#never had so much beef with a label before

[im-still-watching-anime]

idk if i’ve ever said it but klavier’s sweet little awkward fiddling with his bangs sprite being called “pretentious” in the animation gallery is SO offensive to me personally

[devosin]

— LATE NIGHTS & FLASHING LIGHTS !! prologue : keeping up with Y/n L/n . .

♡. Spotify playlist | Updates, every Friday !! — Vil Schoenheit x reader | Y/n pov . .

Your fingers glided through the screen—which was on its lowest brightness setting—skimming through the terms and conditions of your contract, noting anything that stood out, before you threw the phone aside back on the nightstand and fell back down on your bed, pulling the comforter on yourself, as you try and relax your otherwise restless brain. 

Tired shallow breaths leave your chest, your eyebags felt heavy, almost weighing you down—and the light peeking from your curtains almost caused a headache—there was this feeling that grew in the pit of your stomach that you couldn’t quite label, a mix between both nausea and the dreadful feeling of doom, and after effect of an intense hangover, that didn’t seem to go away even if you drowned it in water and pills. 

You hated it, you hated how being drunk leads you to do impulsive shit, and you hated the aftereffects making you so wary of your decisions, which only resulted in you sowing every decision you make. 

Everytime you drink, you end up regretting it, and promising yourself that you won't ever again—it’s not that you're a heavy drinker—You just don’t trust yourself, you never have, but the alcohol really does wonders in bringing those feelings of deep-rooted insecurity up to the surface. 

It’s really not your fault, it was an after party for the cast and crew in celebration of your series finalé—You didn’t do well under pressure, and when everyone around you was pushing you to take another hit and another shot . . and well saying no would have ruined the mood—You don’t regret going on your phone, and you most definitely didn’t regret emailing a response back for the hosting offer—You would’ve accepted anyways, the alcohol just gave you the push you didn’t have before. 

It still triggers your anxiety, because you’re jumping into something headfirst with nothing prepared, you haven’t done that in ages. 

You sigh, getting up from your bed, you’re clearly not going to get any sleep with this much stress, it would be best if you get some air, to calm down . . . 

You were still in your pajamas, a large winter coat and hat covering most of your features (in order to avoid paparazzi), as you made your way through the streets, your hands buried in your pockets, forming fists as you looked through your surroundings. It was early november, barely any snow to be found yet it was colder than any winter you’ve ever experienced in the city. 

It’s been four years since you moved out to the outskirts of Pyroxene, you used to live in the capital, before your acting career even started. You even attended University there, not much going on with your degree anymore though. A lot of your friends still live there, and sometimes you miss the bustling streets, the noisy cafe’s, the ability to meet up with your friends as often as you’d like, or the feeling of home—However, if there’s one thing you don’t miss, it’s the fucking traffic. 

The traffic there was hell. You still have a small private condo in the capital under your name, considering a lot of your filming jobs take place there, and it seemed like a better investment than renting a hotel room every time, and hotels generally trigger your germaphobia . . —Plus it’s a lot cheaper just renting, and convenient for last minute things also hotels in the capital are fucking expensive—and everytime you film having to drive back and fourth made you want to take a knife to your throat, but that’s not a hotel exclusive problem. 

You snapped out of your thoughts, when you heard a car horn, realizing you had walked straight into traffic. 

‘Shit.’, you ran across the street as fast as you could, and for a moment you started believing in God again, because that was a close one. 

Y/n and Navia beef because I looped "Girls so confusing" remix a lil too much and I wanted to have a friendship rebound in this because I clearly ain't getting one irl. (ew trauma dumping? in front of my yogurt/j)

I decided to double post and publish both pov's (praise me frfr/j), so you can get a grip on how things might flow?! Also creating relationships of side characters and dynamics as we move along, I want ya'll to really know these characters.

Previous chapter | Masterlist | Next chapter . .

— LATE NIGHTS & FLASHING LIGHTS !! ♡. Synopsis : VIL SCHOENHEIT recently signed a contract under Descendant. Inc for his very own late night show, only to find out his co-star and fellow co-host is none other than Y/n L/n, someone he hates despite knowing very little about them and never having met them, previously. Y/N L/N, an actor who made their debut 3 years ago and hasn’t been able to catch a break since, recently decided to sign a deal with Descendants. Inc to host their new late night show “late nights & flashing lights”, as a break from acting . . Only to find out their favorite long-time actor will be co-hosting with them. Tune in every Friday, for a new episode of “late nights & flashing lights” to see if these two hosts can find a peaceful work-bond amidst their judgements . . and quite possibly even love? . .

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© devosin , do not repost, plagiarize, translate, or adapt my work without prior permission and or confirmation.

[eowynstwin]

Blackbird, Fly - Four

Cowboy Gaz x mail order bride—only, not his. After exchanging letters for half a year with ranching man Hans König, you finally travel out west to marry him. - Gaz had been the only one to try and warn you. - ao3

previous

When you wake the next morning, Hans’ side of the bed is empty, the linens already cold.

As sleep leaves you in fits and starts, the aches pull you inward—glowing dull and orange like banked embers. Your whole body feels like a twisted ankle. Nothing is broken, exactly, but every muscle feels as if it’s been pulled in a direction God never quite intended it to move.

Your shoulders. The meat of your thighs. Your hips.

The entrance to your womb.

It isn’t the knife-sharp pain from before. Only the muted, persistent throb of a wound left alone to heal. In the cottony space between sleep and waking, you think there should be more damage—for all of what happened last night. And yet, there isn’t.

Still, you don’t move when your eyes finally open. Stillness seems the only defense against the bare truth of the gray morning.

Your husband used you hard on your wedding night, and did not care for the pain he caused.

You are not fool enough to think your experience unique. Women talked as much as girls did. Your mother’s friends were wont to complain when they thought the children out of earshot: husbands who grunted and sweated over them in the night, often without uttering a word. Sometimes not even waiting for the pain of childbirth to subside before claiming their marital due.

You just had come to believe, with every letter that arrived, that your fate would be different.

But it turns out none of this is a dream after all.

Your throat closes, then. Tears prick hot in the corners of your eyes.

Stupid, stupid girl.

You swallow hard. Sit up away from the pillows, even as the aches flare in protest.

Beside you, where your husband slept, there’s a noticeable dip in the mattress. Worn in over years of slumber, and you, you suppose, on Anna’s side of the bed.

Was Hans kind to her too, before?

Abruptly you swing your legs out from the linens, and go to find one of the dresses you brought along from home.

The house is empty when you descend the stairs, as far as you can tell. You hear the steady tick, tock of a grandfather clock somewhere in the sitting room that you hadn’t noticed yesterday, in all of the commotion of the wedding preparations. The floorboards creak beneath your feet as your grumbling stomach leads you along to the kitchen.

The space is as modern and well-appointed as the rest of the house, and bigger than any kitchen you ever imagined needed to be. A cast-iron wood stove with four burners and a large oven, a sink with a pump right there by the basin, and—you nearly stop dead at the luxury—an ice box, right there beside one long counter.

You momentarily forget the troubles of the night, crouching beside the little box in fascination. A cloud of cool fog descends when you swing open the door; you brush the tips of your fingers across the huge block of ice on the top shelf, jerking them away when the cold unexpectedly burns. Not once in your life have you ever seen so much ice in one place.

On the lower shelf, you find cuts of pork and beef, wrapped in brown butcher’s paper and tied with string. Bacon for breakfast, then, and biscuits if you can find flour. Your mother always said that a difficult thing was easier after having a meal.

You find the larder stocked with further luxury. Nowhere are the home-jarred goods that would populate your family’s pantry, garden-grown vegetables pickled in vinegar or hand-pressed jams fresh from the blackberry bushes along the road. Instead you find rows and rows of cans, factory-sealed tins of manufactured uniformity, colorfully labeled and containing everything you might have ever thought to grow yourself and more.

Beans of every variety. Corn. Carrots. Peas. Beets. Tomatoes.

How much must all this have cost? So many, and lined up deep into the back of the larder. You and Hans couldn’t possible eat them all before some of them began to spoil. Of course, if he could afford to buy so much, maybe that didn’t matter.

You find the flour, and baking powder as well. Breakfast is a quick affair after that, and thankfully so, as your stomach really begins to complain as soon as the food is ready.

There’s a small table in the kitchen—yet more luxury, you think, remembering the long dining table you saw yesterday—and it’s there you sit down to solve your hunger.

The hard wooden chair is not kind to the ache between your legs.

You bite into the bacon, crunching it to pieces. There—it’s all right. You have your breakfast. Isn’t that something to be grateful for? Breakfast, and a nice stove, and an ice box, and a kitchen so stuffed with food that you can’t imagine ever running out.

Isn’t this what a loving husband provides? A good home, for his wife to live comfortably in? Pretty dresses, like the one he gave to you last night? A nice ring on your finger—the little gem glittering in the sunlight streaming in through the kitchen window?

Hans loves you. Of course. This is love.

You bite into one biscuit, hot and steaming from the pan and burning your tongue. Your mother can make them better, but you tried the best you could to follow the recipe she taught you.

The front door opens outside of the kitchen. Something quick and sharp travels up your spine. Heavy boots step inside—your husband, come looking for you—you freeze without realizing it, holding half-chewed food in your mouth—

“Mrs. König?” calls Kate Laswell, the foreman, and you relax.

“In here,” you call, after swallowing.

Laswell enters the kitchen, and turns to you, at the table. She’s dressed in mens’ clothes, dusty trousers and a heavy jacket over a button-up shirt, and a wide-brimmed hat still on her head. She looks like she’s dressed to travel.

“I’m afraid I can’t show you the accounts today, like I said I would,” she tells you, no preamble, no pleasantries.

You remember then your brief conversation with her the previous night—and Hans’ disapproval at the idea.

You set down your biscuit. “Good morning, Miss Laswell. Why not?”

“I’m going over to visit the Vargas place. We’ve been working on a leasing deal. I’ll explain when I get back.”

“Of course,” you say. “Would—” you clear your throat, embarrassed— “Would you know where my husband might be?”

The lines of Laswell’s face tighten. She has a severe look to her that you think is always present—ranch work must harden anyone, man or woman—but there is no wedding happening around you now to distract you from the unmistakable displeasure on her face.

“Last I saw he was out with the herd,” she says shortly. “Anyway, I’ll be gone for a few days. The ledger is in the cabinet by the desk. Take a look at it if you find the time.”

She tips her hat to you before you can figure out how to respond—some part of you bristles at being given orders by someone who is now, ostensibly, your employee—and leaves the kitchen. You scramble to follow her, and catch her when she’s nearly out the door.

“Miss Laswell,” you call, “is Hans—is my husband—”

You’re not very sure what you intended to ask her, before you began the question. Nor, you realize, do you think she could answer honestly, if you asked her what you really wanted to know. It wouldn’t be her place, and it would be inappropriate of you to ask.

If you could actually work up the courage to approach it.

So you settle for, “Is my husband angry with me?”

She stops, and blinks at you. You see her look you up and down, briefly, but when she meets your eyes her expression is impossible to read.

“I have no idea,” she says, and her tone betrays nothing. “Gaz wants to see you in the stables when you have a moment today. Ma’am.”

She nods farewell at you and leaves.

The steady ticking of the grandfather clock punctuates the end of the odd exchange. Disoriented, you return to the kitchen to clear away the remnants of your breakfast, flushing in confusion.

Do you really want this?

His question rings now in your ears. Along with it come memories of the previous night. The Madame’s odd interest in you. The store owner Miss Boucher’s sidelong glance at Hans. Myriad other quirks of the brow or mouth that you only now grasp the meaning of.

Everyone knew, somehow, what was coming. Everyone except you.

And Gaz had been the only one to try and warn you.

You tug on a shawl as you step out onto the front porch, breathing in the mountain air. The morning chill hasn’t yet burned off, and the sky has yet to gain its full color. Across the clearing, Kyle Garrick is at work in the stable’s corral.

He holds one end of a long lead, attached at the other to the bridle of a red-brown horse, which trots in a wide circle around him. Occasionally, with the lunge-whip he holds in his free hand, Gaz taps the horse’s hindquarters, redirecting it patiently whenever it tries to move inward or otherwise deviate from its orbit.

Horses are scared creatures, Miss, I don’t know if you know this, Hans had written. You must be gentle when you train them, or destine them to a lifetime of anxiety.

When you approach, the horse’s attention briefly turns toward you, but Gaz taps it again and it goes back into its pacing. You have a moment to admire the long line of the cowboy’s body, the focused angles of his shoulders and hips, before he addresses you, sensing your presence without having to turn and look at you.

“Good morning, miss,” he says. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, thank you,” you say. It feels dishonest, even if it isn’t a lie. “Good morning, Mr. Garrick.”

The horse makes its way past you, and then Gaz brings it to a stop. He winds up the lead in one hand and makes his way over to you, meeting you where you stand by the corral fence.

You can’t help but notice how handsome he looks in the light of late morning. The serious expression on his face is the same one he’d worn the day before; you suspect it’s his natural disposition.

You remember the brief smile he’d shown you last night, before Hans had taken you away, and your cheeks warm despite yourself.

“I thought I might introduce you to the horses today,” he says. “If you’ve got the time, that is.”

“Oh,” you gasp, suddenly eager, “Please! I’ve been looking forward to it ever since Hans proposed! I told him about the two old nags we had on our farm, to pull our wagon, and he said—”

We must get you on a proper horse, then, to show you the true pleasure riding may offer.

You stop mid-sentence. Something about what Hans had written rings in your memory now with a different note. It seems…mocking, almost. Imbued purposefully with a meaning intended to escape you, given you had not the experience enough to catch it.

Shame blooms painfully behind your breastbone.

“…He mentioned he’d bring me to meet them,” you say lamely.

The smile Gaz gives you doesn’t reach his eyes. “He’s very busy, or I suppose he would be today.”

“I suppose,” you echo.

Gaz inhales deeply, and then he gestures to the red-brown horse. “Well—this here is Newt. I’ve been getting him used to the bridle today.”

“Hello, Newt,” you say to the horse. You reach a hand out, briefly, but then pull it back; your instinct is to let the horse get your scent, like you might with a farm dog, but you don’t know if you should. Your father had always handled the nags.

Gaz notices, and brings one big hand to Newt’s long face, squeezing the arch of his muzzle. The horse’s eyes droop in obvious pleasure.

“He’s a big baby,” says Gaz, expression gentling. “I’m trying to see if he’ll make a good cutter, but it’s too early to tell.”

You reach out again. Newt’s velvety nostrils flare as he inhales, and then his hot breath bathes your hand and wrist. You suppose you have his approval, because Newt simply works his teeth a little and makes no indication of displeasure.

“A cutter?”

“Yeah. The kind of horse that can cut a steer out from the herd so you can drive it someplace else,” Gaz explains. “Horses either got cow-sense, or they don’t. Here, come around inside and I’ll show you the rest.”

Long Mask Ranch, Hans had written, built its reputation on the quality of its quarter horses. In the early days of its inception, his father had struck an extremely lucrative deal providing the US Army with its cavalry mounts, which had turned out to be a perfect way for the ranch’s reputation to spread. Even after the army mostly withdrew from the region, every state in the surrounding countryside knew: if you wanted good horses, you went to Long Mask.

“These are the yearlings,” Gaz explains as he leads you through the stable. “Just now we’re getting them trained to follow directions. Won’t be riding ‘em for a couple years yet.”

He puts Newt away and beckons you to follow. In the neighboring stall, one of the horses pokes its head out over the gate. It’s a light-colored colt, yellowish in the body and white-maned.

“This is Gus,” Gaz says, scratching its fuzzy chin. “He’s a big flirt, yeah, aren’t you, boy?”

You also reach out to give Gus a pat, and the colt chuffs and butts his nose into your hand, proving Gaz’s accusation. You can’t help giggling a little.

When another horse across the building snorts, Gaz chuckles, and leads you in the direction of the noise. “Ah, yeah, and that’s Woodrow. Him and Gus are always goin’ at it, but you won’t ever see better friends.”

Woodrow is dark gray horse with a distinctly unamused face. He accepts a pat on the forehead with what you can only describe as resigned patience. Gaz feeds him a sugar cube from one pocket for his trouble.

He takes you further along down the line of stalls. You meet a spirited filly named Elmira, and a colt beside her named July whose love for her is unrequited.

“We’ve already gelded him, so it wouldn’t matter much anyway,” Gaz relates.

He speaks fondly of every horse as you meet them, with the familiarity of long days working beside each of them. It relaxes him, you realize, to speak of them—the hard set of his expression has softened, the serious line of his brows eased from their iron setting.

It makes him look—not younger, you decide, but properly his age. A cowboy just beginning the best years of his career, still hale and fit enough to meet the rough demands of the job, but with enough experience under his belt to confront any challenge with confidence.

Such confidence is obvious in the way he moves. He walks loose and easy through the stable, his every step as assured as the sunrise the next morning. The line of his broad shoulders, the swooping curve of his back—they tell you at a mere glance that home is in this place, working with these creatures, and there could be nothing more Kyle Garrick might long for besides.

Envy twists your intestines around its fingers. There’s an empty space inside of you that you’d been expecting, as your wedding vows had finally taken flight, to fill with that same feeling.

At the end of the stable, in a stall in the back corner, a horse pokes its head out over the gate. It’s bigger than the yearlings, with a pale face and a dark, gray muzzle. It looks right at you, with such a clear focus that it startles you.

“Ah,” says Gaz, when he sees. “Was wondering if she’d notice us.”

“She?”

He nods. “A mare. She’s…difficult.”

The mare stares at you, with deep, night-black eyes.

“What do you mean?” you ask.

Gaz works his lips over his teeth. “Mr. König bought her last year off another rancher who was ‘bout fit to shoot her. She’s a thoroughbred, and she ain’t never met a white man she likes. As like to buck a man off as to let him ride.”

“Oh,” you say.

Gaz leans against the wall between two stalls. “Mr. König thought he might be able to break her. So far she hasn’t gotten him off her, but she won’t let him come near without putting up a fight. I’m the only one can saddle ‘er.”

You frown. “Why would he ride a horse that doesn’t want to be ridden?”

At that, Gaz’s eyes go cold. Shockingly cold, like an empty winter’s night. “Suppose he just likes taking what he wants, I guess.”

You should reprimand him. You know it immediately. It’s no way to talk about his employer, and certainly nothing he should ever say in front of you, his employer’s wife.

But you remember the blood, and still feel the ache. You have to look away from him, ashamed. Embarrassed.

You cannot defend your husband, and he must know it.

“I imagine he must know what he’s about,” you mumble.

Gaz gives a derisive snort. “I don’t know about that. He’s of a mind to start with thoroughbreds, but she will not let him breed her. Damn near killed every stallion he’s brought her to try.”

It hits you so sharply that you inhale with sudden pain, pressure knifing at your eyes. You turn away from Gaz entirely now, pressing your hands to your chest. Every ache from the night previous ricochets around inside you again, knocking all the way down into your bones.

You tip your head upward, as if it will prevent the gathering tears from falling. What’s worse, Gaz puts a hand on your shoulder behind you. You flinch at the touch, hips aching where Hans had bruised them in his grip.

“I’m sorry, Miss,” Gaz says softly. He sounds like he means it. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

He knows exactly what ails you. And why wouldn’t he? He’s known his employer for years. He’s worked this ranch for longer than you’ve even known of its existence.

He knew the previous Mrs. König, who first endured Hans’ attentions.

You are a terrible fool, and you are the last to know it.

He doesn’t remove his hand as you tremble. He squeezes you gently, the same caress he’d given to the young colt Newt. It is so kind that it nearly breaks you.

“Here,” Gaz murmurs, “let’s see something.”

You turn back to him; he takes your hand, and leads you to the back of the stable. The mare follows the two of you with her eyes, expression unchanging as you approach her.

Closer now, she is a stunning creature. You’ve never seen anything like her. Her coat is silvery-gray, with darker patterns all over her body, like ink absorbed into paper and then laid beneath a light rain. Her legs and mane are the same dark color as her muzzle, and there is a deep intelligence in her eyes as she beholds you.

“You might be the first woman she’s ever seen up close,” Gaz says.

He takes up a position behind you, and turns your hand over in his, opening your fingers. Then, slowly, so the horse can see it, he brings them to her face, pressing your fingertips to the soft whorl on her forehead.

The mare’s eyes do not leave you. She exhales a little through relaxed nostrils, chuffing, flicking her ears toward you. You play with the starburst of pale hair, following the direction it grows; her lids, heavy with thick, black lashes, drop a little.

“I’ll be,” Gaz murmurs behind you. “I think she might like you, miss.”

A loud BANG claps against the wall on the other end of the stable, and the mare jerks her head immediately, flinging your hand away. She grunts, snorts, and dances away from the gate, shaking her head, eyes flaring wide.

You and Gaz both look to the commotion—

Your husband stands in the open doorway, cast in a dark silhouette by the late morning light.

“Just what the hell are you doing?”

-

next

a/n: the horses' names are all references to characters in my favorite western, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.

[grimmcheems]

Naruto…..but if Neji was clan heir instead.👩🏽‍🦯

I’ve had this AU wedged in my head for like a year(and a half??) now and have just now made an art on it oop. So anyways…..Hinata has the curse seal and dies in place of Neji in the canon. Also Naruto actually reciprocates her feelings and they bond over the fact that nobody else likes/respects them.(by that I mean the village bc them mfs was beefing with kids for no reason💀) Shino and Kiba also thought of Hinata as like a little sister, so their reactions to them bringing her body back are very much NOT OKAY.

Neji and Hinata’s dynamic is the same despite now being in opposing positions in this. Neji is very much an axxhole but Hinata always saw past it since he was the only kid in their family that she could talk to or ‘play’ with. Sakura bears immense guilt over not being able to save her in time because she’s a medical ninja and was pretty much Hinata’s only female friend. I haven’t reached Shippuden yet (wack coming from me already making this art based off that timeline lmao) but Sasuke occasionally checks on the village here, hence his appearance in this. The “busy” referring to her funeral being held and the talks amongst the village people about the Hyuuga clan now no longer having a branch family(Hinata was the last, ik she has a sister but we’re gonna pretend their parents died before that) to use their cursed seal on.

Back to Naruto, yes he likes her in this, they’re basically labeled as childhood sweethearts by everyone else and they even promised to get married maybe two yrs prior to this.🥲Hinata’s family never liked him but as he is the only one left of his clan as well, they basically left them to their own devices since them marrying actually wouldn’t be a bad idea. Neji ,however, opposed it and often made fun of them for it. Hinata and Neji had always had a rocky relationship and it’s somewhat stable in this but Neji always took her and her help for granted until the year leading up to her death.

Let’s just say he was the one initiating conversations more and no longer displayed his animosity towards her as often, but he still had a bunch to work on. Also his father(he is alive in this) is devastated when they arrive back with her as a casualty.

I really need to make more to cover the whole context but this is all I could do y’all. I was getting impatient and I conveniently never make shit in order💪🏽.

[nothorses]

I cannot stress enough that

My beef with the term "culturally Christian" is specifically the application of it to individuals (and more specifically the non-consensual application of it to individuals).

I understand that "cultural Christianity"- as in the cultural phenomena- is a real thing. I have known this since I was very young. I have felt like an outsider, constantly, because of Christian hegemony; I can't imagine how much more severe that experience is for folks of minority religions.

I think it might reduce confusion to use alternative terms like "Christian hegemony" to refer to the broad cultural issue, rather than a term that originates as an individual label, but I don't take serious issue with the term in that broad, cultural application.

The idea that there exists a way to be a Christian without believing in Christianity as a religion is… definitely a conversation worth having, I think.

I understand that it would be useful to have a term to refer to people who aren't Christian, but who still act like they are.

I don't really have an elegant solution here; obviously using "culturally Christian" to refer to a specific subset of people has been tried and has, instead, meaningfully shifted the entire conversation to where people essentially believe that you can either think:

Christian hegemony exists and therefore everyone deemed "default" (christian, ex-christian, or just atheist/agnostic and not closely associated with a minority religion) is a non-practicing Christian, or

Not everyone deemed "default" is actually a non-practicing Christian, therefore there is no such thing as Christian hegemony.

And like. Obviously I am not a fan of the whole "this word is bad, pick another one before we let you talk about this Very Real Problem we don't believe you have"-style discourse. That's kinda my whole Thing.

So 🤷‍♂️

The thing is that the problem remains, and by "the problem" I mean the flattening of this issue and the lived experiences being discussed here into, like, "if you're not a minority theist you're functionally Christian".

And the exclusion of any voices that exist outside of this strict binary.

And the treatment of atheism as such a non-entity that otherwise sensible people are insisting that atheism has never been and cannot be marginalized in any way, and that no atheists ever have had reason, or should have space, to discuss our own fucked up treatment by Christianity on the basis of our beliefs.

And I just think that this also feels a lot like some "your experiences aren't important enough for us to consider hearing you out, making space for you, and including you as our natural allies" stuff I feel pretty strongly about.

[thatawkwardmoth]

Rachel Summers Childhood Headcanons

Scott used to have to stand over Rachel's crib and keep a hand on her stomach to keep her asleep. She was born premature (supposed to be due in the spring like Nathan) and got too used to falling asleep with one of her parents hands on her through the incubator. 

Rachel refused to smash her cake on her first birthday. She liked picking off the designs on it but when Bobby pushed her hand down so she could actually smash it, she started crying. Scott and Jean just let her eat her cake how she wanted. 

Used to purposefully leave out Legos so Logan stepped on them. Had the most beef with this man as a toddler just because. 

Was labeled a colicky baby by everyone else outside the mansion because of how fussy she was. Jean being a telepath figured out quickly that it was more sensory issues than just random crying. By the time she was a year old, she was no longer as fussy. 

Had an entire nursery for Rachel in the mansion that Scott and Jean never used once. Eventually it became her bedroom when she was a little older but for the first year of her life, she stayed in Scott and Jean's room. Both of them were constantly worried and the school was loud but the teacher's rooms were soundproof. Easier for them all the way around. 

Rachel's first cuss word was damn and Jean almost killed Logan over it until Bobby admitted it was him who taught her it. 

Rachel loved her universes version of Kurt when she was little and was offended when people would be scared of him. He'd make a game out of snapping his teeth at her to make her giggle, knowing he'd never actually hurt her. 

Hated having long hair, used to find any possible way to get her parents to cut her hair until she finally just admitted she hated her hair long. 

Looks exactly like Scott but with Jean's hair and eyes. So childhood pictures of Scott are only different from childhood pictures of Rachel by the hair color and the lack of a little brother. 

Alex might've fought with Scott almost every time he saw him, over whatever little thing, but he never yelled at Rachel and was often the one to spoil his niece rotten. He was a sucker for her from day one of Scott introducing them. 

Despite having an entire school ready and willing to babysit Rachel, Scott and Jean used to have her sitting in their classrooms while they taught.

As the only baby in the school for the longest time, Rachel ruled the school without knowing it. Everyone was looking out for her. 

Storm is her godmother and she took the job very seriously. Any issues Rachel had, Storm was there. Ororo enjoyed spending time with her niece and telling her stories of Africa and her journeys. 

Warren was her godfather and in her universe, before he died, she had a hefty fund set up for her to help her future. 

Scott, as much as he loves piloting, put off taking Rachel on a plane ride for so long. He was terrified of something happening to her or the plane, his childhood coming back to haunt him. But he over prepared like always and the flight was perfectly fine. It started Rachel's love for flying. 

The Phoenix Force is fiercely protective over it's child, something not even Jean thought would happen. But she could feel it, in the back of her mind whenever she was around Rachel, the overwhelming entity of cosmic energy and it's love for their child. 

Rachel enjoyed spending time with Rogue a lot as a child, purely because Rogue never touched her like the others did. She didn't have to dodge hair ruffles or pokes or hugs. She could just sit and read with Rogue or listen to the southern belle rant and rave about Remy while the tiny ginger giggled away. 

Always wanted a sibling but Scott and Jean were never really ready for a second kid. Whenever they thought it was time, something new was happening in the world, something against mutants. Rachel always felt sad about that, she wanted siblings like her parents had. 

[bonesfool]

kinda pissed off that people who I've never seen talk about rap before are making memes about the kendrick v drake beef (especially all the people comparing it to the fucking Hmbomberguy James Somerton video like tell me you don't know shit about black culture without telling me Jesus Christ), but I'm glad its become a catalyst for the conversation that so many white people on here just do not engage in black art forms

a lot of people have been boiling it down to if you claim to universally not enjoy rap, a genre that is almost universally populated by black artists, producers and record labels you're racist. this is certainly true, especially if you don't treat other genres as monoliths you can write off. (cough cough we all saw those tags on that one post)

But as someone who has a special interest in protest music (usually American protest music specifically) I think that even if you genuinely do not enjoy the sound of rap, if you consider yourself to be an American leftist, and have not made any effort to at least learn the history of rap you're not only racist, you're also uneducated and I would go as far to say not a real leftist. Why? because rap is inherently political: both in the sense that all music is political because all art is political, but also in the sense that rap uniquely political as a black art form

I've seen a lot of people saying "not all rap is about drugs and violence" which is a true statement, but ignores the fact that a lot of rap *is* about drugs and violence. and for a fucking good reason, both of them dominated the urban black experience in the 80s and 90s, and therefore have a disproportionate appearance in black art. Rap was born in American urban centers in the 70s/80s, a time when Reagan and Nixon's policies had completely divested federal support from urban centers, deindustrialization had made growing wealth in black communities suddenly become unsustainable, and racist policing laws had been put in place to funnel black men into drugs and then into the prison industrial complex (read The New Jim Crow if you have not, this post is already too long and if you don't know about the war on drugs im not gonna whitesplain it to you more than I already have).

Point being, it has always sucked to be black in this country, and rap was birthed in a time where uniquely targeted racism was driving much of federal policymaking. It was a time where mainstream politics were directly reactionary to the progress made by civil rights activists in ending Jim Crow and other de jure racism. So much of rap (particularly gangsta rap) was born as a genre of protest music, and much of it continues to be to this day. If you don't have at least passing familiarity with the giants of the genre (I'm not saying you even have to like their music, you just have to know the artists' and songs' significance in American countercultural history) I simply do not trust your knowledge of American leftism or protest movements

All this to say, I want to wholeheartedly recommend the documentary series Hip-Hop Evolution. It's on Netflix and its 16 episodes covering the history of DJing, hip-hop, and rap. It has lots of interviews with prolific and influential producers and rappers, and you can also hear some of their music throughout the series, so its a great place to get a comprehensive view of the genre and maybe see if there are any subgenres to your taste

[uramilf]

hi love can I request some angst with a happy ending. singer y/n and matty being official but y/n is having some trouble with her reputation lately (inspired by the whole taylor & kanye beef) so she tries to breakup with matty in order to protect him and not drag him anymore (saying he deserves better or something like that) so she booked a flight and goes back to her hometown but then our sweet lover boy matty chases her then one day he knocks at her door and they talk it out ;* I really need some angsty happy ending rn thank you my love!

A/N: Okay I loved this is I decided to turn it into a proper oneshot, thank you anon!! Fair warning: I'm not fully sure what happened between Taylor and Kanye but I know he accused her of not deserving an award so that's what I went with in this fic! Sorry if that wasn't what you meant!!

Warnings: angst, swearing, very sad shenanigans ensue

Reputation

"Y/n Y/l/n is currently in some hot water with pop music fans as she is accused of robbing other artists of Artist of the Year award. Y/l/n may have won multiple awards this year, but did she really deserve them?"

"Music sensation Y/n Y/l/n is a talented artist, fans agree, but it looks like her time in the industry could be limited as other artists express their upset at her recent win - could her rockstar boyfriend Matty Healy be the real reason for her success?"

"Brit award and Grammy holder Y/m Y/l/n slammed for her recent success this award season as she is called 'undeserving and untalented'. Her boyfriend, frontman of the global phenomenon The 1975, is yet to speak on the issue after being accused of helping her to acquire her fanbase."

You shut your laptop with a slam before you could delve any deeper into the comments being made about you online. You had been ecstatic with your recent win, and as Matty had also won an award the same night, you two felt invincible. That was until you began to be talked about negatively following your win, and you started to doubt how deserving of it you were. You started to believe what was being said about you online. That out of the hugely talented list of nominees, you were the least exciting. You started asking yourself if the only reason your fanbase had expanded was because of Matty. You wondered if you would lose fans in the event of a breakup.

It only took a few hours for the tabloids to bring Matty into the situation. They accused him of writing all your songs for you. Of course you had collaborated with him in the past, but you had credited him as a co-writer. The rest of your discography was your own. Matty was accused of begging Jamie to sign you at Dirty Hit, but of course you had been signed due to your musical talent and songwriting ability. In fact, you hadn't even known Matty before you were publicly represented by the label. Nevertheless, you could see you boyfriend beginning to be dragged down by the accusations made against you. You knew you couldn't let it happen. He had built such a successful music career for himself, and you couldn't be the reason he lost respect in the industry. It was going to hurt, but you knew what you had to do.

-----------------------

You had booked yourself on the first flight back to your hometown and told your parents you were coming to stay. Your stuff was packed up in boxes, ready to be transported back home, while your essentials were in a suitcase by the door. You sat anxiously on the sofa waiting for Matty to arrive home from the studio. When he did, you could hear him ranting from the second he opened the door. "Babe! Have you seen what those fuckers at The Sun have said now? This is bullshit!" He didn't get much further before spotting your suitcase. "What's this? What are you -" "Matty, I'm sorry?" "What are you talking about? Tell me what's going on!" "I never wanted you to be dragged into this. My reputation is ruined. It's only a matter of time before the label drops me." "That's bullshit babe, and you know it! Jamie loves you like family, he's gonna get you through this." Matty took your hand. "Please don't listen to what the press is saying, babe. You deserved those awards. And you have never lied about writing your own music. Now will you please tell me what's happening?" "I'm leaving, Matty. I'm going home." "That's ok baby, you just need a break. How long will you be gone?" You just shook your head at him, a tear falling down you face. You couldn't say it. "Darling, please, what are you saying?" "We need to break up, Matty. I need to protect you from this. You deserve so much more than me. More than the person who's ruining your image over a stupid fucking award."

Matty's face fell immediately. His eyes filled with tears and you could barely look at him knowing the hurt you had caused him. "I'm sorry," you whispered, and turned to leave. "No. Absolutely not." Matty caught you hand and pulled you to him. "You can't leave, not after everything we've been through. I love you. I need you." "I love you too, Matty. More than anything in the world. That's why I have to go. You love your music, and I can't let you be dragged down by my reputation anymore. We can't be together. We just can't."

--------------------------

As you lay in bed in your rented apartment near your hometown, your mind wandered to the look on Matty's face when you walked out on him three months earlier. He cried when you left, you could hear him sobbing behind you as you walked out the door. You had seen him cry before, but never like that, and it scared you. Maybe that's why you were so quick to leave. You didn't want to see the damage you had caused.

The comments online and the seemingly never-ending news articles had died down, of course. Not even a week later, some actor you had never heard of said something problematic and you were left alone. As for the public, they began to see sense and you had received hundred of comments on your social media saying things along the lines of "We support you Y/n!" or "We all know you deserve every bit of success." It was encouraging, but you felt you weren't ready to return to the studio yet. More than that, you weren't ready to return to the label and potentially face Matty.

It must have been one in the morning when you were awakened by frantic knocking on your door. Startled, you jumped out of bed and ran to the door. You opened the door a crack, and your breath caught in your throat when you saw who it was. Matty Healy, with his curls tousled by the wind, tearstains on his cheeks and a tiredness in his eyes you had only seen when he returned from a tour. He must have gotten off a flight and come straight to you. You swung the door open and he tensed up when he saw the worried look on your face.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Is everyone ok?" "Everyone's fine, darling. Except me." "What? What happened?" "You. You happened. I can't be alone anymore love, I just can't. I need you back home with me." "Matty, you know I can't do that." "And why the hell not? All that stuff with the press cleared up after you left me." "And what if it starts back up again? I can't let you be dragged down by me again." Matty took your face in his hands. "Listen to me darling, please. I simply can't be away from you any longer. I have never loved someone like I love you. I don't care what those fuckers on the internet have to say about me. I would have my reputation ruined a thousand times for you. I would do anything for you, I would die for you. You know that. So why won't you come home and be with me?"

You couldn't stay away from him for a moment longer either. You threw yourself into his arms and started to cry into his chest, his fingers running through your hair to soothe you. He was whispering between pressing kisses to your head. You couldn't hear what he was saying, but it was comforting. Matty picked you up with ease and you threw your legs around his waist, still crying. He shut the door behind him and walked you over to the sofa, where he stayed with you, holding you tightly in his arms until you had calmed down. "There, angel. You're ok." "I'm sorry, Matty. I didn't know I had upset you so much." "Of course you did, babe. How could you ever think I would be better off without you?" You almost started crying again, overcome with guilt, but Matty took you in his arms again. "Don't cry, sweet girl. It's ok, I'm not upset anymore. But I don't give a shit about what's being said about me online, as long as I have my best girl with me." He wiped away your tears and pressed a sweet kiss to your lips, the first in months. "I wanted to go back, I really did," you assured Matty. "But I thought you would have forgotten about me and moved on. And I definitely thought you stopped loving me." Matty's heart sank at your small voice and he mentally kicked himself for not calling you more times after you moved away. He kissed your cheek reassuringly and brushed your hair behind your ear, before pulling your closer and speaking in a low tone into your ear.

"I could never forget you, angel. And I have never stopped loving you."

[jovenshires]

hi katie jovenshires im a big fan. if ur ok with sharing, what ships are in the botb au and what are the vibes for each 👀

thank you so much!! <3<3<3

hmm i've been thinking about this and i think i'm only deadset on spommy, ianthony, kolivia, and amangela as far as like. my canon goes. not sure what if any other ships im gonna include... ive gone back and forth with shaymien and shaynse too but not sure!!

but, i will say, for the most part the edits are mostly left up to interpretation so you can all decide whatever ships you want really!! (or if you don't want any ships at all that's cool too <3) like i've said to me the botbau is a little collaborative barbie world that we can all make whatever we want out of. like i told someone the other day - if you wanna write a fic or make an edit or something for this and it doesn't exactly line up with what i might write or think ab the au... PLEASE go for it. it is out there, public domain now, do with it what you will. and i will love and eat it up no matter what!!

as for the vibes in MY head, i will throw them under the cut so this post doesn't get too long KFNLKNKFNF

spommy: i've covered this a little before here so if you want the full version check that out but BASICALLY spommy is kind of rivals-to-friends-to-lovers except tommy has an Extremely one-sided beef and spencer just thinks he's cool and wants to be buds. eventually spencer wins him over and then... uh oh! love! once again skimmin some details that, if i ever Write A Fic for it, will be spoilers. but that’s the idea you know

ianthony: taking this directly from my dms to lilac but basically. ianthony botbau my beloveds....... to relearn how to co-pilot something with someone that should come so second-hand to you but you're both different people now but your feelings carry through anyway for who they were and are and will be........ yeah theyre everything to me. in a way it's a mirror to life/what actually happened to them with smosh (art imitates life) but the divorce era was even MORE famous because they're like a household name so it was a lot more pressure. idk yet if they were together beforehand and then broke up and now they're getting BACK together or if they had unresolved feelings they never dealt with and now they're struggling to reconcile them with their renewed friendship AND reunited band/the fame that comes from that... but either way they are Messy. im obsessed.

kolivia: kolivia in this au fascinates me because in my head keith is kind of known for being a player and fucking around but i think he stopped that Ages ago because. these two are basically dating. like they don't put a label on it and it's not public and i don't even know if THEY know how in love they are. but they live together. they sleep together "just to blow off steam" (come on now). they don't date other people. everyone can see it but them type beat. olivia's like "he's not my boyfriend" and then picks up the phone and is like "hi baby do you want chinese for dinner" NDLFKNANKSFLN like they are exclusive and they have deep feelings for each other but they are both so deeply in denial that they swear they're not dating. they have realistically been in a relationship for like five years.

amangela: RIVALS TO LOVERS AGAINNNN i have talked about this one a Lot with baflegacy bc like. they are my roman empire. at least these two have met on multiple occasions and actually fought with each other - they keep meeting at gigs/in bars and bickering. angela "clearly abba is the best band ever" giarratana and amanda "WHAT about fleetwood mac you DUMB ASS" lehan-canto. like they meet a bunch and EVERY time they end up bickering. meanwhile angela keeps seeing thirst traps of amanda on tiktok and being like "why are all the lesbians obsessed with her she SUCKS" and chanse and arasha, who have heard this three million times, are like "yeah okay buddy whatever helps you sleep at night." meanwhile amanda is living her bliss <3 and then they realize they're both in battle of the bands and uh oh! things come to a head!

[ghouls-and-chems]

John Hancock (Fallout 4) x Sole Survivor OC Fanfic

Rating: MATURE (MDNI)

you are responsible for the content you consume. This work of fiction is intended for those that are 18+.

Tags:

John Hancock x Female Sole Survivor, John Hancock x Sole survivor OC, Fluff, Slow Burn, Angst, Mystery, Slight Alternate universe, Violence, Mature language, Smut. (this will be updated as I continue to write this)

Summary:

Having survived 3 weeks on the surface, Bonnie Labelle finds herself in GoodNeighbor looking for answers to her awakening in a Vault. She has no memory of what happened just before she entered the Vault or even the start of the war. And she herself is shocked by her skills when surviving. The mayor of GoodNeighbor is just as shocked and intrigued by how she’s survived this long.

Authors Note:

Hallo! This is a bit of an alternate universe fic where the sole survivor was cryogenically frozen, but not with their family. My character does not have a son or husband in this fic. The conditions and reasoning for the vault she was placed in will be revealed as the story progresses. I hope you enjoy it! I’m just having some fun writing about the beef jerky man. Yanno how it is. 💀

The sound of gunshots could be heard in the distance as the girl dove behind a crumbled building.

Her hair was a mess, the dress she wore was tattered and dirty. Her face stained with blood. She’d already forgotten what kill it came from. Her legs littered with cuts and bruises.

She huffed as she swung her rifle over the crumbled wall and took aim at a raider in the distance.

Her shot rang out loud, and the raider’s body flew back and onto the floor now missing his head. Now she could continue her journey in peace.

This was Bonnie’s 3rd week in the wasteland since she left the vault she awoke from cryogenisis in.

Her mind was more jumbled than she felt it should have been. Having no recollection of much. Some stuff was coming back in pieces. She remembered the ongoing war.

But that’s when things get hazy. She never even remembered entering the vault or the bombs dropping. Or where her family was. If they entered with her. Documents in the vault provided no help. There were just dead bodies. Luckily there were weapons.

But The biggest question she had was why she was still alive. All the other pods failed.

Yet here she was. A woman who looked like she had stepped out of a pre-war magazine. Her black wavy hair was now much more disheveled but still looked cleaner than most. Her skin, soft and smooth, with hardly any impurities. At least none that the wasteland could take credit for. No missing limbs. She stuck out like a sore thumb and so far it had proved to be a huge problem.

She learned quick not to trust just anyone.

As she walked she kept her guard up. Trying to stay out of sight for the most part. Some settlers she stayed with said there was a memory Den in the Goodneighbor settlement.

At first she assumed it was for drugs. But upon further explanation she realized it may just be a tool she needed to find out why her memories from just before the vault were so scrambled.

Her pip boy indicated the coordinations were close. She hummed to herself when she finally noticed a sign reading “ Good neighbor” and an arrow pointing toward a short alleyway.

Sure enough the bright neon sign came into view. She had made it. And it wasn’t a rumor.

She smiled to herself as she took a breath.

I’d do well to blend in and gain trust.

She thought to herself before observing her tattered dress. A forest green cocktail dress she found in her old home just outside the vault. It was better than the hospital-like gown she wore when she woke up.

She’d managed to strap some armor to her limbs for better protection. And pinned her hair up with stray Bobby pins. While she looked like she’d been through hell and back to someone from the old world, someone from the new world would know she had not been around on the surface very long.

She sighed. “ This will have to do.” She grumbled, knowing she was taking a risk with whatever kinds of people were in this town.

She knocked on the door. And after a moment the door opened down a small tunnel into a square.

It wasn’t as busy as she thought it would be.

She walked forward taking in the sights of a civilization that hadn’t totally crumbled. Shops. Shop keepers. People smoked as they carried on their business.

Like the world didn’t end.

“ Hey doll. You new to Goodneighbor?” A scruffy voice grumbled in front of her suddenly.

She hesitantly took a step back. “ Oh…” she stumbled her words.

“ You look like the kinda dame that could use insurance.” He grinned. “ Lucky for you, I happen to provide. So what do you say?”

“ Insurance?” Bonnie said in slight disbelief with a small scoff. “ Didn't think insurance would be worth anything now.” She commented.

“ You saying my services ain’t up to par?” He growled suddenly.

Bonnie tensed as her eyebrows narrowed. “ I never said that. You inferred it. I don’t want trouble. So I’ll just be on my way—“ she said, trying to step around him. Only for him to step into her path again.

“ Well maybe I want trouble.” He growled looking her up and down. The way he gazed over her sent a shiver down her spine.

“ Whoa Finn. That ain’t no way to treat a new guest.” A low voice sounded from the alleyway. She looked to see a man, lighting a cigarette as he exited the shadows.

His boots stomped against the pavement with Rhythm. His hat covered most of his face as he lit his cigarette. Bonnie noted he looked almost like a colonial soldier. It felt like he stood out more than her in that outfit.

As he finished lighting his cigarette he looked up and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

“ Much less, A Lady.” He murmured as a cloud smoke drifted over his face.

His face.

It looked as if it was decaying. His eyes black as the void. No nose. Almost like a skeleton.

For a moment she cursed herself for entering.

What is this man? What is this place? Why was everyone reacting so normally to his appearance? He looks like the creatures I’ve had to kill just to get here.

Her thoughts rambled as he approached the man who was harassing her.

“ Knock it off with that extortion crap, Finn. This guest just got here. And you’re already mouthing off?”

Finn turned to him and scoffed. “ Fine. Just remember you won’t be mayor for long Hancock.”

Hancock chuckled as he eyed the young woman Finn was attempting to extort. He looked her up and down. She most definitely did not belong here.

“ Come on now. There’s no need to get so hostile.” He said with a grin turning back to Fin. He reached his arm to pat his shoulder. “ It’s me we’re talking about.”

Bonnie relaxed seeing this interaction was calming down.

A bit too soon, as she jumped back when Hancock pulled a knife out from behind him and stabbed Fin to death with no remorse or hesitation.

“ This wasn’t the first time I’ve told you to knock off that extortion crap.” He huffed. “ You’re breaking my heart.” He grumbled as he pulled his cigarette out of his mouth exhaling the smoke.

Slowly, he turned to the woman standing with a look of surprise on her face.

He grinned and stepped over Finn’s body holding his hand out.

“ Hello there, Miss. I apologize for this idiot’s behavior.” He chuckled. “ Welcome to Good Neighbor.”

She stared at him, unsure if she really could trust him.

She slowly extended her hand and shook his. His skin was rough. And his handshake firm.

“ I’m John Hancock.” He said with a smirk. “ The mayor of Goodneighbor. Who might you be?”

“ Someone who is shocked that a person up here still introduces themselves with words and not a weapon.” She laughed nervously.

The ghoul picked up on it and chuckled warmly. Attempting to tone down the theatrics a bit.

“ I’m .. Bonnie.” She said, offering a small smile.

“ Well, Bonnie. Sounds… and looks, like you aren’t from here. You a vault Dweller?” He asked, shoving one hand into his pocket while the other held his cigarette.

“ … I think so?” She said with a small shrug. “ That’s… a long story all on its own and it’s part of the reason I ended up here.” She attempted to explain. Her brow furrowed as she started to notice something wasn’t right.

Her stomach was turning and her head was pounding. The vision of the man before her was becoming blurry and slow.

Hancock tilted his head curiously. “ You uh… you okay? You’re looking a little.. pale…” he commented.

“ I’m fine..” she said breathlessly trying to stabilize her vision.

“ I just—“ she started to trail off as she slowly lost consciousness falling to the floor.

Hancock sprung to her aid, barely catching her in time. He knelt down, holding her over his knee, carefully.

“ Whoa there!” He said in concern. “ Hey you’re alright.. have you been hurt..? Damn it..” he murmured, looking her body over.

A shop keep rushing out to assist. “ If she ain’t from up here, I wouldn't doubt it’s the rads.” she commented.

Hancock nodded. “ Daisy, be a doll and bring some rad-away to the statehouse. Some food too. Let’s get our guest back on her feet.” He said as he stood up, holding bonnie’s body as he carried her inside.

He entered with the unconscious woman in his arms while his aid, Fahrenheit stared in confusion.

“ Who’s that?” she asked sitting up from the couch to allow Hancock to rest the stranger.

“ Still waiting to hear.” Hancock chuckled as he adjusted his hat. “ She came in, Finn attempted to extort her, and she passed out. Think it might just be rads.”

Fahrenheit scoffed. “ Well she already looks like the perfect target for some extortion… I thought all the vault dwellers were dead.” She chuckled taking a hit of her cigarette.

“ Well there’s a first time for everything, I guess.” Hancock murmured as he observed the woman. She was average height. Clear clean skin, only roughed up with some scratches and bruises. Most definitely from the wasteland.

More questions flooded his mind as he wondered where she came from, why she was here, and if she was from a vault, why leave it for this wasteland?

Daisy arrived with what Hancock ordered and helped inject the Rad-Away. As well as a stimpack. Within minutes the color started coming back to her face.

As her eyes slowly opened she stared directly up at the battered wooden ceiling. The room was stuffy. Her surroundings smelled like she was in an old museum of some sort. She could hear distant voices. And feel a draft.

She still felt dizzy as she tried to remember what she was doing.

“ Morning, Sunshine.” Hancock said sitting in the couch across from her.

She slowly sat up as she remembered everything. Her face slowly turned to meet his. The skeleton looking man who called himself Mayor.

“ What happened?” She asked, her guard raising back up. If he wanted to hurt her he could. She could see armed men standing just outside the office. So there was no true escape.

“ Seemed to just be some radiation poisoning. But no worries. Daisy fixed you all up.” he said with a warm smile.

“ Oh…” She murmured. “ Daisy?” She asked.

“ A shop keep. She brought you some food and water as well” He said nonchalantly gesturing to a plate of noodles and a can of clean water.

“ Now, where were we… Oh right…” he snapped his fingers as he remembered, sitting up with curiosity.

“ so What’s your story?” he asked with a small grin.

“ You're clearly not from the surface.” he chuckled. “ That makes you mighty vulnerable. And If I’m honest I'm shocked you’ve made it this long.”

“ You and me both.” She scoffed and sighed. She met his gaze again before looking away.

Hancock raised an eyebrow staring at her in silence for a few seconds. Each second felt like an eternity for her. Wondering if he was going to lunge at her like the other creatures in the wasteland.

“ You scared?” he suddenly asked softly and stood up.

She looked up and watched him walk around the coffee table to stand directly in front of her, bending down to meet her at eye level.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and her blood ran cold.

“ I’d imagine someone like you has never met a ghoul before.” He chuckled.

She stayed silent and simply shook her head.

“ I won’t hurt you. I’m just like you.” He explained slowly before reaching for her hand and slowly bringing it to his chest.

Her heart pounded faster with fear. As her hand touched the fabric of his shirt, she swallowed her nerves to keep calm.

“ you feel that?” He asked softly.

She stared up into his black eyes for a moment before her focus narrowed in on his chest. His heart beat against her hand, just as hers. But definitely more steady.

“ my heart beats just as yours does.” He said gently before taking a breath. “Ive got a good idea what you’ve had to face up here, we all do…. But I won’t hurt ya.”

His black eyes stared at her with a kindness she would have never expected.

“You got my word.”

He said releasing her hand and sitting beside her on the couch, leaning against the back of it, and extending his arms in a relaxed position.

“ So, take all the time you need. And maybe there’s a way we can help you out here.” he said in a gentle and genuine tone.

Additional Chapters will be posted Here as they are made available:

[partywithoutsmiling]

how bad do you consider the bigotry and intolerance ran within the trolls kingdom before WT? In canon and in your aus?

Hmmmm, canon wise? I don't think it was that extreme at all honestly. The only one who could have been called outright bigot was Barb, who didn't shy from making disparaging remarks against against any and all major genres, especially against Pop. Same for intolerance honestly.

Most negativity in the movie would be called prejudice, in my opinion, especially because most of their hang ups with each other stems fron ancient turbulent history and from the fact all the tribes became isolated from one another. Rumour gives to rumour, and stereotypes rise, and before you know it, you are unknowingly prejudiced against a whole nation of people simply because you've never had a chance to meet one and actually form any opinions yourself.

It's not like that, with bigotry; that one is prejudice that falls deep into obsessive irrationality. It's not enough that there is a group of people you formed a negative opinion about, you simply cannot stand the thought of them sharing the same breathing space as you, and this drives you to confronting them- a self proclaimed crusader, as you believe you are doing the world a favour.

This is why only Barb really fits that label. The other tribes and leaders might have some prejudices, they are aware there are different genres of music, but those concerns definitelly don't rank high enough for them to care all the time. They go about their day, living happily, concerning themselves with only their own personal worries.

When it comes to intolerance, Barb lays claim to it as well, as her beef with other music is portrayed with no small amount of digust- but Poppy herself has shown to be fairly intolerant and prejudiced as well, with her conviction that other trolls are simply mislead and confused about what music should be about. Non-malicious conviction, yet a sinister one at the same time.

Thankfully, Poppy is openminded- which is what Barb lacks (and what makes the ending so abrupt and silly, as Barb simply isnt the type of person to suddenly switch from one opinion to another so easily but I digress)

Now, in my AUs. The situation is of course more complicated XD

Barb still claims her title of the biggest bigot under the sun- especially in the Rock Beast AU- but thorough my various tidbits I wrote in responses, it's clear to say she was radicalized. The prejudices running rampart through the Rock Kingdom, Thrash's refusal to let her set foot outside Volcano City, his inability to curb her temper and discipline her properly- all that plus having negative experiences with clear mixed blood trolls while she was a child is enough to twist unsavoury opinions into obsession. Surrounding herself by like minded individuals, giving herself the sense of kinship and community only enboldened her to go along with far more radical actions, and much like a charismatic leader, she swayed the public on her side by telling them exactly what they wanted to hear.

Even in my AUs, the isolation doesn't do the Tribes any favour. While yet again intolerance and bigotry is more rampart among Rock Trolls as of present, other tribes have their own 'troublemakers' in that regard, who, realistically, won't be stoked to suddenly be expected to make friends with someone who they think is lesser.

But honestly, each tribe carries prejudice in different flavour.

For Rock Trolls, the emotion fueling it is mostly anger, with perhaps some fearful undertones. Classicals are fueled by pride and arrogance in their own. Funk is caution; the wariness of history repeating itself. Techno's come from the unknown; they were the most out of the loop, and they are the most different- they know nothing about the other tribes. Country's come mainly from sheer annoyance; the feeling of being disrespected and most importanlty from being disrupted- they live hard life and cannot afford distractions.

If Pop Tribe never got trapped and they kept their full history, the common folk would be driven by fear; similar to techno, fear of the unknown, while for the royal family, it would be fear of retaliation.

The rule of the thumb is, the bigger the city, the further away from the borders, the more prejudice and most importantly vocal prejudice can be found among the trolls living there. Naturally, the younger the generation, the more willing they are to mingle, and the closer to the borders, the more likely there is that there would happen to be some herritage mixing.

If one lives among different cultures their whole life, then unless they are outright brought up by their parents/guardians/caretaker to treat them differently, they will be far more tolerant and openminded toward the new.

Anyway, I also think lots of trolls are subcosciously prejudiced; and they are not aware that they are, until they are met face to face with the new. From there, it really just depends on who they are as a person, to see if they double down or would extend the effort to grow out of them and be better.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers West Coast #61: The IMMORTUS IMPERATIVE

August, 1990

AVENGERS West Coast vs IMMORTUS and the LEGION of the UNLIVING!

Well! A Legion of the Unliving! And an Immortus. Vs the Avengers. We've been here before. But not with this specific Legion of the Unliving. Is that Iron Man 2020? He's not even unliving yet! Way to think outside the current year, Immortus.

Anyway.

Last times on Avengers West Coast: John Byrne was building up to something with Scarlet Witch and Immortus. But he had beef with editorial so he took his ball and went home and now Roy and Dann Thomas are going to pick up the plot threads and tie them together as best as they can.

But in plot terms: Scarlet Witch has been having the worst several weeks of her life. Her husband was disassembled and rebuilt except without emotions so he fucked off to the other Avengers team. Wanda went catatonic except when she woke up to be capital E evil and then she went catatonic again.

While she was Evil, she joined up with Magneto for his vague plans and kept suggesting he murder people. But then she went catatonic while he had to fight the Avengers by himself. So he fucked off.

Immortus has been shown spying on the Avengers for Reasons and deleting divergent timelines for Reasons and after Magneto fucks off, Immortus shows up to claim everything has transpired according to his plans. Also, he's going to marry Wanda or something.

Sir. If Wanda takes up polygamy, you are not high on her list.

Honestly.

This era of Avengers has way too much Kang and Kang accessories in it.

Quicksilver (and Lockjaw via growls) tell Immortus to get his creepy self away from Wanda but Hank Pym is like dammit, let the villain monologue!

He says it's for Wanda's sake but I think he just knows we'll never know what the plot is if we don't let Immortus villainsplain at them.

Wasp: "Spoken like a true leader and founding father, Hank!"

God. Get off his dick, Wasp.

I'd hoped that her characterization being reduced to being Hank's cheerleader would go away with Byrne but forecast looks bad.

Hawkeye ignores Hank (because the Avengers West Coast don't have an official leader so Hawkeye thinks it should be him and therefore he can do what he wants) and shoots an arrow at Immortus.

Which bonks off thin air.

Wonder Man: "You know force fields are standard issue with supervillains, Hawk!"

Yeah, Clint. Are you a veteran or not?

Immortus takes issue with being called a villain and asks "do you apply such negative labels to everything you cannot understand?"

Which would hit harder if it were not Immortus and not a situation where he's mind-controlling a woman.

Hawkeye points out that Immortus has been causing trouble for the Avengers since issue #10. I mean, he's right. But how does he know that? Issue #10 got retconned.

And Wonder Man says that his own introduction in issue #9 happened a few weeks after the Immortus fight that didn't happen at all because it was retconned and as Simon describes it the issues would be in the wrong order even if it did happen and...

This way lies madness.

Despite his injured leg, Quicksilver isn't going to stand by letting Immortus talk even if Dr Pym, Wasp, and Iron Man say he should.

He tries to rush Immortus but Immortus has Time Powers.

Immortus: "You would use so pitiful a power as speed -- against one who controls time, without which speed is an inconceivable concept? I could take this single step backward -- or walk to Earth's Moon and return -- while you were merely careening into this other fool who thought to sneak up on his superior!"

So Immortus just steps out of the way of Quicksilver's charge and lets him collide with US Agent. But he describes it as TIME POWERS.

Immortus doesn't actually want to Explain It All and says he's protecting all timelines, source: trust me, bro.

But the Avengers don't trust him, bro.

Wasp tries to get Lockjaw to teleport Wanda away. But she's still in that time-space stasis field thing and that's immune to teleportation. And also, Immortus has Dog Sleepy Powers which he uses to make Lockjaw to sleep.

Supposedly.

Lockjaw continues standing around with his eyes open. So maybe Immortus doesn't know how to get the Dog Sleepy Powers to work.

The Avengers all rush Immortus, since he won't exposition at them.

Immortus sighs and decides okay fine, I'll just take you with me then. And teleports them all to Limbo.

Leaving behind a weird after image of himself in the Avengers' base.

Immortus' throne room has been redecorated to look more... organic, apparently. Immortus says that's because Limbo reflects his moods and he's been in an organic mood lately.

Sure, okay.

I'm not sure what he means because the background just looks like. Rock. Like a rocky cave that someone put a metal floor in and a throne.

Wonder Man thinks it's very impressive and says a set like this would cost the budget for three of the movies he's worked on.

Hawkeye: "Right about now, Simon, your movie career's the last thing I'm worried about!"

Hey, c'mon, Clint.

He's just describing it through his lived life experience. And reminding people that he's an actor who acts in movies.

Remember when Hawkeye showed new maturity by getting married and leading a team of his own? Remember when he and Wonder Man came to an understanding in the sauna that even though he was an actor, being a superhero was still Wonder Man's number one priority?

I can't believe I'm saying it but characterization has gone downhill since Englehart.

Whether on Earth or in Limbo, the Avengers are still ready to kick Immortus' ass. And apparently his TIME POWERS only work on Earth. Because Limbo is timeless. Except for all the passage of time that the people in it experience because duh.

But if there's anything consistent about Immortus from the non-occurring events of Avengers #10 onward it's that Immortus doesn't fight his own battles.

Immortus: "Still, I am disappointed you think me stupid enough -- to face all you overly muscular specimens alone."

And boom. As the cover promised, a new Legion of the Unliving.

Getting a bit ahead of myself but that's Toro, not the Human Torch. The villainous Black Knight. Ugh, Grim Reaper. The Swordsman. Left-Winger and Right-Winger. Iron Man 2020, who I guess is unliving in the sense that he's not even been born. Unless you count sliding timescale because the timescale slid so hard that Arno is now contemporaneous to Tony. And Oort, the Living Comet.

Despite Oort asking if they remember him, this is his first appearance.

Like Arno, Oort is implied to come from the future. Although a more recent future.

Honestly, that's a fun thing to do with Immortus. It's HARD to do, unless you have established some characters from the future like the Iron Man 2020 series. 2099 characters would be a good choice but we're a couple years from that being possible. Or you can just make up a future character like Oort, the Living Comet, and have him mention a personal history that hasn't happened yet.

My point being: despite how stupid this story is looking, I like Immortus getting creative with his Legion of the Unliving choices.

Most everyone dies at some point and Immortus has every point at his disposal so he could throw any given character into his Legion.

Actually, I'm a little sad that the MCU just has Immortus as One of the Kangs and that maybe the Kang plot will get dropped or deemphasized due to so many reasons. Because an MCU Immortus dropping a Legion of the Unliving on someone. Imagine the characters you could bring back for it.

There are so many dead characters in the MCU. So many.

The only limit is imagination and how much Disneymarvel would be willing to pay to get actors to come back and reprise.

Anyway.

Wasp tells the Avengers not to hold back just because these are dead people that they might know. As far as she's concerned, these aren't the real dudes, they're simulcra that Immortus pulled out of time and if the Avengers get too in their head about fighting dead people they might know, they'll wind up dead instead.

She's actually right.

Because Immortus kept using dead characters that actually turned out to be alive - including Wonder Man once - it's had to be retconned that sometimes Legion of the Unliving members are just Space Phantoms.

So many Space Phantoms in Immortus retcons. So many.

Anyway, this Legion of the Unliving seems to have been chosen for personal connections with the heroes. Mostly.

Wonder Man obviously squares up against Grim Reaper, his supervillain brother that keeps harassing him and trying to put him and Vision in a blender.

Iron Man 2020 fights Iron Man because he's always wanted to prove he's better than the original Iron Man, Tony Stark, his great-uncle. Despite Iron Man's protests that he's definitely not the handsome, brilliant Tony Stark.

Hawkeye fights his old mentor and frenemy Swordsman.

Swordsman claims that he taught Hawkeye everything he knows which is why he's totally going to win this fight. Kind of ignoring the fact that he's been dead for years and Hawkeye didn't just stop learning shit. It's just a dumb boast, is all.

Black Knight faces Dr Pym, his old nemesis. Hank is no longer Giant-Man but he unshrinks Rover, the airship with the brain of an ant who loves Hank, so he can have an aerial duel with his old foe.

Right-Winger and Left-Winger fight US Agent. They're dudes he fought during his time as Captain America. He kinda blew them up in to a coma. Because they were involved in his parents' deaths.

Wasp is fighting Toro (who everyone is mistaking for the robot Human Torch). ... Okay, this is the odd one out. Wasp has no connection with this dude.

You couldn't think of a dead villain that has a personal connection to Wasp? I hate to say it but... I mean. She did tell Hank to crush Vibro to paste three issues ago. Maybe she should fight Vibro.

It would kind of make that fill-in issue where the Avengers West Coast take a break from the Wanda is Evil and Crazy arc more relevant to the arc. Wasp sentenced a dude to die because he wouldn't stop earthquaking Los Angeles. And then he pops up again in the Legion of the Unliving.

Feels like it writes itself but it didn't.

Anyway. The most interesting match-up here is actually Quicksilver vs Oort, the Living Comet.

Because Oort knows Quicksilver. And Quicksilver has no idea who Oort is.

Oort: "We never did find out which of us is faster, did we, mutant?" Quicksilver: "What are you talking about, Oort -- or whatever your name is? I never even heard of you befo-- NO! Those comet bursts --- fired at Wanda -- !" Oort: "You haven't changed a bit since we met in the 50th Century, Quicksilver. Even there, you were overly protective of your sister... though she couldn't care less whether you live or die!"

It sucks nobody ever ran with this.

This story is Oort's only appearance. We may never know what the hell Pietro and apparently Wanda were doing in the 50th Century. Or why they started beefing with this Oort dude.

The Thomases introduced Oort in this story as a future foe of Quicksilver because Quicksilver doesn't have a rogues gallery to draw on and everyone (but Wasp) was getting personalized fights.

So they made a whole new guy up to give Quicksilver a personalized fight and they gave Wasp Toro.

Double standard, boo.

Meanwhile, in the Hawkeye vs Swordsman fight, Swordsman does his usual Swordsman thing. You know, slicing or batting Hawkeye's arrows out of the air.

Really showing off his visual acuity and reflexes, the jerk.

He even mocks Hawkeye's gimmick arrows as relying on a "technological care package from Tony Stark" as if Hawkeye didn't invent anti-gravity by himself and then never use it for anything.

Swordsman: "Whether it's the strength of my arm -- or the sharpness of my blade -- I shall always be the teacher, and you merely the pupil!"

Basically Swordsman talks a good game up until the point Hawkeye tricks him into trying to block a 21k volt electro-arrow with his very conductive metal sword.

Props to the story, for a dude that Hawkeye has personal history with, he comes off like he has personal history with Swordsman.

After he... yeah, he basically kills Swordsman. Twenty-one thousand volts will do that. And this is Avengers Don't Kill Hawkeye, having to re-kill his dead mentor because if Hawkeye lost, Swordsman would move onto killing the next Avenger.

Hawkeye: "You -- shouldn't have made that crack -- about what you were gonna do to the others. I knew you best, so that meant I had to be the one to stop you, at any cost. Do me a f-favor, okay? D-don't let Immortus bring you back to life again. I really don't think... I could take that...!"

It's a low bar to clear but nobody in West Coast Avengers but Wanda has had appropriate emotions for the entire Byrne run. So I'll give credit where due that Hawkeye is emotionally impacted by having to kill a dude he has conflicted feelings about.

I'm realizing that I'm liking a lot of the bits in this story. The overall story is still kinda dumb. But it's cleaning up someone else's mess so maybe this bodes well for the Thomases run on this book.

Anyway. Remember how Immortus left behind an after-image when he teleported everyone to Limbo?

Yeah, Agatha Harkness did that.

She "half-sensed" Immortus' hand behind all the shit that's been happening to Wanda and her growing powers and her hard swing into mutant superiority and also the fake made-up children who definitely didn't exist.

Agatha didn't tell anyone though because fuck you nobody tells anyone their suspicions about anything in this book until it's too late to matter. Remember all the times recently that Hank Pym suddenly claimed he knew something all along?

But since Agatha Harkness kept a low-profile, Immortus didn't think to take countermeasures against her and she was able to cast a spell that left behind an after-image of himself.

Why? Eh. Apparently she can do magic on the after-image to learn what he's up to.

Agatha Harkness: "For, as you know full well, Earth's very timelines are in danger of unraveling, like threads in a fallen skein... but I, for one, am far from certain that you are the one to knit them up again!"

That's fair. He retgonned the timeline where Lincoln kicked John Wilkes Booth's ass. What a jerk thing to do, to get rid of that.

Anyway, Agatha does a magic that will make the image of Immortus share all the hot goss about Immortus' schemes. Magic can do that. Why wouldn't it?

In the grand aerial duel of Dr Pym vs the Black Knight, Black Knight's flying horse outmaneuvers Hank Pym's technology. He uses his laser lance to blast Rover but Hank just unshrinks a hover-pack and jumps out at Black Knight.

Who panics and falls off his horse to his re-death.

Hank saves himself with his hover-pack. He realizes that Black Knight must have remembered the last time he fell to his death, while fighting Iron Man, and that's why he panicked and, ironically, caused history to repeat.

Having put this together, Hank feels lousy about helping history to repeat on Black Knight.

He supposedly repented his evil right before he died the first time and then Immortus drags his ghost out of time, or whatever, and throws him into superhero fighting again. Black Knights just got no luck.

... Huh, did Thor ever get Dane out of that time warp he left him in?

Meanwhile, US Agent gets double-teamed by Right-Winger and Left-Winger.

Then US Agent throws his less-mighty-than-Cap's shield and makes Left-Winger trip so both brothers accidentally stab each other with stalagmites.

US Agent: "Welcome back to the dead zone, boys."

It's his favorite DBZ movie.

But, wow, he sure is proud of himself for deading those two guys.

Elsewhere in this big Limbo, Iron Man vs Iron Man. Future technology vs modern technology. A dude who just bought his armor vs the dude that built it.

And Iron Man 2020 is kicking Tony's ass. There's several decades of advancements in Arno's favor, even if Tony is the better engineer.

Iron Man 2020: "Face facts, unc... You're like some primitive stealth bomber up against a star raker from my day!" Also Iron Man 2020: "Whoever you are in there, you're last century's model!"

And then Tony wins via sucker punch.

I guess decades of improvements don't mean a lot if you can't take a punch.

Shrug.

(Feels like there was a more thematically satisfying conclusion to this fight somewhere but this is a team vs team fight issue and each character can only get so much time.)

Over with Wonder Man vs Grim Reaper for the umpteenth time.

Grim Reaper is in full bigger brother bully mode, reminding Simon of when they were kids and Eric would threaten him with a stolen pocketknife.

Grim Reaper cuts Wonder Man up with his scythe (which he lampshades he wasn't able to do when he was alive) but Wonder Man grabs him by the throat and demands he stands down.

Bigger brother bully refuses and shocks Wonder Man with his scythe, Wonder Man determinedly keeps his grip on Grim Reaper's neck and-

KRAK!

Wonder Man: "My grip -- so strong -- I killed him -- broke his neck! Immortus's control over him was so strong -- he wouldn't quit fighting till he was dead again! You're going to pay for this, Immortus! So help me -- you're going to pay!"

Damn. That's dark.

Which seems to be the theme with the fights where the Avengers win their fights.

Hawkeye had to go against his Avengers Do Not Kill principle and re-kill his mentor. Hank Pym (accidentally) put the fear of death in Black Knight so hard he died of it. And Wonder Man squeezes his brother's neck so hard it breaks -- and doesn't even realize he's doing it.

Oh, and US Agent made two brothers kill each other. But he doesn't seem too broken up over it. I guess he's the combo breaker.

And the afterthought fight: Wasp vs Toro.

Who she confuses as Human Torch until he informs her otherwise.

I sincerely believe this fight happens - and Wasp gets screwed out of a personalized fight - to clear up some continuity.

When Toro reveals he's Toro, Wasp realizes that the previous time the Avengers saw the robot Human Torch in a Legion of the Unliving (under Kang) it couldn't have been Jim Hammond because androids can't die because they're not real people!

Oof.

Toro: "Kang the Conqueror once thought I was the Torch, too -- when he gathered the first Legion of the Unliving! I was a man -- so I could -- and the Mad Thinker murdered me! -- Just like Immortus is going to make me kill you -- RIGHT NOW!"

Glad we cleared that up.

And, yeah, Wasp loses her fight because she's too distracted by the Not-Human Torch thing.

This issue kept cutting back and forth between Agatha interrogating Afterimage Immortus and the Avengers vs Legion fights. I just moved most of the fight stuff together in this recap for clarity.

Because we're about to do some big retcons, Agatha Harkness asks Immortus to RECAP HIS ENTIRE BACKSTORY.

Granted, how long has it been since we learned Immortus' complicated deal?

He was born in the 30th Century in a world of peace and plenty and he hated it because it was so boring. His only solace was watching old video tapes of superheroes punching people.

Especially the Fantastic Four. He loved their exploits best because he had learned that he and Reed Richards both traced their ancestry back to Nathaniel Richards.

Little Kid Future Nathaniel Richards (Ie Immortus) found a shrine Reed's dad Nathaniel Richards left behind with a time machine. Young Immortus rebuilt the time machine to look like a Sphinx and time traveled back to Egypt to take over as White Pharaoh Rama-Tut.

Then the Fantastic Four showed up and kicked his ass and he fled Back to the Future.

He went too far, wound up in post-apocalyptic year 4000 and became Kang the Conqueror.

Later, he became ashamed of all the stupid shit he did as Kang and became Rama-Tut again and took over Egypt again (but benevolently?). Then he became Immortus and moved to Limbo.

Afterimage Immortus: "As Immortus, I was a more contemplative type than my Kang counterparts, who were dedicated only to the conquest of historical eras. Sequestering myself in the ageless dimension known as Limbo, I dedicated myself to the study of that ultimate enigma -- time itself."

Then, the Time Keepers came to Immortus in Limbo and taught him all about time and appointed him the custodian of the time stream for the period which he had lived as Kang -- 3000 BC to 4000 AD.

So Immortus became responsible for monitoring time travel during that period. Which mostly meant monitoring himselves.

And if he fulfills his vow to the Time Keepers' purpose, they'll give him total mastery over those seventy centuries.

Kind of seems a downgrade from when Immortus was Master of Time.

Agatha Harkness asks Immortus what the Time Keepers' purpose is and what the heck it has to do with Wanda or with all those divergent timelines Immortus deleted in Byrne's run.

Afterimage Immortus: "You already know the truth, old woman! The Scarlet Witch is a nexus being -- one who belongs equally to all possible timelines -- all realities and divergences -- so that, through her, all futures can be totally safeguarded -- inexorably controlled -- by Immortus, Master of Time!"

Okay. Does that mean anything for Wanda herself or does that just make her a plot device to win?

Remember when Sentinels kidnapped Wanda because they needed to her power to sterilize Earth? And not her hex power, just the fact that she was A Woman?

This shit keeps happening to Wanda.

I'm surprised she didn't go evil and crazy sooner.

Speeeeaking of whiiiiich.

This is where (Afterimage) Immortus explains how he's been behind everything.

EVERY. THING.

Going back to his first appearance in Avengers #10 which was retconned and didn't happen so I don't know what he's talking about.

But, hypothetically, his evil plan in that story that didn't happen was to break up the Avengers so Scarlet Witch could never join them. Without the Avengers as a support network, Immortus could have manipulated Wanda so much more easily.

And why did Immortus show Vision an origin where he was built from the body of the original robot Human Torch? TWAS A RUSE! He wanted Vision and Wanda to marry and only knowing his origins would make Vision comfortable enough in his life to marry!

(The retconned origin that Vision was made out of extra Human Torch parts is close enough that one wonders why Immortus didn't just show him that? This is stupid. God I hate sweeping retcons like this.)

Why did Immortus want Wanda and Vision to marry? Is he just a big ol' shipper actually?

NO!

WANDA MARRYING VISION WAS ACTUALLY A SLOW BURN PLAN TO MANIPULATE WANDA! IMMORTUS PLANNED IT ALLLL!

Immortus knew that Wanda would want children and that she would specifically use her mutant magic to magic them up instead of adoption or surrogacy! He knew it all along!

And having created fake, not-real children, he knew that one day, she would learn they weren't real!

Afterimage Immortus: "Over time, Agatha Harkness, I slyly seduced the Vision into attempting to dominate the Earth by taking over its computers. After he tried that, it was easy to subliminally influence a multi-national security alliance to take him apart-- in such a way that, although his android body could later be more or less reassembled -- the Vision's particular mind and memory -- and thus his love for the Scarlet Witch -- became part of a dead and unrecapturable past! Soon afterward, even while I was subtly increasing her hex power, I made certain she was one of seven brides-to-be of Set, to further undermine her confidence -- by making her fear she was doomed, always, to be a victim of circumstances beyond her control. Perhaps she was, at that. Witness her quite coincidental capture later by the human servants of the micro-organism known as 'That Which Endures'... Although Master Pandemonium, whose kidnapping of her 'twins' caused her pain and terror, was unknowingly obeying my secret suggestions. And when her 'offspring' finally vanished forever -- you, dear lady, did me the service of explaining to her how they never truly existed! This was the final straw that turned her into a hard-hearted human-hater -- and thus perfect for my purposes. Magneto's blundering along just then was an annoying, but quite temporary, nuisance -- one which scarcely delayed the implementation of my plan!"

God this is so much. I hate it also so much.

Saying someone secretly conspired to organize so many events is a hard sell. And roping in Master Pandemonium seems unlikely since Immortus couldn't see into the netherworld where he took Wanda.

Saying Immortus nudged Vision into his takeover the world plan diminishes the original story.

And the writer drawing the line at Immortus being responsible for the That Which Endures story is just kind of funny. It's brought up solely so Immortus can say "that wasn't me" even though it seems like the racism goo turning Wanda into a mutant supremacist would only serve his plan.

There's so much to like about this issue and then there's the big reveals, which are unfathomably stupid.

Sheesh.

With all this exposition, Agatha Harkness has finally pieced together what Immortus' plan for Scarlet Witch is.

Although, she doesn't share it with the class. No doubt wanting to keep up the tension for next issue.

(Also, Immortus sends the Legion of the Unliving back into the void, sparing Quicksilver and Wasp from being finished off by their opponents.)

Next week, switching back over to Avengers East Coast for more airport paperback political thriller action in the Crossing Line arc. And in two weeks, the Immortus slash Wanda is Evil and Crazy arc wraps so the Thomases can start their own plots.

I will not be sad to see Byrne's lingering plot threads go.

Follow @essential-avengers. I'm too tired for a more extravagant pitch. Like and reblog, maybe?

[khiphop-discussions]

HEYYYOOOO!! i know it's been a while and im really behind on info. (been fighting for my life in japanese and trying to get those credentials set)

what's going on w Dabin and DPR? the only thing i saw was that he was temporarily taking a break from the company and would be releasing other types of music under his own name and his own company. then i saw a lawsuit? then i saw that Christian and Dabin don't follow each other anymore?

i thought it was just him being under two labels at the same time. is there beef that i missed?

HEY! You're back!?! WTF? It's has been so long! It's funny though because a few months ago I saw some old posts of us talking. I think it was an ask or you responding to a post. I'm so happy to see you again!

Good luck on your studies! I know you're fighting for your life lol. Japanese is such an ANNOYINGLY, but beautifully, complex language!

But Yes, girl. It's SO much. So Dabin and Christian both feel like Scott stole some of their money from the last DPR tour in 2022, REGIME. Christian's issue hasn't been fleshed out as much but he basically said that REM was listed in the credits of Ian songs that he didn't actually take part in. In 2023, Scott had resigned from DPR manager position and then went quiet regarding Scott. DPR as a whole was also quiet. Then the lawsuit came out after Dabin was seen talking about "FUCK REM" in a performance. It's a lot so let me send you some posts.

So Dabin, before this lawsuit was announced, started his own company, Coming To You Live. That's where he was releasing his own stuff for the time being.

IDK if the person from the video is correct and DPR will never exist the same again (meaning with DPR Live as DPR Live instead of Dabin). I think Dabin will probably have a hard time trusting anyone again + probably is motivated to be WAY more involved with finances now. Plus, it's kinda hard to return to the "scene" of something that traumatic. Rejoining DPR might be a constant reminder of being stolen from. So I wouldn't be shocked if she ends up being correct. Additionally, this (the unfollowing) could be a sign that DPR had some other personal issues that haven't been spoken about publicly yet.

I WILL say that I've seen DPR and (maybe) Ian repost some of CTYL/Dabin's recent promo posts. So it may not be actually true they have issues even if they don't follow each other anymore.

[maytheoddshq]

Colton Marrow (he/him). 107th Victor. Mentor. Thirty. Taylor Zakhar Perez.

What was their childhood like?

The Marrow Family was big, but poor. Colton is the youngest of five kids. All of them worked together in one of the slaughterhouses of ten, Colton’s job was at first to sort the different cuts of beef to make sure they were packaged under the right labels. As he got older though, his job soon became to cut those different cuts of meat. Colton hated it. He came to hate everything about working in the slaughterhouse, and he would fantasize about living life somewhere else, as a fisherman in District Four, or someone who built cars in Six. Anything to get away from the disgusting nature of the slaughterhouse. His family life, however, was fine beyond the fact they were always hungry and their house was far too small. Colton had to share his bed with his two older brothers, and his two sisters shared the bed on the other side of the room. It was too hot in the summer, and too cold in the winter. Their roof leaked when it rained, but they did everything they could to live past it and stuck together through it all.

How did they feel about the games before being reaped?

Before being reaped Colton didn’t think about the games, beyond the reaping day. He was never entirely against them, either though, in fact, he would sometimes lay awake at night and fantasize about winning, what he would do with the money, and how he would never have to worry about working in the slaughterhouse again. His parents always taught him, that hard work would pull them from their circumstances, and in the arena, it took hard work to win, and the winner? The winner got one of the best rewards for their hard work. When Colton’s name was called, he saw it as destiny finally telling him that it was time to pull himself up by his bootstraps, work hard in the arena, win, and get his family out of poverty.

What was their trajectory in the arena & how did they win their game?

The arena for the 107th Hunger Games was a splendid castle, like something out of a fairy tale. It took everything in Colton not to become awestruck by just how beautiful everything was. During his private training, he had wowed the game makers with a demonstration of just how easy it was for him to cut through several mannequins with a machete, having had so much practice in the slaughterhouse. He had earned a training score of 9, and then during his interview Colton had a natural charisma mixed with good looks that won over the Capitol. To a lot of people’s surprise, the boy from District Ten had turned out to be that year’s fan favorite beating out the Careers. It was because of that popularity the night after the interviews, they asked him to join the Career pack, replacing the District Four Boy, because he was not up to being Career material. Very few tributes perished during the Bloodbath, mainly because it was so easy to disappear in the vastness of the castle. However, true to its design of a fairytale castle, this arena was designed to show off the fairytale dreams of each tribute, in the hope of turning them into their nightmare.

First, they separated the tributes guiding them all into rooms that had been designed for their individual experience. Then they pumped very powerful hallucinogenics into the room, first it would play out whatever their fairytale dream was, before it eventually turned into their nightmare and that was when the mutts would go in for the kill. Careers and the other tributes who had been well off backfired, the tributes with weak wills also found this concept to be too much. The idea of living out some horrible existence was too much. The mutts associated with their nightmare, or the antithesis of their fairytale dream were able to overtake them. Or in their hallucinated state, they were killed by another tribute. Colton got two such kills before he wound up in his own drugged-up state. Colton’s hallucinations, however, are what pushed him to win. First, he had been greeted by the sight of his Victor’s Ball in the Great Hall of the Castle, getting comfortable in his throne the ball eventually turned into the slaughterhouse, voices chanting how he’d be there forever. Colton didn’t remember what happened until he rewatched the feeds. He just remembered seeing red and then being covered head to toe in red. Armed with only a machete, he had shown the mutts what he had gotten so good at back in District Ten. Though he kept shouting, “I am more than just this slaughterhouse.” as if they had any understanding of what that meant. After that, Colton was tired of the games, he was ready to be the Victor. Only two other tributes had remained by that point, and Colton wasted no time in tracking them down and killing them as well. Ending his games with four kills, and the Victor of the Fairytale Arena.

How were they affected by their experiences in the game?

Colton wasn’t affected by his games in a seriously negative way. He saw it that he won, fair and square. He didn’t do anything nobody else would have done to survive. Rather he saw the Games as the thing that saved his life. He and his family moved into Victor’s Village, they all had their bedrooms for the first time. They had enough food that no one went to bed hungry. No one had to go into that awful slaughterhouse anymore. In his Victory Tour, Colton talked about the greatness of the Capitol, he told the people about how his family had had nothing, and now they had everything because of the generosity of the Capitol. That opened the doors to his next endeavor, becoming an official spokesman for the Capitol and starring in countless propaganda films for them. In them, he often talks about his rags to riches story, how it was thanks to the Capitol, and that anyone can be a success in Panem thanks to the Capitol and the Hunger Games.

What are they like as a mentor?

Colton cares about every single one of his tributes, and he puts in his full effort for every single one of them. He always makes sure to visit with the family of each tribute he loses after a game. He’s never lost hope in getting more Victors only because he believes that everyone truly has a chance at winning. Each set of tribute is different, and he can’t judge the current based on the old. He lets his words in the arena shape his mentoring style, “You are more than the slaughterhouse, you are more than just another failure from Ten, you will win.” if he can inspire his tributes enough, he knows that they will be great in the arena.

What is their personality?

Despite being very supportive of the Capitol and of the games, Colton is not actually a heartless person. He just thinks people misjudge the games and the Capitol. Yes in some respects they can be harsh, but that harshness had kept a century of peace. It also allowed people who were so poor like Colton to claw out of poverty. He cares deeply about his tributes, his fellow Victors, District Ten, and also about animals. Having worked in the slaughterhouse, he can no longer stomach red meat. Colton tries to see the good in everyone, and he tries to befriend as many people as possible, even if he disagrees with them. The only way they’re going to make Panem better after all is through talking and reaching out to one another, not by fighting.

Three strengths and three weaknesses.

+ Charismatic + Genuine + Magnanimous - Conformist - Gullible - Pretentious

PENNED BY: DEVIN

[yourolddunsparce]

Benny the Butcher - Everybody Can't Go

Y.O.D, signing on,

WE ARE SO (kinda) BACK BABY

Alright, before I get into this, I gotta apologize for not dropping part 2 of my other post. I got like zero interaction and was massively discouraged, but after talking with other tumblr people I learned a very valuable lesson. Reblog all your shit. I told myself I was going to react to this album as soon as I could and not wait for the weekend, and I've had it on repeat for all of my work day, so I'm massively excited. Especially because I quite enjoy this album! This will act as my first "review", but I don't have the musical knowledge nor background to elaborate on what I really want to describe, so I'll be saying a lot of "I like this, I don't like this". If you want some actual in-depth critique from a huge Griselda fan, go watch B-Side Rap Reviews when he eventually drops a reaction video, if he even does. He's not a particularly huge fan of Hit-Boy, so he may skip on this all together, but who knows? It looks like he still has to react to Boldy James's latest project as well, but I like his content, so I hope he does. Let's get back into this though, for real.

(EDIT: Okay fine, I dropped it Saturday, sue me)

Background

As a small introduction, you should know that Benny the Butcher is an absolute fraud, because his real name is Jeremie. Carving out a niche in Buffalo, NY with his cousins Alvin and Demond, he's since started his own label, Black Soprano Family. The majority of his output for last year were features with many of his B$F crew, as well as some higher profile appearances on various projects with his Griselda brothers and a Smoke DZA + Flying Lotus collaboration album (I still need to check that one out). This followed up a huge 2022 when he dropped the latest installment to his critically acclaimed Tana Talk series, culminating in Griselda Records collectively receiving their first ever GOLD certified record. Safe to say, the Butcher has kept busy these past couple of years, especially with the crafting of his Def Jam debut in the new album. Originally set to release as early as August of last year, it got pushed back to this first month of this year. With dual production from Hit-Boy and The Alchemist, it's easy to be concerned with the lack of credits from Daringer and the Griselda stable of producers fans are used to hearing. As you'll soon find out, however, it makes for a mostly solid debut album on his first major label, so I think it all worked out well enough! No, we will not be talking about his mediocre Freddie Gibbs beef.

Track by Track

Jermanie's Graduation - The first Alchemist beat, and holy shit does it hit. Benny the Butcher has quite frankly never missed on intro tracks, and this is no different. A classic piano loop accompanied by a 3 minute verse and no hooks, Benny at his finest. He spits about his come up and keeping his clique together (and emphatically dispels any rumors of leaving his Griselda ties behind on his path to the mainstream), going from the streets to private jets as he flows over the beat. I could definitely do without the poop bars though ("So I'm shitting around these pussies just like a all-gender restroom"), but it's a top tier intro track that sets up new listeners for what's to come while exciting Griselda fans.

BRON - The first Hit-Boy beat, and probably my favorite one, but I don't think it holds much of a candle to Alchemist's beats. You'll see my point later on, but the layered horns make you bounce in your seat while Benny flexes about rich people things. Third single off the album, but I'm confused as to why it wasn't the first. Lebron has been seen vibing out to Burden of Proof and many other Benny projects before, dropping this as the first single probably gets this much more hype then the Lil Wayne feature. I know he's probably going to post a clip of him working out to this though, this track bangs hard.

Big Dog (w/Lil Wayne) - The big single off the album, I like just about everything except the hook and the outro. Benny and Tunechi are sliding on this beat with no effort, and Wayne especially delivers a great verse. The sample sounds like this synth being reversed accompanied by clattering piano chords that pop in occasionally. Not my favorite Alchemist beat, but the dog barks he adds lend to the theme well. The only thing I'm really caught up on is that stressed hook, I'm not convinced Benny can make it work. I especially dislike the outro being a refrain of the hook, and I don't think it adds much to the track, but overall it's an enjoyable listen. Wayne shouts out the Suns too, but they're barely clinging on to the 6th seed, come on.

Everybody Can't Go (w/Kyle Banks) - By far my least favorite track, it's a definite skip for me. The actual song itself isn't that bad, but I think the chipmunk sample is tuned up way too much, to the point where it actively annoys me. It sounds eerily similar to Burden of Proof's Thank God I Made It, which is where I think most of my frustration comes from. It's got a better sample, a better hook, and Benny delivers a sweet tribute to both his mother and shouts out his deceased brother Machine Gun Blak (a very important footnote in Griselda history). Not that this track's lyrical content is lacking, but he's setting himself up for some terribly aged bars depending on this year's election cycle ("Know ima win, like the election if Trump run again").

TMVTL - Griselda fans, this is the one. Vintage storytelling from the Butcher on a double beat switch from The Alchemist. Benny switches up his flow in the first beat switch before reverting back when the second one rolls around, and the eerie soundscapes provided let him tell some haunting stories, with a repeating sentiment of trust over love in some chilling bars. It really turns up in the third half, when he's rapping about himself in third person in a story mirroring a real-life incident where he got shot in the leg. I'm not sure if Benny's done any post release interviews to confirm my speculation, but it would add another layer to the highlight of the album if it were intentional. If you're not into Hit-Boy and the mainstream direction Benny may be headed, this is the first track you'll want to hit up.

Back Again (w/Snoop Dogg) - Probably tied for my favorite hook on the album with a little help from the Doggfather. Snoop doesn't pen an actual verse, but his catchy hook fits in this bass driven beat, courtesy of Hit-Boy. The drums hit nice, and the little xylophones in this sample bring this shit together. Nothing special from Benny as far as rapping here, but he flows well on the track for a solid performance. I wish Snoop could have dropped a verse at the end to cap everything off, but I've now added "boogie" back into my lexicon, so thank you Snoop. I could easily see this track sliding into Burden of Proof, and it's a nice change of pace being placed immediately after the grimy TMVTL. Dub for the sequencing.

One Foot In (w/Stove God Cooks) - 2nd single off the album, and it is a damn shame we don't have Stove on the hook. The adlibs Benny throws in the hook feel way too wordy to work, I think keeping the empty space between his bars would have been fine. Either shorten the adlibs or have Stove come in, but it really takes the song from potentially being great to being just good for me, like with Big Dog before. Everything else about the track is great though, and I love hearing Stove over Hit-Boy as opposed to drumless loops or chaotic Conductor Williams beats (I love Conductor though, check out his new video on his YouTube channel). His verse is funny as hell too, and Benny continues to display his chemistry with Hit-Boy in the beginning verse.

Buffalo Kitchen Club (w/Armani Caesar) - THEY AIN'T FUCKIN WITH LIZ AND THE BUTCH. Tied with Back Again for my favorite hook, I think this is probably my favorite track on the whole album. Armani Caesar fucking murders the hook, and she has a nice verse before Benny comes in to finish the job. I'm not generally a fan of sex bars in general, especially if they're older dudes (looking at you Drake, Nas), but Benny doesn't try to hammer it in, and it feels natural with his flow. This is also probably my favorite Alchemist beat on the song, the bass is absolutely perfect with those piano loops. Low key would add this to the workout playlist as well, but I'll be bumping this regardless.

Pillow Talk & Slander (w/Babyface Ray & Jadakiss) - I've listened to this song maybe 20 times now, and I still don't know what to think about it. It is by far Benny's best hook by himself on the album, I feel like he should lean more into simply 4 bar hooks then try and do what he did on Big Dog and One Foot In. I understand he wants to get in his bag though (And he really does try his hardest, believe me), and he's really showing off his versatility throughout the entire album. The beat itself is this chopped string sample with some hi-hat stutters and a piano? I feel like I've heard this melody in JRPG before, but I know I'm wrong. Babyface Ray is a really interesting artist to me, he could easily have shown up with fellow Michigander Babytron on Lyrical Lemonade's latest album, but he's clearly a big Griselda fan. He has Westside Gunn on his latest album, Summer's Mine, and he's also featured on an Alchemist project as well. Even with those influences, however, his music has stayed predominantly in the trap soundscape, so he sounds right at home with Hit-Boy's production, and he holds his own next to Benny and fucking Jadakiss. Jadakiss's voice sounds like it's steeped in gravel, but it makes his bars more menacing as he snags the third verse of the track. I honestly still don't know how much I love this track, but I do enjoy it nonetheless.

How To Rap - This beat came straight out of Roc-A-Fellas vault. I love the throwback, and this synth sample is super sick. This bass kind of hits like a whoopee cushion though, I know FL has to have better sounds then that. There's also a very faint cowbell sound you can hear, and it's kind of bugging me out, but it's still a nice beat. If anything, Jadakiss should've probably hopped on this joint, and even at 2:42, it still feels like a short track. Benny is still bringing his A-game though, and it makes for another good track coming to the finish line of this album's tracklist.

Griselda Express (w/Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine & Rick Hyde) - To air out a personal grievance I have with this track: Where is Conductor Williams? You got a track named "Griselda Express", you have Benny talking about "the Griselda train not stopping" (which happens like 16 times in the outro), and it's not produced by the dude whose entire shtick is being a Conductor?! No, I don't care if he's not actually a conductor, you're telling me we could've had these 4 on this immaculate shit?!

Anyways,

Solid track, even if it isn't the classic Griselda Big 3 (sorry Mach-Hommy) cypher you're used to on their albums. Benny, Rick, and Conway all do their thing while Gunn takes the hook (WHY I SHOOT LIKE THAT x24), which they've done in the past on Benny's projects. Personally, Rick Hyde doesn't do much for me, and I'd be okay with cutting his verse so you could make Gunn's hook slightly more tolerable. I understand putting your people on though (even if How To Rap is right there), so he's alright with me. It isn't my favorite Alchemist track, but if you're producing for a cypher, it's best for the beat not to be too busy, so I get it.

Big Tymers (w/Peezy) - Alright, this is going to be the main talking point of this album, I fear. Griselda fans, please proceed with caution, because that is Benny the Butcher using autotune on this hook. I honestly don't mind it, personally, but I'm also not sure if it actually enhances the hook either. I guess he's trying to compensate for not having the range of Mach-Hommy or the charisma of Westside Gunn, but even with auto tune, it's a super low energy hook that's almost hard to hear. Still, it's a decent track, and it definitely showcases Benny's ability to flow on trap beats (not that it was ever in question) (I know it's not an actual trap beat but it's so SICK). I had no fucking clue who Peezy was before this, but he does well enough, I think. Maybe this shouldn't have been the closer track, but I also don't know where else you put this on the tracklist.

Overall Thoughts

This was the only GIF I could find here with Benny in it, but why does Jay-Z look so perturbed? Did he forget his laundry? Is this when he found out Beyoncé knew he cheated?! That's a clean suit though, no lie.

I don't know what Benny's looking for in his career at the moment, whether it be going mainstream or simply making music he wants to make easier now that he's with Def Jam. If it's going mainstream, I think he could have definitely done a few things differently (I'm sure this dude has J. Cole on speed dial), but if he's just dropping music? Fuck it, let him do his autotune hooks. I think this was a solid project that's going to put a lot of eyes on Griselda moving forward, just as Gunn's AND THEN YOU PRAY FOR ME is currently doing. As long as these dudes make music, that's all I want. I would've loved to see Rome Streetz on this project as well, especially after learning that he's built like this:

HELLO??? WHAT IS THIS??? Get this dude on the runway immediately!!

In all seriousness though, this is a very good project for me, even if there's a few misses and not many truly "great" moments. The one song that I think will really be talked about in high regard for Benny is TMVTL, but otherwise, these all range from decent to great for most Griselda fans. For those not familiar with Griselda, however, this serves as a good base to find out what you like in Benny the Butcher. He showcases a lot of different things, and delivers (for the most part) on varying his performances and highlighting specific things about him. Maybe you enjoyed Back Again, which could lead you to Burden of Proof. If you liked Buffalo Kitchen Club, I would highly suggest Tana Talk 4. Even with more curated cuts like TMVTL, Tana Talk 3 will satisfy your tastes. If this was Benny's end goal, then mission accomplished.

You have to fix the fucking hair though dude, for real.

This is Y.O.D, signing out

[idabbleincrazy]

Just gonna drive by and give you some motivation for that amazing Bones story because I am deeply excited for it <3

Ok, I managed about 200 words, and a little bit of editing. This one is so slow going cuz I keep losing the thread while building the plot. I wish this was a simple pwp 😅🤦🏻‍♀️ But here's a lil sneaky-poo...

"Hey, Sweets. Come on in, dinner's in thirty."

Lance Sweets stepped over the threshold, holding out a bottle of wine. Taking the wine from his outstretched hand, Booth couldn't stop himself from pulling the younger man into a quick hug, his free arm clasping around his back briefly. Weird to think how this is only the second time he’s willingly hugged the psychologist, the first time sober.

"Seriously, I'm glad you came. We both are." Feeling Sweets relax into the loose embrace, Booth huffed out a breath of relief, brushing his lips over Sweets' temple as he pulled away. Blurred sense memories of whiskey and pain and longing flicker, clenching his gut. "Now, c'mon, Bones'll start wondering what's taking so long."

"Right. So, uh, what - how much does Dr. Brennan know, you know, about…" Sweets trailed off uncomfortably, gesturing his hand between them.

"She knows how I feel, she knows about that night, about the kiss. We're trying to get everything back to where it was, B.P., y'know? So, no secrets."

Booth started back towards the living room, Sweets following behind, almost shy in his movements despite the fact that Booth and Dr. Brennan were two of his closest friends. His best friends, really; people who knew him better even than Daisy. Daisy, his…girlfriend? Lover? They had never really given their relationship a label, had never sat down and discussed what they were to each other or whether they expected what they had with each other to be exclusive. He knew that when they'd started dating, Daisy had been keeping her options open, but he wasn't sure if she was still seeing anyone other than him.

Pushing aside thoughts of Daisy for a later time, Sweets focused back on Booth and the conversation at hand.

"B.P.? Ah, before…right."

Sensing Sweets' nervousness, Booth cast him a sideways glance, keeping his face neutral despite the roil of emotions crashing around inside him.

"Yeah. Look, Sweets, tonight doesn't have to be anything life-changing. We'll talk it all out, and go from there."

They stepped through into the living room before Lance could answer and the younger man was saved from fumbling for a response by Bones' greeting as she stood up from the couch.

"It's good to see you, Sweets." Temperance took the bottle of wine from Booth and headed towards the kitchen. "I'll set this in the fridge to chill while the lasagna finishes baking. As Booth insisted I provide a carnivorous option, you will have your choice between a vegetarian lasagna made with whole wheat pasta and soybean crumbles or a beef lasagna."

"With extra cheese."

"Yes. Booth was adamant, even after I explained the effects of excessive dairy on the arteries."

"What can I say, I like to live dangerously."