#major dundee

[lucienballard]

Senta Berger in Sam Peckinpah's "Major Dundee"

[omercifulheaves]

Major Dundee (1965)

[sigurism]

John Davis Chandler -1965

Those Calloways Major Dundee Once A Thief

[misterivy]

[kscowpokes]

Major Dundee (1965) Richard Harris: Behind the Scenes Stunt Rehearsal

[ozdeg]

[zoradementio]

Buddy Simulator 1984 inspired Major Arcana cards

(Made for the 4th year anniversary contest. Individual cards under the cut)

[washingtonmarvel]

Since my first post about Charmion only scratched the surface, I thought I'd give some more info about a few different aspects of her story here. I hope everyone finds it worth reading.

First, Charmion was a marketing genius. She was one of the most photographed people in show business, her flexed arms ubiquitous in the newspapers of the era, and she gave out free pinback buttons with her image on them at each show. Charmion herself reported in 1905 that she’d given out a quarter of a million buttons over the previous year. I don't know how accurate that number is, but there was definitely a huge number produced and you can often find them for pretty affordable prices on eBay to this day. Charmion would also sometimes give away chocolates, clothes, and other souvenirs to the women in the audience.

Second, during her travels, Charmion made time to personally advise women who needed help with their fitness goals. During her time in New Orleans in 1902, for example, she let it be known that the hours of 5 to 7 would be set aside for any woman wanting a “conference” with her to discuss matters relating to “physical culture.”

Third, Charmion could be considered one of the first female bodybuilders. Through rigorous workouts (including curling fifty-to-seventy-pound dumbbells and one-hour bag-punching sessions), Charmion intentionally tried to build her muscles as large as possible, which was incredibly rare for a woman in that era. Even circus strongwomen, who showed off their strength publicly, often downplayed their muscularity, but Charmion was eager to show off her muscles and actively tried to grow them. Apparently, it worked. By her own account, when she began her career the (already very fit) Charmion weighed 98 pounds at a height of 5’1”. She afterward gained enough muscle that by 1902, she was a solid 130 pounds. Charmion would’ve also felt at home with modern bodybuilders in the sense that on-stage posing was a major part of her performances. After she had finished disrobing on the trapeze, she would conclude her show by standing onstage and flexing her biceps before turning around and displaying her back muscles. The audiences were as flabbergasted as you’d expect. “When she hunches her back,” said one newspaper, “it looks like a cage of boa-constrictors interlaced in a snake-fight”; “her shoulders and arms appear a knotted mass of muscles,” said another.

The less pleasant aspects of Charmion's story are the misogyny and prudishness that Charmion dealt with with throughout her career. There were attempts (some successful, some not) to ban her act in New York, New Orleans, London, and Berlin, and she had to contend with right-wing attacks throughout her career. Here are a few newspaper quotations to show the kind of opposition she encountered:

Times Herald (Washington, D. C.), May 10, 1898: “Her performance is a simple attempt to provoke all the lower passions of which mankind is capable, without passing the limit the law has placed on such an exhibition. It is for this reason that Charmion is revoltingly disgusting, coarse and disagreeable. It is because of this that no man, who realizes what he is doing, or respects himself, will care to take his mother or sister to the National Theater this week.”

Sioux City Journal, May 15, 1898: “Charmion’s object in her trapeze act is indecency.”

The Times (Washington, D. C.), May 15, 1898: “It seems revolting to think that men would go to a place of amusement with the sole idea of witnessing such a performance, but that women should willingly accompany them is nothing less than disgusting.”

The Courier and Argus (Dundee, Scotland), Aug. 5, 1898: “…it is scarcely possible to conceal the fact that Charmion’s performance takes us very much nearer to the frank indecencies of the Parisian variety theatres than we have hitherto strayed.”

Daily Gleaner (Fredericton, New Brunswick), Oct. 26, 1898: “we hail with gratification the drastic criticism by a section of the New York press of such debasing performances as those first given by a woman called Charmion…Charmion’s act had grace and beauty to recommend it, and except that it was performed by a woman it was no worse than the undressing act of the equestriam [sic] acrobat in the circus; but it was the natural forerunner of the others, and so should never have been permitted in a theatre making pretence to decency.”

The Times, January 1, 1899: “Charmion’s ‘turn’ was revolting.”

Toronto Saturday Night, January 18, 1902 [speaking about Charmion disrobing on the trapeze] “There is an unpleasant suggestiveness inseparable from such an act.”

The Kansas City Star, September 19, 1904: “Her turn is offensive to modesty.”

As infuriating as these comments are, the happy irony of the conservative attacks on Charmion is that they only made her more powerful. As even her critics sometimes admitted, the controversy stirred up by those critics served to make her act more intriguing and helped increase her popularity. For a woman devoted to liberating women from the constraints placed on them by the society, her message must have been even more meaningful because so many men tried to constrain her and she overcame that adversity. You can see how little success her critics had by the fact she was one of the most popular vaudeville stars in the world, sometimes earning the equivalent of almost $20,000 per week in today’s money.

Of course, not all men disapproved of Charmion’s act, and she had her fair share of male fans. But almost all her critics were men. And though there must have been lesser-known female critics, there’s only one example I can find of a woman (at least initially) disapproving of her. That woman was Elizabeth Grannis, president of the Purity League, an organization that supported the kind of repression and prudishness that Charmion fought against her whole career. Grannis, with a committee of Purity League members, attended a performance one day in 1901 to “judge for themselves” whether the act was as “impure" as alleged. After the performance (during which Charmion daringly threw a garter into Grannis’s box), a local newspaper said, surprisingly, that Grannis “was pleased by the things done and undone by the actress” and “was delighted with the actress’ control of her muscular system.” Charmion, likely not a fan of the Purity League, was not mollified by the praise. Asked about Grannis later, she bluntly said, “I scarcely approve of her.”

If you all are still interested, I’ll share more posts about Charmion. I’m mildly obsessed with her and there’s loads more fun facts and stories about her. Thanks for reading.

EDIT: Here's a photo gallery for anyone who's still interested in Charmion:

[takemetodragonstone]

in succession 2x08 dundee when logan says “the past is all made up” i really do think that’s the thesis of the entire show btw.

like, the roy kids’ conflicting memories of their childhoods that are never clarified through any kind of flashbacks or confirmation, the entire fucking cruises scandal and the coverups of major crimes, kendall’s accident and how he even tries to rewrite the past in the finale (“that didn’t happen. I made it up”) as logan so often did in both big and small ways (from denying his knowledge of the cruises crimes before congress to small moments of “I told you this already” and “did I even make contact?”)

the fucking poem Dreamsong 29 by John Berryman that all the season finales are named after. this is just the last stanza:

“But never did Henry, as he thought he did, / end anyone and hacks her body up / and hide the pieces, where they may be found. / He knows: he went over everyone, & nobody’s missing. / Often he reckons, in the dawn, them up. / Nobody is ever missing.”

And we never have real confirmation that logan did know about cruises because the characters (minus kendall) deny it to the last. but we know. we keep our plausible deniability because we don’t know, but we know. the show essentially makes us complicit in the same way that the characters are. most of them don’t know that he knew, because they never had any explicit proof, but as kendall says in season 3 “C’mon. We knew.”

the narrative continually shows us that logan “keeps a watchful eye over his whole empire” with perhaps the best example being how he buries the evidence of kendall’s accident and manslaughter at the end of season 1. that’s a very clear parallel to the cruises situation and that’s so skillfully and subtly woven throughout season 2 when the cruises scandals are coming to light and kendall is still reeling from the accident and his guilt.

and all that’s not even touching on the whole matter of ATN and the debate over how involved logan really is in what news stories and political views his network pushes (which could be a whole separate post of its own). very similar to how the cruises thing is handled, the line is always that logan isn’t involved, while the narrative shows us otherwise.

there are a million other examples both big and small that i could pull but this post is already such a disorganized mess. someday i’ll write an essay about it i swear, or maybe somebody else out there already has, but i just needed to point out how brilliant and subtle the show is about this as i’m rewatching season 2

[scotianostra]

21st March 1901 saw the launch in Dundee of the Royal Research Ship Discovery, the ship that would help Captain Scott make his name as an Antarctic explorer.

Designed for Antarctic research, she was launched as a Royal Research Ship (RRS) in 1901. Discovery was the first ship of its kind to be constructed specifically for scientific research. She was also the last wooden, three masted ship to be built in this country and is the only one that survives.

The basics of the ship were built on the same principles as the whaling ships - hundreds of them worked out of Dundee in the 19th and early 20th century.

The Discovery’s first captain was the famous explorer ‘Scott of the Antarctic’. Captain Robert Falcon Scott, was appointed in 1901. He was Born in Devon, England, basically a shy man who also had great courage and strength. It was said that Captain Scott was responsible for the errors that turned his expedition into a disaster. However, research in the past few years has discovered that it was some of the men under Captain Scott’s command, who disobeyed his orders that led to tragedy.

Another famous explorer joined Captain Scott on RRS Discovery’s first voyage and that was Sir Ernest Shackleton. He would later sail in another famous ship the 'Endurance’ in 1914-16.

Since 1996 Discovery has been berthed at Dundee, and is a major tourist attraction to the city, the ship however is said to be one of the most haunted in the world and paranormal teams regularly set up all sorts of equipment on the ship

One of the main spirits said to roam the ship is that of Charles Bonner. While Discovery was leaving New Zealand, the young seaman fell from the crows nest, on the mainmast, landing head first onto the deck, crushing his skull. Quite a few independent psychics have picked up on the seaman and feel that he is still a strong presence on the ship. His spirit is said to be most powerful on the deck at the place where he fell to his death. It’s also been reported that people have sensed and seen the spirit of Shackleton roaming around the ship and it may be his spirit that has been observed in one of the cabins. Psychic mediums have also picked up this presence on numerous occasions. Other apparitions include the spirit of a little boy and shadow figures are seen roaming the ship in various areas.

Electricity seems to attract the spirits on the Discovery. In the cabin that belonged to Ernest Shackleton, light bulbs constantly blow despite the area being checked by electricians. In addition when the 'Ghost Club’ investigated the ship, light bulbs in Captain Scott’s cabin were found to be dislodged from their fittings.

The Ghost Club investigators experienced strange movements of a rope. This was a very heavy ship’s rope that couldn’t be moved simply by walking past, so why it began swaying remains a mystery. In addition investigators felt the chairs or benches that they were sitting on being moved by an unseen force.

There are also frequently the sound of footsteps roaming around the ship. These have been heard by people and also caught on recording equipment. Investigators have yet to find out who is making the footsteps - could it be Charles Bonner or Ernest Shackleton?

There is also one interesting account of a visitor to the ship who had spent some time talking with a sailor, but no one else could see the person she was speaking to. Similar events have happened with other visitors to the ship, where they have seen a spirit that looked solid and stopped to talk to him only to realise later that the person was not anyone alive connected to the ship.

The Discovery also has poltergeist activity. TV’s Most Haunted investigation team had numerous objects thrown at them including a toggle from a duffel coat, a dice and a wooden pulley from a ships rope.

maritime h

[pines-eyes]

An early statement from my TTRPG game

I'm going to start posting my statements here for funnies, I'm also attaching the audio recording to them. Enjoy reading these, I suppose! I promise they get better as time goes on, lol

"Fog of memories"

Edit: It won't let me add an audio file, so I'll let you know when I post everything to Youtube

[Click]

The Missing (statement)

Statement #0830905 Silas Bell. Regarding the Road trip, he took to see his brother in Bristol—audio Recording by Pine -ing. Personal-..... Personal recording. 

Thank you for agreeing to see me. I know this is hard to believe- I mean. I don’t have PHYSICAL proof, but I know what I saw. I know what happened in that car ride. I did not imagine that. Sorry, let me start again.

My name is Silas Bell. I’m a student at the University of Dundee School of Medicine. I’ve been living in Scotland with my Fiancée, Daphne Lunckenbill, for a few years now. For reasons I would rather not say, she and I don’t keep in touch with our immediate family, but we do keep in touch with my older brother Geroge Bell. He has been working at a hospital in Bristol. When I say “keep in touch” I mean, “I send him a letter on every major holiday, every birthday, and every major life event” but he seldom responds. My beloved Daphne thinks that I should stop writing to him. “He never responds darling, why waste the ink?” she would say to me. But he’s my brother! My only family. How could I NOT keep him in my life?

 Oh, how I miss the times when we were children. I often think about how I wanted to return to when we were young. He taught me the insides of the human body and I would listen intently and practice on a feedal pig in my dress that I could find. Oh, how mother was so cross when I would study. But George would always support me. Well, he did until I told him I was a boy. After that, he wouldn’t write and he wouldn't teach me when he came home from school. But I still would write to him, even when Daphne and I ran away, I wrote to him and only he telling where he could find me. 

About two months ago now, I finally received a letter from Georgie. The letter said that his wife was going to have a baby, and he wanted me to be there. I was ecstatic! My brother, my only family wanted me to be there. So I kissed my fiance goodbye and got onto a carriage to make my way down to Bristol. Distance be damned I thought. On the way I thought about everything I was going to tell Gereogre. But that's when I noticed the fog. I remember looking out into the blue sky, counting the white fluffy clouds I see, blinking my tired eyes, and seeing nothing but dense fog surrounding the carriage. I shouted to the footman, wondering if the fog would impact the journey and if we had to stop for the night. But I got no response. The silence made my ears hurt. It shouldn’t be this quiet. So, against my better judgment, I opened the door to the car, and stepped out, intending to what I was looking for or find out what is going on. But what I came across, will stay in my nightmares. 

When I stepped out my boot sunk deep into the mud surrounding the carige. Stuck to my trousers, it was wet, icy cold, and thick. The cold and foggy air stuck to my bones as I tried to investigate the footman. I called out to him again, but still nothing. I so started to fear the worst and began to feel myself hyperventilate. I called out once more and forced my way to the front of the carriage. But there was no one. Now that I think about it, I can’t even recall the footman's name. All I knew was, was that I alone. Alone with no one to call to, no one to lean on. I tried to move, to scream, to cry. But I was stuck, and sinking deeper, deeper into the mud on my boots, on my clothes making me squirm with discomfort. I called for my mother, my father, or my brother. But the fog grew thick and filled my lungs more with every call. It was suffocating, and I felt like that little girl once more. 

Not the little girl who taught herself the insides, or who found joy in dressing in her brother's clothes. No. The little girl was shut into a small room, without food, without warmth, without her brother, all because she wanted to be like him. She wanted to learn, she wanted to be a boy. But it wasn’t allowed. I thought about my family as I sat there in the wet mud. 

When I was a child, I told myself that my family would have loved me more if I was a boy. I saw how they treated my male cousins. How they held them to the light, how they could do no wrong. “They were honorable,” they said. “They would fight for this country, like a man should. He must take care of his family. To Love his wife and his sons. To care for their every need. But it is a woman's job, to be silent and bear those sons for her husbands. To create the next generation of men to run this country.” I was told that every day until I met my fiance. I had no sisters, no female cousins that I could meet. I had only my mother, but she always looked at me with those cold, unforgiving eyes. I thought when I told her I was a boy, that I was the second son she and father wanted they would too love me. But they beat me and sent me to a reform school. There I was allowed to meet my Fiancée. They told me his name was Edward. But she told me, her name was Daphne. And with a sob, I told her my name. My name. It was the first time, I felt I was truly seen. Truly wanted, Truly loved.

With the fog in my lungs, and that memory of Daphen, I cried out to before succumbing to the darkness. I cried her name out loudly, hoping she could hear me. Then nothing.

When I came too I was lying in a hospital bed In London. I was hypothermic, dehydrated, malnourished, and was missing for 7 days. My carriage was found about 2 miles away from where I was found. Daphne was the one who found me, but she won’t tell me how, just that “she felt her heart break and had to hold me close, to find me,”.  It doesn’t matter, I want to be close to her. I want to never let go of her. The doctors told me it was a robbery gone wrong, but they didn’t believe me when I told them about what happened. The day I went missing, it wasn’t foggy, in fact, it was a cloudless night. “You could see the stars”, they said. Daphne says she believes me. That’s all that matters. One of the nurses told me to come here and tell you my story so that you would be able to explain what happened. So here it is

Thinking about it now, I suppose I got what I wanted. I wanted to go back and be young again with my brother. Turns out Geroge never sent me a letter, in fact, he’s not even in this country. But I think. I think I’m happier this way. Alone with my wife and without him. And I don’t want to change that.

Statement ends.

      The Missing

This is one of the statements I found in Elais’s office. I just grabbed it without thinking. The date says it was written in 1883, so this is one of the first statements, ever, for the archives, or the isnuite. It's kinda crazy to think about. This is over 200 years old.

 I don’t think Mr. Bell knew who if anyone was going to read this. I think he just wanted a way to tell his story. And I can respect that. I- I mean I, don’t work at the institute anymore. So, follow-up was tricky. The body of the footman was never found so, I’m thinking maybe he was some avatar of the lonely. Or Mr. Bell could have simply wandered into the pocket of fog. Fog of memories I guess.  But this is all Gusse work, I mean, this statement is over 200 years old and everyone mentioned died. Although…..

[a static is heard, and the answer comes out of her mouth]

Silas Bell died one week after his wife Daphne Bell. They are now buried together in Schottland. In a grave that will never be lonely, so long as they have one another,.....

[The static stops, she is confused]

…Family is a tricky thing. They either support you wholeheartedly or die before they can see you succeed in life. My..own family was the latter now that I think about it. I can’t say they didn’t support what I wanted to do, just that. No one lived long enough for me to figure it out. Good lord I’ve been here for about five years now and the ONLY worthwhile thing I've done is join bloody a cult. Would they even be proud of that? Would they even still want me?

[She snickers]

I mean, I don't have it all bad. At least, my mother had the decency to abandon me and not turn me into some pet project of perfection. I do remember telling someone that my folks died of cancer. It wasn’t a COMPLETE lie, my dad DID die, my mom left and I was left with my little sisters to raise. At least they loved me when they died. 

End recording

[Click]

The Missing

[The missing coughs with something stuck in her throat]

It…been a month now. Since I ran away. I’ve found I can go about a month without reading one of these, without repercussions.  And I only have a handful. Maybe three or four I didn’t really count. Luckily I’m not TOO reliant on these yet. Not like Gertrude was. It's an odd feeling. This change is interesting, maybe I’ll finally be wanted.

But, I have to keep moving. I think I saw policemen asking for me the other day. I’m not really safe until I find what I need. I just wish Gertrude would have left me that list like- wait

[Static grows as she begins to understand]

I- don't, I don’t need the list. I know Who to ask!

[Click] 

Soon, these will all go on my YT, I'm first posting them here to get comfortable with people reading/ hearing my writing. Like I said, I do improve as time goes on, this was the first one I have written.

Characters in this statement belong to Andrew Joseph White, as a thank you for being a big inspo for me

[vclvetfleur]

Obedient Chapter 13

roman roy x fem!reader

Summary: You and Jess haven't spoken in a while. You finally decide to confront her on the plane to Dundee. While Roman is still in deep denial over his father's abuse.

TW: trauma talk, child neglect, degradation

Word Count: 5k

Notes: SOrry for taking so long. I have been not knowing where to lead this and I had to focus on French class lately.

Chapter 13: A Clockwork Orange

You heard Roman till he had finally fallen asleep. You both agreed that he couldn’t just let his father just sweep that under the rug. You even convinced Roman not to forgive. You knew it was a lot to ask, but you wanted him to heal. And bending and forgiving was not going to do anything for him or Logan. Except make Logan think Roman was just as weak as he thought he was. You woke up before him, making him an appointment to go see a dentist to fix his tooth as soon as possible. You were still in shock. You couldn’t help but stare at it as it was laid on the counter, dried blood on the end of it. You put a tissue over it, not wanting to be reminded of it. You felt sorry for Roman. You were in his place years ago. You were him when you didn’t realize that your parents would never change.

They weren’t going to. They never did. Not for you at least. You had gotten older, moving from home to home depending on if your parents wanted to deal with you or not. You had been sent to aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, and family friends. You had only come back after your parents had your sibling. And there it was. They changed. But not for you. Not towards you. But towards her. You had gotten updates, hearing about their new golden star child. How nothing has made them happier. You wished you could stand up to protect her, but you didn’t have to. She got the parents you wished for.

A part of you wished you got them, but you knew you weren’t worth changing for in their eyes. And Roman wasn’t worth changing for either.

You brushed your teeth, staring at your phone. You always wondered if an unknown number would maybe one day be them. But that was you just getting your hopes up for an unrealistic fantasy. You looked at Roman, sleeping. You were glad he finally got his moment of peace after what had happened last night. You came back to back, scrolling through your phone and making notes for Roman. Today was a day Roman wouldn’t be in the office anyway, so you just wanted him to relax. But still do things before having to go back to the office. You were sure Roman wasn’t gonna go to the office with a tooth missing. It would only create talk. He also didn’t need any media seeing him like that.

You felt Roman stirring himself awake, moving his head away from the light as it shined in. “Morning Rome…” You told him, running your fingers through his hair. You were busy texting Eduard, trying to set up some kind of meeting with Roman. It would possibly be the biggest fuck you to his father if he landed a major deal with another billionaire when Logan had just messed up the deal with Nan. Logan had exploded at the show that you both missed, where Rhea and Nan followed him and told him the deal was off. This was all relayed to you by Shiv. She had kept checking up on Roman the entire night and you just sent her updates when you could. Despite their rocky relationship and the fact they never really got along with one another. And the constant fighting and yelling and hitting. They deeply cared. Shiv and Roman were the most verbally aggressive with one another, but had so much in common when it came to their dad than they did with Kendall. Kendall was Logan’s pride. He basically removed Kendall from their mom and obsessed over his future. He was the only thing that mattered. He had sent Connor away and was now worrying about one kid. Then Roman came along, but Kendall was just something else. Then a certain incident made Roman act quieter, more reserved. Which in turn made Logan a lot more harder on him. He was seen as weak. Not as good as Kendall. Not that he really paid him much mind, but the fact that Roman was more emotional and was now suddenly quieter, it only made Logan resent him more. A child at the age of 7 was now weak and not fit to be CEO forever. But his other son, who even at the age of 3 was set for the CEO job. Then came Shiv. Logan was disappointed about having a girl. Carolina was a little excited but was too busy with her own issues to care enough. She completely abandoned her children when Shiv was born. Shiv never mattered. Only if she started to be prettier than Carolina. Then Carolina tried to compete and force and embarrass Shiv. Even only uplifting Roman to make Shiv feel worse. But once Shiv stopped looking for the attention of her mother, she played with Kendall’s games of using Roman for the attention of their dad.

Roman was the weird one. And Shiv was the girl.

The two outcasts of the family. Both not good enough for anything.

Not even their dad.

So, despite their distain for one another, at least they weren’t Kendall.

Kendall only checked in on Roman from Shiv. He did his best. He had to physically protect Roman. He was smaller. He wasn’t able to when they were younger. Kendall felt a duty to always physically be there for Roman. Trying to be there emotionally never worked because Roman was too scared to ever open up. His emotions got him in trouble. He never knew when the right time was to ever open up.

So as result of Connor’s absence as older brother, he had to pick up the role and protect Roman physically from Logan. He could only protect him so much. He started to protect him more once he had gotten tall enough. Logan was never scared of his kids though. He knew what power he had over them.

Either way, they all did their parts as siblings as best as they could with the father and mother they were given. They made a lot of mistakes on the way, but there was an effort.

“Morning…” Roman mumbled under the sheets, covering his mouth with the comforter. He didn’t want you to see him without his tooth there. It made him even more insecure than he already was. He knew that you already had, but something in his mind told him you’d run if you saw it. That he’d be too much or something like that. His mind was controlling his logic. “How are you feeling?” You asked, pulling yourself from the phone. You were ready to tell him the news of what you had just done but wanted to ease him into it.

“Fucking great. Uh- can we leave early?” He asked you. You nodded, going back on your phone to make the arrangements. You both were supposed to leave at 11, but you had gotten up early enough. Roman wasn’t ready for the questioning. Roman finally crawled out of bed, going to the bathroom. He had been there for a good 15 minutes, just staring at himself and his missing tooth. It made him feel so ashamed. He never was super secure with how he looked. He knew he wasn’t special, and no one was chasing after him. He was shocked you were decently into him. But the tooth made it so much worse. Another dent in his appearance. Roman hated himself even more. Not only because he hated how he looked, but the tooth was just a reminder of how Logan really felt about him. Roman was never ready to accept that Logan wasn’t a good parent. Logan was abusive. But to Roman, it was his fault. But you helped put it into perspective for him. He finally accepted some part of Logan was abusive and his love wasn’t actual love. His mom, despite being neglectful and instilling terrible ideals and being emotionally unavailable, she loved him. She checked in on him. She held him. She would be there if Roman deeply tried to. Logan was never there for anything. No matter how hard you tried to.

“Rome?” You called out. He barely heard you. You had already gotten dressed, keeping updates on the car that was arriving soon. You knocked before going into the room. You saw him just staring at himself and inspecting little things about his face and appearance. “Hey, the car’s almost here. You almost done?” You asked. He finally snapped out of it, looking at you. He had no idea why you were so willing to be with him when he looked the way he did. But he was so grateful for your standards being that low, in his head. He just put toothpaste on his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth, acting as though he wasn’t just inspecting himself in front of you. “Your appointment today is at 6, by the way.” You mentioned to him. “Wow, thanks, mum.” He joked. His words were slurred with toothpaste foaming his mouth and his brush stuck between the inside of his lips and teeth.

“I know you wanna fuck your mom, Roman, but don’t call me that.” You made a quick comment. You weren’t sure if he fit the Freudian theory, but it wasn’t unlikely.

“If Shiv told you that, tell her to stop acting like I haven’t seen her give Dad fuck me eyes too” Roman shot back. He was of course lying. You’ve seen how Shiv looked at Logan. It was exactly how you looked at your dad when you were in middle school. Just regret and shame for hating him, but such distain and anger for whatever happened.

“I’ll be sure to send her an email about it.” You rolled your eyes. You came up and jumped onto the counter. You looked at him, looking at the details as he was doing earlier. His eyes were so soft. They had bags under them that made them seem slightly sunken. But his personality and other expressions always reminded you he was actually awake. His eyebrows were mostly straightened, but so expressive. For a man who hated showing his emotions, he showed them so much with just his face. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” You asked him. There it was. His eyebrows furrowed, questioning you, but his eyes softened. He didn’t look at you like he was actually confused. Just pleasantly surprised. “I don’t think I have either.” He spits his toothpaste out before starting to brush his tongue. He wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t want to feel all the love you were willing to give. You leaned down and gave him a kiss on the forehead before dropping yourself off the counter. You went off to the bedroom and began to prep Roman’s things for him and your own stuff. Roman soon came in, wrapping his arms around you. He stood behind you, laying his head on your shoulder. He left a kiss on your jaw before giving another on your cheek and moving close to your ear. He whispered, “You’re gorgeous.” Before moving away from you.

You suppressed a smile, giving it a frown kind of look. You looked at him as he grabbed his clothes and finally started to dress himself. “You saw that in a movie, didn’t you?” You asked him. He looked up, his smile creeping up before nodding.

He buttoned his shirt. “Yeah- I think it was one of those shit movies you’ve shown me lately. Fuck wait- was it ‘Clockwork Orange’?” He asked you. You had shown him your favorite movies lately. Most of the time he talked through them and acted as if he thought they were dumb, but after enough scolding from you, he would quit it. He enjoyed most of them though. Except maybe one of them, but he thought it was too pretentious, trying to say something about something that had no real meaning.

“Oh yea- definitely. Wow, Alex. What a little charmer, huh?” You played along. It definitely wasn’t ‘A Clockwork Orange’.

You both left the room once Roman was settled in. You both had to be escorted through the media, questioning Roman about the scandal. Roman knew better not to make too light of a joke at the moment. Mostly to media.

“God what fucking vultures…” He whispered to you once the door was shut. “Doesn’t ATN do the same thing?” You asked him, calling out on his hypocrisy.

“Shut the fuck up… fucking snowflake…” He mumbled, laying his head back. He reached down, holding your hand in his. It was the most affection he could give you out in public. Plus, he needed it to calm his nerves down.

“I have news by the way… Eduard is willing to meet with you. Next week. He thinks after the scandal has gone through a week, the hype will die down and by the time the deal lands that it’ll mostly be over. So yeah, you're welcome.” You smirked. You were cocky, but after working your way into it, you had convinced him. No one was gonna touch ATN for a while. Not with this scandal around.

“Good job, you did your fucking job.” He teased. He was happy though. You saw it on his face.

You had just made sure Roman was safely home before going to your own home. You needed to decompress after yesterday too. You had just run a bath, done some skincare, and treated yourself to a meal. An actual meal. Not a snack.

You texted Roman to make sure he went to his appointment to just be sent a photo of him in the dentist's chair. You saved it to your phone. You were tempted to text Jess. You stared at her number for a while. You swallowed your fear of rejection and finally texted.

‘hey. are you ready to talk?’

You watched the delivered notification turn into Read 7:19 PM.

Then 3 text bubbles coming up. For them to disappear quickly. You didn’t get anything from her all night. Not even in the morning.

She did not speak to you for days.

Waystar seemed to be in a worse state than it ever had been.

Sandy and Stewy were trying to get shareholders and attacking the company. The scandal had gotten worse and now they were scrambling with investors.

Roman had even told you about how Logan even claimed to never hit Roman. It hurt, but it made Roman truly believe he might’ve been overreacting. It just led you both into a fight as you tried to knock some sense into him. But he was stubborn in his ways. Logan still could do no wrong in his eyes. And the more you discredited Logan, the more upset he got. He was just back to doing his dirty business for his father. He was now off to England with Kendall to convince his mom to actually vote for her ex-husband who she despised. You were invited to come, but your fight with Roman made you decline the offer. He just shoved it off as if he didn’t care about it at all. He just thought it would maybe be nice for you to meet his other parent. But you reminded him of your actual status.

You had gotten more news on Waystar as a story broke about Logan ‘bullying’ and ‘hitting’ a young man, someone between the ages of 18 and 23. Apparently, it had caused the boy to drive his car into a lake. You didn’t doubt it. Roman tried to call you about it and called it bullshit.

“I don’t know Rome, seems on brand for him.” You shrugged, sipping on your coffee. It had been 2 pm for him while Kendall and Logan were out doing damage control.

“Fucking- whatever… yea cause people are so sensitive nowadays. Dad didn’t even hit him. Fucking moron is going to drive off a lake over an insult? Really?” Roman ranted, but you had pulled your phone away from your ear, unable to listen to Roman speak ill about a dead child.

“Roman- fucking stop…” You warned but he didn’t. You just hung up.

He looked at Shiv, shocked and obviously upset about your choice to hang up. “What the fuck?” He asked. Shiv shrugged, not surprised. But she just kept her opinion to herself. You shuddered at the thought of what Roman was saying. It truly disgusted you. You knew it was just because he was so ignorant. He was sheltered to think whatever was going on was okay. Shiv just pushed Roman out of the house and decided to finally go to their mom. It would be better if they went rather than bring Kendall. Kendall was Caroline’s least favorite. Shiv was a close second last. Roman was the only one accepting whatever love she could possibly give.

You had been packing for England for your late-night flight. You had to be there for some stupid award show for Logan to celebrate some stupid achievement.  It was just a way to inflate his ego. And for his peers to celebrate him. You thought it was obnoxious.

You were finally finished, getting your bags and putting your belongings into the back of a black car that waited for you. You were being driven before stopping to pick up other people. Including Jess. You watched her get into the car. Your eyes met, but she diverted her eyes away from you. You just wished she’d talk to you. You weren’t sure if your relationship with Roman was worth this. This was too hard.

“Hey…” you tried to talk to her, but she had ignored you for her phone. You bit your lip, looking away. Once you did, Jess’ eye looked up at you with pity. She wanted to talk to you too, but she wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready to talk about your emotions for Roman. Or why you lied? Or why didn’t listen to her? There were so many questions. But she wasn’t emotionally ready for it. She wasn’t ready to apologize for all the awful things she said either, bringing your family and past up as a way to hurt you.

But it happened.

It stuck with you more often than usual. The fact your parents were emotionally unavailable or physically abusive. How much they’d pick out the flaws you had. All the names. And the blaming for what was done to you.

You were reminded of it constantly since you had to spend more time with the Roys.

You had gotten on the flight, watching Jess as she had just walked past you without giving a second glance over to you.

You had enough. You sat across from her. “Jess… Fucking talk to me… Please… Just FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF!” You exploded. People looked at you, but you gave them a look to make them stop. They quickly looked away.

“What do you want me to say y/n?” She asked you. You sighed, running your fingers through your hair. “Well? I don’t know what to say to you y/n… And I don’t think this is the conversation to have with people around. I know this is your little secret.” She shrugged it off.

You let out a large breath, shaking your head no. “I’m fucking sorry. I didn’t- it’s just- I fucked up. And I regret my choices. If I knew they’d end this badly, I would’ve not gone through with it.” You let out a shaky breath.

“But you knew y/n. I told you. You just ignored it. You did what you did. And I said what I said.” She tried to avoid the conversation.

“I’ll break up with him… As soon as we land, it’ll be over.” You tried to rationalize. Jess thought that was what she wanted. But she wasn’t sure if it was. She didn’t like the fact you were both hooking up or doing whatever, but she knew it wasn’t truly her business. She shook her head, just grabbing her phone. “It’s just- it won't fix anything.” She wasn’t sure if it would ruin your happiness.

Realistically your happiness with Roman shifted depending on if Roman would express his awful opinions. Which he had a lot of.

“I just wanna fix this Jess…” You pouted.

“If you wanna fix this… just give it time… I’m just not there yet. Uh- maybe we could talk about it more another time.” She tried to compromise with you. She missed you too. But this wasn’t going to be productive. You nodded, getting up, and swung your hand on a bottle as it flew against the wall. “real fucking mature.” Jess called out. You walked away defeated and annoyed. You spent the rest of the flight away from Jess.

You had landed in the morning, getting your stuff quickly. The family had already been there, so you were immediately sent to go to where they were staying.

You texted Roman letting him know you had arrived safely. He had sent you multiple messages, trying to admit what he said was disgusting and unfair. He didn’t directly say it, but he admitted to it being not the best thing he could say.

You were driven to the event, ready to confront Roman. But once you had walked in his face lightened up once you walked in. He had grabbed you a glass of whatever was being served and came over to you. “Hey, here get drunk, Shiv is plotting something.” He whispered. You smiled, taking the glass from him. Despite Roman sometimes being awful, he could be very sweet. And he was now more willing to see his mistakes.

“Ooo. Can’t wait.” You smirked, sipping your drink. Rhea began her speech, going on and on about whatever bullshit Shiv fed her.

Rhea began her speech and had brought up ‘Rose’. Roman looked amused at Shiv’s game. While Rhea had lifted her glass up with a huge smile on her face as if Logan was going to be sooo happy to hear about Rose. You didn’t even know who Rose was. You leaned in and asked Roman “who’s Rose?” You asked.

“Dad’s dead sister.” He whispered. Logan had put his drink down and sulked in his seat. It set a mood for everyone to stay quiet.

Roman walked past Rhea “Wow. Well done. Look at you, fitting right in.” He teased before making a disgusting pedophilic joke. He seemed to be interrogating her. You didn’t know their issue with her all of a sudden, but you decided to stay out of it. You sat with Shiv, watching them whispering to each other.

“What a fucking snake…” Shiv whispered to you. You laughed, watching as Rhea tried to work her deal with Roman.  But Shiv and him were in a very healthy place where they decided to work against someone again. They always worked better when they plotted against another person together.

“What’d she do?” You asked.

“She’s trying to suck the CEO position out of Dad’s dick and balls.” She stared at Rhea, trying to intimidate her.

Rhea couldn’t find an in with Roman and joined the table. Roman sat with you and Shiv and Roman then began to interrogate with Tom being their hype man.

The tension felt incredibly thing. But Connor decided to ease the mood but decided to insult Rhea nonetheless.

“This is a fucking slaughter…” You whispered to Roman. “I wanna join.” You snickered at the idea.

“Uh- we should start. The event is going to start soon.” Rhea tried to get out of the next dig that was going to be thrown her way. You had been brought to Logan’s old home. You just watched the kids insult the looks as if it was cheap and disgusting. But it was something that looked huge to you. You would never understand their perception of money. Roman thought a coffee cost $40. A black coffee. It wasn’t cheap, sure $4-$8 depending on where you went. But nowhere near $40. You all just waited for Logan to arrive, but Logan could barely look at it. The photographers waited to take a photo, but Logan told the driver to speed off.

“Wow, how fucking fun. God, you know this reminds me exactly when I chased that twink singer in some dumb fucking band for him to just drive off in his car. Should we chase after him?” You joked. You all just seemed a bit annoyed about your time being completely wasted. But that was expected of Logan. You crawled in the car, Roman following you right after. “I didn’t even know Logan was Scottish. I thought he was just some rich fuck with generational money. You know like some hush hush tycoon stuff.” You admit.

“Yeah- Dad doesn’t talk about that kind of stuff- he rather talk about how much he hated Connor’s mom than talk about his own.” Roman laughed. Thankfully, Connor wasn’t around to hear the comment towards him. You had just stood outside. You didn’t want to watch Logan gloat about some stupid University he was buying out. You found the perfect excuse to stay behind.  You grabbed your pack of cigarettes out, lighting the end. You sucked on the end, waiting for the rest of them to come out. You saw an older man come by with a hat and trench coat and sat and watched. You just watched him. He looked disappointed. Annoyed. Angry. You saw Greg leave the building to greet him. “Oh hey- y/n.” Greg waved at you. You thought Greg might’ve had a little crush on you. He had asked you to ‘come to hang out’ with him so many times. He even tried to impress you multiple times with his big-boy job. It was amusing in all honesty. It was cute. But he just wasn’t your type. You liked pretentiousness and arrogance apparently. “Uh- Ewan… Give me a second.” He scrambled before walking to you. “I didn’t know you smoked. Uh- can I- can I get one?” He tried to find something in common with you. Your eyebrows raised, questioning him.

“Yeah- I don’t think the building allows me to smoke. I didn’t know you smoked either.” You said before pulling the pack out again. You pulled a cigarette out for him and your lighter. You were going to see if he actually knew what to do. It would tell you everything.

“Oh yeah- all the time. I actually can’t breathe half the time 'cause I love these things so much. Yea- I buy like a pack a day 'cause I finish them up so quickly” He tried to lie about his association with smoking. He held the cigarette in between his fingers and tried to light it like a joint. It told you everything.

“Greg, you’re supposed to light it in your mouth.” You informed him. He looked up, knowing he had just exposed himself. “Look- like this.” You showed him, putting the cigarette In his mouth and lighting it for him. “Now breathe it in.” You instructed. Greg misunderstood how much or how hard and began to cough viciously. He dropped the cigarette and curled up as he coughed loudly. You just sat and watched, giggling to yourself as you smoked your cigarette.

Ewan was amused as well. He just quietly laughed as he watched his idiot grandson embarrass himself. The group had left the building, Logan surprised to see the man to be there. Roman pat Greg on the back, looking at you confused about why he practically coughing up a lung. “All right, all right. Dramatic. Don’t cough on me. Yeah, that’s right just turn that way.” He said as he turned Greg around and lightly pushed him away. He didn’t like Greg. He thought Greg was a freeloader. Which he kind of was. Roman just viewed him as someone who was riding on the fact, he was somewhat related to them and was trying to find any way to make the kind of money they did. He leeched onto any family member who would let him. Which was Tom.

“Who the fuck is the crip keeper?” You asked Roman about Ewan. You had seen him talk to Logan. “His liberal snowflake brother.” Roman answered.

“Oh, good news. Uh- Eduard is here. I told him to fly in. He’s expecting you at a bar in an hour.” You broke the news. Roman was shocked at how stupid of a decision that was for Eduard. But he was happy enough to have it set up in the very lease.

“You’re the fucking best. God what a fucking moron. I could just take you right here in front of everyone.” Roman seemed to pump himself up. “Yeah-yeah. Go now.” You laughed, pushing him slightly. You both went your own separate ways for at least a couple of hours. You had a lot of stuff to do in the meantime. Which mostly consisted of you hanging out with Shiv as she seemed to be calling meeting after meeting to destroy Rhea. You had stayed out of it most of the time though.

Connor left the room completely upset before the rest left as well.

“What fucking pathetic brats…” Connor mumbled under his breathe. You looked up, wondering what had happened. Roman left soon. “Rome- what the fuck happened?” You asked him. “Why is Connor-?” you asked him.

“Eh, who actually gives a shit?” He shrugged.

Notes: Poor Connor.

Chapter 14

[sigurism]

John Davis Chandler Major Dundee Dir: Sam Peckinpah

[s10127470]

So this past Saturday, I released the opening for my newest fanfic, “Tales of the Fantastic Four!”.

If you want to check it out, here’s the link to it.

I’ve already talked about the general gist of the show and one of the major elements of it.

But I’m here today to add something that’ll expand on that element.

As I said before, just about all the Marvel heroes are based in different parts of the world.

But I forgot to mention that some of them will have their backgrounds changed.

Which I thought not only made sense given the globetrotting theme, but also given where some of them live.

And these are the ones I’ve got so far.

Ant-Man, The Wasp and The Vision are based in Tokyo, Japan and are basically Kamen Rider.

Ant-Man and Wasp themselves are Japanese.

Their real names are even Hanku Pimu and Janetto Ban Dain, which are Japanese versions of their real names: Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne.

Daredevil and Elektra are based in Mexico City, Mexico, with the former having returned to his swashbuckling roots, being reminiscent of Zorro.

And in that case, Elektra is basically Elena Montero.

Daredevil himself here is Mexican, with his name being Mateo Murdock.

As for Elektra, she's still Greek, but it's a lot more explicit here.

Speaking of which, has Elektra ever been explicit about being Greek at all or even looked into her heritage?

Like, in all of her voiced appearances, she spoke with a regular American accent.

It's like an even worse case of Black Widow, where she was explicitly Russian (given she was canonically born and raised there) until the movies came along and more or less threw that out.

But the biggest case of this background change are with The X-Men.

The X-Men in this universe are back to using the Blue and Gold Team dynamics.

In terms of who makes up each team….

Blue Team: Cyclops (leader), Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke, Beast, Jubilee, Morph, and Xavier

Gold Team: Storm (leader), Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Iceman, Angel (who's a female in this universe), Bishop, Shadowcat (with Lockheed), and Emma Frost.

As for their base of operation and theming.

The two teams run two different schools for mutants.

The Blue Team run the one based in Australia.

And The Gold One run the one based on Mardipoor.

The Blue Team have an explorer theming to them, reminiscent to Crocodile Dundee.

And The Gold Team are pirates.

But the heroic kind, not the usual, villainous kind!

But the major draw for them will be that in this universe, every member hails from a different part of the world.

It's no surprise that one of the major criticisms of X-Men in general is that in spite of serving as an allegory for minorities and oppressed groups, there's the irony that most of the team's most prominent members are white, conventionally attractive, "supposedly" straight Americans.

But here, they're the team equivalent of Mr. Worldwide!

Even the members that do come from the same country, reflect different backgrounds of that country.

Cyclops is still from The United States of America, specifically Alaska, but he's of mixed-raced heritage here. His father was German-American and his mother was Inupiat.

Wolverine is still from Canada, being of English descent.

Rogue is from South Africa, being of French and Italian descent (her full name is Marie D'Ancanto)

Gambit is still from Louisiana, being of Cajun background.

Psylocke is still from England, but she's of actual Japanese descent.

Beast is from, funnily enough, Australia, being of Scottish descent.

Jubilee is from China.

And Xavier is also from England.

Storm is actually from Kenya this time around: born and raised!

Jean is from Colombia, being Mulatta (specifically of French, Scottish and Congolese descendant). Her name here is also Juana Gris.

Nightcrawler is still from Germany.

Colossus is still from Russia.

Iceman is from Cuba, being of Spanish descent. His name here is also Roberto Draque.

Angel is from France, with her name being Wyn Warocqué.

Bishop is still American and of Aboriginal Australian descent, though it's much more explicit here.

Shadowcat is from Argentina, being of Scottish Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Her name here is Catalina Pryde.

And Emma is still from America, and from Boston, and is of Irish descent.

You may have noticed that I didn't talk about Morph.

Well that's because I can't really think of what background to give him.

If you can, I'd love to hear some suggestions of what to make his background.

Though I was thinking about keeping it like that, and having it be a running gag where nobody really knows where Morph comes from.

But besides that, what do you guys think about the new backgrounds I gave to these characters?

Also, I just had to do this before I end this....

Elektra, Cyclops, Colossus and Magik:

[thelaundrybitch]

Employment Opportunities - TMNT HCs

TURTLE DOVES

I hath finished some HCs that have been sitting in my drafts for FOREVER 👀

Please enjoy

TW: Thirsty bitch ahead. And some swear words.

Please don't steal my work. Reblogging for others to enjoy is highly encouraged, though 🤩

These are Jobs I can see the guys doing once accepted into society...

Raph 

Fire Chief. 

Probably Fire Marshall. 

Cuz boyfriend be hot hot hot

Dressed in that SCBA gear

Barking out orders to his men

Ripping down walls with his ax 🪓

Using ONE HAND to hold the fire hose while it spews tons of water at tremendous speeds 💦💦💦

Running into burning buildings to save children

Saving kittens from trees

Might also be a bartender.

Working those beer taps

Shaking up those margaritas

Poppin the tops off of beer bottles with his biceps 💪

Flirting with EVERYONE

Raking those tits tips in

But also

Bouncer backup™ 

boi-oi-oing

Don 

Forensics. 

Getting super into all the creepy, weird shit

Thinks about things that the detectives wouldn't ever even consider

Could actually, most likely, solve every case by himself

But that's a pain in the ass

And a lot of paperwork 📄🖇️

I could also see him being a judge. 🧑🏾‍⚖️

Seeing right through all the lawyer BS

Putting away the bad guys

Giving punk ass teens a shit load of community service

Tossing out parking tickets for all the little old ladies

Would definitely be a movie critic on the side 🎞️🍿

Acting more like Stetler and Waldorf 😂💜

Mike 

Animal Control Officer. 

Especially the big scary shit. 

Like crocodiles. 🐊

Or Huntsman spiders. 🕷️

I can see him Snow Whiting that shit too. 

*Sings sweetly and turns into the Pied Piper for all animals*

And sometimes women

Mike, as the animal control officer, would be like 

Crocodile Dundee x Steve Irwin. 

Asshole would be yelling CRIKEY at the worst moments.

Arrives at someone's house

Walks across the lawn to get to the backyard

For a run-of-the-mill opossum removal 

Finds your dog's chewed-up crocodile stuffed toy lying in the yard

Screams, "CRIKEY!"

right before you step on it and scaring the ever-loving shit out of you

As he dives in front of you and wrestles the toy like Ace Ventura

Tells you he's billing you for hazard pay 😂

He's totally only kidding

But still an ass 🧡

Leo  

OSHA inspector 😂💙 

Chief of all safety 

And the world's best asshole. 

"I'm sorry, sir. That cracked outlet cover is a direct OSHA violation." 😂

"No, ma'am, I will not drop the $5000 violation for all the missing grounding prongs on the shop vacs."

Would probably work part-time for a boys' teen center

Where all the little rat bastards delinquents like to hang out

And cause major shit

Teaching them respect

And Honor™ 

Through free ninjitsu classes 🥷🏽

I can also see him being a Fire Inspector. 

Working with the broski

Can you imagine?

Having Red and Blue show up at your workplace for a walkthrough inspection?

Bye bye panties 🩲

Oh shit

I'm on fire🔥

Safety Violation in progress

Get out those hoses

And hose me down, boys

🔥🔥💙❤️🔥🔥

Enjoying my work? Find my Master list HERE

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*If you aren’t on this list, please let me know if you want me to tag you in my other work or if you prefer me to not tag you 😘

[abbiistabbii]

Earth Change-notes 20072024.1

George Washington no longer King of Czechia.

Removed extra stripe from transgender pride flag.

Red Bull now no longer gives you literal wings.

Third Major football team (Dundee City) has been removed from Dundee.

The names of Hank and John Green have been swapped back to their original holders.

Removed Doggerland from the UN.

You can now no longer install Linux on Antoine Lavoisier.

Wacom tablets no longer give you the ability to shapeshift.

Sarah Palin has been removed from the board of British Telecom.

You can no longer play as Richard Stallman on Mario Kart World Tour.

St Andrews, Scotland, now no longer has a Tokamak Fusion reactor.