech down on his back with a thud and a grunt.

He snapped the whip free with a single flick of his wrist, looking down at the mech as his optic dimmed and grew brighter in irregular intervals.

“‘Cade,” Blackout rasped, looking over his shoulder at the Predacon as its tail slid across the ground slowly. “‘Cade, we need to go.”

The grounder turned his helm towards Blackout slowly. The seams he’d spotted earlier were spreading slightly to reveal a hint of that threatening display of infected purplish-pink lights and the scalpel-ended feeder peeking out.

“‘Cade,” the larger mech warned in a snarl.

Forcibly, slowly, the mech closed the four-way point the majority of the way. He turned his optics quickly to where Venus laid, her servo pressed to her side. She was on her pedes once more at least.

Hasily, the three bots made their way over to the femme. Venus offered a waning smile to them, waving one of her energon smeared servos slightly as she winced.

“Do you need me to carry you?” Blackout asked quietly.

“No, I’ll be fine,” she insisted.

Doubt moved through his optics, but he nodded and quickly moved his attention on to Barricade. “You’ll need to carry the equipment Venus took, ‘Cade. I’ll get the motherboard. Venus, stay between us just in case. Novastrike, can you bring up the rear?”

With a light of courage in her blazing sapphire optics, Nova gave a single nod of her helm.

“Right.” Barricade drawled out in sinister hiss. “Yes. I can do that.”

“Focus, ‘Cade,” Blackout urged, reaching out to shake his shoulder.

The mech looked sideways to the femme standing at his side. She passed him a small but supportive smile.

“I can do this,” he stated almost like a reminder to himself; his tone slightly less gravely.

Grabbing the panel of tangled circuits and pieces of the computer, Blackout positioned himself on one side of Venus as ‘Cade stepped closer on the other side, tucking the box beneath his arm. He reached out to place an arm around her waist for support, pulling her close.

Placing his servo on the ground, Shockwave positioned himself in a seated position slowly. His Cyclops single red optic moved to the left and right. There was no sign of the bots that had attacked them, though he had a clear vision of those that did.

Highly illogical to consider Blackout treasonous, but the proof had been right in front of him.

Turning his single gaze to the Predacon, he watched as it twitched and lazily moved as it stirred from the EMP wave that had knocked his creation unconscious. With a single, thought humming sound to himself, the scientist cautiously moved to get back on his pedes.

He had to check his facility to see what was missing, and settle on making a report to Lord Megatron on the incident.

#quid pro quo au #OTP AU #OTP Lit #OTP Friends #Badass OTP

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